Special Posting: KHRG Part 3 of 3

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                         KILLING THE SHAN

    The Continuing Campaign of Forced Relocation in Shan State

      An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
              May 23, 1998     /     KHRG #98-03

  *** PART 3 OF 3; SEE PREVIOUS POSTINGS FOR PARTS 1 AND 2 ***

THE FULL TEXT OF INTERVIEWS AND THE MAP ARE NOT INCLUDED WITH THIS INTERNET
VERSION OF THE REPORT.  TO SEE A FULL COPY OF THE REPORT SEE OUR ARCHIVE
WEBSITE AT http://sunsite.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/ OR
EMAIL US AT khrg@xxxxxxxxx (REPORT AVAILABLE IN RAW TEXT OR WORD FOR WIN95
FORMAT).

An estimated 80,000-100,000 Shan, Pa'O, Palaung and Lahu refugees have fled
to Thailand because of these relocations and related abuses.  In some areas
more than half the population has already fled to Thailand. Currently, most
families who still have any money left for the trip are attempting to flee.
 If they have no money then young people or middle- aged couples walk the
entire distance, leaving their families behind if necessary in the hope of
getting work in Thailand and returning with money to survive.  Most people
pay the drivers of passenger trucks to get them to the border, and the
entire trip takes 3 or 4 stages.  Fares are exorbitant, because the drivers
have to pay off the soldiers at every SPDC checkpoint along the road.  It
is common for each passenger to have to pay 5,000 Kyat or more for a trip
of less than 100 kilometres.

"How could we move there?  We had no money, so how could we buy food there?
 Some people had some money, and they came to Thailand immediately while
they still had it.  We knew that if we came to Thailand we could work and
get money, but if we went to Kun Hing we would starve.  So I came to
Thailand." - "Loong Seng" (M, 60) from Wo Long village, Kun Hing township
(Interview #1)

"Many Shans are coming to Thailand.  Even very old people were coming when
we came.  They were from Kun Hing and Kali.  From our village whole
households have come.  Lots.  Or sometimes if a house has 7 or 8 people,
then just the old people are left.  All the young ones leave." - "Sai
Kyawng" (M, 40) from Wan Ba Lek village, Nam Zang township (Interview #7)

"From Si Por to Murng Ton, we had to pay 3,500 Kyat for each person. >From
Murng Ton to Bong Pa Kyem [near the Thai border] we had to pay another
1,000 Kyat each.  The driver said he would guarantee we would get through
safely if we paid that much.  From Bong Pa Kyem to here there was no
problem.  We walked through the jungle to Bang Ma [in Thailand].  ? We had
to hire a Shan guide to lead us past the border checkpoint, at a cost of
400 baht each." - "Loong Seng" (M, 60) from Wo Long village, Kun Hing
township (Interview #1)

As long as they are paid, the SPDC soldiers generally allow the trucks to
pass even though they know the people are fleeing to Thailand.  This has
been the case since the relocation campaign began in 1996, and it appears
that the SPDC is happy to see the Shans leave for Thailand.  The Shans, who
call themselves Tai Yai, are closely related to the Thais and have always
been hated by the rulers of Burma.  Not only are they related to the
traditional enemies of the Burmans, but the Burman kings never succeeded in
subjugating the Shan princes.  With their population of at least 9 million
the Shan are Burma's largest ethnic group next to the Burmans, and they are
still seen as a threat to Burman domination of the country.  By uprooting
the Shans and allowing many to flee to Thailand, the SPDC may feel they are
finally starting to wipe out the Shan as a people.  In late 1997 or early
1998, SPDC troops at the last checkpoints before Thailand began
confiscating the National Identity Cards of all Shans heading for Thailand.

The cardholders are given a receipt and told that they can reobtain their
cards when they return to Burma.  This is a very disturbing development,
because a similar method has been used since 1992 to strip Muslim Rohingya
refugees of their identification when they flee from Arakan State to
Bangladesh.  If the refugees later try to go home, the SPDC can deny that
they ever lived in Burma.

