Mon Information Service (fwd)

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Pon Nya



Subject: Mon Information Service

Dear Pon Nya Mon, You said you cannot received Mon Info. file, but
Dr. Tapani received all the mail of Mon Info.  Here I try again by e-mail
window.

SLORC continues ruthless atrocities
against civilians in Tenasserim

The resources-rich Tenasserim Division is economically also very important
for the ruling military regime SLORC which relies on foreign investment for
income. Foreign oil companies - such as Total Co of France and Unocal Corp
of the United States - have also been operating in this region for
exploitation of the 5.8 trillion cubit feet of untapped natural gas found
in the Gulf of Martaban. The billion-dollar gas pipeline project of the
Total-Unocal consortium, which will be providing SLORC with more than 600
million dollars per year, is well under way and the pipeline construction
is nearly completed now. The delivery of the natural gas to the power
plants in Thailand has also been scheduled to begin by as early as next
July. To provide adequate security for the gas pipeline project , SLORC
must be able to get complete control of the region. As long as there is any
continuing guerrilla movement in the region, the gas pipeline project will
be remaining vulnerable to sabotage. On the other hand, it is now
militarily opportune for SLORC to crush the remaining guerrilla movements
in Tenasserim Division while almost all those armed groups operating in the
rest part of the country have respectively entered into separate cease-fire
deals with it. It is in its all-out attempt to crush the guerrilla bases in
Tenasserim Division that in the last quarter of 1995 SLORC established a
new military command, officially known as the Coastal Region Command,
appointing its famous warriors such as Thiha Thura Sit Maung and Thura
Maung Ni to command this new military command for intensifying its war of
violence.

Tenasserim Division comprises 10 townships - namely Yebyu, Tavoy, Launglon,
Thayet Chaung, Palaw, Mergui, Kyunsu (archipelago), Taninthayi, Boak Pyin
and Kawthaung. Ethnic Mon, Karen and Tavoyan people together make most of
the region's population. The people live mostly by farming and fishing.
Most of the people live in the rural area, a large proportion of which
constitutes the Black Areas.

In this coastal region of far southern Burma, there are three ethnic armed
opposition groups present and operating - namely the New Mon State Party
(NMSP) of the ethnic Mon, the Karen National Union (KNU) of the ethnic
Karen and the Myeik-Dawei United Front (MDUF) of the ethnic Tavoyan. The
Burmese student armed opposition, officially known as the All Burma
Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), also has a military unit present there,
joining forces with the ethnic armed opposition groups fighting with the
SLORC Army. Out of the three ethnic armed opposition groups, NMSP entered
into a truce with SLORC in mid 1995, whereas the two other groups KNU and
MDUF, alongside ABSDF, have both been at war with SLORC. SLORC has
continued its offensive campaign against the KNU, MDUF and ABSDF guerrilla
bases in Tenasserim Division , as well as against the base of an NMSP
splinter group in Mergui 

district until that group surrendered to it in May 1997. Tenasserim
Division is the only region where hostilities have not stopped, though over
a dozen ethnic armed groups have respectively entered into a temporary
cease-fire deal with SLORC. Thus, this coastal region has remained to be
the country's most troubled spot.

The Coastal Region Command Thiha Thura Sit Maung is the Coastal Region
Command's commander and Thura Maung Ni is his deputy. As soon as he was
promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and appointed the commander of
this new military command,Thiha Thura Sit Maung laid out and started to
realize his plans of all-out violence and atrocities, intensifying the
strategic Four Cuts Campaign.
 
Since the establishment of the Coastal Region Command, the SLORC Army has
continuously been attacking the guerrilla bases across the region, in the
process displacing tens of thousands through ruthless atrocities. At the
same time, it has been randomly conscripting men villagers across the
region for compulsory military service on the one hand and has been
requiring the many villages to perform round-the-clock watch against
guerrilla movements. As a result, the entire village people in the region
have been experiencing more serious hardship of life than ever before.

The SLORC brigadier general Sit Maung has repeatedly announced to the
entire village people across the region as to how ruthlessly he will be
treating them as long as his troops have fighting with the guerrilla
forces. The SLORC brigadier general summoned the village headmen from more
than 70 Tavoyan and Karen villages in Thayet Chaung township to a meeting
with him at the 405th battalion's headquarters in Thayet Chaung town on 25
June 1996. In his address to the gathering of those village headmen, the
SLORC brigadier general reaffirmed the following points: 

All the villages must completely oppose the guerrilla forces and must fully
and without fail collaborate with his troops in their counterinsurgency
movements. His troops would burn down any village where they might have a
clash with the guerrilla forces. They would immediately relocate any
village where they might hear a shot of (guerrilla) gunfire from, and any
village which had been on the route of guerrilla movement. His troops would
exterminate any villagers whom they might find collaborating with the
guerrillas. If his troops lost a gun in a clash with the guerrillas in the
area, any village close to the clashing spot must compensate 15,000 kyats
for it.

SLORC conscripts people for compulsory military service

On the orders of the Coastal Region Command, all the local infantry
battalions have seriously been conscripting men from the many villages
across the region for compulsory service in the SLORC Army. The Coastal
Region Command required each local battalion to get 5 recruits per month, a
total of 60 recruits per year in 1996; and 3 recruits per month, a total of
36 recruits per year in 1997. In pushing its own local battalions into
taking an all-out effort to obtain as many recruits as possible, the
Coastal Region Command has used a method of "fine or reward" - setting a
fine of 25,000 Kyats for every one less recruit than the quota and a reward
of the same amount for every one extra recruit over the quota. As a result,
all the local battalions have so seriously been hunting for men in the many
villages across the region - not sparing even teenage boys. As a result,
numerous men and teenage boys from across the region have fled, mostly by
way of the southernmost town Kawthaung, into neighbouring Thailand to
escape being conscripted; and those remaining in the region have all been
staying in a hiding manner, in constant fear of being conscripted.

