ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-47

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
47]

232

Ethnicity:          Burman
Age/sex:            31, male
Family situation:   Married with two children
                    originally came from Yangon) (village had  
                    about 2,000 households)

The witness first left Myanmar in 1991 but went back for about
a month in November 1997. In Kaw Tot village, his wife and her
three married sisters stayed with their children (and
husbands) all together as one big household (thus reducing the
forced labour burden). The head of the village wanted to
separate them into different households; in November 1997, he
came and asked some family members to do forced labour for
cutting bushes along the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway for one day.
They paid money to be exempted at the rate of 150 to 200 kyat
for one day, paying only once for the whole household. They
also had to give "porter fees", 700 kyat per month, directly
to the military. They were charged four times 700 kyat for one
month because the military would not accept their being
counted as a single household.
                    __________________________


233

                    (village had 4,000 households)
Ethnicity:          Mon
Age/sex:            34, male
Family situation:   Married with one child

The witness came to Thailand almost ten years ago and often
tried to go back but could not go; because of a shortage of
men, he would be taken to a forced labour site. His wife, who
went back six months ago (she keeps going and coming) had done
forced labour in the last six months. Women had to clear the
bush near a bridge twice a month for a whole day to prevent an
ambush by insurgents. Men were sent to Dawei (Tavoy), for the
gas pipeline and/or railway projects. He knew this because
fifty days ago, his wife phoned him not to come for the
moment, since they were taking the men for about one month.
Some women had to fill rocks for the railway; his wife, too,
had to go twice a month, either clearing the bush or filling
rock. Since the husband was not there, she had to go (or pay).
One also had to pay porter fees, monthly, at a rate depending
on one's wealth; an ordinary worker paid 700 kyat a month,
someone owning land or a cow, 1,500 kyat. 
                    __________________________


234 and 235

Ethnicity:          Mon (both)
Age/sex:            35 and 25, both male
Family situation:   Both single
Occupation:         Both workers on railway construction
                    Ye township, Mon State (witness 235)

Both witnesses were hired through an acquaintance working as a
contractor, to work as manual workers (sometimes driving a
vehicle) on the construction of the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway,
which started in 1992. They both paid 1,000 kyat to the person
in charge at the railways (not the contractor) to get the job,
and were promised a pay of 100 kyat a day as Government
employees, but were never paid. After six months of work on
the railway without being paid (in 1995 to 1996) they left,
together with four others in the same situation. While working
on the railway they saw forced labour on the construction
site. As for forced labour done by themselves, in 1995 and
1996 they were told by the local LORC to go and dig drainage
trenches in Ye town without pay, on average once a week or
three times a month, for one or two days, especially in the
dry season; they had to work from 7.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. If there
was rain, they stopped. Altogether there were about 600 people
from many different places. Witness 234 once was a porter,
before getting the job at the railway construction, he does
not remember when, for about 15 days. Soldiers arrested him on
a visit to Mawlamyine (Moulmein) town and sent him by truck to
Three Pagodas Pass. They arrested so many people, about 10 to
15 trucks full. They were not tied, but guarded. He then had
to carry two packs of bullets, each weighing about 20 kg. He
was unpaid and given sometimes a little rice, sometimes no
food at all. He saw others who could not carry very heavy
loads being beaten, but not killed; some were injured in the
back from the beatings. He did not see anybody left on the
road side. After 15 days, he was released at Three Pagodas
Pass and it took him six days to return home. Afterwards, when
employed on the railway construction site, both witnesses had
to pay porter fees, around 600 kyat a month each.
                    __________________________


236

Ethnicity:          Burman
Age/sex:            44, male
Family situation:   Married with five children
Occupation:         Making fishing nets
                    (village had about 1,000 households)

