Description:
"Since June 2021, Burma Army troops have intensified shelling and persecution of civilians in Mutraw (Hpapun) District of
northern Karen State, in retaliation for increased KNU guerrilla attacks, which are blocking the regime’s supply routes
and eroding their pockets of control in this mountainous border area.
Most of the shelling has taken place in southern Mutraw, along the main access road from Kamamaung on the Salween
River to Hpapun town, where the regime’s bases are centred. Shelling was heaviest in September, with dozens of shells fired
nearly every day. Shells were fired indiscriminately into villages and fields, causing civilian injuries and damage to property,
but failing to hit any military targets.
Unable to retaliate directly against their guerrilla assailants, regime troops have increasingly targeted villagers for collective
punishment: looting and destroying property, arbitrarily arresting men and women, and using them as porters and human
shields.
The regime’s shelling and terror tactics have caused new displacement in southern Mutraw, bringing IDP totals to over 82,000
in the district – almost the entire rural population. Most of the IDPs remain sheltering in the jungle, not daring return home
in case of renewed airstrikes after the rains. Unable to plant their rice-fields this year, they are in urgent need of food aid.
Yet the regime’s areas of control are shrinking. KNU blockades and attacks have forced the Burma Army to abandon eleven
of their camps in Mutraw since the coup. Morale is low and dozens of the regime’s troops have recently deserted. Deserters
interviewed by KPSN say most troops want to leave the army, and are no longer obeying orders.
At this critical time, with resistance mounting across the country, KPSN urges the international community to stand with
the people of Burma, and cut off all diplomatic and economic support for the illegitimate coup regime. KPSN also urges
foreign donors to immediately scale up cross-border humanitarian aid to IDPs in Karen State and other conflict-affected
areas of Burma.
Burma Army steps up shelling in response to increased
KNU guerrilla attacks
In KPSN’s May 2021 briefer “Terror from the Skies”, we provided a background of the Burma Army’s decades-long attempts
to crush the KNU in Mutraw District. Even after the KNU’s 2012 ceasefire, the Burma Army set up new bases in Mutraw, and
started building new access roads for quick deployment of troops and military supplies. In 2020, the Burma Army stepped up
artillery attacks, causing the Karen National
Liberation Army to issue an ultimatum
on December 1, 2020, for the Burma
Army to withdraw all its bases from
KNU-controlled areas and dismantle all
camps set up since the NCA by the end of
2020. When the ultimatum was ignored,
the KNU tightened its blockade of access
routes into Mutraw, and in March 2021,
after the military coup, began attacking
and capturing Burma Army camps. The
Burma Army retaliated not only with
renewed shelling, but with airstrikes –
the first in the area for over 25 years.
This caused mass displacement of over
70,000 villagers, mostly into the jungle.
Thousands fled across the Salween River
to Thailand, but were pushed back within
days by the Thai authorities.
The regime’s fierce air and ground
assaults only galvanized the KNU to step
up guerrilla attacks against Burma Army
bases and supply lines in Mutraw. Since
June, the KNU has mainly targeted the
main access road leading from Kamamaung
in the south to Hpapun town, where the
regime’s bases are centred.
In an attempt to deter the KNU attacks,
the Burma Army has fired hundreds of
artillery shells and sprayed gunfire from
its bases into surrounding civilian areas.
Shells landed in villages and surrounding
farmlands, damaging houses, property
and livestock, and injuring at least eight
villagers, including a monk. Gunfire also
killed one villager. However, the shelling
failed to hit any KNU military targets.
Increased Burma Army looting and
vandalizing of villagers’ property
Since June 2021, KPSN has documented numerous incidents of looting across
Mutraw by Burma Army troops, mainly of villagers’ livestock and food supplies,
but also clothes, tools, phones, solar panels and cash.
One likely factor for the frequent looting is food shortages caused by the KNU
blockade of supply lines. In a well-publicized incident on October 12, 2021, twelve
Burma Army soldiers from LIB 404, based at Kyauk Nyat on the Salween river,
looted food from a Thai boat transporting goods along the river. Kyauk Nyat is
one of the last remaining military outposts on Mutraw’s northeast river border
and the troops there had apparently run out of rice rations. The troops fired shots
to force the boat to stop, and demanded rice. As the boat was not carrying rice,
the troops instead looted chickens, vegetables and dried noodles.
However, another factor is clearly retaliation for losses inflicted by the KNU, as
Burma Army troops have not only looted, but also deliberately vandalized and
destroyed villagers’ property. For example, after suffering heavy casualties in early
September during clashes around Mae Wai, on the main supply route to Hpapun
town, the regime troops looted and vandalized all the villagers’ property in Khaw
Poe Khee, Mae Wai tract.
A woman from Khaw Poe Khee interviewed by KPSN, who had fled during the
fighting, described the damage she found when she returned home a month later.
“Things were scattered all over the house. There were holes made in some pots and
some were thrown to different places. They took all my rice and cooking oil. After
cooking and eating in the house, they defecated in the pots and plates. They used our
blankets, mosquito nets and clothes for cleaning, then threw them in the pond and mud.”
Arbitrary arrest, torture, use of human shields
Another form of collective punishment used by the Burma Army troops has been
arbitrary arrest and torture of villagers, and use of men and women as human shields.
On August 12, troops from LIB 407 based at Ma Htaw, on the main road south of
Hpapun, arrested three male villagers from Ma Htaw, aged 25, 34 and 45, and beat
them with guns. On August 19, troops from LIB 341 and LIB 401, entered Ter Kee
Koh village, northeast of Hpapun, and arrested three elderly male villagers, aged
42, 56 and 65, who were on their way to their farms. They were kicked and hit in
the head, and then forced to porter and serve as human shields for the troops..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Peace Support Network
Date of Publication:
2021-12-01
Date of entry:
2021-12-01
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Countries:
Myanmar
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Format:
pdf pdf
Size:
4.7 MB 6.65 MB
Resource Type:
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