"I had to avoid the Burmese soldiers or they would have taken our ID cards
and our money, and they wouldn't return them to us so that we wouldn't ever
be able to go back to our village." - "Nang Harn" (F, 23) from Nong Yang
village, Murng Kerng township (Interview #10)

"They [SPDC soldiers] checked whether we had ID cards or not but they
didn't stop us [National Identity Cards (NIC) are supposed to be carried by
Burmese citizens at all times, but many non-Burman villagers do not or
cannot obtain one].  If you couldn't produce your ID card you could not
pass the checkpoints to go to Thailand.  They took our ID cards at Ho Murng
and they said on our way back to Shan State we'll get them back.  We'll
have to pay something to get our ID cards back.  Some didn't have any ID
card with them, and if you didn't have it you couldn't get to Ho Murng." -
"Sai Kaw" (M, 26) from Wan Murng village, Murng Kerng township, describing
his flight to Thailand (Interview #13)

"I had to leave my ID card at Pan Taw Wet, just before Ho Murng.  On our
way back we're supposed to show them this receipt to get it back, so I must
not lose this receipt [he showed a 'receipt' signed by an immigration
officer named Win Khaing] and I have it all the time with me.  I will stay
longer than the time limit allowed so I'll have to be fined. They didn't
tell us anything when they took our ID cards.  They didn't tell us what the
reason was, they just told us that we could get them back later with the
receipt." - "Sai Tan" (M, 35) from Na Tsen village, Loi Lem township
(Interview #15)

The Shans are crossing into Thailand at 4 main crossing points, the two
main spots being Nong Ook in Fang Province, and through the mountains west
of Fang.  Others cross from Tachilek into Mae Sai and from Ho Murng into
Mae Hong Son province.  Throughout the dry season from November to May, 100
to 300 people per day cross the border covertly at the main crossing
points.  They generally arrive on trucks or on foot near the border in Shan
State, and then must pay large sums of money to hire guides to take them
through the forest around the Thai checkpoints.  On arrival, unscrupulous
Thai motorcycle-taxi drivers and others usually rip them off for several
hundred Baht to get to the nearest town or worksite. By the end, most
people have spent their life savings and no longer have the option of going
back.

"Just the two of us came, oh no sorry, the three of us, because I was 4
months pregnant.  We took a truck from Kay See to Lang Kher, then we walked
two days and then we took another truck from Nam Lin.  Oh! We were almost
dying on the way.  From Kay See to Murng Kerng it was 500 Kyat per person,
from Murng Kerng to Pang Long 1,000 Kyat each, from Pang Long to Lang Kher
1,700 for two persons. ? We had some money with us, 26,000 Kyat.  When we
arrived in Thailand only 420 Kyat were left and we changed them into Thai
Baht.  Then we took a truck and our employer had to pay for the truck
because we didn't have enough.  In return we had to work for him. ? Now we
have found some daily labour but only my husband works because I can't work
[she has a 4 month old baby].  He gets only 50 Baht per day and sometimes
he has no job." - "Nang Sep" (F, 22) from Khok Sang village, Kay See
township (Interview #12)

On arrival in Thailand, the Shan refugees must evade capture and forced
repatriation by Thai authorities.  Those who are forced back are often
handed across the border to SPDC Army units, who then take many of them as
porters.  In Thailand they are not recognised as refugees and there are no
refugee camps for them, so they have no choice but to enter the dangerous
market for illegal labour.  

Thousands of them can now be found doing cheap labour in the lychee
orchards and other plantations of northern Thailand, as construction
workers building luxury subdivisions while they live in the shantytowns of
Chiang Mai, household servants to the Thai upper middle class, workers in
small factories, sweatshops, and the bonded labour brothels of Chiang Mai,
Bangkok and other parts of Thailand. Many of them are exploited and ripped
off by their Thai employers or end up as bonded labour.

Their situation has become even worse since the collapse of the Thai Baht
in late 1997.  Many construction companies have stopped paying them for
work done, and thousands more have been laid off as Thai authorities
pressure employers to replace illegal foreign labour with unemployed Thais.
 Police have stepped up their roundups and deportations as part of a
nationwide campaign to get rid of illegal foreign labourers.  There are
very few paying jobs anymore, and at the same time the flow of refugees has
continued as the SPDC destroys more and more villages.  Thousands of Shan
refugees are now stuck in Thailand without work or food, living in hiding,
unable to stay and unable to go back.  In April 1998, new Shan and Lahu
refugees arriving in Thailand reported that thousands of people have fled
the Thai clampdown back across the border into Shan State, but they are
living just inside the Shan State border, internally displaced but afraid
or unable to return to their destroyed home areas.  They are reportedly
suffering severe food shortages, and many have committed suicide.

