AP-Myanmar Ethnic Groups Said Tortu

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Subject: AP-Myanmar Ethnic Groups Said Tortured

Wednesday June 30 3:41 AM ET

Myanmar Ethnic Groups Said Tortured

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Civilians from three ethnic groups have been
tortured and killed in a relocation campaign by Myanmar's military, Amnesty
International said today.

The London-based human rights group said the impact of the campaign was
being felt in countries neighboring Myanmar, also known as Burma, as
refugees continue spilling into Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

``The Burmese army has devastated the lives of thousands of Shan, Karen and
Karenni people by targeting them simply because of their ethnicity or
perceived beliefs,'' Amnesty International said.

The rights group charged that during the past three years, hundreds of
thousands of villagers have been forcibly relocated as part of a military
campaign to cut off civilian support for the rebels.

Villagers found outside settlement areas supervised by the military have
been shot on sight.

``Many have been killed, others tortured and thousands have fled to
neighboring countries. It is civilians, not armed insurgents, who have
suffered the vast majority of casualties in these conflicts,'' it said.

Amnesty International said it based its findings on interviews with more
than 100 ethnic refugees from Myanmar.

A Myanmar government spokesman, speaking on customary condition of
anonymity, said the refugees interviewed were family members and
sympathizers of ``armed ethnic terrorist groups.''

He defended forced relocations of villagers as ``temporary when necessary
and done to protect them from being terrorized by the armed insurgent
groups.''

Myanmar is a fractious and diverse nation of eight major ethnic groups.
Successive governments have had difficulty reconciling their interests.

The military government says the divisions are a legacy of British colonial
rule, but the country's democratic opposition has said the continuing
insurgencies are set off by the military's determination to resolve
differences by force.