At the same time, on the orders of the Coastal Region Command, the SLOR 
military in Tavoy and Thayet Chaung townships ordered more than 30 villages
from the two townships to provide men to serve as militiamen for SLORC. The
SLORC military kept threatening these villages that if they failed to act
accordingly they would be relocated into concentration camp like
previously. These 30 Tavoyan and Karen villages, composed of a total of
3,000 families, had already been confined in concentration camp for 4 years
from the 1990-91 dry season through February 1995 by the SLORC military.
These 30 villages are namely 1) Thayet Hnakhwa, 2) Yebyat, 3) Me Kea, 4)
Kyauk Aing, 5) Winkapaw, 6) Kywegyan, 7) Alezu/Myanmar Taung Byauk, 8)
Byatwitha, 9) Taung Byauk/Karen Taung Byauk), 10) Yebu, 11) Chaung Kauk,
12) Thabyu Chaung, 13) Thea Lan, 14) Gonnyinzeik, 15) Yecho Chaung, 16)
Thayetpin Aing, 17) Sidat, 18) Pyinbyuthar, 19) Sonsin, 20) Hsitaw, 21)
Taungzin, 22) Padet Chaung, 23) Kyaukbyu, 24) Laung Minba, 25) Htiwa, 26)
Kahtiwa, 27) Inbya, 28) Peinbin Aing, 29) Oaktu and 30)Kudoh.

SLORC imposes round-the-clock duty for anti guerrilla watch, More than 270
villages affected

On the orders of the Division LORC and the Coastal Region Command, the
Township LORCs in Tavoy, Thayet Chaung and Launglon have continuously been
requiring more than 270 villages of the three townships to perform a
round-the-clock duty of watching against guerrillas since May 1997 or
earlier. By performing this duty of anti guerrilla watch, the villages have
to keep the SLORC military constantly informed of the situation concerning
guerrillas. That is, if they can see any sign for possible guerrilla
movement, the villages must in time inform the SLORC military about it. Any
villagers on the watch and/ or their villages are subjected to any
ill-treatments by the SLORC military if and when they fail to serve to its
satisfaction.

Based on their population and their numbers of households, the villages are
required to provide 12 to 36 people each per day to be on duty. Generally
women have to perform the duty for the daytime and men for night-time. To
perform the duty, households in each village have to provide people in
turns rotated continually. Any household which cannot provide people at its
duty turn is subjected to a fine of 300 to 500 kyats per day, or to hard
labour for 3 to 5 days. This long-going requirement of anti guerrilla watch
has seriously affected the entire inhabitants of the area, depriving them
of time and access to their own means of subsistence. 

Women performing this duty are very vulnerable to any abuses including rape
by those morally bankrupt SLORC officers and soldiers. Some of them have
reportedly been subjected to such abuse. On 21 June 1997 (daytime), about
20 SLORC troops from the local No. 405 light infantry battalion, led by
Lieutenant Tun Hla, arrived at Thayet Chaung township's Alezu (also known
as Myanmar Taung Byauk) village. After arriving at the village, the SLORC
lieutenant came to two young Tavoyan girls who were on the anti guerrilla
watch at the designated gatehouse, and in a barbarous manner started with
saying"I love you"  to them. These two girls, namely Ma Hla Aye and Ma Win
Mya, both attempted to run away in fear of the SLORC lieutenant. The SLORC
lieutenant ran after the two girls and caught hold of Ma Hla Aye, whereas
the other one managed to escape. Having caught hold of Ma Hla Aye, the
SLORC lieutenant attempted to rape her. At that moment, one soldier came
and urged the lieutenant to stop abusing the girl. After arguing with each
other for a short moment, the intervening soldier and the rape-attempting
lieutenant went into a fight. The fight came to a stop by the intervention
of some other soldiers. The rape attempt was unsuccessful. The victim Ma
Hla Aye must have expressed her heartfelt thanks to that very smart SLORC
soldier of a rare kind, by whose help she had narrowly escaped from
possible sexual abuse by the lieutenant.

Chronology of some of the ruthless atrocities and abuses in the process of
counterinsurgency movement, committed by troops under Coastal Region
Command  
 
** In February 1996, the gas pipeline area (in Yebyu township) was attacked
by Karen guerrillas. Following this guerrilla attack, SLORC's local No. 403
and No. 407 light infantry battalions arrested and detained tens of Karen
villagers from Eindayaza, including few women, on allegation that they had
collaborated with the guerrillas. The SLORC military summarily executed at
least 9 men out of those persons arrested: Namely 1) Saw Gabala, 2) Saw
Kyeh Kyeh, 3) Saw Lar Kyay, 

4) Saw Lar Chu, 5) Saw Shwe Po, 6) Saw Kyi Lwin, 7) Saw Deh Breh, 8) Saw
Hpaw Po and 9) Saw Lar De. A 20-year-old Karen girl (Naw Soe Soe), was
subjected to gang-rape during her detention in the hands of SLORC's local
military and became pregnant consequently. She still remained in the
detention by the SLORC military authorities in Tavoy when she gave birth at
the maturity of her pregnancy. It is not known as to what has happened to
this rape victim finally. 
  