The witness came to Thailand in 1993 because he had to do
forced labour and pay porter fees he could not afford anymore.
He had no time to work for his family. By order of the local
authorities, he had to go once or twice a week clearing bush
or doing sentry duty, together with 80 to 100 people from the
village. Soldiers guarded them and would just shout at them,
not beat them. If one did not want to go, the soldiers would
find the person; if one could not go, one had to pay a fine,
between 300 and 500 kyat, depending on the distance of the
work site from the village. Four or five days a month, all
year round, one person per household also had to go and do
repair work on the Thanbyuzayat-Setse road. About 80 to 100
people at a time had to go, organised by eight to 10
sub-leaders responsible for 10 households. The forced labour
rotated, the next time it would fall on another village/area.
Government workers were not taken. Other people who did not
want to go had to pay a fine, in 1990 to 1993 the rate for one
day was 300 to 500 kyat. He was also charged porter fees, a
regular rate of 200 kyat per month plus 300 to 400 kyat for
"emergency portering" at least once, sometimes twice a month.
He actually went portering once, arrested by soldiers from IB
26 around 1985 to 1986 to carry heavy bullets to Three Pagodas
Pass for two months; then he escaped. He was beaten because
with his heavy load, he could not go very fast when told to
run because of fighting. He was not paid and provided only
some rice to eat. He saw porters being killed by soldiers,
including one man who could not walk fast and also was wounded
in the shoulder. The soldiers tied him up with a longyi, tied
his neck, kicked him with their boots, and strangled him to
death with the longyi. He also saw two porters carrying a
attery, who wanted to take a rest, being told by a soldier
from IB 26 "you better rest for the rest of your lives", and
pushed from a cliff. He had seen about 60 porters die out of
108 who were there initially. When people could not carry
their loads anymore, they were kicked with boots and died. All
60 porters were killed by Government soldiers, none by enemy
fire. Therefore, he always paid porter fees after this as he
did not want to go portering, and finally came to Thailand.
After he left, his family had to work on the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy)
railway construction. They had to go only once a year for 20
days (from their village).
                    __________________________


237

Ethnicity:          Burman
Age/sex:            35, male
Family:             Married with two children
Occupation:         Driver of a small boat (rented from
                    someone else) for transporting 25 to 30    
                    people

The witness left Myanmar five years ago because the
authorities requisitioned his boat, to transport them for
free, so he had not enough money to pay the boat owner his fee
of 150 baht a day. He was thus called up regularly twice a
month for a whole day and had to pay the petrol and go with
them. In addition to this, he had to go another three or four
times a month for so-called emergencies. He normally had to
carry to the sea all kinds of authorities, the police,
immigration authorities, soldiers with bullets. For
"emergencies", he had to carry sometimes food or people to
some islands close to Kawthaung, or wait; an "emergency" thus
occurred normally because the military, police or immigration
authorities, all of which had the authority to requisition him
with the boat, wanted to go to some island, without giving a
reason. It was never for taking people to hospital or
otherwise assisting people in danger. In addition, every
Saturday one person from each household had to go for "donated
labour", clearing the town, drainage trenches, etc. If one did
not go, one had to pay 200 kyat. Normally, he paid rather than
sending someone from his family. In his area, no "porter fees"
were levied. One only paid a fire fighters' fee of 50 kyat per
month. The money went to the fire fighters office, although
they got a salary already and there was no fire.
                    __________________________


238
 
Ethnicity:          Mon
Age/sex:            20, male
Family situation:   Parents and four siblings
Education:          7th Standard

The witness left Myanmar four years ago because of portering
and other forced labour. At about age 15, when in 6th Standard
(in middle school), he was arrested on a visit to Kyondo, near
Kawkareik. At a police checkpoint, he was taken from a bus
on which he travelled with only three other persons (the
driver, his assistant and a former soldier) and put in a small
jail behind the checkpoint. The military had ordered the
police to get some men for portering and keep them until they
came to get them. He was the first put in, then the police
went to search another car and fetch someone, and at that time
he escaped. There were no regular monthly "porter fees" to be
paid by his family, only "emergency" porter fees on an
irregular basis. When the authorities called up porters, one
had to pay about 1,000 kyat to avoid going; this occurred
about once a month in his household. All households had to
contribute labour, one household had to do one trench, it took
normally five days, once every three to four months. The order
came from the local authorities. One could go home in the
evenings. In 1997 (when he went back for two months to his
village), he worked twice for 15 days carrying stones, filling
the ground for building a bridge from their village to the
road from Zathabyin to Mawlamyine (Moulmein). One member from
every household had to go. 
                    __________________________

239 and 240

Ethnicity:          Both Mon
Age/sex:            Witness 239: 26, female; witness 240: 18,
                    female 
Family situation:   Now both married; before in the village,
                    witness 239 was in a household with her    
                    two very old parents and four siblings;    
                    witness 240 was in a household with her    
                    grandmother, mother and her younger        
                    brother
Education:          Witness 239: 4th Standard; witness 240:
                    7th Standard
Occupation:         Witness 239: catching and selling fish

