This report describes the current situation for rural Karen villagers in Toungoo District (known in Karen as Taw Oo), which is the northernmost region of Karen State in Burma. The western part of the district forms part of the Sittaung River valley in Pegu (Bago) Division, and this region is strongly controlled by the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta which rules Burma. Further east, the District is made up of steep and forested hills penetrated by only a few roads and dotted with small Karen villages; in this region the SPDC is struggling to strengthen its control in the face of armed resistance by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). In the strongly SPDC-controlled areas, the villagers suffer from constant demands for forced labour and money from all of the SPDC military units based there, and from the constant threat of punishments should their village fail to comply with any order of the military. In the eastern hills, many villages have been forcibly relocated and partly burned as part of the SPDC’s program of attempting to undermine the resistance by attacking the civilian villagers. Here people are suffering all forms of serious human rights abuses committed by SPDC troops, including random killings, burning of homes, the systematic destruction of crops and food supplies, forced labour, looting and extortion. The SPDC now designates villages throughout Toungoo District as either ‘Peace’ (‘Nyein Chan Yay’) Villages - meaning they are under direct military control and village elders are severely punished for any failure to obey orders - or ‘Hiding’ (‘Ywa Bone’) Villages, where homes and crops are systematically destroyed and villagers are shot on sight.

In order to produce this report, KHRG human rights monitors have interviewed villagers in the SPDC-controlled areas, in the hill villages and the relocation sites, as well as those hiding in the forests. Their testimonies are augmented by incident reports and field reports gathered by KHRG human rights monitors and Karen relief workers in the region, and by SPDC order documents which have been sent to village elders. To see more order documents and photos which relate to the abuses documented in this report, readers should see the KHRG reports "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A" (KHRG #2000-01, 29/2/00), SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villagers: Set 2000-B" (KHRG #2000-04, 12/10/00) and KHRG Photo Set 2000-A(31/5/00).  Additional background on the situation in Toungoo District can be found in the KHRG report "False Peace: Increasing SPDC Military Repression in Toungoo District of Northern Karen State" (KHRG #99-02, 25/3/00).

This report consists of several parts: this preface, an introduction and executive summary, a detailed description of the situation including quotes from interviews, an index of field reports and interviews, and an appendix containing translations of SPDC order documents which are referred to in the text. The interviews and field reports have been published in a separate interview annex which is available from KHRG upon approved request, as are copies of the original order documents in Burmese.

Notes on the Text

In the interviews and the situation report, all names of those interviewed have been changed and some details have been omitted where necessary to protect people from retaliation. False names are shown in double quotes. The captions under the quotes in the situation report include the interviewee’s (changed) name, gender, age and village, and a reference to the interview or field report number. These numbers can be used to find the full text of the interview or field report in the interview annex. All SPDC order documents which are duplicated or quoted here can be found in the KHRG reports "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A" (KHRG #2000-01, 29/2/00) and "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villagers: Set 2000-B"(KHRG #2000-04, 12/10/00).

The text often refers to villages, village tracts and townships. The SPDC has local administration, called Peace & Development Councils, at the village, village tract, township, and state/division levels. A village tract is a group of 5-25 villages centred on a large village; for example, Kler Lah village tract has over 10 villages and its administration is in Kler Lah (Baw Ga Li Gyi) village, which has over 600 households. A township is a much larger area, administered from a central town. The Karen National Union (KNU) divides Toungoo District into two townships: Taw Ta Tu in the south and Daw Pa Kho in the north. In Burmese, Taw Ta Tu is called Tantabin and Daw Pa Kho is called Than Daung. The official townships used by the SPDC do not correspond to the Karen townships; in this report we have used the townships as defined by the Karen, though usually referring to them by their more familiar Burmese names. In this region most villages and towns have both a Karen and a Burmese name, and both appear in this report depending on which are used by the villagers. Some examples are shown below.

Burmese              Karen                                    Burmese                  Karen

Toungoo               Taw Oo                                   Yay Dta Gone            Klaw Mi Der
Tantabin               Taw Ta Tu                               Maung Nweh Gyi       Ker Weh
Than Daung           Daw Pa Kho                             Taw Bya Gyi             Pa Li Kee
Baw Ga Li Gyi       Kler Lah                                  Taw Bya Ka Lay         K’Thwee Dee
Baw Ga Li Lay       Wah Tho Ko                             Si Keh Doh              Si Kheh Der
Yay Tho Gyi          Kaw Thay Der                          Saw Wah Doh           Hsaw Wah Der
Yay Tho Lay          Klay Soe Kee                            Kyaut Pon                Ler Ko
Yay Shan               Per Htoo                                 Dtay Sein Taung        Kaw Soh Ko
Loe Pu                  Swa Loh

Than Daung Gyi is used in this report to distinguish it (the Than Daung found on most maps) from New Than Daung (a.k.a. Than Daung Myothit), which is where the township offices are located.

In the interviews villagers often refer to ‘loh ah pay’; literally this is the traditional Burmese form of voluntary labour for the community, but the SPDC uses this name in most cases of forced labour, and to the villagers it has come to mean most forms of forced labour with the exception of long-term portering. The villagers also often mention ‘last year’; if the interview occurred in late 1999, this means prior to the rainy season, or October 1998 to May 1999. All numeric dates in this report are in dd/mm/yy format.

Terms and Abbreviations

SPDC        State Peace & Development Council, military junta ruling Burma
PDC          Peace & Development Council, SPDC local-level administration
               (e.g. Village PDC [VPDC], Village Tract PDC, Township PDC [TPDC])
SLORC      State Law & Order Restoration Council, former name of the SPDC until Nov. 1997
KNU         Karen National Union, main Karen opposition group
KNLA       Karen National Liberation Army, army of the KNU
DKBA       Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Karen group allied with SLORC/SPDC
IB             Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers fighting strength
LIB           Light Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers fighting strength
Ta Pa Ka   Abbreviation for SPDC’s Southern Regional Military Command
Na Pa Ka   Abbreviation for SPDC’s Western Military Command from Rakhine State
Sa Ka Ka   Abbreviation for SPDC’s Military Operations Commands, for offensive operations
Viss          Unit of weight measure; one viss is 1.6 kilograms or 3.5 pounds
Bowl/Pyi   Volume of rice equal to 8 small condensed milk tins; 
                about 2 kilograms / 4.4 pounds
Kyat          Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat at official rate, 300+ Kyat at current market rate
loh ah pay Forced labour; literally it means traditional voluntary labour, but not under SP

Introduction / Executive Summary

Toungoo District (or Taw Oo in Karen) forms the northern tip of Karen State, sandwiched between Karenni State to the east, Shan State to the north, and Pegu Division to the west. The district is divided into two townships with the Toungoo-Kler Lah car road acting as the boundary between them. Than Daung (Daw Pa Ko) township lies to the north of the road and Tantabin (Taw Ta Tu) township to the south. The vast majority of villagers in the area are Karen. Many live in small, isolated villages in the very steep and forested hills which cover most of the district. To the west, the hills drop off to the gentler terrain of the Sittaung River valley and Toungoo town.

The villagers in the western plains of the district have for the past three to four years faced heavy demands for forced labour on roads and at army camps. Things have been even worse for the villagers to the east. The area has long been a stronghold for the KNU, however the SLORC/SPDC has managed to steadily increase its military presence in the area over the past four years. In the areas to the east of the Day Loh and the Yaw Loh Rivers, which cannot be effectively controlled by the SPDC, the villagers have all been forced into living in the forest. The past four years have seen the military pursue a sustained campaign to drive out these villagers by burning their homes, destroying their crops and shooting them on sight. Villages have been forcibly relocated two and sometimes three times to gain control of areas. The situation is not much better for the villagers in SPDC controlled areas. They have to constantly face demands from the Army for money, materials and forced labour while struggling to earn a living at the same time.

There are six or more battalions from the Southern Regional Military Command, headquartered in Toungoo, regularly stationed in the district. Battalions from the Western Regional Military Command have also been present in the area for a number of years now. The district is roughly divided with the Western Command units operating in Than Daung township and the Southern Command units operating in Tantabin township. In the southwest of Tantabin township, the Sa Thon Lon Guerrilla Retaliation units operate. These execution squads were set up by the SPDC in 1998 to find and execute any villagers who have ever had any contact with the KNU/KNLA. A new group calling itself the Nyein Chan Yay A’Pweh (Peace Group) appeared in late 1997. It is made up of soldiers from the KNLA’s 2nd Brigade who surrendered in the far north of the district. The group has only a few soldiers and has not been afforded any special advantages nor been given any organising power by the SPDC. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a Karen group allied with the SPDC which operates in the southern districts, is not present in Toungoo District. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) operates in the hill areas of much of the district, conducting guerrilla operations against SPDC columns and camps.