** On 22 August 1996, 100 SLORC troops from the local No. 224 battalion,
led by Major Ye Myint, ordered some 100 Karen families living at Kyunsu
township's Ahnaing village to relocate in a strategic hamlet in 24 hours'
time. Since they were ordered to move shortly, most families had to leave
behind most of their movable properties. SLORC troops from another local
unit, namely the No. 265 battalion, led by Captain Ohn Ngwe and accompanied
by some militiamen from Yekan Or village headed by U Than Myint, came to
collect and take away the villagers' left properties, amounting to 22
motorboat loads - namely 3 times by 4 boats and 2 times by 5 boats. They
also destroyed the village's guardian spirit house after shitting and
passing urine at it. They also executed a 23-year-old Tavoyan man (Ko
Kalar) from Shanpon village, on allegation of supporting the Tavoyan
guerrilla Myeik-Dawei United Front. They executed the man by beating him
with a rifle butt and a heavy stick, and buried the dead body just by the
destroyed guardian spirit house, according to some locals who claimed to
have witnessed the event.

** On 9 September 1996, 100 SLORC troops from the local No. 224 infantry
battalion, led by major Ye Myint, burnt down Kyaukkon and Kyaukpi villages
in Mergui district's Kyunsu township. In so doing, they ordered the more
than 200 Tavoyan families living at the two villages to relocate in a
strategic hamlet immediately. A Buddhist monk from the village Kyaukkon was
said to be pleading with the SLORC troops to allow him to continue staying
at his monastery in the village up to the end of the Buddhist lent. The
SLORC troops then became angry at the monk and accused him of defying their
orders. They tied up the monk with a rope and beat him severely. After
that, they threatened the monk to be killed if he did not leave
immediately. So, the monk had to leave accordingly.

** On 25 September 1996, 120 SLORC troops from the local No. 265 battalion,
led by Major Min Thwin and accompanied by 40 local SLORC militiamen - came
and ordered a total of more than 2,000 Tavoyan and Karen families (a
population of some 10,000) living at several villages in Mergui district's
Kyunsu township to relocate in strategic hamlets immediately. In fear of
possible ill-treatments by the SLORC troops, the entire 2,000 families had
to leave the area accordingly, without being given time to take along their
properties. Of these 2,000 families, most were Tavoyan. The affected
villages included Pyinthar, Maing Thway, Ywathit, Taung Hpyar, Shanpon,
Leyingwin, Wun Taung, Shawtawmaw, Kyauktannge, Kantha, Myaingtha, Gadin
Chaung, Sitpu, Bar Taung, Hsingon, Thea Leh Tin and some other villages. 

** On 3 November 1996, about SLORC 100 troops from the local No. 280
battalion displaced some 50 Tavoyan families living at Thayet Chaung
township's Kyauk Taung village through ruthless atrocities. Having arrived
at the village's entrance, the SLORC troops opened fire and shot into the
first house continuously, killing the 45-year-old householder instantly.
The householder's wife (Ma Hnit), carrying her young child and alongside
her mother (Daw Saw Tin), fled in desperation into the nearby woods and
managed to escape. At the arrival of the SLORC troops and at the sound of
their gunfire, the rest of the villagers all fled into hiding and mostly
managed to escape. A 65-year-old villager, U Hla Shwe, was captured. The
SLORC troops reportedly executed this old man on allegation of being a
supporter of the Tavoyan guerrilla MDUF. They took away any properties from
all the houses and then burnt down them. 15 other houses in another section
of the village were not reached by the SLORC troops and were safe from
their plunder and destruction. 

** On 17 November 1996, 20 SLORC troops from the local No. 265 battalion,
led by Captain Ohn Ngwe and accompanied by 5 local SLORC militiamen from
Theabyu Kyun village headed by U Soe Naing, arbitrarily shot and killed a
27-year-old innocent Karen man (Saw Pan Maung) from Kyunsu township's
Ahnaing village, while he was picking vegetables from his old garden in his
former village site.

** On 5 December 1996, 30 SLORC troops from the local No. 265 infantry
battalion, led by Captain Aung Zin and accompanied by 5 local SLORC
militiamen headed by U Than Myint, arbitrarily shot and killed all three
members of a Tavoyan family from Kyunsu township's Peh Taing village. It
was while they were rafting some logs down the river that the 3 victims -
namely a 58-year-old father U Kyi Hla, a 56-year-old mother Daw Ma Ma and a
14-year-old son Maung Than Aung - were so shot and killed.  

** On 20 January 1997, some SLORC troops from the local No. 406 battalion
came and displaced some 100 Mon families living at Mea Taw in Yebyu
township by burning down some houses and plundering, despite and during the
NMSP-SLORC ceasefire. The entire villagers - men, women and children - fled
in fear and dispersed.

** The Coastal Region Command declared Mergui district's Pawa village tract
a free fire zone at the beginning of 1997 and ordered its troops to shoot
on sight and kill anybody found living there. In enforcing this order of
the Coastal Region Command, on 8 February 1997 some troops from the local
103rd infantry battalion, led by Captain Kyaw Soe, on sight shot and killed
a 39-year-old innocent Karen man (Saw Hpo Htoo) from Meelaunggwin village)
in that area.

** In February 1997, hundreds of SLORC troops from the No. 66 infantry
division arrived at the several Karen and Tavoyan villages in Thayet Chaung
township's Ban Chaung area on an offensive against the KNU guerrilla base
there. In the process, they forced those villages to relocate in strategic
hamlets immediately. 

On 15 February, these SLORC troops arrived at Pyar Thar Chaung village.
They reportedly seized 5 girls whom they came across on their way and
gang-raped them. Of these 5 girls, 4 were all unmarried and all from
Launglon township's Minyat village who were working for a local private
betel-nut business firm in Ban Chaung area. The other one was said to be a
member of the firm's owner family. The SLORC troops not only gang-raped the
5 girls at night-time but also used them as portering labour in the
daytime. These 5 gang-rape victims still remained in the captivity till
April 1997, but it is not known as to what happened to them finally. 