"We just walked to Thailand.  It took us more than 10 days. ? I came on my
own because my children and my parents couldn't come.  I've been thinking
that maybe after about 5 months I can try to bring them here with me. ? I'm
working digging sand along the riverbanks [for sand and gravel].  I can't
save any money and I'm in a hard situation - I have a debt of 2,000 or
3,000 Baht and I have no idea at all how I can pay it back.  For now I
myself am okay, but when I think about my children or about my mother I
cannot imagine how they are surviving now." - "Sai Ti" (M, 24) from Bang
Nim village, Loi Lem township (Interview #11)

"Now I work as a day labourer.  If you're old like me, that's very hard! I
came with my wife and children, and they're all working too.  If we are
lucky and the situation improves in Shan State, I pray to the spirits that
we can go back several years from now." - "Loong On" (M, 58) from Nam Toom
village, Murng Nai township (Interview #2)

"I arrived here about one month ago.  We have nothing.  Life here is also
miserable.  I owe some money to many people already and my parents keep on
sending messages calling me to go back to them.  I really want to go back
home, but I can't until I have enough money. The money that we earn now is
not enough, it is just enough for survival." - "Nang Harn" (F, 23) from
Nong Yang village, Murng Kerng township, who arrived in Thailand in January
1998 (Interview #10)

In March 1998 SPDC troops crossed into northwestern Thailand to attack a
group of Shan refugees who had fled fighting between SPDC and the SSA near
Ho Murng.  After the attempted attack and the international concern
expressed for these refugees, Thai authorities for the first time allowed a
group of over 200 Shan refugees to move into an existing Karenni refugee
camp.  If this leads to further recognition of the Shan as legitimate
refugees it could be a very positive move.  However, current Thai policy is
to deny asylum to all new refugees except in the case where they are
"temporarily fleeing fighting", so there are still serious concerns that
Thai authorities may decide to force these Shan refugees back across the
border once they decide the "fighting" around Ho Murng has stopped and the
SPDC indicates its willingness to "accept the refugees back".

At present there is no sign that the SPDC has any plan of letting up on its
campaign against the Shan civilian population.  The regime has already
rejected the possibility of negotiations toward a ceasefire with the SSA,
and apparently plans to continue wiping out the civilian population in the
hope of eventually wiping out the opposition militarily.  There is no
telling how far the forced relocations will reach in the end, whether they
could extend as far as Taunggyi in the west, to Kengtung in the east, or to
Lashio in the north.  Right now the area being wiped out is growing larger
week by week and month by month.  For the farmers of central Shan State,
life in their villages has become impossible, life in the relocation sites
means forced labour and starvation, and nothing but exploitation and
eventual arrest and forced repatriation awaits them in Thailand.  If they
are to survive, this must be stopped.

"We had no house or land anymore, so we left our children with an aunt and
came here. ? One is 10 and one is 4.  They're living with my elder sister
in the relocation site.  I don't know if the people in the site are being
allowed to go back to their fields or not.  I worry about them. My wife
often cries. ? My wife worries about everyone back at home, and whether
they can plant rice or not.  She wants to go home as soon as possible. ?
But now we're just living on a construction site, so we can't call them
[his children] here." - "Sai Kham" (M, 27) from Bong Murng village, Murng
Kerng township (Interview #8)

"Out of the people who have been forced to move, about 80% have come to
Thailand.  Only about 20% went to the town.  There are many people from
Shan State now working in lychee orchards, in cultivation, in construction
sites, and also in shops, washing dishes...  almost every shop, every house
has Shan servants now.  There are many young women who have just
disappeared.  They have been sold to the flesh trade.  Many people have
been exploited by their employers.  No one gets proper wages.  The refugees
from Shan State have to suffer in this way." - "Phra Zing Ta" (M, 29), a
Shan Buddhist monk from Lai Kha (Interview #5)

"They just kill us Shan whenever they want.  For them, a Shan life is less
valuable than a chicken's. The SLORC soldiers announced that wherever
shooting breaks out, all the villagers in that area will be killed. I was
too afraid to stay on.  I had to leave." - "Nang Sai" (F, 27), Na Kha Orn
village, Kun Hing twp, only adult survivor of the Sai Khao massacre
(Interview #3)

                       Index of Interviews


Notes:  All names of those interviewed have been changed, and village names
are omitted for protection where necessary.

FL = Forced Labour,  
FR = Forced Relocation.

 #, Pg., Name, Sex, Age, Village/Township, Subject

1, 19, "Loong Seng", M, 60, Wo Long/Kun Hing, FR of other villages to his
village, then FR of his village, FL portering, demands for horses, Sai Khao
& Tard Pa Ho massacres, torture, rape and killings of 94 other villagers
from 12 villages, helicopter searches, flight to Thailand

2, 23, "Loong On", M, 58, Nam Toom/Murng Nai, FR in 1996, then again in
1997, burning of houses, extortion of horses and money, life in relocation
sites,confiscation of rice, villagers shot on sight

3, 25, "Nang Sai", F, 27, Na Kha Orn/Kun Hing, Survivor of Sai Khao
massacre; FR to Kun Hing, trying to get rice, arrest and detention,
description of massacre, death of relatives, women and children, release
and flight, finding the bodies, flight to Thailand