The larger villages along the car road such as Kler Lah (Baw Ga Li Gyi), Kaw Thay Der (Yay Tho Gyi) and Naw Soe are under tight SPDC control and have Army camps adjacent to them. Kler Lah has become a relocation site, with all the villages to the north and east of it forcibly relocated there in 1998. These villages are known as Nyein Chan Yay (‘Peace’) villages in reference to an informal agreement between the village leaders and the local military that the villagers will cooperate with SPDC demands and in return will not be forcibly relocated or have their houses burned down. The leaders of these villages still receive regular demands for "porter fees" and other extortion money and material. The Army also sends regular demands for porters, and it is to avoid sending people for this that the villagers pool their money together to hire itinerant labourers through labour agents in Toungoo. Despite paying the money, the villagers still have to periodically go as porters to carry rations to outlying camps. While portering they are usually sent in front of the soldiers to act as human minesweepers. It is often the women who go as porters, as the men are afraid of being taken for several months if they go. The villagers also have to supply forced labourers on a rotating basis for labour at the Army camps and as messengers. In addition they must go to work building or repairing the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee and Kler Lah-Mawchi car roads. The forced relocation of many of the villages to Kler Lah has turned it into a pool of readily exploitable labour.

Villages in the hills to the south of the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car road and around Than Daung have been joining the Nyein Chan Yay scheme. While most do not have Army camps next to them they do have to respond to the demands from the nearest camp for "porter fees", extortion money, food, materials, and forced labour porters. These villages are closer to the frontline, so the SPDC columns often come through them. When battles occur with the KNLA it is these villages which suffer, despite their Nyein Chan Yay status.

The villages in the eastern part of the district have been dubbed Ywa Bone (‘Hiding’) villages. The villagers here are all internally displaced and scratch out a living by staying in the forest, planting small fields nearby and running whenever SPDC units come. SPDC columns shoot them on sight, burn their houses and paddy barns, uproot their crops, and destroy their fields. This is to force the villagers to come down to the SPDC relocation sites. Many of the villagers in the forest originally went to the sites but fled into the forest to escape the constant demands put on them for forced labour and money, preferring instead to live on the run.

Starting in 1995, villagers throughout Tantabin township were forced to construct a road from Kaw Thay Der to Bu Sah Kee to facilitate the SPDC’s control over that area. Several Army camps have been established along the road at Kaw Thay Der, Naw Soe, Si Kheh Der, K’Law Soe and Bu Sah Kee. Although completed in 1998, the road is not yet passable in the rainy season, making it necessary to conscript large numbers of villagers to carry supplies to these camps and to repair the road when the rains finish. Another new road building project was begun in 1998 to rebuild an old colonial road from Kler Lah to the mines at Mawchi in southwestern Karenni (Kayah) State. By the end of the 2000 dry season the road had been completed as far as Sho Ser near the border with Karenni State, but is also not passable in the rainy season. To secure the area, the Army has built camps along the road at Koh Day, Tha Aye Hta and Wah Baw Day. The heavy military presence and forced labour demands that came with the two road projects have displaced all of the villagers in the area. The work on the roads and all the portering for the Army camps along them is done by villagers taken from Kler Lah and Kaw Thay Der, as the villagers along the roads have all fled into the forest. A new road construction project from Bu Sah Kee southwest to Ma La Daw in Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) District and another one from Than Daung to Ker Weh village have caused increases in forced labour and portering along their routes. To facilitate a tourism project in Than Daung Gyi, villagers have been forced out of their homes, their plantations have been confiscated and they have been forced to work on the project. A dam building project on the Day Loh River at Pa Leh Wah is also reportedly using forced labour.

The continually deteriorating situation in the district is severely impoverishing the villagers. For the villagers in the relocation sites and the Nyein Chan Yay villages, doing the forced labour and finding money to pay all the ‘fees’ demanded by the military leaves them not enough time to work in their fields. Their attempts at business and commercial agriculture are destroyed. The prices of commodity goods, food and rice are very high due to the bribes which traders must pay at the Army checkpoints along the route up from Toungoo. Some items like batteries and medicine are either prohibited or closely regulated in an attempt to keep them from the KNLA. For the internally displaced villagers, bad weather and the military’s campaign to destroy their crops has left them with very little to eat and no chance to make any money. While the Nyein Chan Yay villagers do have some access to very poor quality educational and health facilities, high prices and a lack of income keeps even these out of reach for most villagers. For the villagers in the forest there is virtually no access at all to medicine or schools. Many of them are dying, and a whole generation is growing up malnourished and uneducated, on the run.

The Military Situation

"The KNU soldiers also stay here and do their work. When they [KNLA] see us they don’t shoot us and when we see them we don’t shoot them, but when the SPDC soldiers and the KNU soldiers see each other there is shooting. If the KNLA see the SPDC soldiers first, they avoid them and if the SPDC soldiers see them first, they avoid the KNLA. … If the SPDC soldiers met the KNU they would torture the villagers and the village headman. They said if the KNU shoot and kill them, they will kill the whole village. I told them that they came to fight the KNU and not the villagers, but they didn’t like that." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

Since the late 1960’s successive Burmese military governments have had a policy of undermining resistance groups by attacking the civilian populations who support them. The area of the district to the west of the Sittaung River is strongly SPDC controlled and KNLA forces do not operate there. The plains to the east of the Sittaung River do not see much KNLA activity, but the villages in the area have been repeatedly relocated by the military. At one point in 1999 all trade and travel was prohibited between the plains and the mountains.

In Than Daung township, the area north of the Toungoo-Kler Lah car road up to around Than Daung Gyi is an area of relocation sites and Nyein Chan Yay (‘Peace’) villages. SPDC control of this area is tenuous, but road building projects and plans to make Than Daung Gyi a tourist resort (see below under ‘Than Daung Gyi and Tourism’) will probably result in stronger efforts to gain total control over the area. Further east, the area north of the Kler Lah-Mawchi car road and east of the Day Loh River is not under direct SPDC control, but the military’s targeting of villagers and their crops in that area has forced all the villagers to flee into the forest. The Toungoo-Mawchi car road and the camps being built along it will bring a much greater SPDC military presence to the area and provide secure bases to further extend SPDC control. Already the villagers along the road have fled into the forest.

To the south in Tantabin township, the area around Klaw Mi Der is known as a Nyein Chan Yay area, but both the SPDC and the KNLA operate here. The building of the Kler Lah to Bu Sah Kee car road has given the SPDC much greater access to the southeast portion of this township. All of the villages on or near this road, and those in the triangle between it and the Kler Lah-Mawchi road, have fled into the forest. A new military access road starting from Bu Sah Kee and going southwest to Ma La Daw in Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) District will surely mean a heavier SPDC military presence in that area as well.

"They have also stationed soldiers along the road. The soldiers’ bunkers are everywhere along the road to Kler Lah, which the Burmese call Baw Ga Li Gyi. The soldiers are staying at Baw Ga Li Gyi camp. They also have camps at Kaw Thay Der, Naw Soe, Ta Kwih Soe and Bu Sah Kee. The strategic commander stays at Bu Sah Kee. The Army also stays at Koh Day, Tha Aye Hta, there are many soldiers at Tha Aye Hta, and Wah Baw Day." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

Toungoo District comes under the area responsibility of the Southern Regional Military Command (abbreviated ‘Ta Pa Ka’) headquartered in Toungoo. The command is divided into three Strategic Operations Commands, each of which has 3 to 4 battalions. The Strategic Operations Commands are each responsible for an area, and their soldiers are deployed at camps and patrol the surrounding terrain. The commands and their battalions rotate in and out of the area every four months. The SPDC battalions operating in the area are Infantry Battalions (IB) #26, 30, 35, 39, 48, 53, 59, 73, and 92, and Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) #349 and 439. The Southern Command units operate along the Toungoo-Mawchi car road and in Tantabin township with one of their Strategic Operations Commands headquartered at Bu Sah Kee.

For the past few years the Western Regional Command (‘Na Pa Ka’), with its headquarters at Sittwe in Arakan (Rakhine) State, has always stationed at least one Strategic Operations Command in Toungoo District. Currently, their Strategic Operations Commands #1, 2 and 3 rotate through the district on the same 4 month schedule. Their battalions include IB’s #20, 34, 55, 60, 124, 232, and 234 and LIB’s #344, 354 and 538. The Western Command units are stationed in Than Daung township and take their orders from Southern Command headquarters in Toungoo. Occasionally units from other regions are also brought in to the district for offensive or ‘special’ operations. Military Operations Command (‘Sa Ka Ka’) #6 was brought in to the area around Than Daung Gyi from January 2000 until the end of March to secure the area for the construction of a tourist resort there. Sa Ka Ka commands, which comprise up to 10 Battalions, can be equivalent in strength to Light Infantry Divisions but are not tied to any particular region, and are becoming more prevalent in Burma. Sa Ka Ka #6, with LIB’s #19, 306, 412 and 414 assigned to it, is headquartered in Pyinmana (in southern Mandalay Division) and comes under the Central Regional Command in Mandalay.