** On 18 February 1997, many SLORC troops arrived at several Karen villages
in Mergui district, such as Pyarthar Chaung, Mawpahtoo, Thabyu Chaung and
Kataungni, and terrorized the villagers through a series of ruthless
atrocities - including indiscriminate shooting and killing, arrest and
torture, rape, plunder and so forth. The majority of the people in the
villages managed to escape, but some of them including women were captured
and severely abused by the SLORC troops. The SLORC troops tortured all the
men captives then executed some (if not all) of them; and gang-raped the
women captives. Among the tens of women captives gang-raped by the SLORC
troops, reportedly about 20 girls from Mawpahtoo and Kataungni villages
were also included. The SLORC troops plundered the villages taking away any
properties of the villagers - ranging from clothing, livestock to kitchen
utensils - and burnt down the entire villages.

** On 6 March 1997, 300 SLORC troops from the No. 66 infantry division and
the local No. 17 battalion, with several hundred forced civilian porters,
arrived at Kataungni village in Mergui district and terrorized the
villagers by indiscriminately shooting and killing. As a consequence, a
Karen woman, a mother of two children, was shot and killed instantly. The
entire people in the village were fleeing in desperation for their own
safety. Many of the villagers - men, women and children - did not manage to
escape but were captured and held captive by the SLORC troops. The SLORC
troops interrogated all the men captives through torture then reportedly
executed some of them. They also gang-raped the women captives. While
holding the men captives in confinement inside the school compound as well
as on the houses in the village, the SLORC troops gang-raped the women
captives. The SLORC troops also plundered the village, taking away the
livestock, foodstuffs, clothing, kitchen utensils etc. At their departure,
the SLORC troops continued to take away the men captives as portering
labour for them. The SLORC troops reportedly executed some porters who
could not continue to carry the heavy loads given to them out of
exhaustion, sickness or injury. 

** In March and April 1997, the SLORC Army launched an intensive attack on
the base of the NMSP splinter group in Mergui district, displacing the
several hundred Mon refugees living in the area in the process. In the face
of the intensive attack in May 1997, this Mon splinter group surrendered to
SLORC. After the group's surrender, the SLORC military forcibly returned
the Mon refugees there to the Burmese side of the border and relocated them
in a strategic hamlet under its 

control. Unbearable to the strong-arm brutal rule of the SLORC military,
many of those Mon refugee families have again fled into hiding in the
forests along the Thai border, reportedly facing consistent shortage of
basic necessities up to now.  

** In May 1997, the SLORC military reportedly seized and held hostage those
civilian men and women, who were parents, family members or relatives of
members of the ethnic Tavoyan and Karen armed opposition groups and were
living at several villages across Tavoy and Thayet Chaung townships,
thereby demanding those guerrilla members to surrender. As none of those
guerrilla members came to surrender, the SLORC military kept on detaining
the hostages, according to local sources.  

** On 27 May 1997, about 120 SLORC troops from the local No. 403 and No. 25
battalions, led by major Zaw Tun, arrived at Taung Byauk village in Thayet
Chaung township and stayed there one night. Amongst these SLORC troops, a
sergeant by the name Aung Mya forced a 41-year-old Tavoyan woman from the
village at gun point and perpetrated rape against her. This rape victim, Ma
Aye Mya, was a mother of 5 children.

** On 4 June 1997, 40 SLORC troops from the local No. 265 battalion, led by
captain Ohn Ngwe and accompanied by 5 SLORC militiamen led by U Than Myint
from Yekan Or village, arbitrarily confiscated any properties of the
Buddhist monastery at Maing Thway village in Kyunsu township, ranging from
furniture to kitchen utensils, amounting to approximately 200,000 kyats.
The SLORC troops also took a small electricity generator of the monastery
and threw it away into a nearby river. The monastery was accused of
supporting the guerrilla forces.

** On 11 June 1997, 40 SLORC troops from the local No. 265 battalion, led
by captain Aung Zin and accompanied by 5 SLORC militiamen from Theabyukyun
village led by U Soe Naing, came and burnt down Shanpon village in Kyunsu
township, making all the 40 Tavoyan families of the village homeless and
destitute. They also burnt down the village's monastery, displacing the few
Buddhist monks sojourning there.

** On 15 June 1997, 30 SLORC troops from the local No. 403 battalion
arrived at Theachaunggyi village in Thayet Chaung township's Taung Byauk
village tract. Amongst those SLORC troops, a sergeant by the name Than Sein
unsuccessfully attempted to perpetrate rape against a 27-year-old Tavoyan
woman with two children on her way to her slash-and-burn rice field. As the
SLORC sergeant was attempting to rape her, the victim Ma Than Mu
continuously cried out for help. On hearing the victim cry, some Tavoyan
villagers nearby came with sticks and stones to give possible help for her.
On the arrival of these villagers, the rape-attempting sergeant fled
helter-skelter, leaving his army pants and hat behind. These villagers,
picking up and by holding the left army pants and hat of the
rape-attempting sergeant, went to complain to his senior officer (ranking
Captain) about the incident. Instead of prosecuting or punishing the
rape-attempting sergeant, that SLORC captain scolded those villagers for
complaining, as well as threatening them if they publicized the incident
they would be persecuted.      

** On the second week of October 1997, 1000 SLORC troops, led by the No. 1
Tactical Command's commander Brigadier General Zaw Tun and by the use of
hundreds of forced civilian porters, arrived at Thayet Chaung township's
Saw Hpyar, Sonsin, Taung Byauk and Taung Zin village tracts on an offensive
operation against the Karen and Tavoyan guerrilla bases in the area. These
SLORC troops continued to conscript forced portering labour, extort
portering fees and looting livestock and foodstuffs from the many Tavoyan
and Karen villages they reached. These many civilian porters were
reportedly subjected to ruthless abuses by the SLORC troops.    

