KNU report February 5,1997

[So_Nou@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Situation Inside Burma

When the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) troops and some
Democratic Kayin Budhhist Army (DKBA)  raided and set three refugee camps on
fire on January 28,1997, the whole world was aware within a few hours but
brutal actions like these done in the remote areas in Burma, especially in
Karen State, are unknown to the world. The villagers have been suffering
silent persecution from their tormentors since the early days of the Civil
War in 1949.

At midnight on January 29,1997, the Slorc troops of Infantry Battalion 19 and
some DKBA raided Maw Thay Der village in Papun district and looted 360 Kyats
(Burmese currency) from Naw To Paw Say, 1200 kyats and 10 silver coins from
Saw Blaw Pu and 5000 kyats and a radio from Saw Pa Bu. They also arrested
five villagers, namely, Saw Pa Meh, Saw Pa Dah, Saw Pa Yoh, Saw Yoh Po and
Saw Plaw Htoo, tied them and took them back to Papun, aamajor town in the
area.

The Slorc troops in the area and the DKBA are destroying rice fields, setting
villagers' barns on fire, forcing villagers to be porters, using villagers as
mine sweepers, burning villages and forcibly relocating villagers. The
persecution is more than these villagers could bear so they flee to Thailand
to seek refuge. On January 29, 1997, 574 villagers from Papun district
entered the refugee camps in the north.

KNU Information Center

______________________________________________________________________________
| SalaThai, Bangkok, Thailand - A FirstClass Network - Tel: (662) 679-8382   |
|      BBS: (662) 679-8380 (18 lines)   http://www.icn.net/SalaThai.html     |
|    Please address any problems and questions to postmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxx    |
______________________________________________________________________________