"The units of Ta Pa Ka [Southern Military Command] are IB #53, 26, 59, and 48. They are the most active in the area. IB #30 and 35 are also units of ‘Ta Pa Ka’, ‘Toung Bine Sit Hta Na Choke’ [Southern Command Headquarters] but stay at Taw Oo central. The one who gives the orders is the ‘Ta Pa Ka Tine Mu’ [Southern Command Commander]. Right now he is ‘Tine Mu’ Major General Tin Aye. … The Western Command is in Than Daung township, but their headquarters is at Sittwe [in Arakan State]. They are staying to the east of the Day Loh Kloh [Day Loh River]." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

"There is always an army unit in Kler Lah. These units are always rotating and moving up and down. They have a camp there and the battalions at Kler Lah are mostly under the Southern Command Headquarters. IB #39 comes to stay sometimes, IB #48, 53 and 26 also come to stay. The units under Southern Command Headquarters are mostly infantry battalions [garrison units]. Each unit comes to stay there for 4 months. IB #26 just rotated in at the beginning of June, so I think they haven’t rotated yet." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

Heavily fortified army camps have been built along the Kler Lah to Bu Sah Kee car road at Kaw Thay Der, K’Law Soe, Naw Soe, Si Kheh Der and Bu Sah Kee, and along the Kler Lah to Mawchi car road at Koh Day, Tha Aye Hta, and Wah Baw Day, to secure the roads and extend control over the surrounding areas. While the SPDC units in the area are numerous, their discipline is often lax and morale very low. There have been many desertions in the area and at least one killing of an officer by his own men. The decision to desert is not made lightly, as the penalty is death.

"Security is very important for building these things so in March of this year [2000], Sa Ka Ka [Military Operations Command] #6, LIB #19, 306 and 412 came up to control the places. LIB #349, 439, and 344 and IB #34, 20, 55, and 124 came with them. There were a lot of battalions so there was also a lot of forced labour as porters." - security for Than Daung Gyi tourism project; field report from KHRG field researcher (FR #1, 8/00)

"The opportunities for SPDC private soldiers and their commanders are so uneven. For one, the officers use a lot of power on the private soldiers and increasingly force them to loot things from the villagers." - field report from KHRG field researcher (FR, 1/00-8/00)

"After that the soldiers captured the deserters in xxxx village. The villagers from xxxx came and told us that after the soldiers captured the two deserters they beat, kicked and tortured them until they bled and their faces became swollen until they couldn’t see, then the soldiers killed them." - field report from KHRG field researcher (FR #1, 8/00)

Since early 1999, the Sa Thon Lon Dam Byan Byaut Kya (Bureau of Special Investigations Guerrilla Retaliation Units) have been active in the plains of southwestern Tantabin township. The villagers also refer to them as Guerrilla units, Baw Bi Doh (‘Short Pants’, in reference to the civilian clothing they wear), and a few other names. The Sa Thon Lon units enter villages and summarily execute villagers for any past or present association with any opposition group. The soldiers in the Sa Thon Lon units are Non-Commissioned Officers hand-picked from the battalions in the Southern Command and given special training, and they report to Military Intelligence in Toungoo. Their total number is estimated at about 200. In the field they operate in sections of 5 to 10 men and usually independently of the regular SPDC units; SPDC Army commanders have often told villagers that they have no control over the Sa Thon Lon units. They usually wear civilian clothing, carry non-standard weapons and move by night. They operate covertly but speak openly to villagers of their purpose, and their methods are deliberately brutal in order to intimidate the villagers; they usually cut the throats of their victims, then often behead them. They are also notorious for rape, sexual harassment and abuse of women, and in Nyaunglebin District several of them have forced young women to marry them by threatening their families and villages. Their main area of operation is just south of Tantabin township, in the plains west of the Sittaung River in Nyaunglebin District, where villagers estimate that they have executed 100 or more people since their inception in late 1998.

"In 1999, the Southern Regional Command deputy commander, Thu Ra Maung Ni, organised the ‘Dam Byan Byaut Kya’ [Guerrilla Retaliation] unit with 180 men in Zayatkyi ‘Dine Nay’ [a grouping of villages for the purpose of revenue collection], Tantabin township. They accused the villagers of carrying weapons in the jungle [being KNLA] and in the area where the ‘Byaut Kya’ operated, they caused the deaths of 106 innocent villagers." - written report received from a villager in Than Daung township (FR #2, 8/00)

So far the Sa Thon Lon have only a limited presence in Toungoo district and do not operate in the hills. The Sa Thon Lon do not actively engage the KNLA and function more as a "clean up" crew to eliminate any lingering support for the KNU in areas which are already under firm SPDC control. One villager from Toungoo District reported that the Sa Thon Lon had killed over 100 villagers in Tantabin township since the beginning of 1999. During 1999 the Sa Thon Lon prohibited trade and travel between the plains and the mountains in Tantabin township and executed anyone they saw violating the order, stole their goods, and even burned their villages. This campaign was directed at Burmans as well as Karen and effectively cut the mountain villages off from the plains. In the year 2000 many villagers have said the Sa Thon Lon are not killing as much, but they are demanding food and alcohol. They were involved in the relocation of the villagers in the Swa Loh area and in hunting down any villagers who tried to avoid the relocations. [For more information on the Sa Thon Lon units see"Death Squads and Displacement: Systematic Executions, Destruction of Villages and the Flight of Villagers in Nyaunglebin District" (KHRG #99-04, 24/4/99).]

"Battalion #26 and some guerrillas [‘Sa Thon Lon’] came in April [1999] and tortured 3 villagers. They killed all three people. The soldiers came to kill them, but I don’t know why they killed them."- "Saw Lah Thaw" (M, 32), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #6, 10/99)

"There is always one person from the ‘Sa Thon Lon’ in each column. … The infantry battalions wear uniforms when they come, but the ‘Sa Thon Lon’ do not wear uniforms. They wear the same clothes as the civilians but with short pants and guns. The ‘Sa Thon Lon’ come to investigate whether the villagers are contacting the outside people or not [with KNU/KNLA]. If any of the villagers have contact with the outside people, the ‘Sa Thon Lon’ kill them." - "Saw Wah" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #2, 12/99)

"The guerrillas of the SPDC army [Sa Thon Lon] from the plains area have now gone around to clean the area of Swa Loh, Day Loh and the area at the bottom of the mountains in many steps. They are also demanding food, rice and many kinds of things from the villagers." - field report form KHRG field researcher and KNU intelligence (FR, 1/00-8/00)

Compared to other districts further south, the SPDC has not been very successful at establishing Karen splinter groups in Toungoo District. The DKBA has never operated in Toungoo District. However, in September 1997 two KNLA officers, Saw Peh Ree Moe and Saw Kweh Moo, and about 30 of their men surrendered to the SPDC in Than Daung township. Both men had been recalled to KNU headquarters after reports that they were embezzling logging profits, but rather than face punishment they chose to surrender to the SPDC. Both were welcomed by the SPDC and praised in the SPDC’s main newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, for ‘exchanging arms for peace.’ To give the impression of a major surrender, villagers were made to wear military uniforms at the surrender ceremony. The two surrendered groups are not allowed to stay near each other. Saw Peh Ree Moe and his men stay at Leit Tho in the north of Than Daung township and Saw Kweh Moo was moved to Pya Sakan. At Pya Sakan, the SPDC confiscated the villagers’ betelnut plantations and houses and gave them to Kweh Moo’s group. A second surrender took place in October of 1999, after the surrender of Peh Ree Moe and Kweh Moo left only 2nd Lieutenant Kyaw Pwa and 8 soldiers in the KNU-designated Leit Tho Special Area in the far north of Than Daung township near the Toungoo-Loikaw car road. The SPDC units in the area were very active, and also enlisted the help of a Roman Catholic priest, Father Thein Maung, to pressure the villagers into persuading Kyaw Pwa to surrender. Under this pressure Kyaw Pwa surrendered. Over 200 villagers were reportedly forced to wear military uniforms for the surrender ceremony held in Toungoo, as Kyaw Pwa only had 8 soldiers. All three of these groups have been allowed to retain their weapons, but they are closely watched. The three groups are now collectively calling themselves the Nyein Chan Yay A’Pweh(‘Peace Group’). They have been allowed to set up business offices in Toungoo and even as far south as Myawaddy on the Thai-Burma border across from Mae Sot. They have also been allowed to conduct logging in the Men Haw Reserve Forest. This forest reserve was set up by the KNU in the Leit Tho Special Area and logging was forbidden there, but now the SPDC and the Peace Group have begun cutting. The Peace Group has also put out propaganda letters encouraging villagers and KNU/KNLA members to join them. The following is a typical excerpt from one such letter that they widely distributed in 1999:

"[We are] Talking to you about the light. Come back to peace along the path strewn with flowers. Our National Government [SPDC], people, and Tatmadaw [Military] will welcome you just as parents welcome their children. They are arranging everything for our living even though we don’t need it. We are also getting a chance to develop our lands and our Karen nationals in a good way. We also want you to taste and feel peace like us. You will see the truth and leave the darkness, and you will stay in the light." [The full statement is published as Order #292 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A" (KHRG #2000-01, 29/2/00)]

They have not, however, been given any power to represent the people in their areas. Very few people want to work with them and they have not actively recruited any soldiers. Forced labour and other abuses have continued in their areas, and in early 2000 the villages in the Leit Tho area were forcibly relocated to Leit Tho village. They have reportedly had some contact with P’Doh Aung San, a formerly high-ranking KNU member who surrendered in 1998 and lives near Pa’an in central Karen State; he reportedly keeps in contact with these groups by radio. The Peace Group in Toungoo District is completely separate from another group in Dooplaya District which also calls itself ‘Nyein Chan Yay A’Pweh’; this latter group, also known as the Karen Peace Army (KPA), was formed much farther south in 1997 by former KNLA officer Thu Mu Heh. The name ‘Peace Group’ also bears no relation to the so-called ‘Peace Villages’ in Toungoo District. Since 1997, the SPDC has been using the name ‘peace’ for everything, as an attempt to show that it is creating peace; hence ‘Peace Group’, ‘Peace Village’, ‘exchanging arms for peace’, and ‘State Peace and Development Council’.

"They don’t have any special power to represent the civilians. They can’t do it. They can only work for themselves. We see that they are doing business." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

"They were welcomed in Leit Tho and guaranteed that there would be no more fighting in the villages and that the villagers would be able to work freely for their living. In reality, portering and ‘loh ah pay’ still occur continuously in the Than Daung and Leit Tho areas." - field report from KHRG field researcher (FR#1, 8/00)

"There were only 8 soldiers, so the SPDC made over 200 villagers wear soldier uniforms and a celebration was held in Taw Oo town’s football field." - field report from KHRG field researcher (FR #1, 8/00)

Although the northern part of the district around Leit Tho was lost to them when Kyaw Pwa surrendered in October 1999, the KNLA is still very active in the rest of the district ambushing SPDC columns and attacking small outposts. The mountains and forests of most of Toungoo District make ideal terrain for guerrilla warfare and the KNLA is able to contest much of the district with small numbers of soldiers. They have been able to mount ambushes around the big SPDC bases at Kler Lah and Than Daung Gyi as well as along the car roads. In May 2000 the KNLA was able to penetrate Than Daung Gyi and blow up part of the road there. The SPDC response to these attacks is increased repression of the civilian population. In retaliation for the Than Daung Gyi attack the town section heads were beaten and tortured, and all the villages in the surrounding area were threatened that their villages would be burned down if there was any sound of gunshots or if a landmine exploded. Whenever SPDC troops are attacked or step on landmines and suffer casualties, they often retaliate against the nearest village. Village elders are arrested, cash compensation is demanded, villagers are executed, and sometimes the villages are burned. The KNLA is a guerrilla army, so most of its soldiers have family in the villages of the area. In early 2000, two KNLA officers were forced to surrender after heavy pressure was put on their families in Kler Lah. In the Nyein Chan Yay villages, the village elders can still be arrested and tortured and large cash payments are demanded. Sometimes guns or walkie-talkies are demanded. The villagers are often threatened with having their homes burned or being killed if anything should happen to the soldiers. Villagers have on occasion been rounded up and forced to walk between the soldiers in the hope that the KNLA won’t ambush them if they see the civilians.

"On 2/5/2000 at 12:00, KNLA troops entered Than Daung [Gyi] town and detonated a bomb which destroyed more than half of the car road. Immediately after the explosion, a unit of the SPDC in Than Daung town shelled the area around Than Daung with their big guns and Naw M---- [a woman] was injured." - field report from KHRG field researcher and KNU intelligence (FR, 1/00-8/00)

"If the resistance people go to plant landmines or shoot at them near the village, the soldiers [SPDC] will shoot at the villagers. The commander told me he would shoot and burn the houses." - "Saw Tha Muh Htoo" (M, 45), headman from xxxx village (Interview #4, 10/99)

"After the battle ended, they wanted to send their soldiers back because many of them were injured and a commander with 3 stars [a Captain] had serious injuries. They wanted to send him to Than Daung, but they dared not because they were worried that the KNLA would ambush them again on the way, so they called all the villagers and children from that village. There were about 60 or 70 people. When the people [KNU] collected the register, there were about 62 women. They forced all the villagers to go between the soldiers, one or two between each soldier." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

Landmines are becoming an increasingly serious problem throughout Burma and Toungoo District is no exception. Both sides lay landmines, and it is often the villagers who are the victims. Many villagers have been maimed or killed after stepping on them while walking on trails or working in their fields. SPDC military units sometimes leave them in the fields or near the houses in villages that they have ordered to relocate, or in villages where the villagers have run away. This is to keep the villagers from returning to their villages or to work in their fields. Villagers taken as porters are often forced to walk in front of the soldiers as human minesweepers. This happens regularly along the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car road. According to the KNU, in the beginning of June the SPDC’s Southern Regional Commander, Major General Tin Aye, ordered his units in Than Daung and Tantabin townships to lay more landmines. The order originated at Army Headquarters, Rangoon. Other reports indicate that more landmines have been laid in June 2000. When the road building was temporarily halted at the beginning of the rainy season on the Mawchi road, many landmines were left in the Sho Ser area where the SPDC had not yet built a camp to secure the area.

"When we were travelling in the jungle, they planted landmines. Right now they are planting landmines and our children are being hurt by the landmines. The buffaloes are being hurt by the landmines." - "Saw Ner Muh" (M, xx), internally displaced villager from xxxx village (Interview #8, 11/99)

"They planted landmines near the army camps and close to the villages, in the jungle. They plant them around the hills in the places which they want to defend. They also plant them near the villages and on the paths that the villagers travel on and can’t avoid. Sometimes when the villagers are travelling they step on them and die." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

 Nyein Chan Yay Villages and Relocation Sites

"We are suffering from many kinds of problems. The people who have some belongings are better off, but the people who have nothing are in bad shape. As I see it, there is no comfort in our houses and we have only a little bit of time to sleep and eat. We can’t live like this… I am sure the villagers are not happy, they cannot earn a living easily and they are poor." - "Saw Eh Doh" (M, 45), Kler Lah relocation site (Interview #7, 11/99)

The decades old policy of attacking the armed opposition groups through their civilian populations has been in effect in Toungoo District for some time now. The villages in the hills within reach of Army bases have long been subject to heavy demands for forced labour and extortion by the military. If the demands are not met, the village elders can be arrested and executed and the villagers’ homes burned. In order to deny support to the resistance, villages have been relocated to bigger villages which lie along the car road or adjacent to Army camps. The houses of the villagers are then burned and their crops destroyed. This happened in the Kler Lah area in 1991, 1997 and 1998, in the Klaw Mi Der area in 1991, 1996 and 1997, and in the Yay Shan area in 1992 and 1993. After years of enduring these conditions, it was in the hope of curbing some of the abuses that the elders of some villages came to an informal understanding with the military. These villagers have given promises to cut off all contact with opposition groups, to report on all movements and activities of the resistance forces, and to fully and completely comply with any demands or orders from the SPDC Army. In return, the military has given assurances that the villagers will not be arrested, tortured or executed, their villages will not be forced to move, and their homes will not be burned. The villages which have agreed to this arrangement have been dubbed ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ (‘Peace’) villages by the SPDC commanders. This scheme appears to have started with Kler Lah and the villages along the Toungoo-Kler Lah car road, but has now expanded to include villages south of the car road near Klaw Mi Der Army camp and west of the Day Loh River near Than Daung Gyi. These villages include Kheh Der, Mwee Loh, Swa Loh, Meh Pyaw Der, Klaw Mi Der, Hu Mu Der, Plaw Baw Der, Ler Kla Der and Play Hsa Loh. The Nyein Chan Yay villages of Kler Lah and Kaw Thay Der include large numbers of forcibly relocated villagers. The villages around Klaw Mi Der, while less tightly controlled, must still comply with all the military’s demands.

"I live in a ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ area. There are 6 villages in this area. The Burmese called the other villages to join ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ but the villagers didn’t come." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

 

"They don’t burn the houses in the Nyein Chan Yay area, but they do burn the villages outside [the ‘Ywa Bone’ villages]. Recently, in August, #59 [IB] burned down 5 houses from Ko Lu village." - "Saw Wah" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #2, 12/99)

Forcible village relocations can and still do occur, from outlying villages and even on occasion from Nyein Chan Yay villages. In mid-2000 the villages around Leit Tho, in northern Than Daung township, were forcibly relocated to Leit Tho village. Many stayed there for only a short time before fleeing into the forest. In early April 2000, two SPDC soldiers deserted with their weapons near Swa Loh village, Tantabin township. Although they never reached Swa Loh village and were later recaptured and executed, their weapons were never found. The SPDC Army’s response was to punish the villagers, so all of the villages in the Swa Loh area were relocated to Ta See Kwee Milah (‘19-Mile’) along the Toungoo-Kler Lah car road, and their villages were burned down. This is in spite of the fact that Swa Loh was previously considered a Nyein Chan Yay village. Another Nyein Chan Yay village in the south of the district received the order document below in July 2000. When the village still hadn’t moved 4 weeks later, the local military commander threatened to shoot the village head (see Order #2 in the Orders Appendix).

