KHRG #96-24

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		  FORCED RELOCATION IN KARENNI

     An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
	      July 15, 1996     /     KHRG #96-24

 * PART 2 OF 5 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT *

[NOTE: SOME DETAILS OMITTED OR REPLACED BY 'XXXX' FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION]

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			    Interviews

				#1.
NAME:    "Loong Hom"     SEX: M    AGE: 54        Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 3 children age 3-20
ADDRESS: XXXX village, Baw La Keh Township        INTERVIEWED: 3/7/96

I came here [the refugee camp] with my whole family.  I have 3 children
with me.  The youngest is 3 years old and the eldest is 20 years old.  They
told us to move on the 16th of April.  The order came from the military,
from the Artillery contingent, but I don't know the name of the Major.  It
is
Battalion #429, Division #55.  They just sent a letter.  It said, "When you
see this order you must move immediately.  If you don't you will be driven
away and beaten like dogs and pigs, maybe even shot dead.  If you refuse to
leave your house, you will be burnt together with your house."

At first I thought of going to the east, of coming this way, but it was very
dangerous with the Burmese soldiers all along the way - we would have to
risk our lives to get through.  So we decided to go to the Burmese side, and
that if the situation became worse we would try to find a way to get out.
We took about 2 baskets of rice that we could carry with us, and went to
the place where they ordered us to stay at Wan Mai [in Shan, 'Wan Mai'
could be the village name or could just mean 'new place'].  We asked for
permission to prepare our food and 5 days to carry our food with us.  When
we got there they forced us to work every day.  Sometimes as guides to go
on operations with Army columns.  When we had to go with the Army
columns they forced us to go first, and if we step on a mine we lose our
lives.  If they happen to step on a mine, they accuse us of not showing the
proper way and beat us.  The Burmese soldiers also forced us to work every
day in their camp, and they didn't give us anything to eat.  Some had to eat
rotten rice, watery rice [cooks into mush instead of grains because it
hasn't
been properly dried yet] and rotten rice.  I often shed tears with my family
while we were eating.  Many people want to come this way to get out of
that place, but they just can't.

They have forced 270 households from 9 villages to move there.  All our
neighbouring villages had to move too.  The two neighbouring villages are
called Taw Saw and Leh Ko Dee.  They ordered them to move, and when
they refused to move they used troops to drive them out.  They even
burned down their houses.  At Wan Mai we had to stay wherever we could,
with relatives or somewhere.  Only after about 9 or 10 days they showed us
the place where we must stay - a place a little west of Wan Mai, near the
house of U Lay Kong and onward as far as the pagoda.  On the hill near
the military camp.  There is a camp on the top of the hill overlooking the
place, about 2 furlongs [440 yards] distance.  They just put sticks in the
ground and told us, "This is where you will have to build your houses."  As
for us, we were told to stay in a paddy field which the owner had just
prepared for the coming planting.  He had just put fertilizer on it.  The
Army gave the owner 10,000 Kyat as compensation and divided the paddy
field into many little plots for us.  They just put sticks in the ground and
said "This is for you, this is for you", and so on.  They didn't measure it
properly.  They made 12 foot by 9 foot plots of land for each house.  You
need 2 plots of land to build a house, and you have to buy each plot, they
don't just give it.  [The Army sets the price to make much more than the
10,000 Kyat compensation they pay for the land.]  Every village had to
clear the place for itself.  After that people can't stay with their
relatives
anymore, everyone is forced to live at the relocation place.

Q:  After they relocated you did you have to do any work for them?
A:  Yes, they came and called us to work every day!  We have to clean the
Army place, do sanitation for them and clear the drainage, cut
wood/bamboo to build a fence around the military camp, make thatch
roofing for them, and so on.  They usually force us to make fences around
their camp and make thatch roofing, and we have to clear the area in front
of their camp.  That's where they have put some of their landmines.  We
have to clear that place.  We can't help it, we just have to do it even
though
we are so afraid of it.  If we don't do it we are beaten.  If there are 10
households then 5 men have to go in turns, today 5 men and tomorrow 5
other men, and so on.  That means half of the families each day.  Also,
when they go out on operations 2 men from each village have to go with
them as guides.   They go north of Loi Hu Ta and if they go south it is Wan
Pla.  That is every week.  We are forced to do it, if we don't do it they
threaten that they will burn us with our houses or drive us away.  There is
no limit to the work, their work is never finished so they call you anytime,
whenever they need.  Even when we work for them we have to eat our own
food.