Both witnesses had done forced labour themselves, witness 239
since age 13. Witness 239 left Myanmar about one year ago;
witness 240 left two years ago. Witness 240 stated that, for
building the road from Zathabyin to Hpa-an, every family had
to provide a person for four to six days about three times in
every two months. It turned out four days if one was in a big 
group, six days if one had been allotted a big share of the
work; that depended on the village head. Witness 240 went
twice. The other times they were called up her family paid
money instead of going: 1,000 to 2,000 kyat for four to six
days. When she went, she stayed on the work site if it was far
from the village; once she slept there, the other time she
came back in the evenings. They had to bring their own food
and working tools. Witness 239 confirmed this. She had done
that work countless times since she was 13 years old, because
her family could not afford to pay, and her parents were very
old. Sometimes she had to go twice in one month. Witness 240
stated that there were soldiers who normally came and gave
instructions to finish the work; when they walked away, the
workers relaxed. There was no sexual harassment. Witness 239
indicated that, when a military leader from Hpa-an came, they
had to clean the road, etc. one day before. This happened
about twice or three times a month, for a full day (8 a.m. to
6 p.m.). Witness 240 added that she too normally went herself
for this type of work (while her family tended to pay instead
of sending her to the road building work). Porter fees had to
be given normally once a month, sometimes, for "emergency
portering", a second time. The rate depended on wealth, for
witness 239's family it was about 300 kyat, for witness 240's
about 600 kyat. 
                    __________________________


241

Ethnicity:          Burman
Age/sex:            24, female
Family situation:   Six (lived with her parents)
Occupation:         Fishing

The witness left Myanmar in January 1997. Her younger brother
was arrested in 1994/95 on the way from a village near Myeik
(Mergui) to the town. He was taken to Netaye Taung with two
people from the village. The younger brother fell sick while
portering, and the two others reported the soldiers left him
sick in the jungle. They escaped later, looked for him, and
found him already dead. She herself had done no forced labour.
In her family, others had to go very often. Normally, her
younger brother who died went at least three times a month,
sometimes for a whole month, to far away places, from age 16
on. He was the only man in the family, apart from their very
old father.
                    __________________________


242

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            21, female
Family situation:   Five (her, parents and two sisters)
                    1979 in KNU-controlled areas of Kayin      
                    State)

(This is a summary of the testimony provided by "Wa Wa" at the
Commission's Second Session in Geneva.) 

In her capacity as Women's and Children's Officer of the FTUB,
she interviewed refugees who had done forced labour. She did
interviews for three months, starting in April 1996. The
people she interviewed had done road construction (Nabu to
Dawlan, Nabu to Kawkareik and Nabu to Kyondo). Nabu was a
Muslim village, and was relocated when the army moved in
during 1995. Some of the villagers had to travel far from
their villages to do this forced labour, and had to stay at
the work sites. Women and children as young as 10 or 12 also
had to do this work, as well as people who were 50 or 60 years
old. The villagers could only rest for one hour during the
day. The villagers had to provide their own food, firewood and 
cooking equipment. Some villagers died from illness. Some were
beaten by the soldiers. One old man (over 60) died of
exhaustion. One girl was killed in a work accident
(landslide);  her family received no compensation. If a
villager could not go for forced labour, they had to hire a 
replacement which could cost between 200 kyat and 1,000 kyat.
Villagers she interviewed also talked about having to do
portering. People she interviewed said that they were forced
to sign a blank piece of paper by the army, and then they had
their land confiscated without compensation. None of the
villagers had cars; the roads were for military use. Orders
for forced labour and portering were given by the army through
the village head. 
                    __________________________



243
 
Ethnicity:          Karen
Sex:                Male

(This is a summary of the testimony provided by "Min Lwin" at
the Commission's Second Session in Geneva.)