Background   Black Areas

The Burmese Army has designated the country's outer rural areas of its
loose control or areas presently controlled by the various ethnic
non-Burman guerrilla forces as Black Areas, which practically means free
fire zones. The entire Black Areas is estimated to be presently covering
one fourth of the country and inhabited by more than 4 million ethnic
non-Burman village people. The Burmese Army generally regards the
inhabitants of the Black Areas as sympathizers and supporters of the ethnic
guerrilla forces - Mon villagers as sympathizers and supporters of Mon
guerrillas, Karen villagers as sympathizers and supporters of Karen
guerrillas, and so on. As such, the Burmese Army has normally abused and
ill-treated them ruthlessly and cruelly in processes of its
counterinsurgency operations. Ruthless atrocities committed by members of
the Burmese Army - such as forced relocation and population displacement,
indiscriminate arrest and conscription of forced portering labour,
arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, summary or arbitrary execution,
rape, looting and plundering, extortion and so forth - have been
commonplace in the Black Areas through the age-old civil war. 

The successive Burmese governments in Rangoon have constantly left the
outer rural areas under the military rule and have connived at the
brutalities and atrocities members of the Army have committed against the
inhabitants there, from the outbreak of the civil war up to the present.
The rule of law has constantly been non-existent in the outer rural areas.
The whims of members of the Army are the only rules that govern the
inhabitants there. The Burmese military has all the powers to arrest,
detain, torture or kill anybody from the Black Areas whom it may suspect of
having contacts with the guerrilla forces. It can also displace any village
there through ruthless violence on accusation of harbouring the guerrilla
forces.  In fact, the age-old and ongoing civil war the Burmese Army has
fought is not simply a war against the ethnic armed opposition as such but
it is also a war against the civilian non-Burman population in the
country's outer rural areas.   

The strategic Four Cuts Campaign

Taking the point that only with the support of the respective ethnic
non-Burman communities in the country have the various ethnic non-Burman
guerrilla forces come to existence and grown up, all through the last 3
decades the successive Burman-dominated racist military regimes in Rangoon
have traditionally been realizing the strategic Four Cuts Campaign, in
their all-out attempt to annihilate the ethnic insurgency movements across
the country. They have clearly regarded the ethnic non-Burman community of
the outer rural areas or the so-called Black Areas as the main source of
food, money, recruits and information for the guerrilla forces. They have
strongly believed that by realizing the Four Cuts Campaign can they
effectively undermine and eventually annihilate the entire ethnic armed
opposition in the country. The Four Cuts literally mean the cut of food,
the cut of money, the cut of recruits and the cut of information for the
ethnic guerrilla forces. 

In realizing the Four Cuts Campaign, the Burmese Army has shot and killed
any ethnic non-Burman villagers on sight, in areas in which the guerrilla
forces are active and which it has designated with or without the knowledge
of the inhabitants there as free fire zones. It has normally confiscated or
destroyed the livestock, paddy stacks or granaries and foodstuffs in the
villages or on the farms, which it regards as easily accessible to the
guerrillas. It has normally arrested, tortured or executed any ethnic
non-Burman villagers there whom it has suspected of collaborating with the
guerrillas. It has normally forced any villages accessible to the guerrilla
forces to relocate in strategic hamlets immediately or on short notice. It
has normally displaced any villages which it has suspected of harbouring
the ethnic guerrillas - through ruthless atrocities such as indiscriminate
shooting and killing, indiscriminate arrest and conscription of forced
portering labour, torture, summary or arbitrary execution, rape, looting, 
destruction of the house buildings, and so forth. 

The present military regime SLORC has apparently had increasing faith and
confidence in the effectiveness of the Four Cuts Campaign. Since it came
into power in 1988, SLORC has significantly intensified this strategic
campaign, increasing its brutalities and atrocities on the inhabitants of
the outer rural areas to the ever highest extent in modern history,
tantamount to ethnic cleansing. In intensifying the strategic Four Cuts
Campaign, SLORC has increasingly used a new ruthless tactic, tactic of
extorting compensation from the ethnic villages in or nearby the areas of
its clashes with the ethnic guerrilla forces for the casualties it has
suffered and the cost of ammunition in those clashes, as well as for the
roads, bridges, buildings etc. sabotaged by the  ethnic guerrilla forces.
The only aim and objective of SLORC is to get the upper hand in combat and
to win the war against the ethnic guerrilla forces as a whole. For the
realization of this only aim and objective, the Burmese Army has never
hesitated to do anything, at any cost however immoral it may be. This is
the underlying cause of all the ruthless violence and atrocities against
the civilian non-Burman population in the outer rural areas. It is by an
unprecedented increase of the strategic Four Cuts Campaign on the one hand
that SLORC has successfully persuaded many of the ethnic armed groups
across the country into the present divisive cease-fire deals with it.

Modern-form slavery continues  
ethnic non-Burman people in outer rural areas falling victim

Ma Htoo Aye, a 13-year-old Tavoyan girl from Thayet Chaung township's
Winkapaw village, died under the yoke of slavery of a modern form on 14 May
1997. She was conscripted along with 200 her fellow villagers from Taung
Byauk village tract to clear a large area of virgin land for SLORC's No.
404 battalion to grow a private rubber plantation of its own there. She
died by a poisonous snake's bite while doing the land-clearing work there.
Another girl from Kyweagyan village - Ma Kyin Aye, aged 19 - also died
under the yoke of the slavery in May 1997. This girl Ma Kyin Aye, one of
the slave labour victims alongside the girl mentioned earlier, died from a
serious sickness when she had been working there for two days.