While working for them we also had to build our own houses.  We had to
go and get the materials [bamboo and/or wood] we need to build houses
for ourselves.  If we couldn't build our house we'd have no place to stay.
The Army helps with nothing.  We had no time [due to the forced labour]
so we had to buy materials.  One ton of wood costs 1,500 Kyat.  If you
don't have the money to buy it, you'd have no place to stay.

When we left our village there were many cattle and livestock left behind,
and rice.  As for the chicken and pigs, the Burmese soldiers have already
taken and eaten them all.  There are still many cattle and other things,
like
things in the monastery, and we haven't been able to do anything to save
them.  I don't know what's happened to it all, but the Burmese troops have
already gone and ransacked the village.  We dare not go back to have a look
because if we are caught we'll be beaten or even shot dead.

At Wan Mai a new group of soldiers has just come to replace the old group.
They come and guard our [relocation] place at night, starting from 5
o'clock in the evening.  We were there for over a month but we got nothing
from the Burmese soldiers.  We were there for one month and 7 days.  The
rice we brought with us we kept ourselves, but we had to hide it.  We had
to divide our rice into small amounts and keep it at different places,
including the monasteries, because they often search for rice. It was easy
to
get water because there is an irrigation ditch running through the place.
[Note: a paddy irrigation ditch is hardly a sanitary source of water for
270 families.]  There were many, many sick people when we arrived there,
but the military medic came down from the hill once a week and looked
after them.  Mostly people had malaria and influenza.  There are even
parents who lost their minds.  There were 2 deaths, children about 2 or 3
years of age.  They were children of Kayah or Kayan families from Pak
Kee village.  One was So Leh, and the other was a girl, her name was Nyeh
Meh.

Q:  Is there any clinic?
A:  They said that there would be a dispensary but nothing has been done
as yet. The place allocated for the dispensary has only a marking stick
stuck
in the ground.

Q:  Are you allowed to go outside the relocation camp?
A:  Yes, but we are allowed to go only 3 miles in any direction.  Even for
that we have to take their written pass with us. That is to go within 3
miles.
Beyond 3 miles, no written permission will be effective.  Anyone found
beyond 3 miles away will be shot on sight.  We are allowed to go for only 2
reasons:  one is to go and get our food which we left at our village, or to
gather our cattle.  These are the only 2 reasons for which we are allowed to
go.  Only one person in the family can go, and only one day's permission.
No one is allowed to stay overnight.  When we go we usually leave at 6
o'clock in the morning, and we must be back at 5 p.m.  Anyone who comes
back later than 5 o'clock is punished.  We are not even allowed to go and
work in our fields and farms or do any cultivation.  They told us that it is
not necessary for us to grow anything, because we won't eat it ourselves, we
will only use it to feed the rebels.

Q:  When you came here how did you escape?
A:  It was when they told us, "Before long the road is going to be blocked,
and the boat [probably Pon river ferry] will stop working.  So before that
happens, if you want to go back to your village and get some of your
property you may go."  So we asked for 10 days to dismantle our houses,
pound our rice and gather all our remaining cattle.  We said we would take
back our big boat and bring it all down.  We said "We will work day and
night until we can bring all our property down here."  When we got
permission, we just headed this way.  Our whole village, we pretended to
work only 2 days, and then we came this way.  We left Wan Mai on the
12th day of the waxing moon [28 May].  It took us 5 nights to come here.
The road is too rugged, up and down the high mountains.  We were so tired
travelling along that way.  The road was too hard to travel, I almost cried
with my family.  We had nothing to eat.  We didn't pass through any
villages but I thought we would run into Burmese soldiers somewhere
because they are all over the place.  I was very anxious.