The witness left Yangon in 1982, and went to work in a cement
factory in Thayet in central Burma. He left the cement factory
during the uprising in 1988, and went to the KNU-controlled
area near the Thai border. There he worked in the mechanical
maintenance department of the KNU. While in that area, he
talked to people who had escaped from being porters for the
SLORC. They told him they had had to carry loads of between 20
and 45 kg. They had to go with the soldiers to the front line
during offensives. During fighting they had to keep the
soldiers supplied with ammunition. They also had to dig
trenches and fetch water for the soldiers. These porters had
been arrested in cinemas or rounded up from the road. Porters
were beaten if they were slow. After working with the KNU, he
worked for the FTUB as secretary of the human rights and
workers' rights department. He prepared human rights
documentation. He interviewed many refugees (70 or 80) about
their reasons for leaving Myanmar. The last people he
interviewed was on 24 October 1997. Most of the people left
because of forced labour and confiscation of their property by
the army. Forced labour included work constructing roads and
working in army-owned plantations. There was also forced
logging work (Lahu people from the region near Mong Hsat in
Shan State did this). People from Hmawbyi in Yangon Division
had done work on a road in Hmawbyi township. Other people had
done forced work on irrigation projects in Yangon Division. He
interviewed a prisoner who had to work at the Kalaymyo power
station, and at a quarry in Kabaw. People from Kayin State had
told him about forced labour at brick kilns owned by the army
(battalions 547, 548 and 549), and on army plantations. They
had also done work constructing roads between Hpa-an, Myawady
and Mawlamyine (Moulmein), as well as constructing army camps.
If the work site was far from their village, people had to
sleep there. No shelter was provided. If a person could not
go, they had to hire someone to go in their place. People from
Ayeyarwady Division also told him they had to do forced labour 
building a fish farm, and constructing a bridge in Myaungmya.
He also interviewed people who had done forced labour at a
quarry near Kyaukkyi (Bago Division). He had also acted as
interpreter for an interview with people who had done forced
labour on the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway construction. Orders
were usually given to the village head by the army. In large
villages, the village head was appointed by the military, in
small villages the villagers chose themselves. In the villages
where the villagers chose their own village head, the position
was usually rotated between villagers. This was because the
village head was responsible for what went on in the village,
and so was often punished by the soldiers. Because of this, no
one wanted to be village head so it rotated. Often women were
chosen because the villagers thought that the soldiers would
treat them less harshly. The position often rotated as often
as every two weeks. People who had done forced labour also
told him about punishments given by the soldiers during forced
labour. Many people were beaten for not working hard, and one
woman who was pregnant was punished by being told to do
repeated forward rolls on the ground. As a result, she
miscarried. 
                    __________________________


244
 
Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            14, female
Education:          None
Family situation:   Seven (her, parents, two older sisters
                    and two younger brothers)
Occupation:         Parents were farmers
                    (village had 40 households)

(This is a summary of the testimony provided by "Naw Mu" at
the Commission's Second Session in Geneva.)

The witness first did forced labour when she was ten or 11
years old. She was the only person in her family who was
available to do forced labour, so she had to go. The villagers
were told by the village head to provide one worker from each
household. Her mother was sick, and her father and older
sister were away from the village working. The first place she
worked was T'Nay Cha (Nabu), which was a half-day walk from
her village. She went with other people from her village. She
had to build an embankment for a road from T'Nay Cha (Nabu) to
Kawkareik. They had to work from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a
one-hour break at noon. The work was very hard, and they were
not allowed to rest by the soldiers. They had to go for three
days at a time, and sleep at the work site. No payment, food
or shelter was provided. If they made mistakes during the
work, they would be beaten by the soldiers. She was never
beaten. There were other children the same age as her at the
work site, and also old people. Some people were very old. She
had to do this work several times. At other times, other
members of her family did it. The family had to provide a
worker three times a month. The work continued over a period
of two years, after which the family fled to Thailand. The
family also had to do forced labour constructing an army camp
at T'Nay Cha (Nabu). She herself did this work. They also had
to provide bamboo for the camp construction, which her father
cut for her. Her father also had to work as a porter.
                    __________________________


245

Ethnicity:          Karen
Sex:                Male
Education:          6th Standard
                    later moved with his family to Kanbauk in  
                    Yebyu township, Tanintharyi Division)

(This is a summary of the testimony provided by "Mr. Po" at
the Commission's Second Session in Geneva.)