 4, 30, "Sai Wa Ling", M, 40, Loi Leng / Murng Kerng, Other villages forced
to move to his village, rice confiscation, FL on roads, exodus to Thailand

5, 31, "Phra Zing Ta", M, 29, Lai Kha town, Shan Buddhist monk who returned
to Lai Kha area on a visit; situation in Pa'O ceasefire area, FR and
re-relocations in Lai Kha area, living conditions of villagers, SPDC
looting, FL as sentries and at Army camps, FL farming for the Army, FL on
Shwe Nyaung - Nam Zang and Shwe Nyaung - Taunggyi railways, killings on
sight of villagers, rice confiscation, exodus to Thailand

6, 34, "Sai Lai Kham", M, 36, Wan Jong / Nam Zang, Others forced to move to
his village, living conditions, land confiscation for Army bases, FL
building bases and farming for the Army, FL on Shwe Nyaung - Nam Zang
railway, problems as a labourer in Thailand

7, 36, "Sai Kyawng", M, 40, Wan Ba Lek / Nam Zang, FR of other villages,
re-relocations, FL building Army camps and as porters, FL on Nam Zang
airbase, exodus to Thailand, difficulties in Thailand

8, 37, "Sai Kham", M, 27, Bong Murng / Murng Kerng, FR of other villages to
his village, burning of villages, payment of extortion to avoid FR,
subsequent shelling of his village to force it to move, hunger and death of
relocated villagers, systematic destruction of crops, FL at Army camp,
flight to Thailand without his children, worries about his family

9, 40, "Sai Pan Ta", M, 22, Sanen / Loi Lem, FR, burning of their village,
"Nang Mawn", F, 18, Sanen / Loi Lem, rice mill owner burned to death,
survival at Pang Long relocation site, burning of crops, FL farming for the
Army and on Nam Zang - Murng Nai railway, flight to Thailand

10, 42, "Nang Harn", F, 23, Nong Yang / Murng Kerng, FR to Murng Kerng,
extortion and difficulties in the relocation site, rape, FL as porters,
minesweepers and human shields, FL at Army camp, flight to Thailand,
difficulties in Thailand

11, 44, "Sai Ti", M, 24, Bang Nim / Loi Lem, FR to Pang Long, burning of
village, grandfather burned to death, life at Pang Long, confiscation of
rice, FL as porter and building Army camp, FL on Shwe Nyaung - Nam Zang
railway, refugee life in Thailand

12, 46, "Nang Sep", F, 22, Khok Sang / Kay See, FR to Kay See, burning of
village, people hiding in forest, survival at Kay See, sickness, trying to
get food, FL as porters, flight to Thailand, problems in Thailand

13, 48, "Sai Kaw", M, 26, Wan Murng / Murng Kerng, FR to Ham Ngai,
execution of his brother, food shortage, sickness, and deaths at Ham Ngai,
FL building fence around the site, FL as porters, looting by soldiers,
flight to Thailand, confiscation of ID Card by SPDC troops on the way

14, 50, "Sai Aw Ta", M, 24, Nam Hoo / Nam Zang, FR to Ton Hoong in 1996,
looting of food by troops, beatings, deaths, flight to Mak Kok, FL on roads
and as a porter, FR from Mak Kok, lack of food and sickness at Ho Pai, FL
farming, clearing roadsides, as porters and at Army camp, beatings at Ho
Pai, flight to Thailand

15, 53, "Sai Tan", M, 35, Na Tsen / Loi Lem, FR to Pang Long in Feb. 1998,
burning of houses, no time to move belongings, lack of food, flight to
Thailand, confiscation of ID Card by SPDC troops

16, 55, "Mahn Htay", M, 43, Taunggyi town, FL on Shwe Nyaung - Taunggyi
railway, deaths during railway labour, FL on Shwe Nyaung - Nam Zang
railway, FL on Nam Zang airbase, extortion of 'fishing taxes' on Inle Lake,
execution of 2 fishermen for failure to pay tax, clampdown on Inle Lake
fishermen, FL clearing weeds from Inle Lake, taxation on Inle Lake
'floating gardens' and resulting difficulties for farmers, tourism on Inle
Lake, SLORC/SPDC clampdown on Taunggyi Water Festival activities 

________________________________________________________________


  - [END OF PART 3 OF 3; FOR FULL TEXT OF INTERVIEWS SEE OUR ARCHIVE
WEBSITE  AT http://sunsite.unc.edu/freeburma/humanrights/khrg/archive/ OR
EMAIL US AT khrg@xxxxxxxxx (REPORT AVAILABLE IN RAW TEXT OR WORD FOR WIN95
FORMAT).] -