[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Special Posting: KHRG Part 1 of 3



                         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 1 OF 3; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 2 AND 3 ***

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).

This report aims to provide a picture of the current situation in central
Shan State, where the military junta ruling Burma has forcibly uprooted and
destroyed over 1,400 villages and displaced over 300,000 people since 1996.
 This campaign against civilians is still continuing, and the number of
villages destroyed is increasing each month.  In this report, some of the
villagers who have fled in 1997 and 1998 describe their experiences.
Further background and detail on the campaign to uproot the Shan can be
found in the previous Karen Human Rights Group report "Forced Relocation in
Central Shan State" (KHRG #96-23, 25/6/96), and in the April 1998 report
"Dispossessed:  Forced Relocation and Extrajudicial Killings in Shan State"
by the Shan Human Rights Foundation.

This report consists of two main parts:  first a summary description of
recent developments in the forced relocation campaign illustrated by quotes
from interviews with villagers, and secondly the full text of interviews
with villagers conducted by the Karen Human Rights Group in 1997 and 1998.
The names of all of those interviewed have been changed and other details
omitted where necessary to protect people.  False names are indicated in
quotation marks, while all other names are real.  Please note that there
are many ways to transliterate Shan village names and people's names into
English, so spellings here may vary from those in other reports on the
subject.  For example, Murng (which can also be spelt Mong, Mung, Merng);
Nong (Nawng); Pang Long (Parng Lawng); Nam Zang (Nam Sang, Nam Sarng); Lang
Kher (Larngkher, Lang Ker); Kay See (Ke See, Keh Si); and many other names.
 In most cases we have tried to keep our spellings close to those used by
the Shan Human Rights Foundation as well as those used by KHRG in our
previous reports. KHRG would like to thank the Shan Human Rights Foundation
for providing information which has been very useful in the production of
this report.

                           Abbreviations

SPDC	State Peace & Development Council, military junta ruling Burma
SLORC	State Law & Order Restoration Council, former name of the SPDC until
Nov. 1997
SURA	Shan United Revolutionary Army, formed by former MTA commander Yord Serk
	after the MTA surrender; main group which is fighting SLORC/SPDC.
	In September 1997 allied itself with SSA and SSNA to form 'new' SSA.
SSA	Shan State Army, which had a ceasefire with SLORC/SPDC.
	In September 1997 allied itself with SURA and SSNA to form 'new' SSA.
SSNA	Shan State Nationalities Army, which has a ceasefire with 
	SLORC/SPDC.  In September 1997 allied itself with SURA
	and SSA to form 'new' SSA.
MTA	Mong Tai Army, commanded by Khun Sa, surrendered to SLORC in 1996.
IB	Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers fighting
strength
LIB	Light Infantry Battalion (SLORC/SPDC), usually about 500 soldiers
fighting strength
LID	Light Infantry Division (SLORC/SPDC); one Division consists of 10 LIB
battalions
Kyat	Burmese currency; US$1=6 Kyat at official rate, 200+ Kyat at current
market rate
Baht	Thai currency; US$1= approximately 36 Baht at time of printing


                        Table of Contents

	Preface .......................................	 1
	Abbreviations .................................	 1
	Table of Contents .............................	 2

	Relocations in Central Shan State .............	 3
	   SLORC and SPDC .............................	 3
	   Extent of the Campaign .....................	 3
	   Forced Relocation Methods ..................	 6
	   Village Destruction and Killings ...........	 7
	   Massacres ..................................	 8
	   Life in the Relocation Sites ...............	 9
	   Forced Labour ..............................	11
	   Further Consolidation of Relocation Sites ..	13
	   The Exodus to Thailand .....................	13
	   Conditions for Shan Refugees in Thailand ...	15
	   Future of the Area .........................	16

	Index of Interviews ...........................	17

	Interviews #1-16 ..............................	19

	Map ...........................................	58



              Relocations in Central Shan State

"Not a single village is left unmoved east of the Nam Teng except Wan Sang.
 The soldiers are shooting at innocent people, killing livestock for food
and taking whatever they want.  All villages in the area from Wan Sang up
to Murng Nong and Kay See have had to move.  From July 7th to 10th [1997]
all had to move to the town, including Wan Sang, except Parng Pone
relocation site where SLORC troops have their base.  Some have already been
moved 3 or 4 times.  From Nong Kaw to Tard Mok, from Tard Mok to Zai Lai
[Kun], from Zai Lai to Wan Sang and finally from Wan Sang to the town [Lai
Kha]. ? All of that includes no less than 40 or 50 villages. ? Many don't
have enough to eat.  Some have to beg along the road, and people are crying
all the time.  Some people take refuge in the monasteries, some are staying
at their relatives' houses, and some have built tents out of plastic sheets
under trees.  Many people are begging around for food. ? [The SPDC
soldiers] don't give anything.  Furthermore they even take all the cattle
and the belongings left in the old villages.  They take rice for
themselves, they kill the cattle and make dried meat, and then their wives
and children sell the meat to the villagers." - "Phra Zing Ta" (M, 29), a
Shan Buddhist monk describing the situation in the Lai Kha region
(Interview #5)