The witness left Kanbauk after getting married, and went to
Nat Ein Taung (on the Thai border). This was then under the
control of the KNU. Then the Myanmar army attacked the area so
he had to leave. He went to Tat Lei Ya village (in Thailand),
near Nat Ein Taung. In 1995 he went back to Myanmar, to a town
called Thuka (about one hour from the border near Nat Ein
Taung). He opened a shop in Thuka, and traded in supplies from
Myanmar and Thailand. Sometimes he travelled to other places
in Burma to buy supplies for his shop. One such place was
Taungthonlon (Three Mountains) near Dawei (Tavoy). In February
1997 he went on such a trip, to Kalet Kyi village. He arrived
at Kalet Kyi on the evening of 8 February. He stayed at a
friend's house. At about 6 a.m. the next day, Burmese soldiers
came to the house. They aimed their guns at the house, and
ordered all the men in the house to come down. The four men in
the house at the time went down. From there, a total of about
30 men from the village were taken at gunpoint by the soldiers
to an army camp near Hti Law Pei stream, which took about 30
minutes. The soldiers were from battalion 104 (company 4)
under Lieutenant Aung Pai Oo. One person tried to run away,
but was caught and badly beaten by the soldiers. After
stopping for a short time at the camp, the porters were
given their loads and then they continued. Lieutenant Aung Pai
Oo said that if any of the porters tried to escape they would
be shot. He had to carry 45 kg of rice, on his back with a
strap around his head. He knew how heavy it was, because he
was a trader in rice, and was used to carrying rice. He had
also worked previously as a harbour worker in Kanbauk, and was
used to carrying heavy loads. They carried the loads back to
Kalet Kyi village. When they got back to Kalet Kyi village,
there was a fight with the KNU. The porters were put in the
middle of the soldiers, and were told that if anyone tried to
run away, they would be shot. The battle lasted about 15
minutes. They then withdrew through Hti Law Pei to Kane Po
Kye. They stayed the night in Kane Po Kye, and the porters
were allowed to eat. They were given some rice about the size
of a fist, and some small fish. The porters were given no
shelter, and had to sleep in the open. It was cold and foggy
that night. The next day at about 6 a.m., without breakfast,
they continued down the stream, heading for a village called
Myitta and Kanadaw village. They stopped on the way to eat
lunch. The porters were given a plastic bag of cold rice,
about the size of a fist. They stopped on the way at about 7
p.m., and slept the night among some bamboo trees. It was cold
and foggy again. The next night, at about 3 a.m., they arrived
in Myitta. Eleven porters were put in a small bunker so they
would not escape (on the fourth day a porter had escaped), and
the soldiers slept on top. It was so crowded they could not
sleep. After eating the next morning, they were taken by truck
to Heinda mine in the Taungthonlon area. After picking up
supplies, they continued by truck to Paung Daw Gyi power
station. The next day they walked to Paung Daw village. He
again had to carry rice. They arrived at Paung Daw in the
evening. They slept the night in a betel nut plantation. The
next morning they went on to Pya Tha Chaung by foot. On the
way, one of the porters injured his knee on a tree root, and
could not continue so he was released. After this the man's
load was distributed. Mr. Po now had to carry cooking pots.
This load was more heavy, because the cooking pots were full
of rice (but it became lighter as the rice was eaten). They
arrived at Pya Tha Chaung at 3 p.m., and they took more
porters: a young man, four old men over 60, and 25 women.
There was a fight at Pya Tha Chaung that afternoon with the
KNU. During the fight the porters were in the middle of the
soldiers, "prostrate with fear". That evening they slept in a
cow-shed on the outskirts of the village. He had to cook for
the soldiers and porters that evening. Because he cooked the
porters got a little more to eat that night. The next day they
went back into the village, and around noon there was another
fight, again with the KNU. The fight didn't last very long.
The porters were put in the middle of the soldiers again, and
were warned they would be shot if they tried to escape. Then
from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. there was a big fight. It was bad
because it was open ground with no cover. That night they
slept among bamboo trees. The next day at 5.30 a.m. they went
to another village, and arrived about 7 p.m. They slept in
the open, with no shelter at all. That night he had to cook,
and it took until about 11 p.m., because he had to go away
from the soldiers to cook (another two porters and a soldier
went with him), because the soldiers were afraid that if the
KNU saw the smoke they would attack. About 9 p.m., the other
two porters ran away. The next day they walked to another
Karen village. The following day they left, and walked for
three days and nights with no sleep. On the third day at about
4 p.m. they arrived on the other side of Hti Hta stream from
Hti Hta camp (a KNU camp). From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. there was a
big fight, and they occupied Hti Hta camp. He stayed at Hti
Hta for ten days as a cook. After that he went to a camp on
Hti Hta mountain for six days. He had to cook and carry water
up the mountain to the camp. If he left the camp at 6 a.m. to
fetch water, it would take him until 3 p.m. to be able to
return. On the seventh day the camp ran out of food, so the
Captain ordered six people (including him) to go and look for
food. He managed to run away with four other porters, and
travelled for 12 days in the jungle, living off jungle food.
On the twelfth day they met some other escaped porters and
then they travelled together. The next day they reached Htee
Hpo Lay village where they met some soldiers from battalion
401. The soldiers asked who they were running away from, and
then arrested them. It was 25 March. He knows this because he
asked a soldier who had a watch what the date was. The next
day some soldiers with injuries arrived and they had to carry
them to Myitta village in a blanket strung over a pole. There
were four porters left and they carried two wounded soldiers
between them. In Myitta village he ran away and hid at a
friend's house. He managed to get a document from the Captain
of battalion 25, after the Myitta village head arranged it,
saying he had finished his portering assignment. He then
returned to Thuka, which was controlled by the KNU, but his
family was not there. They had gone to Thailand. While he was
a porter, he saw soldiers beat the porters many times, but he
was never beaten. One porter was seriously wounded by shrapnel
in the big battle at Pya Tha Chaung. He saw porters beaten to
death, and others died from exhaustion. The youngest porter he
saw was 13, and the oldest 67 or 68. 
                    __________________________


