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KHRG #98-04 Part 7/7 (Camp attacks)
- Subject: KHRG #98-04 Part 7/7 (Camp attacks)
- From: khrg@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 02:11:00
ATTACKS ON KAREN REFUGEE CAMPS: 1998
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
May 29, 1998 / KHRG #98-04
*** PART 7 OF 7; SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***
__________________________________________________________________________
#M9.
NAME: "U Than Myint" SEX: M AGE: 47 Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 4 children aged 20-23 INTERVIEWED: 28/3/98
ADDRESS: Hlaing Bwe township; now in Section 6 of Maw Ker refugee camp
Q: Can you tell me what happened that night?
A: They entered, fired their guns and burned down the houses. When
they came I didn't know it, we just heard the explosions at 1:15 a.m. on
the
23rd of March. The shells landed nearby and we all woke up. At first I
thought that the Thai soldiers had fired something. I kept listening. I
was
not running yet. I had to find my family.
The soldiers came straight to the Monastery. They came straight and they
shouted, "Go on, go on!" and they set fires. Women and children were
hiding in the bunkers. I saw the fire and the soldiers calling, "Go on, go
on, go on!" I heard one soldier who was holding a walkie-talkie. He said
in Karen language, "Don't fire the gun, don't fire the gun", but his
friends
fired. One soldier was shouting in Burmese, "Nga lo ma tha!! We are in
front of you, why are you firing the gun at us?" ['Nga lo ma tha' is
Burmese for 'Motherfucker'.] When the soldiers went to one place, the
other soldiers shot at that place. If it was me I would be angry against
the
Burmese soldiers [who were firing from behind]. I would have turned my
gun against them and shot at them. I heard one soldier speaking Pwo
Karen. I thought he must be DKBA and I dared not go out.
First they fired big weapons and then they fired small guns. After they
were shooting for about ten minutes we couldn't see them anymore. They
went to section seven and I didn't see which way they were going out of
the camp. They burned down the monastery as they were on their way out.
I don't know how they burned it, you'd have to ask the monks. They didn't
burn the community hall [a community hall for religious use, associated
with the monastery], but when they fired heavy weapons the shells hit it
and burned it. They didn't burn all the houses, they only burned some
houses and then the fire spread to all the houses. I saw four of them, and
the others were over there. I saw them when the fire started. Some were
DKBA and some were Burmese. The Burmese soldiers were shooting
guns and the DKBA burned the houses. I could not stay for long, the fire
was too hot.
Q: What language did they speak?
A: They spoke Karen language, not Burmese. The soldiers who spoke
Burmese stayed behind the monastery. They were the ones who were
shelling with heavy weapons. It was mostly Burmese soldiers shooting the
heavy weapons, two mortars and M79 [grenades].
I saw four soldiers coming this way and the others were over there; they
were not too young. The ones who came over here were carrying guns,
and one soldier was carrying a big bag. One soldier didn't have a gun and
the other three soldiers were holding guns; AK[47], [M]16. They were
wearing military uniforms. I also saw one soldier with a yellow scarf but
I
didn't see their hats. Some soldiers were wearing a plain uniform and one
soldier was wearing a camouflage uniform. The soldier who wore the
camouflage uniform said, "Don't touch me, don't touch me!" I dared not
touch him. He was holding a gun. He thought that I would hit him.
They shot at my house. They shot six times or seven times. I saw pieces
of shells. When they shot at my house, I looked out the top of the bunker
and I looked at them. They looked down into the bunker before they
burned down my house, and they asked, "Are you a villager or what?" I
said, "Yes I am a villager, we are not soldiers". They didn't ask me my
religion, they asked me, "Where is your village?" I said "Paw Law Lay
village, Hlaing Bwe township". After that we ran away because we were
afraid. Then they burned my house down.
Q: Did they look drunk or as if they had used medicines?
A: I don't know, I dared not look. They would shoot me if I looked
directly at them. I can't tell you. When they burned the houses they were
shivering. They were shaking, their legs were also shaking. Maybe they
were afraid. When they heard the bombs they sat down on the ground.
What were they afraid of? The KNU is not in the camp!
Q: Could you save any of your things?
A: I dared not carry anything, I dared not go into the house. My pots,
plates and clothes, everything burned. Now I have only the clothes on my
body.
