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KHRG Report: Testimony by Porters





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         AN INDEPENDENT REPORT BY THE KAREN RIGHTS GROUP


_________________________________________________________________

              PORTER_TESTIMONIES:__KAWMOORA_REGION
_________________________________________________________________

                        December 31,1992
Filename: dec31_92.2

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These  4  men escaped to Thailand in mid-December 1992, after being 
used as porters for 2 months in the SLORC's ongoing offensive in
the Kawmoora  area, on the Thai border 150 km south of Manerplaw
near the Thai town of Mae Sot.  The SLORC offensive in this area
has been going on continuously for years.  These 4 men provide an
idea of its  effect on the Karen villagers behind SLORC lines.  One
of them is  only 15 years old, and arrived in Thailand with a head
wound after SLORC troops fired a grenade at him.

These testimonies were obtained in interviews on December 22, 1992. 
The men's names have been changed to protect them  and their
families, and the  names  of their villages have  been deliberately
omitted.  Names of those who were killed are real.  Please  feel
free to use this information in any way which can help  put a stop
to this horrendous  abuse of human beings.

Notes: Viss- unit of  weight measure.  1 viss = 1.6 kilograms
       Longyi- a Burmese sarong
       Byu Ha- Burmese name for "Advance Strategic Headquarters"

_________________________________________________________________

Name:     Saw Lway Ghay         Age: 45     Karen
Address:  Myawaddy Township     Occupation: Farmer
Family:   Bachelor

Our village is under SLORC control, and they're always attacking
the Karen Army not far away.  The SLORC often comes and takes us as
porters - I've  been several times  already.  Usually it's for 10 
days at most, but this time it was 2 months before I escaped.  They
came on October 16th and arrested me while I was harvesting
groundnuts in the field together  with Htoo Lay and Sah Le Key. 
The soldiers said they needed us to carry things for them.  There
were alot of soldiers rounding people up.  First they made us carry
rice a short way to their camp and we slept there, then they made
us carry rice to their Byu Ha [Advance Strategic Headquarters] at
Tha Mya Taung.  They gave me a  load of 10            2 1/2" shells
that weighed  about  30 viss.  There were  more than  100 porters
in my group and many groups in front of us. We were with SLORC 66
Division, #75 Battalion or Burma Regiment.  All of us had to carry
rice and ammunition.  There was one soldier for every 7 porters,
and the porters had to carry all his food and ammunition for
whatever weapon he used, big or small.  We were carrying every day
for 2 months.  Most of the time we had to follow the soldiers all
over the place, but the last 2 weeks we were always going back and
forth from the Byu Ha to the frontline, carrying ammunition.  They
only fed us at noon each day, only 1 handful of rice and salt. 
Sometimes there wasn't even time to get a leaf to put it on, and we
had to eat it out of our longyis.  We were only allowed a bath once
in a little stream.  We had to go up and down very high mountains
with no water to drink, because the soldiers love to stay in the
highest places.

At night 4 soldiers at a time guarded us.  If we wanted to go to
the toilet we had to ask permission.  We only had our longyis to
keep us warm, and they were all torn.  So were all our other
clothes, but the soldiers wouldn't let us light a fire to keep
warm.  They said "the Karen troops might see it."

A lot of us got sick, especially with malaria.  Htoo Lay was crying
because he was sick and couldn't carry any more.  But the SLORC
wouldn't give any medicine - they said "You're not our relatives. 
If you die it's no problem."  Anyone who can't go on is left
behind.  I saw with my own eyes 2 porters die.  After so many days
they just couldn't carry anymore, and they just fell down and died. 
The soldiers  just left them there dead.  They were only about 14
years old.  The youngest porter I saw was 12 years old, and the
oldest already had no more teeth!  He must have been at least 60,
maybe even 70. 

Whenever we couldn't keep up with the soldier we carried for, he
beat us with his army boots.  I was beaten in the back with a big
piece of bamboo for being too slow.  I was very very tired but not
sick, and I managed to keep going only because I knew I  just had
to.  Many were beaten unconscious - I myself saw 4 or 5 porters
beaten unconscious, but it happened many more times than that.  
Sometimes after beating a porter unconscious, the soldier would
pull him along under his arm, then as soon as the porter came to,
the soldier made him carry again.  The soldiers only carried their
gun, the ammunition on their belt and some personal equipment -
only about 5 viss altogether.

Sometimes shells came into our camp and porters got wounded.  Some
porters had their legs blown off, and some others got fractures. 
I saw the SLORC soldiers  bring back 3 wounded porters from the
front and put them on the ground in a spot off to the side.  They
just left them there to die.  Two other porters I saw had been
wounded with broken arms, and the soldiers still forced them to
carry as long as they could.  I don't know if any of the wounded
porters lived - we just had to follow our soldier and weren't
allowed to go and look.

Once when we were going up a mountain we passed more than 15 women
porters being driven in the other direction.  They weren't from our
village and we didn't have a chance to talk to them.  Many women
were there, but I don't know where they were from.  They have to
carry a lot of arms and ammunition, and I'm sure that they're all
raped.  The women I saw were all ages - 15, 20, 25, 35 and older.