[This order was also published as Order #1 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-B" (KHRG #2000-04, 12/10/00).]

"Although they had caught the two SPDC deserters at xxxx, the Ta Pa Ka [Southern Regional Command] ordered all of the columns from IB #39, 53, 73, and 92 to find the guns of the two deserters. To get the guns they arrested, tortured and beat all of the male or female or children villagers that they saw. On 11/4/2000, they beat and tortured a lot of Swa Loh villagers including men, women, children and old people. Then they drove all the villagers they could capture together into the church and tortured them in many ways and killed some of them. They demanded the villagers look for the guns until they found them, and said that if they could not find them, the soldiers would torture and kill more villagers and burn down the whole village. The villagers knew nothing about the 3 guns that the deserters carried with them because the deserters had already gone to the place where Company #1 [KNLA] was. The villagers were still tortured in many ways and as ordered from above, they burned down all of the houses and belongings in Swa Loh village. … Then they drove all of the Swa Loh villagers to 19-Mile, on the car road. There were 35 families in Swa Loh, 89 males and 73 females including children for a total of 162 people. They did not have clothing, food or houses [at the new place]. They had to build all of their houses and shelters themselves. While they were moving they could not carry their food with them and the SPDC did not provide them with any food, so they had to face a very difficult problem about food. … The columns destroyed and burned the Swa Loh villagers’ betelnut crops and banana crops. As per their orders from higher up, they had to torture the villagers until they got back their guns." - field report from KHRG field researcher and KNU intelligence (FR, 1/00-8/00)

In 1998 the villages of Maw Ko Der, Peh Kaw Der, Der Doh, Naw Thay Der, Klay Soe Kee, Thay Kaw Der and Ku Pler Der were forcibly relocated to Kler Lah and not allowed to return home. These villages each now occupy their own ground around the perimeter of Kler Lah village and keep their own headmen, but are often referred to by the SPDC simply as sections of Kler Lah village, and both the original inhabitants and the relocated villagers are now considered as Nyein Chan Yay villagers. Relocated villagers are looked on by the military as a convenient pool of forced labour, and these relocations have turned Kler Lah and Kaw Thay Der into large forced labour camps. Villagers there are taken daily to carry supplies to the Army camps along the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee and Kler Lah-Mawchi car roads, and to work on these car roads in the dry season. A new dam project which has begun on the Day Loh River near Pa Leh Wah will probably result in the forcible relocation of more villages in the area. There are already reports that forced labour is being used on the project.

"They forced the villagers to move to the relocation site many times. They forced them to relocate one time in 1991. Then they forced them again in 1997, but the villagers went to stay there for only a short time. They went for a month and then they were allowed to go back and stay in their own villages. In 1998 they were forced to stay until now. The soldiers haven’t allowed them to come back. … Recently, they made many relocations in the Leit Tho area, but it didn’t work. The villagers went to stay for a while, but then they ran back and disappeared, so I can’t tell you which villages." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

"I have come to stay in Kler Lah. The government tormented us and forced us to come stay here. They are keeping us like a group of insects. They don’t understand the difficulties we have in coming to stay in this village. They don’t take care of us or see whether we are getting food or not, the only thing they understand is that we must stay here. Some people are getting seriously sick. They are suffering from many different things." - "Pu Htaw Say" (M, 52), Kler Lah relocation site (Interview #15, 11/99)

Contrary to the informal agreement, the Nyein Chan Yay villages are still threatened with forced relocation or violence. They have been told that any contact with the resistance forces or skirmishes near their villages will result in the villages being burned and the villagers killed. This was borne out when Swa Loh village was relocated in mid-April, a move that was accompanied by the torture of villagers and imprisonment of the headman and his family (see above). In their day to day dealings with the military, the village headmen are regularly abused when demands for forced labourers, money, food and materials are not met quickly enough. In the Nyein Chan Yay villages, the Army deals through the village headmen and focuses all punishment on the headmen, knowing that if the entire population is abused then they may flee the village en masse. The end result is that the headmen have no choice but to press the villagers to respond to the SPDC demands, even when the villagers do not have the means to do so. The headmen must distribute the burden between the families of the village and the villagers try to comply in order to save their headmen and their village, but quarrels sometimes break out over how to share the burden of all the demands. People try to stay in the village, but in the end many see no option but to flee. At the end of 1999, the headman from Peh Kaw Der village, which is a part of the Kler Lah relocation site, committed suicide due to the pressure put on him to meet the continuous demands for forced labour, money, food, and porters. Order #12 in the Orders Appendix is a typical example of demands which village heads receive on a regular basis, while Order #3 shows the type of heavy-handed threats used to pressure the village head to comply.

"The soldiers arrest the village headmen and demand things only from them, because they are worried that the news would spread everywhere [that they are abusing the villagers]. That is why they do not do it to the villagers. They only put the village headman under duress." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M., 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

"As soon as you receive this letter, Chairperson yourself must come to yyyy Army Camp. If not, [we] will fire a big weapon into the village." - text of Order #3 (Orders Appendix)

"As for crossing our ricefield and destroying many seedlings, if this matter occurs again I will take action on you. I will shoot your group…" - text from Order #12 (Orders Appendix)

"They had gone to where their enemies were staying in the ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ and the ‘Ywa Bone’ areas and a battle occurred, that is why they found fault with me [no one had told them the KNLA was nearby]. I don’t know if anyone was injured, but they said no one was. If someone had been injured, they would have killed all the people from the ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ village." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

The SPDC officers have said that they have come to ‘organise’ the villagers, but no real organising has taken place. No organisations have been set up in the villages to foster political, social or economic cooperation with the SPDC. While Nyein Chan Yay status conferred on a village does provide for a measure of stability, it is an informal arrangement and is not official SPDC policy, so many of the abuses still continue. In the beginning,Nyein Chan Yay status implied an informal agreement between the village elders and the military, but now it is more common for SPDC Army officers to simply decree that a village is Nyein Chan Yay and that elders and the village as a whole will be punished for any contact with the resistance, and the elders have little choice but to sit there and agree if they do not want to be arrested. Some villages are simply told that they are Nyein Chan Yay villages, without an agreement of any kind being discussed. The SPDC officers have told the villagers that one of their aims is to keep the villagers in the villages, but this is at odds with the system of forced labour, extortion, and material demands which are impoverishing the villagers to the point where they are considering fleeing.

"They want the villagers to stay. They didn’t say they would unite the villagers or destroy the KNU or fight the bad people. They said they would come to visit us." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Inteview #3, 10/99)

"They said they must come to organise the villagers. The second thing they had come to do is to exchange the weapons for peace. They must call the outside people [the KNU/KNLA] back to work together with them. If the soldiers are unable to call them, then no one can contact the outside people." - "Tha Muh Htoo" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #4, 10/99)

Many of the villagers relocated to Kler Lah in recent years have already fled back to their villages due to the heavy demands for forced labour and extortion money imposed on them in Kler Lah. They must work at daily labour to get enough money to pay the fees, while still trying to find time to work a field so they will have enough rice to eat after harvest time. Travel outside the village is heavily restricted, villagers need passes to go anywhere and these often force them to be back by sunset, or at best within a few days. The villagers growing cash crops have seen their plantations looted and their produce sold for the soldiers’ profit. This is compounded by the rising prices of rice and commodities. Inflation has caused the prices of goods throughout Burma to rise, but in Toungoo District it is particularly bad because of the extortion ‘fees’ which traders must pay to every one of the many Army checkpoints on the road up from Toungoo to Kler Lah and beyond. Facing all of these problems, many of the relocated villagers felt that they could plant bigger plots if they stayed in hiding in the forest, and that they would be able to spend more time working in their fields without all the forced labour and movement restrictions they face in a Nyein Chan Yay village. Fear of forced labour on the roads to Mawchi and Bu Sah Kee is also a major factor in the decision to flee for many villagers.

People from other Nyein Chan Yay villages apart from Kler Lah are also considering fleeing into the forests to escape the regular shifts of forced labour as porters and the constant demands for porter fees, extortion money, food and materials from the SPDC battalions. The decision to flee to the forests is not one to be taken lightly. Once in the forests the villagers join the ‘Ywa Bone’ (‘Hiding Villages’), and SPDC troops are under standing orders to shoot them on sight and destroy their crops. Many have been killed, but this has not stopped a continuing exodus from the Nyein Chan Yay villages. A small minority of these people continue fleeing all the way to Thailand, but this is not an option for most because it involves weeks of travel without food through the free-fire zones of Papun District, where villagers are also being shot on sight, followed by the probability of being forced right back across the border at gunpoint by Thai troops.