Q: Did they ask for the Muslims?
A: The DKBA asked us: "Where is the Muslims' section?" They asked
but they never arrived there. When the fire was blazing they left the
camp,
they didn't dare to stay. They were worried that someone would shoot at
them. After they had been gone for quite a while, the Thai soldiers
started
to fire their guns. They fired their guns in the morning, before sunrise.
They fired four shells at the same time. One shell landed near where the
Burmese soldiers stay, near Wah Lay monastery [Wah Lay on the Burma
side of the border, not in the refugee camp], and another shell landed in
the Thai village.
We got out of the bunker when the people put out the fire. It was about
half past two a.m. Then the Thai soldiers came. The fire trucks came just
before sunrise; when the Thai soldiers and the fire trucks came to the camp
it was already half past four in the morning and the fire was already put
out. Fifty houses were burned down in the camp: five houses in Section 7
and forty-five houses in Section 6. Including the monastery and the hall
it
would be fifty-two. Altogether there are over 300 houses in Section 6.
Q: Do you think that they will come again?
A: I can't tell, I didn't hear anything. But since that happened, we run
away to sleep [outside the camp] every night.
Q: Do the Thai soldiers still come?
A: Yes, they come to arrange security for us. Now they stay behind the
monastery. Yesterday they came to hold a meeting. They didn't call all
the villagers, they called only the men. They said, "Do you dare to shoot
the Burmese?" The villagers answered, "Yes, we dare. If you call us [to
fight], many people will go." They asked how many people have been
soldiers and the ones who have been soldiers before stood up. Then they
asked, "How many people can speak Thai?" The villagers who could
speak Thai stood up. Then, "How many Buddhists, Christians, and
Muslims are in the camp?" After that they told us, "Don't be afraid. You
must live peacefully. You must join with the Thai. If we ask you for your
support, you must give us your support." We promised to help them. They
asked another question: "If you had guns, would you dare to shoot the
enemy?" We said, "We dare to shoot". I didn't hear them say that they
would give us guns, but they told us that we must obey the Thais because
we are in Thailand. They said, "Don't be afraid, but you have to be
careful, you have to dig a good bunker." I didn't hear that we have to
move, but they were speaking in Thai so I couldn't understand everything.
Q: How long have you been in this camp?
A: Not even one year. It will be one year this Water Festival [mid-April
1998]. We couldn't stay in our village, because we were afraid of
Burmese soldiers and sometimes of DKBA too. I had to go portering and
sometimes I had to go as forced labour. I had to go portering for three
days at a time, and if I couldn't go we had to pay 1,000 Kyats. We had a
lot of difficulty finding 1,000 Kyats. And forced labour! I had to build
the
road all the time. We had to build the road very far from my village in
Pa'an district, in Zar Tha Bhin. We started to build the road from Hlaing
Bwe to Pa'an, and all the other roads too. We had to take food for
ourselves. The DKBA forced us to work for the Burmese. The Burmese
commanded the DKBA to do it, and then the DKBA forced us to work.
When we stay in our village the Burmese and the DKBA force us to work.
Now when we stay in the camp, they burn my house. Will our lives
always be like this? I don't know.
___________________________________________________________________________
#M10.
NAME: "Pu Lay Ko" SEX: M AGE: 59 Karen
FAMILY: Married, 6 children aged 16-30 INTERVIEWED: 28/3/98
ADDRESS: Hlaing Bwe township; now in Section 6 of Maw Ker refugee camp
Q: Can you tell me what happened that night?
A: The soldiers came to the camp at 1:15 a.m. I was staying in the house.
At that time we were already asleep. I have six children, but that night
only three of us were at home because my other children had gone to M---
with my wife. I was sleeping in one room with my two daughters and a
friend was sleeping in the other room with her daughter. There were a lot
of explosions but at first we didn't wake up. We woke up when a shell
landed in the toilets. When I heard that they were shooting I jumped down
from the house. My daughters are old enough to run by themselves, but I
couldn't carry my belongings. Then we stayed in the bunker. After we had
been in the bunker for a while, my daughter told me, "Our house is
burning". I lifted up my head [above the lip of the bunker], looked
outside
and saw that they were burning my house. I wanted to go back home to
get my belongings, but my daughters pulled me back because the house
was already burning, so I went back into the bunker. I couldn't save
anything. We just looked at the house burning.