After we'd already been porters for 2 months, the soldiers told us
they would still use us for 3 more months.  So one morning not long
after that, three of us ran away when we were sent for leaves to
fix the roof at the Byu Ha.  The soldiers fired 2 or 3 shots at us
but they couldn't see us.  We got to the river and swam across to
Thailand.

Now I don't dare go home to my village, because I'm very afraid
I'll be captured again.  This time I'd be killed for sure.  The
SLORC often sends a big Battalion to rush our village.  So many of
them attack at once that we can't resist, and then they take all
our livestock, take whatever they  want and take us away as
porters.   When I was caught this time many had already been taken
in my village before they came out in the field and grabbed me. 
Life in my village is only getting worse and worse.  It's terrible
now.

Name:    Kwa Mu Htoo              Age: 15 years old       Karen
Address: Myawaddy Township        Occupation: Farmer
Family:  Father dead, mother alive, 2 brothers and 1 sister.

My father died 5 years ago.  They took him as a porter for 1 month
and he got malaria.  When he came back, he died.

Two months ago in October, four of us were  gathering groundnuts in
the field.  More than 20 soldiers came and took us with them.  They
didn't say anything, just "You have to follow us."  They took us to
Byu Ha.  

My three friends were 16, 20, and 26 years old.  We had to follow
those soldiers all the time for more than a month.  They made me
carry a big tin of rice, and it was very heavy.  I could walk, but
others couldn't, and the soldiers kicked and beat them.  Then they
told them to carry their loads again, and if they couldn't the
soldiers tied them with rope and pulled them along together with
their load.  

After more than a month, four of us tried to run away at night when
the soldiers weren't looking.  They didn't see us, but in the dark
we ran into another group of soldiers and porters.  They fired a
grenade at us.  [Note: The weapon used appears to have been a
launched grenade fired from the end of a modified rifle.]  It hit
us.  I just saw my friend Pa Deh fall dead, and then I fell
unconscious.  I don't know how long I was asleep.  When I woke up
it was still dark and Pa Deh's body was there.  He was 26 years
old.

I never saw what happened to my other two friends.  There was a lot
of blood coming from my head but I didn't feel any pain yet.  I got
up and ran away.  I got back to my village, and they took care of
me and brought me across to the Mae Sot hospital in Thailand.

[Note: No news has been heard of Kwa Mu Htoo's 2 missing friends. 
They did not reach Thailand and are presumed dead.  Kwa Mu Htoo
himself was still suffering from a graze to his skull and
concussion at the time of this interview.  He was hard of hearing
and at times slightiy incoherent.]

_________________________________________________________________


(1) Name:    Saw Htoo Lay            Age: 17     Karen
    Address: Myawaddy Township       Occupation: Farmer
    Family:  Mother and father, 4 brothers and sisters

(2) Name:    Sah Le Key              Age: 27     Karen
    Address: Myawaddy Township       Occupation: Farmer
    Family:  Married, 1 child 3 years old

SAH LE KEY:  We were arrested together with Lway Ghay on October 16
when we were gathering groundnuts.  There were many soldiers - I
don't know how many.  They took us to a bigger group of soldiers
who made us carry rice to the Byu Ha.  From there we had to carry
ammunition - Htoo Lay and I had to carry 6  81mm mortar shells
each.  They were very heavy, and we had to carry them right to the
81mm gunners, right at the front.  Sometimes we went back and forth
and slept at Byu Ha, other times we stayed other places with the
soldiers.

A lot of our group got sick and weak.  The soldiers kicked them and
beat them but still made them follow.  Anyone who really couldn't
go on was kicked and left behind, and the rest of us had to divide
up his load.  I saw this happen 3 times myself.

SAW HTOO LAY:  I saw it 4 times.  The men got malaria and couldn't
carry, so the soldiers kicked them and let them sit down, then they
beat them up and left them behind.  I got malaria and asked for
water when we were climbing mountains.  They refused to give me
water and I cried.  I couldn't help crying all the time.  I wanted
to unload my burden but they wouldn't allow me.  I needed water,
but they wouldn't let me have any. 

SAH LE KEY:  We saw 15 women carrying 81mm shells.  We also saw
wounded porters.  The soldiers just carried them to one side and
left them there.  We saw them do this to 3 men, and they must have
died for sure.  When soldiers got wounded, 2 porters had to carry
them back to the Byu Ha.  I don't know how many porters there were. 
We saw 300, 400 - a lot.

When they sent us into a valley to get leaves, we said to each
other "let's run away" and ran.  The soldiers shot at us but we ran
for our lives and swam across the river to Thailand.  We saw some
Karen people at a farmhouse and they helped us.  

We're too afraid to go back yet, even though my wife must think I'm
dead by now.  I don't know how she and the baby are surviving.


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Karen Human Rights Group
Box 22
Mae Sot, Tak 63110
Thailand

(Email for the KHRG sent to strider@xxxxxxxxxxx will be forwarded
to them)