In November 1997 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military
junta ruling Burma changed its name to the State Peace & Development
Council (SPDC).  However, there was no change in the four key leaders of
the junta, and judging by the testimonies of villagers throughout Burma and
the continuation of all of the regime's military operations, there has been
no change in policy.

In order to remain in power and "hold the country together", the junta
feels that it must control every inch of territory and the daily lives of
every civilian in Burma. This is done through the Four Cuts policy, which
aims to undermine both the nonviolent pro-democracy movement and the armed
resistance groups. The policy involves identifying regions of potential
armed or unarmed resistance, and systematically uprooting and impoverishing
the civilian populations in these areas so that there is no way they can
provide material support to any opposition groups.

Direct attacks on the civilian population, characterised by mass forced
relocations, destruction of villages and the village economy, and
completely unsustainable levels of forced labour, have now become the
central pillar of SPDC policy in non- Burman rural areas of Burma.  In the
past, the regime would strategically destroy 2 or 3 villages at a time when
there was resistance.  Now when they perceive a possibility of resistance,
they delineate the entire geographic region and forcibly relocate and
destroy every village there is, as many as hundreds of villages at a time.
In many cases, these villages have had little or no contact with resistance
forces and do not even understand why they are being targetted.

The most serious case of forced relocation and village destruction
currently occurring is in central Shan State, where over 1,400 villages
have been relocated and destroyed by SLORC and SPDC since 1996.  This
report provides an update and further interviews on this relocation
campaign.  It follows up on the Karen Human Rights Group report "Forced
Relocation in Central Shan State" (KHRG #96-23, 25/6/96). For a
comprehensive analysis, detailed maps and a township-by-township breakdown
of the forced relocation campaign, the April 1998 report "Dispossessed:
Forced Relocation and Extrajudicial Killings in Shan State" by the Shan
Human Rights Foundation is highly recommended reading.

In the first 2 years of this campaign, over 1,400 villages have been
ordered to relocate and destroyed, an estimated 300,000 people have been
made homeless, and at least 80,000 of these have fled to Thailand - yet the
armed resistance is far from being wiped out.  This campaign against
civilians is supposed to undermine the Shan United Revolutionary Army
(SURA), a group which used to be part of Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army (MTA)
until Khun Sa surrendered to SLORC in 1996.  In September 1997 the SURA
united with two other groups, the Shan State Army (SSA) and the Shan State
Nationalities Army (SSNA), which had ceasefire deals with SLORC.  The new
combined force named itself the Shan State Army (SSA) and has been trying
to negotiate with the SPDC, but the junta refuses to recognise them and
vows that it will crush them militarily.

The SLORC/SPDC campaign to undermine the SURA and the SSA by destroying
civilian villages has been a complete failure, but the junta's response to
this failure has simply been to keep expanding the region where its troops
are ordered to relocate and destroy every village.  This region already
spans 7,000 square miles in the heart of Shan State, and it is still
spreading like a cancer over the map as more and more villages are
destroyed with each passing month of 1998.

"They came with guns and ordered us to move by pointing their guns at us.
They came many times.  The first time, they said if they found Shan
soldiers in a radius of 10 miles they would kill us.  We had to sign four
times to say there were no Shan soldiers.  Every tract had to give money,
and we had to sign an agreement that if the SLORC found any Shan soldiers
in the area, they would kill villagers.  Then after we signed with those
soldiers, other groups of soldiers came! ?  We had to give money to every
group [of SLORC soldiers], then even after we had given money to one group
we had to move anyway." - "Loong On" (M, 58) from Nam Toom village, Murng
Nai township (Interview #2)

"They gave the villagers only five days to move, and they said that after
those five days they would burn the village.  I myself went to talk to the
soldiers and asked them not to make us move.  I went directly to the
commander.  He said, 'You are all supposed to move for as long as the
opposition group stays in your village.'  The Shan soldiers never come to
the village, but according to the commander they do. ? Five days after they
ordered us to move they came to the village to see if anyone was left, but
they saw that nobody was left there and then they burned down the village."
- "Nang Sep" (F, 22) from Khok Sang village, Kay See township (Interview #12)