U Ba Khin, a 51-year-old Tavoyan man from Launglon township's Kyetyettwin
village, similarly died under the yoke of the slavery on 12 June 1997. He
was conscripted together with his 500 fellow villagers to work on a private
rice cultivation project of the SLORC military. This man was sick at the
time of the conscription, but was not exempted by the military. Due to his
serious sickness, he quickly became exhausted and suddenly fell down while
working there and died shortly.

The ethnic non-Burman people inhabiting the outer rural area in Burma
continue to experience slavery of a modern form under the Burmese military.
These human beings have constantly lived a life of complete helplessness
under the bondage of the Burmese military for decades. They seem having to
remain thus too weak to struggle out of this yoke so long as the
international community can tolerate such barbarous acts and remain so
indifferent. 

For half a century from the outbreak of the civil war in the country, the
successive Burmese governments in Rangoon have constantly left the outer
rural area under the military and have connived at any atrocities inflicted
upon the inhabitants there by the military. There has never been the rule
of law there. The whims of the military have been the only rules that
govern the inbabitants there. The military can at whim do anything to the
inhabitants there without needing to justify itself to them at all. The
inhabitants must be ready to obey every order and fulfil every demand of
the military. As such, members of the Army have long since grown accustomed
to exploitation of the inhabitants of the outer rural area in a variety of
disgraceful and unscrupulous ways through gross abuse of power, thereby
making their own private benefits. As the present 

military government SLORC has openly encouraged all levels of the Army
members to seek their own free ways of doing business for income, under the
circumstances the inhabitants of the outer rural area have suffered a great
deal grosser exploitation by the Army members than ever before.      
The SLORC military in Tenasserim Division has normally conscripted and used
many of the rural inhabitants as hard labour on its private economic
businesses without payment, with their own food, their own working tools
and their own transportation, as well as without compensation for the
sickness, injury or death of any labourers. Any labourer who cannot come
and work as required is subjected to a fine of 150 to 300 Kyats per day.
SLORC's respective local military units across Tenasserim Division,
including all the 10 light infantry battalions from No. 401 through to No.
410 and other battalions such as No. 25, No. 265 and No. 280, especially
their commanders and officers, have been making money from such economic
businesses being run without investment but simply with the labour of those
effectively subjugated men, women and children living in their respective
areas of control.

SLORC's respective local battalions across Tenasserim Division have been
running their own private agricultural business projects - such as growing
rubber, coconut, oil palm and rice and various other seasonal plantations,
cultivated land amounting to thousands of acres. To get ground for such a
plantation, the SLORC military has either forcibly seized any local
farmland without giving compensation to the owners or taken the virgin land
as such and had it cleared by means of unpaid forced labour. On all the
many agricultural business projects of the military, the forced labourers
are made to do everything through the entire cultivation process. The
military just receives the ready crops and sells them to make money.  

On the rice cultivation projects, the forced labourers have to do the
entire work from ploughing the fields through cutting and gathering the
crop. They are required to work in continually-rotating turns for nearly
all the year round. The military just receives the ready crops and sells
them to make money. On the rubber, palm oil and coconut growing projects
too, the forced labourers have to do the entire work from clearing the
ground, turning over the earth, planting the seedlings, building fences
round the plantations with their own fencing materials, and serving as
farmhands till the plantations are cultivated. The military has been
selling out the cultivated plantations on the one hand and making new ones
by similar means of unpaid forced labour on the other. A cultivated rubber
plantation of 5 to 10 acres currently sells more than 500,000 Kyats. The
local SLORC military, especially commanders and officers, have been making
fortune by selling those cultivated plantations at good prices. 
more than 2000 people  forced to construct a range of dykes
SLORC's local No. 403, No. 404 and No. 405 battalions conscripted and used
more than 2000 Tavoyan and Karen villagers living in Thayet Chaung 
township's Laba, Hsitaw and Pyinbyugyi village tracts to construct a long
range of dykes continuously for 4 months before the passing rainy season,
thereby making 4000 acres of formerly flooded land cultivable now. These
three SLORC battalions have announced their collective private ownership of
this newly-cultivable land for rice cultivation. 

The 2000 forced labourers, including a large proportion of women and
children, were made to work without payment, with their own food, working
tools and transportation. Many of them became sick through the 4 months'
period of the forced labour due to the inhuman, appalling working
conditions, but were not given any compensation. Because of the consistent
forced labour, many of the local inhabitants were deprived of access to
their own means of subsistence.  

More than 200 forced to clear 
virgin land for rubber cultivation  

SLORC's No. 404th battalion conscripted and used more than 200 Tavoyan and
Karen villagers living at the 10 villages of Taung Byauk village tract in
Thayet Chaung township to clear some 150 acres of virgin land in May 1997
for its continuing rubber-growing project. 

The forced labourers, mostly women and children, are made to work without
payment, with their own food, working tools and transportation as always.
Because of the appalling conditions of the hard labour, many of the
labourers suffered sickness, but had to provide their own medical
treatment. Among the labourers, a 13-year-old Tavoyan girl from Winkapaw
village died by a poisonous snake's bite while she was clearing the land
there on 14 May. Another girl from Kyweagyan village also died from a
serious sickness when she had been working there for two days. No
compensation was given for the death of these two forced labour victims. 