I didn't see the soldiers who burned our house. I thought that they must
have gone to burn other houses, so we stayed in the bunker. They went
straight over that way, and then they went back at about 2:30 a.m.
His daughter: Pa, you stayed in the bunker and you didn't see, why are
you talking as though you had seen everything?
"Pu Lay Ko": I'm just guessing. I dared not look. I didn't see when they
were leaving. I don't know which way they went back. I stayed with my
daughters. I can't guess.
Q: Did you hear them talking?
A: No, I didn't hear. They didn't ask me anything because they couldn't
see me. We didn't see anything. My daughter pulled me back when I
stood up and looked outside. My daughter told me, "Leave it in the fire
Pa, let the house burn in the fire". I couldn't do anything. Nobody dared
to look, everybody stayed in the bunker. We didn't sleep, we just sat
quietly and listened. We waited until all the houses had burned down and
then we got out of the bunker, we looked around and we didn't see
anything. I looked at the sky and I saw the stars. It was already almost
morning. At that time the fire had already been put out. The section
leader came to find out how many houses were burned down, he wrote it
down in his notebook and went back.
His daughter: We got out when the people were warming themselves
near the embers of the burned houses.
Q: How long have you been staying here in Maw Ker?
A: I've been around here for 14 years, since before the refugee camp.
First we left our village and stayed in Thay Baw Boe [just across the
border in Burma]. In those days there was no problem.
___________________________________________________________________________
#M11.
NAME: "Saw Bway" SEX: M AGE: 25 Sgaw Karen
FAMILY: Married, children INTERVIEWED: 23/3/98
ADDRESS: Dooplaya District; now in Section 6 of Maw Ker refugee camp
["Saw Bway"'s house was near the Burmese monastery and was burned in
the attack.]
On the 23rd at midnight or one o'clock, SPDC and DKBA came to the
camp, they fired big weapons and small guns and they burned houses.
They burned Section 6 and part of Section 7. They burned more than 40
houses. 40 families are homeless. I saw some of them [the soldiers]
wearing civilian clothes. When we ran we couldn't carry our things
because they fired their weapons. If they hadn't fired we could have saved
our things.
Q: Did they shoot the monastery or did they set it on fire?
A: They shot, paung-paung-paung [imitating the noise of mortar shells].
I ran to the bunker and I called my family and my children to hide in the
bunker.
Q: Do you think that the DKBA would shoot the monastery deliberately?
A: I can't tell. If they were DKBA they should have had yellow scarves,
but we didn't see any scarves on their heads. We could see their faces
because of the fire. Maybe they put their scarves in their bags, we don't
know. But the soldiers were shouting against each other, because I heard
one saying in Karen, "Don't shoot, don't shoot, why are you firing your
guns, it is very strange that you are firing your guns!" Only a few
soldiers
came. If many came they'd have no security and they'd suffer more
casualties [because the Thai soldiers would know they're coming].
[Another refugee from Section 6, who was on duty as a sentry that night,
added:] That night at ten, we saw some strangers and we didn't know
exactly who they were. Some people said that they were hunters. Later I
saw four soldiers going to section 7 and four to section 3. I also saw
some
soldiers staying behind the monastery [they never entered further into the
camp]. One sentry who was staying under a tree got wounded. After the
attack we saw a 2 1/2-inch [mortar] shell and RPG shells left on the
ground, but when the Thai soldiers came they took them. I think that those
soldiers won't dare to come and attack again because they were drunk and
looked like they were afraid. They burned the [Burmese] monastery and a
hall [just in front of the monastery]. They came one way and they went
back the same way.
__________________________________________________________________________
#M12.
NAME: "Saw Eh Kler" SEX: M AGE: 23 Karen student
FAMILY: Single, 3 brothers and sisters INTERVIEWED: 28/3/98
ADDRESS: Dooplaya District; now in Section 1 of Maw Ker refugee
camp for 5 or 6 years
["Saw Eh Kler" is the youngest of 4 siblings and just finished high school
in the refugee camp. His father is dead and his mother lives elsewhere.]
Q: Can you tell me what happened that night and when it happened?
