The following situation update was written by a villager in Dooplaya 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]
On August 24th 2011, KNU/KNLA Peace Council[2] forces became active in the Palu area and they taxed every house 100 baht, but no one knows what they will use that money for.
On September 1st 2011, Saw Paw Moo, the Brigadier Warrant Officer in the KNU/KNLA Peace Council also called Thu Koh Hter Kee [literally 'Officer One-Two'] died. In the past he was a Company Sergeant Major [with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)] and he cooperated with the KNU [Karen National Union] for many years and many months. What happened then, we do not know but he left [the KNLA] and joined the KNU/KNLA Peace Council controlled by General Htein Maung based in Htoh Gkaw Ko [in Dta Greh Township, Pa'an District]. He had been working less [recently] because he had developed a kidney disease, so he went to T--- hospital on September 1st 2011. He left his organisation, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, and he went to be with his Father in heaven. His funeral was held in Gklay Thoo Kloh on September 3rd 2011.
On the morning of Sunday, September 4th 2011, at 6:30 am, the DKBA [Democratic Karen Buddhist Army] fired two small mortars in the area of Palu Pa Doh village. The DKBA tried to attack the place where the Border Guard soldiers under the command of Bo Gkya Na Bpa are based. The mortar shells hit a house, but no one was injured. Only villagers live in the places they shelled; there were no any army troops there.[3]
On September 8th 2011, at 9:00 am, a DKBA [soldier] named G--- defected to the Border Guard forces under Bo Gkya Na Bpa and brought an M16 and one magazine. Two cars came and drove him up into the Palu area [to] D--- village. Because of this, the [D---] village head is worried that the DKBA soldiers who live in the jungle will come and bring violence upon the village.
Because of the heavy rain between September 9th to 13th 2011, a few of the cornfields and bean fields beside the [Moei] River flooded. If it does not stop raining and the rain continues as it has, many crops and seeds will be destroyed. This is a natural disaster, but no one will help the farmers, neither the government nor organisations. This is our fate and we have to accept it.