The No. 403, No. 404 and No. 405, the three battalions alone, have
privately owned a total of hundreds of acres of rubber, coconut, rice and
other plantations in Tavoy and Thayet Chaung townships, all cultivated by
means of unpaid forced labour conscripted from the many villages around.
These three battalions have jointly owned a rubber plantation of some 180
acres in Taung Byauk and Winwa village tracts by taking over the virgin
land and cultivating it by similar means of unpaid forced labour since the
last quarter of 1995. The two battalions No. 404 and No. 405, have jointly
owned a rubber plantation of some 100 acres along the 4-mile-long truck
road from Sonsin Hpyar village to Thea Chaunggyi village, cultivated with
unpaid forced labour since 1993. The No. 405 battalion also has a
dry-season onion plantation at Thea Chaunggyi village in Thayet Chaung
township, cultivated with unpaid forced labour. The No. 403 battalion has a
paddy field of some 100 acres between Saw Phyar and Kyauk Hlaykar villages,
cultivated by similar means. 

Many forced to work 
on other business projects

The SLORC military in Tenasserim Division has also normally been doing
charcoal- and brick-making businesses by means of unpaid forced labour. For
this, the respective local battalions require the many villages under their
respective control to contribute a large amount of firewood regularly. So,
the villages have to provide labourers to cut trees and carry the cut wood
to those charcoal and brick kilns. The SLORC military just sells the
charcoal and bricks to make money. Each village, based on its population,
is required to contribute 10 to 50 Kyins of firewood per month. [1 Kyin  =
a woodpile of 6 ft-6 ft-6 ft measurements.] The villages in each township
are estimated to have to contribute a total of more than 1000 Kyins of
firewood per month. 

Moreover, the SLORC military has also required the many villages to
contribute 3 to 5 tons of sawed wood per village at a time regularly, but
usually using the justification of collecting building materials for the
construction or repairs of their encampments, local school buildings etc..
The villages have to provide labourers as well as oxcarts to fell trees and
manually saw them into the prescribed sizes, and transport the finished
pieces to the designated locations. The SLORC military just sells the
readily sawed wood and makes money. The villages in each township are
estimated to have to contribute a total of more than 200 tons of readily
sawed wood per month to the SLORC military. Out of the 47 village tract in
Thayet Chaung township, the village tract Taung Byauk alone, composed of 10
small villages, is normally required to contribute more than 30 tons per
month. 

The labourers have to work without payment, with their own food, working
tools and transportation. They are not given any compensation when they are
sick or injured. If and when they cannot come and work as required, they
are subjected to fines or to any ill-treatments by the military.

More than 3000 forced to serve daily as 
general factotums at military encampments

The SLORC military in Tenasserim Division has daily conscripted a total of
more than 3000 people from the hundreds of villages in the 10 townships to
serve as general factotums at its many local encampments. These forced
servants have to do whatever may be instructed at whim by the encampments'
officers and soldiers. 

>From Thayet Chaung township alone, more than 600 people from a total of 47
village tracts are daily conscripted and used. Out of the total 47 villages
tracts, the village tract Taung Byauk alone, composed of 10 small villages,
has to provide 20 people per day. In Yebyu township, each village tract has
to provide 15 to 20 people per day, too. Out of some 10 villages of Minthar
village tract, Hsinku village alone has to provide 2 to 3 people per day.
Any household which fail to serve accordingly is subjected to a fine of 200
to 300 Kyats per day, or 2000 to 5000 Kyats at a time. 

The SLORC military has used these many forced servants in their hands to do
whatever it may instruct them at any moment. People from Yebyu township say
they have daily to carry water, collect firewood, grow vegetables, catch
fish, serve as messengers and so on for the several local encampments of
the No. 406, No. 407 and No. 408 battalions. People from Thayet Chaung
township say they are normally also given to wash clothes and have often to
provide relaxing massages, run and get liquor for the local encampments of
the No. 403, No. 404 and No. 405 battalions. They are even made to dance,
sing, etc. by those encampment officers being drunk. Several village tracts
in the township Tavoy - such as Kin Sheh, Yun Maw, Shanmatwin, Shinmuhti,
Kahnaingda, Taung Thonlon, Pakarri, Myitta, Hamyin Gyi and Zalun - and
several village tracts in the township Launglon - such as Kadet Gyi, Yebyu,
Kyetyettwin, Thabye Shaung, Ya Bea, Kyauknimaw, Ahtet Kyaukwut, Ka Nyaw
Byin, Ti Sit, Sit Pyea, Ka Nyon Kyun and Good Inn - have been experiencing
similar gross abuse of power by the local SLORC military.

SLORC confiscates farmland  more than 300 farmers lose livelihood   
forced labour continued

SLORC confiscated more than 1000 acres of rice fields on Pyingyi island in
Launglon township and another more than 700 acres in that township's Yabea
and Ka Nyon Kyun village tracts last dry season, without giving any
compensation to the more than 300 local farmers traditionally depending on
the rice fields for their subsistence. These rice fields were confiscated
for an experimental modern-method rice cultivatation project of SLORC.

The authorities continued to conscript and use more than 500 local people
from that island Pyingyi to work as unpaid hard labour on the experimental
rice cultivation project. A few tractors were reportedly also provided by
the authorities to help the forced labourers. SLORC's local military
personnel, led by Captain San Lin from the 104th infantry battalion, was
said to be supervising and managing the project's implementation in
collaboration with some SLORC farming officials. 

These rice fields on the island Pyin Gyi, when owned and cultivated by the
local farmers, had normally been producing a paddy crop of a total of
50,000 to 90,000 baskets per year. Under this so-called modern-method
cultivation by means of unpaid forced labour, a paddy crop of only less
than 10,000 baskets was produced this harvest season.

Military monopolizes business,
populace suffers

The entire ordinary population in Burma has lived in grinding poverty and
experienced cumulative hardship of life day after day under the
ever-inflating prices of commodities and consistent unemployment. The
populace has suffered not simply the economic mismanagement of the SLOR
government as such but also gross monopolization of business by the SLORC
officialdom. 

