The following situation update was written by a villager in Toungoo District who has been trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. It is presented below translated exactly as originally written, save for minor edits for clarity and security.[1] This report was received along with other information from Toungoo District, including one other situation update.[2]
In Toungoo [Taw Oo] District there are two townships: Tantabin [Taw Ta Tu] Township and Than Daung [Daw Pa Koh] Township. The people who face human rights abuses are civilians who live in areas under the control of the military SPDC Army [Tatmadaw][3] and people who live in IDP [internally displaced person] areas. As there are ongoing human rights abuses, civilians who live in the [Toungoo] area remain poor and cannot obtain a higher standard of living.
At the places where SPDC Army bases are close to Karen villages, they [Tatmadaw soldiers] order villagers to serve as set tha [messengers].[4] Every day, each village has to send one person to serve as a messenger. Moreover, whenever they need help, they force villagers to go and carry things for them from where the vehicle road ends to their army camps.
During the SPDC Army columns' patrol operations they force villagers to go [with them] and show them the way. Villagers have to walk in front of them. They also use villagers to walk in front of them as landmine sweepers.
For example, Klaw Mi Der [Yay Dta Gone], Play Hsa Loh, Yeh Loh, Lay Ahoh Loh, Plaw Baw Der, Bpaw Pa, Shah See Bo, Yay Shah, Taw Gkoo, Zee Pyu Gone, Kler La [Bawgali Gyi], Gkaw Thay Der [Yay Tho Gyi], Gklay Soh Kee, Maw Pah Der, Gkaw Soe Koh, Ker Weh and Ka Thaw Pwe are those villages that always face forced labour demands by the SPDC Army, because those villages are close to SPDC Army bases.
The SPDC Army bases located close to the villages demand chickens, vegetables, fruits and other things from villages. Moreover, for repairs for their camp, they always demand villagers to supply them with bamboo, thatch shingles and wood.[5]
Between Toungoo and Kler La [Bawgali Gyi], motorists travelling by car or motorbike have to have a written travel permit. They have pay for the travel permit in Kler La at the SPDC Army base. They have to pay at the SPDC Army base for different types of permits, ranging [in cost] from 500 kyat (US $0.60)[6] and up to 10,000 kyat or 100,000 kyat (US $12.05 to $120). A motorbike travel permit costs 1,000 kyat (US $1.20) and has to be paid for at the Kler La SPDC Army base. Checkpoint costs depend on whether you are driving a car or motorbike. You have to pay more at a big checkpoint, while you have to pay less at a small checkpoint. There are many checkpoints along the vehicle road and each checkpoint costs at least 500 kyat to pass. Even when the villagers are only transporting vegetables or fruits by vehicle or cart the SPDC Army soldiers [at checkpoints] still demand payment. If villagers are returning from town, they have to bring snacks, fish, vegetables, alcohol and other things to give which they [Tatmadaw soldiers] demand at the checkpoints. Checkpoints are located in Kler La, Bpeh Leh Wah, Gkyaw Koh, 20-Mile, 6-Mile, Pya Sakan, 4-Mile and close to Toungoo bridge. There are other checkpoints along the road too.
In the month of May 2011, SPDC Army LIB [Light Infantry Battalion] #376 and LIB #541 deployed from Kler La and Gkaw Thay Der to Naw Soh and Buh Sah Kee in Tantabin Township. When they arrived, they went to an IDP area and burned and destroyed Maw Thay Der villagers' huts, paddy stores and other possessions: everything they could find in the village.[7] Also, villagers who live in the eastern part of Gkaw Thay Der village tract are now afraid of the soldiers from LIBs #376 and #541. Even in the rainy season, they [villagers from eastern Gkaw Thay Der] moved [fled] to another area. Moreover, because they moved in the rainy season many children and adults became sick. Some villagers left rice crops that they had grown. They have not grown any more rice this year in the place they moved. Some villagers returned [to Maw Thay Der] and saw that their paddy fields and stores had been destroyed by rain, rats and other animals. Because villagers could not work as normal and because of the damage [to crops], there is now not enough food. Some villagers have fallen sick and cannot work, and the consequences of this are making the problem worse and worse.
On June 19th 2011, there was fighting on the vehicle road. Following that, the SPDC Army closed the road between mountain areas and Gkaw Thay Der, Kler La and Toungoo towns. In the plains areas, the stretches of the vehicle road between Toungoo, Tantabin and Zayatkyi were closed for a week. If people went out, they [SPDC Army soldiers] checked people's bags: men and women alike, they checked them all. Before the end of June there was a bomb that exploded in Toungoo Town, so the SPDC Army closed the vehicle road [again].
On July 8th 2011 there was fighting in Bpeh Leh Wah, Maw Pah Der, Gkaw Soe Koh, Kler La and Buh Sah Kee. At this time, SPDC Army soldiers ordered villagers not to travel, especially by car or motorbike along the vehicle road.