"For most people there is not enough food because the price is now 6,000 Kyat for one sack. There are three big tins in one sack of rice [50 kg / 110.23 lb]. At xxxx [village] it is very bad. Some villagers have enough and some do not." - "Saw Wah" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #2, 12/99)

 

"The villagers don’t want to help, because they don’t want to stay in the village anymore. They must give money to the Burmese but they can’t give anymore. Each year they must pay nearly 1,000,000 Kyat. They want to flee also but they have no way to flee. They hope we will all have to flee together to a ‘Ywa Bone’ village. For this reason it is a big problem for the village headman; the villagers can’t give money anymore, and they want to flee, so they are not listening to me. … The soldiers know that because the villagers are not united, the village headmen can’t work properly. All of the headmen are not happy with their work, but we have our belongings and children so we have to work, but with a heavy heart." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

Ywa Bone Villages

"The people who are fleeing, the IDP’s, in our area number over 10,000. There are many villagers. From the east of the Day Loh and to the east of the Klay Loh [rivers] in Than Daung township, there were 30 or 31 IDP villages [villages which everyone has fled to become internally displaced]. There were about 4,000 or 5,000 people. There are also about 4,000 or 5,000 people in the Taw Ta Tu township area. There are 26 or 29 villages, nearly 30, IDP villages in the Taw Ta Tu area. We counted them exactly." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

The villages in large areas of Toungoo District have been abandoned and their inhabitants have become internally displaced. In Than Daung township, the villagers north of the Kler Lah-Mawchi car road in the area east of the Day Loh River are all living in the forest; the villages north of Kler Lah as far as the Day Loh River were all originally relocated to Kler Lah, but many of them have fled back to their villages and are now living in the forest; and the villagers in northern Than Daung township who were relocated to Leit Tho have also fled back to their villages to live in the forest. Together, these areas comprise over half of Than Daung township. In Tantabin township, all of the villagers between the Kler Lah-Mawchi and Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car roads and many of the villages on both sides of the Yaw Loh River are displaced and living in the forest. The villages along the route of the new road construction project from Bu Sah Kee to Ma La Daw appear to still be staying in their villages and facing the soldiers, but increased portering, forced labour, and extortion payments will probably result in these villagers also fleeing into the forest. There is also an area of displaced villagers near Swa Loh village and the Day Loh River, however the SPDC battalions in the area are actively cleaning them out. In the hills which make up most of Toungoo District, any village which is not designated a ‘Nyein Chan Yay’ (‘Peace’) village is classified by the SPDC as a ‘Ywa Bone’ (‘Hiding’) village, and there are standing orders to destroy all such villages, the villagers who inhabit them, and their food supplies.

"The Ywa Bone [hiding] villages are up in the mountains. There are over 10 or 20 Ywa Bone villages. The Ywa Bone villages are Ko Lu, Saw Tay Der, Saw Mu Der, Pway Baw Der, Si Daw Koh, Bu Sah Kee, Ta Kwee Soe, Plaw Mu Der, Si Kheh Der, Khaw Toh Htoe, May Daw Ko, Per Loh, Naw Thay Der, Maw Thay Der, Hu Ler Der, Hsaw Wah Der, Pa Htoe Der, Thay Ko Der, Kho Kee, Hee Daw Khaw, Sho Ser, Wah Soe, Tha Aye Kee, Bu Kee and Klay Kee. They are all ‘Ywa Bone’ villages and do not face the Burmese." - listing just some of the Ywa Bone villages in Tantabin township; "Saw Wah" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #2, 12/99)

"There were 6 houses in Ko Lu village and they burned them all. I saw them burn three houses with my own eyes. They burned Pa D----’s house, P----’s house, and M----’s house." - "Saw San Htay" (M, 39), xxxx village (Interview #9, 10/99)

The villages in the triangle between the Kler Lah-Mawchi and Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car roads are in an especially difficult situation. Most of the villages near the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car road have been displaced since the project began in 1995. Now with the ongoing rebuilding of the Kler Lah-Mawchi car road, these villagers are sandwiched between the camps along the two roads. The villagers in Hsaw Wah Der, Ha Toh Per, Kho Kee, Hee Daw Khaw, Thay Ghee Lah, Sho Ser and Wah Soe have not been able to plant crops in the year 2000 because of the close proximity of the new Army camps. Hsaw Wah Der and Ha Toh Per are only 30 minutes’ walk from the nearest Army camp. This has caused a food shortage among these villagers.

"The villagers have had to run as displaced people for many years already so it is very difficult for them to work. They don’t have enough rice and paddy and some of them are faced with starvation. The place where they live is between the SPDC army’s camps so it is difficult for them to travel. The SPDC have also planted a lot of landmines everywhere, so they don’t dare to travel very far." - field report from KHRG field researcher (FR #1, 8/00)

"When we went to Bu Sah Kee and Kheh Der, the soldiers were cutting the villagers’ betelnut trees. They were destroying the people’s things. When the soldiers saw us they didn’t question us about anything, they saw us and shot at us. If they had seen us and asked us, ‘Where is your village?’, we would have said, ‘We are civilians’, however, they saw us and shot at us. It is senseless." - "Saw Nay Kaw" (M, xx), xxxx village (Interview #5, 11/99)

The villagers in the forest live in small groups of one to seven families. Smaller numbers of people in one place means it is easier for them to hide when SPDC troops come near. Villagers are shot on sight if they are seen by the soldiers, so the villagers run whenever Burmese patrols come near. The SPDC’s campaign against the villagers in the area began in earnest in the dry season of 1997 when the SPDC units were ordered to burn the villages east of the Day Loh River and north of the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car road. Having done that, the battalions were ordered in 1998 to destroy the fields. This was to deny the villagers still hiding near their villages any means of growing food. The soldiers continued to destroy the fields in 1999, and they were assisted by early rains in April (before the fields have been properly prepared for planting) which did not stop until November, and strong winds which then blew down and destroyed much of the paddy when it grew tall. The result has been a desperate shortage of rice over the past year. In 2000 the SPDC troops have used a new tactic, burning off the fields early before all the cut brush and trees have properly dried. In the Karen system of rotating hill fields, the scrub and trees which have grown since the field was last used are cut in January/February and are then left for 2 or 3 months to dry before burning; this ensures that the fields burn off evenly and the whole field can be used, and the new ash also provides protection for the seeds which are planted with the first rains. By searching out fields which the villagers have cut and burning them early, the soldiers have prevented the villagers from being able to properly burn off their whole fields, and have thereby ensured that there will be a bad harvest in 2000 and continued hunger in 2001. According to the KNU, orders have been given to the units in Tantabin township to find the hill fields and huts and burn them all as well as to plant landmines in the hill fields and shoot dead any villagers they see. The military wants to force the villagers to come down out of the mountains to the relocation sites in order to deny the KNU a support base, while also bringing the civilians under direct control and making them available for forced labour. However, most of the villagers have already lived in the relocation sites or have heard about conditions there, so they are determined to hold out in the hills.

"This year I made a hill field, but I didn’t get any paddy. When the Burmese came and saw that we were harvesting the paddy, they came to watch and kill us. We dared not harvest the paddy. They shot to kill us, but we dared not complain." - "Saw Ner Muh" (M, xx), internally displaced villager from xxxx village (Interview #8)

"The price of paddy is getting higher and higher. One [50 kg.] sack of rice is 10,000 Kyat when you buy it here [in the hills]. The people dare not carry it and bring it here for you. When we go ourselves to buy it, one sack is 8,000 to 9,000 Kyat, but we dare not go to carry it. When we do go and the soldiers see us, they arrest us." - "Saw Ner Muh" (M, xx), internally displaced villager from xxxxvillage (Interview #8)

Aid is occasionally brought in from Thailand to the internally displaced villagers, but as the area is so remote and there are so many people, the aid is never enough and the problems are only getting worse. Each aid trip from Thailand requires a month or more of difficult and extremely dangerous hiking through landmine-infested areas avoiding SPDC patrols, and can only bring in enough supplies for 2 months for a small number of people. Only the villagers to the east of the Day Loh and Klay Loh Rivers can be reached with such aid.

