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ABSDF NEWS AGENCY (r)




FORCED RECRUITMENT LEADS TO A HIGH PRICE FOR SUBSTITUTION 
 
	Slorc has been systematically recruiting youngsters into its army 
and increasing the 
armed forces from 200,000 to an eventual 500,000 troops under arms. 
Forced recruitment 
is being commonly practiced and has resulted in a doubling of the price 
for a substitute.  It 
now takes 10,000 kyat, up from the earlier price of 5000 Kyats. 
	Slorc's army bases in the township ordered the wards or villages 
in the township to 
supply youth for recruitment by quota. The village headman or local ward 
leader has to 
sent the quota either to the local township LORC or directly to the 
bases. According to 
private Naing Win (BC. 862213) from Loikaw-based LIB 250 who recently 
defected to 
the KNPP, Slorc demanded eight youth from each ward in his native 
Myingyan township. 
His younger brother, studying at school, was selected by lottery but he 
decided to enlist in 
the army himself to replace  his younger brother. 
	Another defector, Zin Min Thein (BC.963956) from Loikaw -based 
LIB.72 also 
revealed that he was forced to join the army while he was living at 
Minyard Ward, Pa 
Daung township, Pegu division. 
 	Many students are selected through the lottery system. In order 
to avoid their 
being drafted into the army, their parents have to find and pay a 
substitute person, for 
between 5,000 and 10,000 kyats. 
	Not only are no allowances made for a youth's lack of physical 
strength or 
experience, young recruits, in many cases, are deliberately placed in 
danger. The casualties 
among the youthful new recruits are so high that finding a substitute for 
any money has 
become difficult. "Those who neither find a substitute nor enlist in the 
army face six month 
imprisonment," said Naing Win. 
	Recently, an order to supply three young recruits from each ward 
in township for  
LIB. 517 based in Shan State's Mine Pun was issued.  Similarly, five 
hundred new recruits 
were demanded in Loikaw township for the military bases in Loikaw.