Emergency Report by Mon National Re

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Subject: Emergency Report by Mon National Relief Committee


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EMERGENCY REPORT OF MON NATIONAL RELIEF COMMITTEE
July 22, 1994

[Note, some grammatical mistakes in the original document have been
corrected.]


THE SLORC OCCUPIED ONE PART OF MON REFUGEE CAMP AND BURNT [IT] DOWN

On 21st July, at 8:00am in the morning, over 100 troops of SLORC's Local
Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 62 led by the deputy battalion commander, based
in Three-Pagodas Pass came into one part of Halockhani main camp named Kwan
Saya village and completely occupied it.  This village, with 120 households
of over 500 refugees, is 2 kilometers or a half-hour walk from Halockhani
main camp.  After SLORC troops occupied the whole village, they arrested all
the men and tried to move and occupy the Halockhani main camp at 12:30 in the
afternoon of that day.  When they moved to the main camp, they put fifty men
in front of them as a bullet cover and some of Mon troops ambushed them on
the way after they had gone about 15 minutes from the village.  After
fighting lasting 15 minutes, they retreated to the village.  The fighting
made them very angry and they burnt down the whole village at about 4p.m in
the evening.

Among four Mon refugee camps under the responsibility of MNRC, Halockhani
Camp is the biggest one.  Most refugees from this camp were repatriated by
Thai authorities from Loe Loe, an old Mon refugee camp which is situated on
Thai soil in Sangkhlaburi District, to this new site of Halockhani Camp which
is on Burma soil at the beginning of this year.  After several discussions,
MNRC unavoidably agreed with Thai authorities to relocate the Mon refugees to
the new site of Halockhani Camp which is only one hour's walk from the
outpost of the SLORC Army at Three-Pagodas Pass.  It is very vulnerable to
any disturbances which might be made by SLORC troops, as MNRC [feared].

When Thai authorities repatriated these Mon refugees, they promised to take
responsibility for camp security even though it is on Burmese soil. 
Following this promise, they discussed with Burmese authorities regarding the
security of the refugee camps and [urged them] not to make any trouble. 
Hopefully, the Burmese authorities accepted the ideas from Thai authorities,
because they urgently wanted the New Mon State Party to separately join in
the cease-fire talks.  But MNRC cannot believe the promise of Burmese
authorities and always worried for the security of its refugees.

We believe there are two reasons why the SLORC troops occupied and made
disturbances.  For the first reason, SLORC troops wanted to conscript
refugees as porters and bullet-covers to carry their ammunition and food,
etc. and to walk in front of their troops, because Battalion No. 62 was
replaced by Battalion No. 61 and they need to move to the Mon State.  Another
reason is to give more pressure to the Mon refugees instead of Mon troops
because the third cease-fire talks between the New Mon State Party and SLORC
[ended] in a deadlock.

Obviously, there is no longer security for the Halockhani Mon refugee camp
which is on Burma soil.  We fear that such terrible incidents will occur in
the camp regularly when the SLORC want porters or face dissatisfaction with
the New Mon State Party of the Mon National Liberation Army.  Therefore, we
urgently need the world community to help us in consideration and to ensure
the security of the Mon refugees.

Signed by the Mon National Relief Committee
Tel (66 34) 595 080