There is no other place for the villagers to run to. In the other districts to the south there is the possibility of fleeing to Thailand, but the distance is just too far from Toungoo District and there are too many soldiers along the way. If the villagers flee westward to bigger villages or the plains they are at high risk of being caught along the way, and even if they make it they face arrest if the authorities find out they are from the hills [as an example,Order #4 was issued after the SPDC caught a Ywa Bone villager in a Nyein Chan Yay village]. Some villagers who have fled to Toungoo town found that their relatives could not feed or protect them there, so they eventually fled back up into the mountains. As of July 2000 the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the district was estimated by a KHRG researcher at over 10,000. The researcher reported that in Than Daung township, from the Day Loh River to the Klay Loh River, there were more than 30 villages now abandoned with 4-5,000 villagers becoming IDPs, and in Tantabin township, there were nearly 30 such villages with another 4-5,000 villagers displaced. These are only the villagers that could be reached and counted. The villagers in the Leit Tho and Swa Loh areas, as well as those from relocation sites west of the Day Loh River and along the Toungoo-Kler Lah car road who have fled back to the area around their villages, were not counted and would add substantially to these figures.

"It is not easy to get support for that number of people. To bring support one time, they can take only enough emergency supplies for two months, but the area is wide and the people are so many that we can only give it one time in one small place. Many places remain without support and that is why the situation is so terrible and they need support. When we look at the support, it is getting smaller and smaller so the villagers’ problems are becoming more serious. When the villagers do get support, it is very helpful for them, but they need more." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

Killings, Arrests and Torture

"They killed one man. He was single. They arrested him in a hill field and said he was a Tha Bone [rebel]. Nobody went to guarantee him. They arrested him in the morning and killed him in the afternoon." - "Saw Thaw Thi Wah" (M, 48), Kler Lah relocation site (Interview #13, 11/99)

In the Nyein Chan Yay villages the villagers are not supposed to be arrested or tortured, but they are, and the village leaders in particular are regularly abused by the authorities. Much of the abuse stems from lateness or failure to meet the military’s demands. The late payment of porter fees or inability to provide requested food often result in the headman being summoned by the authorities, berated by them and then beaten. Failure to report the movements of the opposition forces can result in much harsher treatment. The abuse is usually confined to the village headman or other village elders in an attempt to keep the news of the abuses from spreading. Following the KNLA sabotage attack in Than Daung Gyi (see above under ‘The Military Situation’), all of the village heads were called to a meeting and then beaten.

"One time, #xx [IB] tortured me. They punched me hard and deliberately and demanded things. They did this to me because I was having difficulty getting things from the villagers. They would have killed me if I couldn’t get anything from the villagers. The soldiers said, ‘They are your villagers. If you can’t control them, hand them over to me. I will come myself and control them.’" - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

"They kicked me two times and punched my face. I don’t know the person who punched me or his battalion number. They questioned me about whether I had seen the KNLA soldiers or not. They tied my hands behind my back and kicked me two times in my back." - "Saw Nya Thu" (M, 25), xxxx village (Interview #10, 10/99)

"The soldiers asked him if the headman had sent information to the Karen [KNU]. The secretary was afraid and told them the headman had sent information and that the Karen had come to my house. Then they cut the hand of my secretary. They cut one inch of skin off of his left hand and knocked three of his teeth out. They didn’t torture any other villagers, only the secretary. His hand is better now." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

Villagers are often accused of contacting and helping the KNU and then arrested and beaten. The other villagers are then made to pay large sums of money for their release. Sometimes the arrested villager is not even from the village where the money is being demanded. Often this is just another way of extorting money from the villagers, and the grounds for the arrest are trivial if not completely trumped up. This usually happens when the villagers arrested are from a Ywa Bone village or are Nyein Chan Yay villagers caught outside their village without a pass. If the soldiers really believe a villager is KNU or has helped the KNU, the villager is usually tortured and then summarily executed; in these cases, when village heads or others try to intervene on the villager’s behalf or offer the usual money, they are brushed off and told to go home. This is especially so in the case of the Sa Thon Lon Guerrilla Retaliation units in Tantabin township (see above under ‘The Military Situation’), who are known to have executed villagers even for association with the resistance long in the past.

"They had accused him of going to find his cow and sending information to the resistance area. When they asked him if they were right, he said he had to answer with yes. They then demanded money. He gave them 10,000 Kyat. If the villager had contacted the KNLA, he would have been killed. If they didn’t kill him, they would have reported him to the higher authorities, and if they didn’t report it, they would have demanded money from him." - "Tha Muh Htoo" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #4, 10/99)

"The officers told the village headman to bribe them with money and we would be released. If the headman didn’t pay the bribe, they would kill us. He had to pay 163,000 Kyat for the 5 people. The village headman said it cost 100,000 Kyat for my nephew and I. If he hadn’t paid, they wouldn’t have released us. The operations commander from above ordered it and his lower officer made money out of it from the headman." - "Saw San Htay" (M, 39), xxxx village ( Interview #9, 10/99)

"[T]hey tortured 3 people. The soldiers said they had contacted outside people like the KNU. Deputy Company Commander xxxx had them tied up and guarded by the soldiers. They were beaten about 20 times each." - "Saw Lah Thaw" (M, 32), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #6, 10/99)

Sometimes villagers are also killed in retaliation for SPDC casualties caused by ambushes or landmines. Following the KNLA sabotage of the road in Than Daung Gyi in May 2000, an artillery unit in the town began shelling the countryside indiscriminately and wounded a woman from a nearby village. On another occasion in June, SPDC soldiers returning to Than Daung with their wounded shot and killed a female villager, Naw Kee Keh, from K’Thwee Dee village when they saw her in her field. Many villagers have also been killed by landmines and booby-traps. In June 2000, some villagers went back to retrieve some baskets they had left along a trail when they fled an SPDC patrol, and when they picked up one of the baskets a landmine booby-trap which had been placed under it exploded, killing villagers Saw Aye Kler and Saw Kri Lay immediately and wounding a woman who was with them.

"On June 28th a skirmish occurred in the K’Thwee Dee area when they were sending their soldiers to Than Daung Gyi. When they came back on the path, they met a village woman at K’Thwee Dee village. That village woman was working in her betelnut plantation. She was weeding the grass and cleaning. They shot her and it hit her body and then she was dead. Her name was Naw Kee Keh. She was over 40 years old. I don’t know if she had children or not, I only know her name. They were IB #55 and the name of their column commander was Tin Myo Kaing." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

"On 10/6/2000 Ler Ker Der Koh villagers Saw Aye Kler, Saw Kri Lay and one woman saw soldiers from IB #20 on the path so they dropped their baskets and ran to hide themselves. When they saw that the Burmese soldiers had left, they came to get their baskets. The Burmese had planted a landmine under one of their baskets which exploded. Both Saw Aye Kler and Saw Kri Lay died right away and the woman was wounded." - field report from KHRG field researcher and KNU intelligence (FR, 1/00-8/00)

"On November 23rd [1999], they killed W---- from xxxx village. The people from outside [KNLA] had come and planted landmines in the area. When some of the Burmese were wounded by the landmines, they arrested W---- and accused him of contacting the rebels and planting the landmines … The soldiers interrogated them all, but they suspected W---- because he was a village elder. Then they killed him." - "Saw Wah" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #2, 12/99)

The displaced villagers living in the forest are routinely shot on sight by SPDC patrols. The areas where villages have been relocated, remote parts of the hills, and areas along and between the Kler Lah-Mawchi and Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car roads are ‘free-fire’ areas, meaning that any villager sighted can be shot with complete impunity. The villagers in hiding pass news about approaching SPDC columns along to the next group of villagers when they can, so usually the villagers are able to escape. Sometimes there is no warning and the villagers are still in their fields, their field huts, their villages or forest shelters when the soldiers arrive. The soldiers usually call out to the villagers and then open fire on them, usually without waiting for a response. The villagers never respond to the call as they know it will mean arrest and being taken along by the soldiers as frontline porters, sometimes for many months. Villagers caught along the paths, even when travelling to Kler Lah or other bigger villages to sell their crops, are often taken as porters, arrested and tortured, or executed and their belongings stolen.

