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NEWS - Karen flee army round-ups of



Subject: NEWS - Karen flee army round-ups of 'human minesweepers'

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST - Thursday, September 2, 1999

BURMA

Karen flee army round-ups of 'human minesweepers'

WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok

Not only elephants tread on Burmese landmines.
While millions of baht have been donated in Thailand to help an elephant
that stepped on a mine across the border, hundreds of ethnic Karen have
fled
Burma for Thailand for fear they will be used as human minesweepers.

Motala, a 38-year-old elephant, was foraging in Burma when she stepped
on
one of the mines laid in an increasingly desperate guerilla war fought
by
the Karen against an encroaching Burmese army.

Over the past fortnight, more than 100 families - over 500 people - have
fled the central Karen state despite the treacherous monsoon season,
according to the Karen Human Rights Group.

"Villagers usually avoid fleeing at this time of year at all costs, so
their
flight in itself indicates the desperate situation they must be facing,"
the
group said.

The Karen National Union (KNU) - which has been fighting for autonomy
for
more than half a century - claims that five light infantry divisions
have
been told to subjugate the area this year and clear it of landmines.

The KNU claims that Burmese units have been ordered to use villagers as
human minesweepers.

Some of the runaways told human rights investigators that members of the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which has allied itself to the Rangoon
regime, warned them they would be rounded up and marched in front of
army
patrols to set off landmines.

The southeastern Pa-an district is the most heavily mined area of the
Karen
state.

The increasingly desperate guerillas use the mines to try to defend a
dwindling number of enclaves.

The Burmese army and its Karen allies also scatter mines to "sanitise"
disputed territory and prevent relocated people returning.

None of the forces involved properly map the minefields they lay.

The Karen Human Rights Group said there were "several dozen cases" of
villagers being killed or maimed by mines and exploding tripwires. Many
of
the victims were acting as human minesweepers for the army.


The Burmese junta yesterday ordered an 8pm-5am curfew in major towns in
Karen state amid fears of a general strike on September 9, according to
a
resident of Pa-an who reached Thailand.

Since early last month, the junta has reportedly enforced a curfew in
the
central city of Mandalay and banned groups of more than five people from
gathering.