Villagers who live in the Gkaw Thay Der village tract depend on this vehicle road for their livelihoods. They go to sell fruits and vegetables they harvest in Kler La and, with the money that they get, they buy rice and other things they need. The food that villagers buy comes from Toungoo Town and the fruit and vegetables villagers sell in Kler La are sent to Toungoo Town to be resold.
Because the SPDC Army closed the road, villagers could not go and sell their fruits and vegetables, such as durian, dog fruit, betel leaf, mangosteen and others. They did not allow [villagers] to go, so, day by day, their incomes were negatively affected, costing some of them hundreds of thousands [of kyat]. As they could not go and sell things [their agricultural products] anymore, they have faced problems buying rice. Some have not been able to buy enough rice, so this has become a worry for them.[8]
Table 1: Average output and plantation profits when the roads between Toungoo Town – Kler La and Kler La – Buh Sah Kee are open
Type of plantation
|
Average units prduced per plantation
|
Market value per unit (kyat)
|
Average income
|
Durian
|
5 fruits
|
1,000
|
5,000 (US $6.02)
|
Mangosteen
|
50 fruits
|
100
|
5,000 (US $6.02)
|
Dog fruit
|
8 bowls
|
1,000 per bowl[9]
|
8,000 (US $9.64)
|
Betel leaf
|
30 viss (48 kg. / 105.6 lb.)
|
3,000 per viss
|
90,000 (US $108.44)
|
There are an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 households engaged in agriculture in the area [affected by the road closure].
Villagers that live in mountain areas cultivate plantations such as betel [areca nut] trees, cardamom, durian, dog fruit, mangosteen, coffee, banana and other [crops]. Few people farm [rice].
In the plains areas the SPDC Army does not allow villagers to sleep at their farms or other workplaces. When villagers go to work at their farms or workplaces they are only allowed to take two milk tins of rice (0.5 kg. / 1.1 lb.). If they take more than two milk tins, the Burmese Army [Tatmadaw] soldiers will punish them however they want.
Villagers who have harvested their fruits and vegetables cannot go out and sell their fruits and vegetables any more [because of the road closure]. Their fruits and vegetables have become ruined [rotten] and they have lost income. It will be difficult for villagers to survive in the area in the future. When we look back, we can see clearly that the SPDC Army soldiers deliberately planned to close the vehicle road and starve the villagers; they knew there would not be enough food for the villagers to eat. The civilians here can no longer maintain a decent standard of living. In the future, this [closure of the vehicle roads] could mean that civilians will not be able to live in the area anymore. As they have lost income, families do not have enough food and so the villagers' health declines; as for education, it is not easy for the parents to plan for their children. If this case continues, there will be many civilians who will move to other places. This is a worry for this area and for its future.
The Burmese Army closed the vehicle road and made demands, making it difficult for civilians to work [without disruption]. They [civilians] have been living in fear for a long time now.
On July 13th 2011, SPDC Army soldiers from LIB #379 of MOC [Military Operations Command] #9, led by Company Commander Soe San Moe, arrested two L--- villagers: Saw K---, 48, and Saw W---, 33. The SPDC Army soldiers arrested these two people and killed them at the road to Ler Ghee Koh Der Gkay village.[10] Because columns from SPDC LIBs #374 and LIB #379 are active in Than Daung Township, west of the Day Loh Kloh [River], [the roads have been closed and] the local people are now faced with difficulties day after day. As already mentioned, they cannot go and sell their [agricultural] products, such as durian, mangosteen, dog fruit and betel leaf.
Table 2: Tatmadaw Southern Command, MOC #9[11] units in Toungoo District as of August 2011:
MOC #9
|
Area of Deployment
|
MOC #9 Commander
|
Lives in Zayatkyi
|
TOC #1
|
Kler La
|
TOC #2
|
Buh Sah Kee
|
IB #39
|
Thaw Yay Kat - Tun Boh Dam
|
IB #73
|
Yay Shah, Shah See Bo; Gk'Ser Doh
|
IB #124
|
Than Daung Gyi
|
IB #440
|
Htee Tha Saw
|
IB #603
|
Lay Tho Ya Bridge
|
LIB #374
|
Ker Weh; K'Thwee Dee; Ka Thaw Pwe
|
LIB #376
|
Buh Sah Kee; Lu Thaw Township (Papun District)
|
LIB #377
|
Gkyaw Koh; Bpeh Leh Wah; Maw Pah Der; Gkaw Soe Koh
|
LIB #379
|
Gkaw Thay Der; Naw Soh (Point 2906); Ker Weh; K'Thwee Dee; Ka Thaw Pwe
|
LIB #539
|
Play Hsa Loh; Klaw Mi Der
|
LIB #540
|
Th'Ay Hta; Ko Day (48-Mile); Kler La
|
LIB #541
|
Buh Sah Kee (Point 3919)
|