Q:  Did you bring any of your belongings with you?
A:  No, as for me I didn't even get to our old village.  We didn't bring
anything with us from the relocation place, we threw it all away.  We
brought only one blanket each.
Q:  Do you think other people will come this way?
A:  Yes, I think so.  If they can get out of that place, they will come.
All
10 houses [from his village] have come here already, there is only one
family
left.  There is nobody left in the village, because if you refuse to move
you'll be arrested and put in jail for 7 years.  The Burmese troops said
that
there is no way for us to return home.  They said, "There will never be any
way for you to go home, ever."  That's why they said if we wanted to
dismantle our houses and bring them that we could, because we would never be
allowed to return home.
Q:  Do you know why the Burmese troops are doing this?
A:  No, I don't know anything about it.
Q:  Have they abused you before?
A:  Yes, I myself suffered on two occasions.  Once I was locked up, the
second time I was beaten so badly that I was near death. I've seen a
villager
killed by them.  His name was Za Wa Na.  He was 24, married and had 2
children.  They killed him at Wan Mai.  And there are many who have gone
with them as porters and been beaten so badly that some have lost all their
teeth, some have had their legs and arms broken.

When they arrested me they punched my face, my teeth, my chest, and beat
the back of my neck with a rifle butt.  They also wrung my neck.  They
kicked, they tied me up like this [hands behind his back] and kicked my
legs and thighs until I fainted.  That happened to me 3 times.  I was also
put
in jail for 7 months.  They accused me of being rebel village militia and a
smuggler.  That was when I went to help at the New Year's ceremony at
Nah Mon Palet.  They tried to find guns, a rifle and a handgun as evidence,
but I had none.  So they tortured me.  That was at Wan Mai, by the troops
from #3 Company, #72 [Battalion], commanded by Major Sein Hlaing.
Because of that, still now I often cough and I get very tired when I walk.
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				  #2.
NAME:    "Koo Klaw Reh"   SEX: M     AGE: 40   Kayah Animist (Kaytobo)
farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 8 children aged 6-15
ADDRESS: XXXX village, Preh Tho Leh Township            INTERVIEWED: 4/7/96

Our village has 105 houses.  81 families have come and arrived here.  I left
together with 81 families on June 5th, and the second group left on June
17th.  Three groups left altogether, but I don't know how many families
were in the other groups.  We left because the Burmese forced us to move
to Shadaw.  They said, "If you don't move to Shadaw we'll burn down your
village.  Kayah people are no good so we'll move you to Shadaw, and we'll
burn down all your houses and villages.  If there are cattle or buffalos
left
in the village we'll shoot them all.  We'll burn your paddy and if we see
you
anywhere in the village, in the forests, the fields or the farmfield huts,
we'll kill you without asking any questions.  The 7th of June is the last
day
for you to move to Shadaw village."  The letter they sent said "The 7th of
June is the last day.  If you don't arrive by the 7th we'll come and if we
see anyone we'll shoot and kill them.  You must bring all your belongings."
They sent us that letter on June 2nd.  It was #337 Battalion.  Even though
the headman went to talk to them and asked if we could stay in the village,
they refused him.  When the headman told us about that, everyone got
ready to leave.  We were very afraid.

I don't know how many villages were forced to move, but the headman told
me that there were 44 villages forced to move to Shadaw.  It took us one
day to get there.  I took only one mat with me.  Everything, like pigs,
chickens, buffalos, cattle, pots, plates, cups, everything in the house was
left behind.  We couldn't take any of it because we had to carry our
children
as well as the old men and women, and we had to wait for those who were
sick.  We could only carry our children and mats, nothing else.

There were 1,650 people who arrived at that military camp at that time,
including 60 families from my village.  When we arrived there the SLORC
called a meeting.  At first they said we can only go outside if we can prove
we are going to get our rice and animals.  They ask everything, like "How
far is it to your village?" before they'll let you go, and you have to tell
them the whole list of what you are going to get - if you say you're going
to
get a cow, then you must come back with a cow.  For our village, they only
allowed one day to go and one to come back, so you could only get a pass
for 2 days and you had to pay 5 Kyat or 10 Kyat.  Only one person per
house could go at a time, and they said they would take serious action
against anyone who leaves without permission.  Again the headman tried to
get permission from them [to go back and stay in their village], and then
they gave from the 12th of June until the 27th for people to go get all
their
belongings from their villages.  [By the 12th it was obvious that no one had
enough food, so the military temporarily slackened the rules.]  The
Burmese said, "You can go to your village and get all your cattle, buffalos,
possessions and rice.  We cannot give you food here.  You must bring your
own rice and food.  Even if we give you food you'll have to pay for it."  We
couldn't suffer that because we knew we'd run out of food, so we asked
permission to leave Shadaw to go get our things.  As soon as we got
permission we left and came directly here.  All our possessions and property
were left in our village, along the way, or hidden in the forest.  I don't
know what will happen to our belongings.  If one day we can go back to our
village, I don't know if I'll see them again.  Maybe dogs or rats have
destroyed them.