246

Ethnicity:          Karen
Sex:                Male


(This is a summary of the testimony of "Ka Hsaw Wa" given by
video conference at the Commission's Second Session.)

The witness left Yangon in 1988, after the student uprising in
which he participated. At that time, he had just completed
high school. He went to KNU-controlled areas near the Thai
border. For six or seven months, he lived in a KNU-controlled
area in Kyaukkyi township (Bago Division), designated by the
KNU as the No. 3 Brigade area. He had to hide. Having lived in
Yangon up to then and had not seen or experienced forced
labour at that time. While travelling, he talked to many
villagers about their situation and learned that many of them
were trying to move from military-controlled areas because
they had to work for the army all the time. They would need to
cut firewood, build roads and railways and work for military
camps. He personally saw villagers working for a military
camp. Some villagers were also hiding because they would
otherwise be called for porter duties for the military. Men,
women and children were taken as porters. Children were also
used to do work for soldiers such as carrying messages for
them. As early as 1988, he saw written orders to perform
forced labour. The orders would specify the number of persons
required, the work to be carried out and the duration of the
assignment. Sometimes the orders were accompanied by charcoal
and bullets, the former meaning that the village would be
burnt down if the order was not respected and the latter
representing a death threat. He started to work for Karen
Human Rights Group (KHRG) at the beginning of 1992. He then
gathered reports of all forms of forced labour concerning,
inter alia, portering, railway and road. Villagers wold also
have to work for military camps. KHRG's representatives
interviewed hundreds of porters who explained the various
forms of portering and the vary bad conditions in which the
work had to be done. They would be shot if they tried to
escape. Porters were neither paid nor fed. Neither was there a
medical examination performed to ensure they were fit for
the job. He personally saw villagers performing portering in
1992. Porters to whom he talked came from several places,
including Yangon, Shan State and Kayah State. The porters
would have to carry supplies, ammunition and food. In fights,
porters could be used as human shields or mine sweepers. After
the fall of Manerplaw, he went to Mae Sot (Thailand) in early
1995. He left KHRG and started to work on the establishment of
EarthRights International organization, the main function of
which was to gather information concerning the pipeline being
built in Tanintharyi Division. Between April 1995 and May
1996, he made four long trips into the area to see people.
Otherwise, he would make many short trips per month to the
areas close to the border. His last long trip was in May 1996
to get plaintiffs out for his organization's lawsuit before
United States federal district court. He interviewed more than
200 people out of which 100 had something to say about the
pipeline. He observed that a lot of the portering going on in
that area was closely associated with soldiers guarding the
pipeline. He believed that the pipeline security was the
reason why there was an increased military presence in this
area. He interviewed villagers from Migyaunglaung and
Eindayaza, who told him about having to work on the Ye-Dawei
(Tavoy) railway. People had to work for 15 days and then went
back to their village for 15 days. Villagers from Natkyizin
had to pay pipeline fees ranging from 500 to 1,000 kyat which
was requested and collected by the military. In addition, he
talked to villagers from Migyaunglaung and Heinzebok Island
who had to perform work for the military. 
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[END OF SLICE 47]