Since it came to power in 1988, SLORC has sold many fishing concessions to
Thai fishing companies, forbidding the local fisher population in the
coastal region Tenasserim Division from fishing the wide sea area of the
concessions granted to these foreign fishing companies. As these foreign
fishing companies have caught fish by means of high tech fishing equipment
at a rate not sustainable, the local fisher people in the region have
expressed their common disappointment and concern that if the current
trends continues for the next five years they will no longer see fish in
their home region which was once rich in fish - let alone for them to make
a living by fishing then. 

All levels of SLORC military and civil officials, along with their
respective relatives and friends, have seriously been doing their own
private economic businesses by monopolizing all areas of business and by
gross exploitation of the populace through abuse of power. By this way, all
of them, based on their ranks and positions, have made an adequate, decent
or rich living. The various levels of SLORC military and civil officials
and their relatives and friends have become the only privileged elite class
in the country. 


The various levels of SLORC military and civil officials in Tenasserim
Division, by doing joint businesses with those local business people who
are well associated with them, have monopolized most areas of business in
the region - such as fishing, waterway transport, logging, foreign trading
with Thailand, Malasia, Singapore, etc.. Local people say that boats owned
by these privileged elite people are so many that they can be seen from
almost everywhere along the coastal area. 1) U  Kin Sein and 2) U Maung
Lwin (a SLORC-hand-picked representative of the National Convention) from
Yebyu township, 3) U Than Sein, from Thayet Chaung township, 4) U Kyar
Maung and 5) U Ngwe Than from Mergui town, 6) U Tin Pe from Aleman Kyun
village and 7) U Win Naing1 from Mathay Kan Taw village in Boak Pyin
township, 8) U Win Naing2 from Yay Ngan Taung village and 9) Daw Nyo Nyo
from Satein village in Kyunsu township,10) Daw Win, from Wea Kyun village,
11) Daw Kalarma from Aung Bar village and 12) U Kyi Hsint from Hsadet Gyi
village in Kawthaung township, and 13) U  Paw Sein from Taninthayi township
are among the several local business people who have been doing various
joint businesses with the SLORC officials in the region.
 
The battalions under Tactical Command No. 1 of SLORC's Local Supervising
Command, do fishery in Thayet Chaung and Launglon townships, with more than
70 fishing boats. They have been doing the business too freely, without
needing to avoid fishing-prohibited zones or periods and without needing to
follow any rules and regulations which the local fisher population must
strictly abide by. By requiring the local fisher people to sell their
caught fish only to the designated SLORC fish-buying centres and only at
the prescribed unfair low prices, the SLORC military has put its caught
fish on the market selling at good prices. It has also required the local
fisher people to often contribute quality fish to the amounts it sets.
Those local fisher people who cannot contribute accordingly are subjected
to heavy fines. 

The local SLORC authorities in Launglon township have also maintained a
prawn-raising business at Kanyawbyin village with the daily use of more
than 100 unpaid forced labourers conscripted from the villages around for
the last 6 months up to now. The forced labourers have to provide their own
food, their own transportation, as well as their own medical treatment when
sick. The local SLORC officials have made their own private benefits
through the gross exploitation of the forced labourers and the
monopolization of business.

Khun Sa

The well-known drug warlord Khun Sa, after his surrender to SLORC, has also
largely been involved in the monopoly of business, in association with the
SLORC officialdom. He sent his private secretary to Tenasserim Division at
the beginning of May 1996 to meet and discuss with the regional and local
levels of SLORC officials as well as well-connected local business people
for doing joint business in the fields of fishing, waterway transport,
logging and tourism. The drug warlord's private secretary, U Kyaw Tun,
arrived at Mergui town on the first week of May and met and discussed with
some 50 business people from across the region who were business partners
of SLORC officials in the region, including U Paw Sein, U Kyar Maung, U
Ngwe Than, U Win Naing1, U Win Naing2 and U Tin Pe. Two days prior to this,
the private secretary of the drug warlord also met and discussed with the
fishing business managers from SLORC's local Tactical Command No. 1.   

SLORC's local military levies human tax on Mon villagers

SLORC's local No. 106 infantry battalion has been levying a human tax on
estimated 15,000 Mon villagers living at the approximately 30 villages
situated in the area, which belongs partly to Mon State's Ye township and
partly to adjacent Yebyu township of Tenasserim Division since its troops
were deployed in the area to substitute the troops from the No. 343 light
infantry battalion in September 1997. The No. 106 infantry battalion is
commanded by Major Maung Soe and presently has its headquarters at Mawkanin
village in Ye township.

Every person in each household in each village, regardless of age and sex,
is required to pay this tax. The No. 106 battalion has been levying this
tax, however, at several different rates from different villages - such as
10 Kyats per person per month from Khawza, Thabyagyi, Yindein and Yinye
villages; 50 Kyats per person per month from Kyonkanya; 80 Kyats per person
per month from Magyi and Danikyar; 100 Kyats per person per month from
Mitahlagyi and Mitawhlagale. The No. 106 battalion troops stationed at
Khawza village and led by Sergeant Moe Kaung has been collecting this tax
money from the villages. Each person is given a receipt at paying the tax
money each time. The receipt for one month is invalid and useless for
another month; and the receipt for one particular person from a household
is useless for another person from that same household. To check if every
person from the villages has paid the money accordingly, the SLORC troops
often stop any people on the street and ask them to show the receipts. Any
person found not paying this tax is subjected to a fine of 500 Kyats at a
time. The people from these several villages have had to carry their
respective receipts wherever they go out of their homes.