A: I am from Section 1, but that night I went to visit my friend in
Section
3. He said, "Don't go back, it is too dark, sleep here." So I slept
there. I
was already asleep when I first heard the explosion. I looked at my watch
and it was 1:15 a.m. When I heard the explosion I jumped down out of the
house. I hid under the house, and then I walked to Section 1. They
started
to fire heavy weapons, after that they fired rifle grenades [special
grenades
that mount on the end of a rifle like an M1 carbine], small mortars and
other bullets. Then the shooting stopped and I walked to Section 6. I
reached Section 6 when the houses were burning. One man told me,
"Nephew, they left already, they came just for a while." I asked him, "Did
you see many soldiers?" He answered, "I don't know, the soldiers came in
two groups. One group of soldiers came to see me and the other group
went along the road." The soldiers spoke Karen. They asked him, "Where
are the Muslims' houses?" and he said, "They are very far from here."
That group of soldiers was followed by the Burmese. The Burmese were
behind them, while it was mostly the DKBA going in front.
The man said that when they entered they started firing the big weapons,
one group called "Go on, go on, go on" in Karen, and the other group
called "Go on, go on, go on" in Burmese. One group asked for a lighter
from the others. The other group said, "Don't burn, don't burn", but the
first group said, "Burn, burn!" Then one soldier asked his friend for a
lighter and his friend said, "I have no lighter". So he asked one from
another friend, and he set fire to the houses. That was about 15 minutes
after they'd started shooting.
The first group was running in front and the second group was running and
setting fire [to the houses] at the same time. Another group was staying
behind the monastery - they were Burmese. Each of the first two groups
had 4 people. They burned the houses, they moved back and then they left
the camp. That man told me, "I really saw it. They came and they burned
my house. I put out the fire and they set the fire again, and I put it out
again. Then they searched me and they asked, 'Uncle, do you have any
money?' I told them I have no money and they said, 'If you don't have
money then run, run!'" They burned his house after he had run away.
When I saw him he was sitting near the fire.
Later a lot of Thai military cars came. The Thai soldiers came and talked
to a man from Section 7 who was near me - his name is M---. They asked
him, "Which way did they come from?" M--- answered, " They came from
that way". The [Karen] sentries had seen and heard them and they had
shouted. The Thai soldiers didn't say anything, and they were worried that
the people would think that they do not provide any security. While that
was happening, the Thai soldiers went in a line near the grave and shelled
four times with big weapons. Then later the Thai soldiers who were in a
line near the road shelled again. They fired across the river at Wah Lay.
That was before sunrise. They fired again and again until five in the
morning, and the people in the camp ran away because they were worried
that the SPDC and the DKBA would shoot back.
Q: Did the Thai soldiers do sentry duty to protect people before that
night?
A: No, they didn't do anything. Sometimes they provide security but not
regularly. That night we had only villagers as sentries and they were
holding nothing but slingshots, so they dared not shoot. From looking at
their behaviour, I think the Thai, the Burmese and the DKBA have joined
hands and are working together.
Q: Yesterday when the Thai authorities came and made a meeting, what
did they say?
A: I think that they wanted to know the population of the camp, how
many Christians, Muslims and Buddhists are in the population and how
many people can speak Thai. And they asked about the helicopter crash.
The Thai official asked, "Did you ever see that helicopter?" The villagers
answered, "Yes, we saw it." And they asked, "Did you see the place where
it crashed?" We answered, "We didn't see." Then they showed money,
15,000 Baht, and they said, "If you find the pieces of the helicopter, we
will give you this money". That was a Thai helicopter that crashed in the
rainy season of 1997. We didn't see it crash, but we saw it flying that
day.
I didn't hear it crash but I heard the SPDC shooting at it. [A Thai Army
helicopter patrolling the border crashed in rainy season 1997, probably
shot down by SLORC troops. SLORC refused the Thai request to send a
team to search for the wreckage until several weeks later, and then would
only allow them to search one specific location. No wreckage was found.]
Q: If someone tells you that you have to go back to Burma, what will you
do?
A: Why would I go back? If we go to stay in Burma we must be slaves of
the Burmese. I would rather go and be a KNLA soldier and shoot at them.
That would be better for me.
- [END OF REPORT] -