While we were at Shadaw some villagers stayed in the monastery, some in
the school.  As soon as we finish cooking the Burmese order us to put out
our fires [apparently due to the fire risk caused by overcrowding].  As for
the old people, they're not even allowed to wander around - the Burmese
order them to just stay together with their children.  They ordered us to
build houses in front of the military camp, #337 Battalion's camp. It is
very
close to the police station.  All the people from south of Shadaw were
ordered to build their houses near the police station, and all the others
near
the military camp.  People from the centre area are forced to build their
houses near the east side of the hospital.  There's a hill, and 200 people
were ordered to stay north of the hill, 200 people east of the hill and 200
people south of the hill.

Q:  Didn't they give you any food?
A:  No, SLORC never gives food!  When we went to ask rice they refused
us.  First they promised they would give us some but they were lying, they
were lying.  There were a lot of sick people.  When we asked for medicine
they said, "The medicine will arrive soon", but we never saw any.  People
had malaria, oh, many many kinds of sicknesses.  One child fell into the
well and died.

We decided to come here east of the Salween River, that even if people kill
us or we starve we'll just die, we'll be satisfied. It took us 6 days to
walk
here.  We were very, very disappointed and unhappy.  People were crying,
we could not sleep and we could not eat.  We saw deserted villages so we
were very afraid and worried about that.  I was upset because I saw there
was no one there to look after the cattle, buffalos and chickens.  I didn't
want to sleep in those deserted villages.  All the women and some of the
men were crying.  We were in a hurry so all our things were left behind.
When we slept we dreamed about our houses and our things and we were
very sad.  I still burst into tears when I think about all I've left behind.
All the people in our village arrived in this camp but we have left
everything
behind on the way.  We have only one pot and one mat.  I'm very bitter
because SLORC does these bad things to us.  So I feel that the best is to
stay with our forefathers, our parents and our soldiers on this side of the
river [the portion of Karenni east of the Salween].

I think SLORC will block the way.  They knew that we left the camp, so I
knew they would contact their troops near the border by walkie-talkie.  So
we divided into groups.  We rested 2 whole nights in xxxx village and we
were very worried.  While we were there SLORC troops met Karenni
troops in xxxx village and there was fighting, and all the women started
crying again.  All the people in Shadaw would like to get out.  People who
stayed behind said to us, "If you can stay there please send a message and
we'll follow you".  The Burmese said we must stay 3 complete years in that
camp.  They said, "Don't think about your animals, we will kill them.  For
now you can bring them to our camp, but any we see later we will kill.
Don't hold any hope for them."  They also said, "We have to kill any people
who are hiding in the forest."

They aren't killing people right now in Shadaw, but before they burned our
houses and villages, killed villagers, and when they came to our village
they
arrested the headmen and tortured them.  Our neighbouring villages
suffered more than our village.  They said that people who live in XXXX
area are rebels.  "So", they said, "We can kill you anytime we
want.  All people in Kayah [State] are rebels."  In our village they said,
"In this village, you yourselves are all rebels."  They collect monthly
porter
fees, sometimes 25 Kyat and sometimes 50 Kyat.  People who can't pay are
taken away for labour.  They have killed not less than 20 people in XXXX
area that I know of.  Some people were killed for no reason,
some were killed when SLORC troops saw them in the jungle or along the
path, and some when the Karenni soldiers do operations so SLORC accuses
villagers of being soldiers.  They also kill many animals in our area.  They
killed all the animals around Nam Mo.  They burned Daw Leh Ku village
and all of their paddy one time, and now they've burned it again.
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   - [END OF PART 2 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR PARTS 1 THROUGH 5] -