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by Karen National Union Information Center
- SEPTEMBER,1996 -
On July 13,1996, Burmese soldiers of Light Infantry
Battalion (LIB) 234 arrested two villagers from Hleh Zee village, forced
them to carry military supplies for them and later killed them brutally
on August 23,1996.Brutal killing, forced relocation and forced labor are
common acts of the Burmese troops in the rural areas as a military tactic
to counter the resistance forces.
The commanding officer of Light Infantry Battalion 232 ordered the
locals to move to a designated concentration camp. When a new battalion of
LIB 540 moved in to replace the LIB 232,they ordered the villagers to move
back to their old villages again.
Looting and randomly shooting are other atrocities besides killing,
forced relocation and forced labor.This LIB 540 entered Shwe Bo village,
looted everything they could find in the village; food,clothes and
lilvestocks. They also took away 7000 kyats (Burmese currency) and 3 gold
rings from the village pastor.
On September13,1996, Soe Myint, the commander of LIB 504, column 2
arrested 25 villagers who were panning gold near Htee Nga Peh Loh village.
Five days later this same commander Soe Myint randomly shot and wounded a
villager who was also panning gold in the same area.
One September 8,1996, the commanding officer of Tactical Operational
Command 2 ,Chit Khaing and his second in command Nyunt Swe seized every
private car in Kler La and Kaw Thay Der villages,used them to carry sand
and pebbles to rebuild the Kler La-Kaw Thay Der road. Starting from
September 8 and until now, the villagers in the area have to work on the
road reconstruction and couldn't do their own work.
from Tavoy-Mergui district on 20/SEP.
SLORC troops in Tavoy-Mergui district threatened the villagers in the area,
saying they would drive them out of their villages or forcibly relocate
them unless the villagers stop supporting the Karen National Union (KNU)
troops in the immediate area and surrender any weapons to them. Due to the
intense pressure put on the locals by SLORC, some villagers who were the
local home guard surrendered their weapons hoping to ease the pressure on
them.
The commander or Light Infantry Battalion # 224, YE Myint Aung
informed the villagers of Nantkapraw that when the rainy season comes to
an end, they would set up their out post in the village. Families with
small babies want to evacuate to the Thai-Burma border but are not sure of
the border situation. So they are waiting to see how the situation
developes further.
from The Thai-Burma Border on 12/SEP.
About 02:00 AM this morning, a group of 80 soldiers of the
Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) backed by the army of the State
Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), crossed the Moei River and
intruded into the Kingdom of Thailand a few kilometers north of Ban
Thasongyang,Thasongyang district. Their target is to raid and
dismantle a Thai village which many Karen refugees take refuge there.
This early dawn intrusion was one of the countless intrusions done by
the DKBA and its supporter,the SLORC. So far,the Thai forces couldn't
stop those intruders from intruding their Kingdom yet.
Karen State, Burma. A confirmed report says that on the 4th of
this month, the DKBA and the SLORC forces of battalion #18 of Burma
Regiment raided Baw Tho Hta village,Papun district and devoured every
livestock found in the village. They even took a pair of gold earrings
and a gold necklace from a villager.
- AUGUST,1996 -
Human Rights' Violations In Thaton District,
Karen State, Burma The SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council)
army has been throwing acordon around the area of Thaton District since
the early rainy season this year,to prevent every movement of the
villagers in and out of the village.Every male villager seen outside
the village is considered an insurgent and thus tied,beaten,bashed on
the knees with the blade of a knife,blindfolded and have water poured
on him and lastly demanded weapons from him. The Slorc soldiers eat or
destroy food and livestocks of the villagers and now the villagers in
the area exist on coconuts and bambooshoots.
The government army sent 9 battalion to the area since from end
of July,it would possible to toword the big offensive in dry season.
some of scarmish has escalated already.
KR-News,INDEX