"We were ordered to move three months ago [in December 1997]. Within 17
days the village was supposed to move completely but before these 17 days
were finished, after only 7 days they came and burned down the village. ?
My grandfather was killed in the fire.  My grandfather was around 89 years
old so he couldn't carry himself.  His name was Loong Tchai.  My parents
had already moved to Pang Long and the two of us were left in the village."
- "Sai Ti" (M, 24) from Bang Nim village, Loi Lem township (Interview #11)

In mid-1996, KHRG estimated that at least 450 villages in 8 townships had
been forcibly relocated.  By the end of 1996, the Shan Human Rights
Foundation (SHRF) estimated the number to be at least 605 villages in 8
townships.  The numbers rapidly increased, and by the end of March 1998
SHRF had compiled a list of 1,478 villages in 11 townships which have been
relocated and destroyed:  the initial townships of Kun Hing (185 villages),
Nam Zang (181), Lai Kha (201), Kay See (364), Murng Kerng (186), Murng Nai
(99), and Lang Kher (31), and townships where relocations started in 1997
and 1998, including Murng Pan (61 villages), Murng Peng (24), Loi Lem
(129), and Ho Pong (17).  In Murng Hsu township, relocations occurred in
1996 but then were discontinued because SURA troops were not operating there.

Through 1997 and 1998, the SLORC/SPDC has expanded the relocation area to
the east (across the Salween River into Murng Peng township), to the south
into Murng Pan township, and to the west of Murng Kerng, Lai Kha and Nam
Zang, into Ho Pong and Loi Lem townships (see the map accompanying this
report).  The relocation area already covers over 7,000 square miles, and
new refugees arriving in Thailand report that throughout April 1998 the
SPDC has been relocating more villages further and further west of Loi Lem,
expanding the relocation area almost as far west as Taunggyi, capital of
Shan State.  There is no sign that the relocations will abate anytime soon.
 Furthermore, many of the sites to which people were forced to move in 1996
and 1997 have now been forced to move again, and some villagers report that
they have been moved from one relocation site to another 3 or 4 times since
1996 as the SPDC attempts to consolidate the population further and further.

"Last year around Keng Kham tract, 5 tracts were moved: Keng Kham, Nar
Teng, Koon Bu, Loi Keng, and Nar Boi.  The SLORC troops forced the tracts
of Koon Bu, Loi Keng and Nar Boi to move into Keng Kham and our village, Wo
Long.  But this year they forced us to move too [as well as all the people
who were forced to move there in 1996].  Keng Kham had over 200 households
before people were forced to move there. In our village and in Keng Kham
village there were almost a thousand [relocated] families.  In our village
alone there were more than 300 [relocated families]." - "Loong Seng" (M,
60) from Wo Long village, Kun Hing township (Interview #1)

"They told us by mouth.  We had to be moved completely by the last week of
the month.  We had to move from Na Tsen to Pang Long.  They said if we
weren't able to move completely they would burn the village. Four houses
from Hoi Her were completely burned down, and in San Khan they burned three
houses.  Many villages were ordered to move at the same time as ours: Bang
Hoo, Sanen, Na Tek, ...  I can remember Look Koi, Mak Khee Noo, Bang Yang,
Huay Koot, Lang Ka, Wan Tam, Kho Tong, Khok Lao, Sak Pung, Loi Lam ?  all
the villages in Ho Pong township and in Bang Hoo village tract [of Loi Lem
township]. There are no more villages in the area." - "Sai Tan" (M, 35)
from Na Tsen village, Loi Lem township, which was relocated in February
1998; SPDC only began destroying villages this far west in January 1998

In mid-1996 KHRG published a list of 14 Battalions which had been involved
in the relocations.  Since the beginning of 1997 at least 21 SLORC/SPDC
Battalions have been involved: Infantry Battalions #12, 43, 64, 99, 246,
and 248, and Light Infantry Battalions #331, 332, 376, 378, 424, 442, 513,
515, 516, 517, 518, 520, 523, 524, and 525; in addition, troops from Light
Infantry Divisions #44, 55, and 66 have participated. This list is by no
means complete.  At the same time, villagers have been used as forced
labour to build several new major Army bases, and a new military air base
right in the heart of the relocation region at Nam Zang; this base is the
largest military air base in Shan State and is now operational.  The
villagers who did the forced labour building it are no longer allowed
anywhere near it.

"Our village is also close to the air base.  Before, they forced the
villagers to build the air strip and the air base, but now it's finished.
They finished it last year.  Now the villagers can't even get near the air
base.  It's very strict around the air base." - "Sai Kyawng" (M, 40) from
Wan Ba Lek village, Nam Zang township (Interview #7)

"Now the military bases are all around the towns.  There are about 10
bases, including the air base and all that near Nam Zang.  Now our village
has not much workable land.  The military has confiscated it and they want
to build a base there." - "Sai Lai Kham" (M, 36) from Wan Jong village, Nam
Zang township (Interview #6)

Some villages have been issued written orders to move, but in most cases
the order is just given orally by the local military officer or a passing
patrol.  Sometimes village leaders of several villages in an area are
summoned to meetings and given orders to relocate.  The order generally
allows them 3 to 7 days, sometimes longer, to get out of their village,
after which they are told that all belongings will be destroyed and all
villagers shot on sight.  The officers give reasons for the relocation,
usually accusing the villagers of harbouring Shan soldiers or telling them
that the civilians must be cleared out so the Shan soldiers can be killed,
though in many cases these villages have had little or no contact with Shan
soldiers.

In the earlier relocations, many villages were ordered to move to more
central 'consolidation villages', and many others were simply driven out
without being told where to go.  More recently, most villages being
relocated are being ordered to empty fields beside Army camps, motor roads,
or large towns such as Kun Hing and Lai Kha, rather than to other villages.
 Most villagers begin moving their belongings immediately, making several
trips to save as many of their food supplies and possessions as possible
before the deadline.  Those without bullock carts or 'trologies' (small
motorised Chinese tractors which can haul small carts) find it very
difficult to save their possessions in time, particularly if it is a full
day's walk or further to the relocation site.  In some cases, SPDC troops
have confiscated everyone's rice supplies just before the move, then
redistributed only a small part of it back to the villagers once they
arrive at the relocation site.

"May 9th [1997].  This was the deadline.  If we didn't move by then, we
would be killed.  They gave us 3 days.  We were all ordered to go to a
temple in Keng Kham, and we were guarded there in a group.  Then the SLORC
commander told us we had just the next day and the day after that to move
all of our things.  He said that the last day was May 9th, and if we did
not move by then we would all die.  He said it to us in the meeting just
like that - but it wasn't really a meeting, because we were all guarded
like prisoners!  That afternoon, we older people over 60 years old were
released.  The younger people had to sleep there for one night.  Then in
the morning they took some of them as porters.  Just imagine - they had
just ordered us to move within 3 days, and yet they still took people as
porters!  How could people have time to move their things?  Some of their
wives even cried.  So when the deadline came on May 9th, some people hadn't
been able to complete their move because they were still porters." - "Loong
Seng" (M, 60) from Wo Long village, Kun Hing township (Interview #1)

"They said the Shan soldiers were staying in our village.  They [SLORC]
shelled three times.  There were about 10 or 20 days between each shell.
The first time it didn't explode.  The second time it exploded to the south
of the village, in a field.  The third time it fell very close to the west
side of the village.  The Burmese claimed it was the Shan soldiers who did
the shelling.  They wanted us to move.  After each shell was fired, they
came into the village the next morning, they searched around the village
and asked questions and threatened that we would have to move.  They
arrested one person.  They said if we were shelled three times, we would
have to move.  Our headman had given money many times so that we wouldn't
have to move, but other villages around ours had already been moved and
burned down, so they wanted us to move.  They had ordered every village in
Murng Kerng township that was further than 500 'wa' [armspans] from the
road to move." - "Sai Kham" (M, 27) from Bong Murng village, Murng Kerng
township (Interview #8)

"There were about 200 troops wearing no badges or numbers.  When they were
going around our tract and crossed the river, 2 of their guns fell in the
river.  Then they asked who could dive under the water - they said anyone
who could dive underwater would not have to be a porter. So the leader of
the village found 3 people who could dive underwater, and they got back
their ammunition and guns.  Then the commander asked the village headman,
'What do you want as a reward?'  The headman told him, 'If we don't have to
move that will be fine.  I'll be satisfied.'  The commander said, 'If you
don't want to move that's okay.' And then they left.  After those troops
left our village, some other SLORC troops came and ordered the villagers to
move within 3 days. They said, 'If you don't move we will burn your whole
village and kill all the villagers.'" - "Loong Seng" (M, 60) from Wo Long
village, Kun Hing township (Interview #1)

"We had 7 days to move, they said that after 7 days they would burn down
the village.  There were about 50 households in the village.  We were
allowed to carry our belongings only during these 7 days.  After that we
were no longer allowed, and they burned down everything." - "Sai Pan Ta"
(M, 22) from Sanen village, Loi Lem township (Interview #9)

______________________________________________________________


- [END OF PART 1; SEE SUBSEQUENT POSTINGS FOR PARTS 2 AND 3] -