"They arrested one of the ‘Ywa Bone’ villagers named Saw K----. He was from xxxx village. They tied him up, but they didn’t torture him. They asked him where the landmines and Karen soldiers were in this area. If the soldiers know that the Karen soldiers are nearby, they avoid them." - "Saw Ghay Po" (M, 45), village headman from xxxx village (Interview #3, 10/99)

"They hurt one man from xxxx village. His name is T----. They beat him too much. The Burmese tortured him again and again. They hit my nephew 3 or 4 times… His face didn’t swell, but T----’s did. They didn’t hurt the women or tie them up. They just tied the three men. … They punched me many times. I didn’t look at them when they did it. I was worried that if I looked at them they would beat me more. They asked me many questions at xxxx." - "Saw San Htay" (M, 39), xxxx village (Interview #9, 10/99)

"We are not soldiers, but when they see us they shoot to kill us. We don’t carry guns, but they shoot to kill us. When they shoot people and they don’t die [immediately], the soldiers cut off their ears and kill them. They kicked and slapped the faces [of some people]. Their feet were broken. The soldiers searched in their bags and when they saw money, they took it." - "Saw Ner Muh" (M, xx), internally displaced villager from xxxx village (Interview #8, 11/99)

Forced Labour On Road Projects

"They were forcing the villagers to build it. When they were building it the soldiers brought one bulldozer, but the villagers had to cut the brush and trees and do other things. They were forcing the villagers all the time. During the last hot season they even forced the village women to build the car road." – conditions on the Kler Lah-Mawchi road; "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

The SPDC is presently expanding its road network in the district to support its increased military presence. The main road is the all-season dirt car road from Toungoo to Kler Lah, a distance of 37 miles (60 km). A second all-weather road turns off from this main road at the 7-Mile junction (7 miles/11 kilometres east of Toungoo), cuts across the top of the district and goes up to Loikaw, the capital of Karenni State. The third road branches off the Toungoo-Kler Lah road at 13-Mile (13 miles/20 kilometres from Toungoo), also known as Than Daung Myo Thit (New Thandaung), and goes up to Than Daung Gyi. During a high-level inspection tour of the Than Daung Gyi tourism resort project (see below under ‘Than Daung Gyi and Tourism’) in February 2000, Construction Minister General Saw Htun said arrangements had been made to improve the Than Daung Gyi-Than Daung Myo Thit car road. This would ostensibly be to handle the increased traffic that would result from the tourism project. As a part of this project another 5-6 kilometer road is being constructed from Than Daung Gyi to a hot spring at Ker Weh village using forced labour.

"They called a meeting, but there was no village head or security so most people didn’t go. I didn’t go either, but other people said the soldiers told them to build a road. The villagers from our village don’t have to go to build the road now. The soldiers forced the villages that have not relocated yet, Kler Lah, Kaw Soe Ko, Htaw Der, Ler Ghoh. The soldiers have been forcing them to work for the last 3 days, starting on the 9th [November 1999]. Today, they are still working." - the villagers had gone to work on the Kler Lah-Mawchi car road; "Saw Eh Doh" (M, 45), Kler Lah relocation site (Interview #7, 11/99)

"In Kler Lah they mostly have to do ‘loh ah pay’ for the car road. That car road is never good. It is destroyed often and they force the villagers to go and fill the holes in the road. To dig the earth and fill, dig the earth and fill. The government doesn’t repair anything." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

Heading further east toward Kler Lah, a rough dirt road branches off at Pa Leh Wah and goes a short distance south to the SPDC Army’s Yay Dta Gone camp at Klaw Mi Der village. Though this rough track is not very passable to vehicles, villagers still receive orders to maintain the road surface and bridges on a regular basis. Going further east along the rough main road, just east of Kler Lah at Klay Soe Kee the road forks into a road heading southeast to Bu Sah Kee and the old colonial-era road eastward to Mawchi in Karenni (Kayah) State. The road to Bu Sah Kee was constructed between 1995 and 1998 in order to improve military access to the southeastern part of the district. It was built entirely with the forced labour of villagers in the area, and once completed SPDC Army camps were set up all along its winding length of at least 45 kilometres (28 miles). Although completed 2 years ago, it cannot be used in the rainy season. There are no bridges along its route and sections of it are washed away by the rains, so every dry season (November to May) the villagers are forced to rebuild the road. During the dry season, civilian vehicle owners from Kler Lah and Than Daung Gyi are forced to haul supplies to the camps along the road, and in rainy season the villagers are forced to haul the supplies on their backs from Kaw Thay Der. In the year 2000 another new road was begun from Bu Sah Kee that heads southwest to link up with a road already under construction which comes northeast from Ma La Daw, which is just south of Tantabin township in Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) District. Villages are presently receiving orders to do forced labour on this road as well. Although the straight-line distance is about 30 kilometres (19 miles), the road will be about 50 kilometres long or more due to the rough terrain it must pass through. There is reportedly yet another road being planned from Bu Sah Kee southeastward to Kay Pu village in Papun District. Most of the work on all of these roads has been and is being done by the forced labour of villagers.

Back at Klay Soe Kee, while one fork heads down to Bu Sah Kee, the other fork heads eastward toward Mawchi, which is 96 miles (150 km) east of Toungoo in southern Karenni (Kayah) State. In 1998 the SPDC began work rebuilding this old colonial-era road, and construction is also reportedly being done from the Mawchi end to connect. Mawchi is about 50 kilometers east of Klay Soe Kee, though the road will be 2 or 3 times that length because of the difficult terrain it passes through. Work began in 1998 and by the end of the dry season in June 2000 the road had reached Sho Ser village, almost at the Karenni State border. Previous attempts to rebuild the road failed due to lack of security, so the SPDC has stationed two full battalions, Infantry Battalions #232 and 53, along the road and have been establishing heavily fortified camps along its route. The villagers from the relocation site at Kler Lah have been forced to come and work on the road on a rotating basis, partly because all of the villages along the road route have already fled into the forest. The road is being dug with bulldozers, but the villagers have to clear the route and dig out big stones as well as carry rice for the soldiers. The villagers are given no salaries or food and have to sleep on the road since it is too far from Kler Lah to go back in the evening. The villagers have also been forced to give money to pay for ‘hiring the bulldozers’ to come to dig the road, though it is almost certain that the SPDC is providing the bulldozer and the local SPDC officers are simply pocketing this money. Civilian vehicle owners in Kler Lah and Than Daung Gyi are also being forced to haul construction supplies to the worksites on a rotating basis.

Although the villagers do not want to pay or do the labour, some of them see the completion of the road as a good thing because it would allow the SPDC to truck in their supplies rather than rely on porters, and thus lighten the burden of the villagers. The example of the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee car road, however, has shown that even after it is finished the villagers will still have to porter along it in the rainy season and repair it in the dry season, as well as accompany the trucks to load and off-load them. These trucks and their drivers have also been ordered to provide their services by the SPDC. In early 1999, the vehicle associations (groups of vehicle owners who act as a taxi service for people and goods along the major roads in the area) in Than Daung Gyi, Leit Tho and Kler Lah were ordered to assist in the Mawchi road construction by providing either one 2-ton truck or two pickup trucks on a rotating basis. They were threatened with having their driver’s licenses or vehicle permits taken away if they failed to comply, in effect robbing them of their livelihood. 

"They were forcing the villagers to build it. When they were building it the soldiers brought one bulldozer, but the villagers had to cut the brush and trees and do other things. They were forcing the villagers all the time. During the last hot season they even forced the village women to build the car road. … The villagers from Sho Ser and Wa Soe have never faced the SPDC soldiers, they are living in the jungle, so the villagers from Kler Lah village had to come and work in the Sho Ser area. It is very far, a one or two day walk. They couldn’t come back, they had to sleep in the jungle. The villagers who came and built the car road have to stay on the car road and sleep on the car road. They worked on it for one or two months until the rainy season started." - "Saw Ghaw" (M), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 8/00)

"If there is a car road, it would be easier for us, however, we have to buy the car road. They divide the expenses among the villages to get a bulldozer. They came and collected the money from Kaw Thay Der and Kler Lah, then gave the money to the bulldozer owners to come and dig the road. It is better when people go to do ‘loh ah pay’ than when the soldiers demand money. … When we can’t pay, they say many things like, ‘When you can’t pay you must sell your things.’" - "Saw Nay Kaw" (M, xx), xxxx village (Interview #5, 11/99)

In February of 2000 a new road was begun from Bu Sah Kee southwestward to Tha Pyay Nyunt Army camp in the south of Tantabin township near the border with Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) District. The road will connect with another road already being constructed coming up from Ma La Daw. Villagers have been ordered to stand guard over the road building equipment and carry supplies for the soldiers. They have had to bring their own food. This road will connect the two districts and may become a barrier to the movement of refugees from Tantabin township toward Papun District and the Thai border. The following is a translation of an order demanding forced labourers to work on the Bu Sah Kee-Ma La Daw road. [This order was also published as Order #34 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-B" (KHRG #2000-04, 12/10/00)]

[Mattocks are large hoes used for digging. On the back this order is marked "Urgent" and "Send this quickly". The stamp has a blank unit number which the officer has written in by hand.]

In Than Daung township, a new road is also being built from Than Daung Gyi to the village of Ker Weh. While this road will be for military access, it will also be used to get to the hot spring at Ker Weh which is to be a part of the new tourism project at Than Daung Gyi. There is also a plan to build a car road from Kler Lah to Than Daung Gyi. There is an old car road there already which was built during the 1950’s, but it has fallen into disrepair and is unusable. If this project is carried out, it will mean more forced labour for the villagers in Kler Lah and the Than Daung area.

Even the villages on the main car road between Toungoo and Kler Lah are not exempt from the road work, as the car road needs constant maintenance, bridges need to be repaired, and the SPDC orders killing fields cut clear along both sides of the road. The following is a translation of an order demanding unpaid labour to repair the Pa Leh Wah-Kler Lah car road. [This order was also published as Order #120 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A" (KHRG #2000-01, 29/2/00)]: