MASSACRE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN MURNG-NAI

On 27.6.98, 13 villagers, including 2 women and 7 children, were killed by about 120-130 SPDC troops from LIB 246 led by commander Htun Nyein. The troops were patrolling and searching deserted villages in the countryside of Murng-Nai when they found these people at a farm 4 miles west of their village of Nawng Tao, Kaeng Tawng tract. The villagers killed belonged to the same extended family; they were:

• Loong Ta Wo-Lam (m), 55, head of the family
• Pa Tong (f), 35, wife of Loong Ta Wo-Lam
• Sai Pee (m), 30, son of Loong Ta Wo-Lam (stepson of Pa Tong)
• Nang Chung (f), 20, wife of Sai Pee
• Nang Pong (f), 4, youngest daughter of Loong Ta Wo-Lam & Pa Tong
• Sai Awn (m), 2, son of Sai Pee & Nang Chung
• Sai Mawng (m), 38, younger brother of Loong Ta Wo-Lam
• Nang Yaen (f), 25, wife of Sai Mawng
• Sai Long (m), 8, son of Sai Mawng & Nang Yaen
• Sai Awn (m), 6, son of Sai Mawng & Nang Yaen
• Sai Leng (m), 1, son of Sai Mawng & Nang Yaen
• Sai Kurng (m), 11, younger brother of Nang Yaen
• Sai Noot (m), 5, younger brother of Nang Yaen

These villagers had been permitted by the local SPDC troops of Battalion 44 to work on the farm for 3-4 months, and at the beginning the local soldiers themselves even went with the villagers to have a look at the farm. Initially, the villagers came and returned to Nawng Tao after working every day, but since it had started to rain they had brought bamboo and thatch to build huts and stayed overnight so that they could weed the farm properly. They had not yet even finished the huts when they were killed; they were staying in tents under plastic sheet roofing.

The troops surrounded the villagers, arrested 3 of them -- Loong Ta Wo-Lam, Sai Mawng and Sai Pee -- and shot dead all the rest on the spot. As the shooting started, Loong Ta Wo-Lam cried out and pleaded for mercy, and he was shot as well. After that the soldiers ordered some of the porters who they had brought with them to yoke the oxen to the carts -- the villagers had 4 oxen and 2 carts at the farm -- and tied the remaining 2 men behind the ox-carts and dragged them along the ground as they headed for Ho Ta village, a crossing-point on the Nam Taeng river, until the 2 villagers died. The troops then untied the dead men and left them on the ground beside the road, continued their journey and crossed the river at Ho Ta.

The soldiers stopped for the night at the rest-house at Ton Hoong village and forced a group of butchers to buy the 4 oxen and the 2 carts at a price of 120,000 Kyat. They were bought by a butcher named Sang Aw, and the troops went on to Waeng Kao (also called Murng Kao) on the next day. Two days later, Loong Ta Wo-Lam's relatives at Nawng Tao got news about the oxen and the carts of their relatives being taken away by SPDC troops and went to look for them at the farm, and found the dead bodies of Loong Ta and the others; the carts and the oxen were missing. Loong Awn, Loong Ta's younger brother, then went after the carts and found them at Ton Hoong in Sang Aw hands. He then asked Sang Aw to return the carts and the oxen, but Sang Aw explained that he had been forced to buy them and that Loong Awn would have to pay the cost if he wanted them back. But Loong Awn had no money and, eventually, Sang Aw gave him 27,500 Kyat from the butchers' funds out of pity. Loong Awn then went back to Nawng Tao village and held a Buddhist religious funeral ceremony for the dead with the money.

On 29.6.98, the same troops beat to death a man named Sai Phim who was weeding his farm at the deserted village of Nar Sarn, west of Nawng Phar, Kaeng Tawng, and buried his body in the ground at the foot of the steps of his farm hut, leaving his head above the ground. 2-3 other villagers who had come with Sai Phim were cutting bamboo when they saw the troops coming from a distance and managed to run away. These villagers went back to Waeng Kao and told Sai Phim's wife, Nang Non, that her husband had encountered the SPDC soldiers and they did not know what had become of him. Nang Non then went cautiously to the farm to find her husband, risking her own life. When she saw the state of her husband she broke down crying, clutching his head for a short while and then left; she could not even re-bury her husband for fear of being seen by the SPDC troops.

After those events, the local troops of Battalion no. 44 summoned the headmen in the area and told them not to let their villagers go beyond 2 miles from their villages because troops from the regiment were patrolling the area and the villagers could be shot, and they could do nothing about it. Many villagers had their farms and fields beyond the restricted distance, but they did not dare go any more and were desperately worried about their next year's food supply. Many were certain that there would be no rice for the coming year and have already started to come to Thailand, saying a lot would be following.

14-year-old girl raped and burned to death in Lai-kha

On 11.5.98, SPDC Maj Myint Than and his troops from LIB 442 raped and burned a 14-year-old girl at a farm about 3-4 miles east of Lai-Kha. The girl was Nang Zarm Hawm, a daughter of Loong Parn and Pa Poo from Nawng Zem village who had been forced to move to Lai-Kha town in October 1997.

On that day, Nang Zarm Hawm had gone with her parents to work at their rice farm, about 3 miles east of the town. They ran out of the paddy seeds which they were sowing, so Loong Parn and Pa Poo went back to town to get more paddy seeds, leaving their daughter at the farm hut.

At that time, Maj Myint Than and 85-90 troops, who were patrolling the outskirts of the town, came to the farm and saw Nang Zarm Hawm alone in the hut. Myint Than asked her about her parents and ordered his soldiers to wait at the edge of the farm and arrest anyone who came to the farm. He then raped Nang Zarm Hawm in the hut all day and at about 4 a.m. burned Nang Zarm Hawm in the hut, and left the place with his troops.

Meanwhile, Loong Parn and Pa Poo together with a man called Loong Pan who had come with them were arrested and tied up in the forest near the farm by the soldiers. They were left tied up when the troops went away. After some time they managed to free themselves and went to the farm in search of their daughter.

Upon seeing the fate of her daughter, Pa Poo's grief was too great to bear; she cried until she could not breathe and died with her daughter in the farm. (See photo at page 6)

26 FARMERS SLAUGHTERED ON THE WAY TO WORK IN MURNG-KERNG

On 2.6.98, 26 farmers were gunned down a few miles out of Murng-Kerng town by SPDC troops from IB 227 led by commander Win Maung and 2 mini-tractors on which the farmers had ridden were burnt.

Since April 1998, SPDC commander Maung Maung Htwe of LIB 514 had issued passes to villagers who wanted to go and work at their farms in the areas between 3 to 5 miles from Murng-Kerng. Each pass was issued for a group of 5 and for a period of 15 days and cost 500 Kyat.

These villagers, 18 men and 8 women, were going together on 2 mini-tractors which they had hired to help sow each others' farms since it was a custom for the Shan farmers to take turns and help each other during planting and harvesting times. But they were all shot dead and their mini-tractors burnt on the way by about 20 SPDC soldiers led by Win Maung.

It was said that Win Maung and his troops were wearing camouflaged clothes to disguise themselves as rebels and, after the killing, they even stuck a stick in the ground bearing a letter in Shan saying, "You Shan who are dead did not love our Shan soldiers. Since you had moved to the town, you had failed to provide us with rice every time we asked for it. You were on the side of the Burmese military government, so we had to kill you". But a Corporal, Win Sein, of Compay 4 of IB 227 has disclosed to some villagers on 10.6.98 that it was the troops from his Battalion that had shot and killed the villagers, and that they were even rewarded by the Battalion Commander after the killing - 500 Kyat for the team leader, 100 for a Lance Corporal, 200 for a Corporal, 300 for a Sergeant and 50 for each Private - but the money was given to Commander Win Maung and he had not given it to the soldiers, so that he thought Win Maung had stolen it.

LAND CONFISCATION IN KAENG-TUNG

On 4.6.98, Golden Triangle Military Command Commander Major General Thein Sein (Chairman of the Eastern Shan State Peace and Development Council) ordered Maj Hla Htwe of Kaeng-Tung-based LIB 422 to confiscate 13 plots of land and rice fields owned by villagers of King-Ka in Zone 2 in Kaeng-Tung, for the purpose of expanding the SPDC military base there.

The military would provide each household with a plot of land at a different place big enough to build a small house on (about 10-arm-spans square). But the villagers would have to buy them at the price of 10,000 Kyat each and an extra 1,000 Kyat for a land survey fee.

The farmers whose rice fields have been confiscated are still under the obligation to pay the usual rice quota to the SPDC up to 1999, even though they will not be able to grow rice any more.

The lives of 9 households have been ruined by this misdeed. Moreover, while nothing has yet been done to the rice fields, these same villagers are being forced to grow chilli, bean and garlic for the military on the same land that had been forcibly taken from them. They have to take care of the cultivation from the beginning to the end, until the harvested crops reach the military.

LAND CONFISCATION IN TA-KHI-LAEK (TACHILEK)

Since June 1998, SPDC district level authorities in Ta-Khi-Laek have issued an order instructing the township level SPDC authorities to confiscate 1,000 more acres of land from the people in Ta-Khi-Laek township. The land stretches 10 miles along the Ta-Khi-Laek -- Kaeng-Tung main road, from Huay-Khai village in Hawng-Lerk village tract up to Kawng-Mon village in Murng-Ko village tract, and 50 yards wide on each side of the road.

People in many areas have been complaining that SPDC have been deliberately oppressing and dispossessing people, making them deprived of rice to eat and land to live on.

According to one of the SPDC township level officers in Ta-Khi-Laek, people who have lost their farms and fields are still obliged to pay their rice quota to the authorities. The confiscated land would be bulldozed, divided into small patches, and sold to those who could afford them.

The villages that lost their farms and fields this time are:

(See photo at page 8)

LAHU FARMER BEATEN TO DEATH, VILLAGERS THREATENED IN KEANG-TUNG

On 12.6.98, SPDC Maj Kyaw Than, commander of IB 226, beat to death a Lahu villager of upper Murng-Zaem village, a man named A-Ku, 30 years old.

On that day, A-Ku was channelling water from a stream to his rice field and in the process flooded the nearby main road where, coincidentally, Maj Kyaw Than was overseeing his troops who were working on the road. The SPDC Major got very angry and sent one of his soldiers to get who did it.

When A-Ku was brought to him, Kyaw Than asked nothing but just said, 'Are you defying me?', and personally pulled out a fence post from the nearby fence of A-Ku's rice field and beat him until his head split and his leg broke, and finally he died.

That night, Maj Kyaw Than ordered the villagers of upper and lower Murng-Zaem villages - where Lahu, Shan and Akha lived together - to gather at the village centre. He fired his gun 3 times into the air in front of the villagers and threatened them. "You farmers! If you want to be like A-Ku, go and do what he did," he said.

CHILD FORCED LABOUR IN KUN-HING

From time to time, SPDC troops in Kun-Hing have been forcing children of the villagers to do menial work in the military bases, 10-15 boys at a time, ages ranging mostly from 14 to 16.

On 20.5.96, children were forced to work in the military bases of LIB 524 and IB 246. The children had to do many different kinds of menial work such as fetching water; washing dishes after the soldiers had eaten their meals; weeding grass in the military compounds; sweeping and cleaning trenches; feeding pigs; feeding chickens and ducks; washing and dusting cars and other vehicles, and feeding dogs etc.

When any children got so tired that they had to rest, the soldiers would scold them saying, "Why are you so lazy, while others are working", and beat them with sticks. Some parents tried to go in place of their children, but the soldiers would not allow them.

The children had to bring their own food for the midday meal. They kept the food together in one place while they went to work. At the time when they came back to eat their food, some found their good curries had already been eaten by the soldiers and some found that their entire food packages had been taken. They cried when they realised they had to go without their meal for the day.

CIVILIAN TRUCKS FORCED TO CARRY MILITARY RATIONS

On 21.6.98, under the order of the SPDC Commander of LIB 331 Lt Col Tin Aye, the Commander of Company 3 Captain Hla Htwe seized 22 civilian trucks in Ta-Khi-Laek for military use, to truck down military rations from Murng-Sart. However, those who paid 2,000 Baht were released and only 16 who could not pay were used.

For a return journey of 49 rough and rugged miles, the SPDC troops gave nothing to the drivers or owners -- no fuel for the trucks, no rest nor stop on the way, no food during the day and no pay whatsoever.

PALAUNG VILLAGER BEATEN TO DEATH IN MURNG-TON

On 26.5.98, about 30 SPDC troops from IB 65 led by commander Han Sein went to ransack Nam-Yom village, Pung-Pa-Khem tract, Murng-Ton township and beat to death a Palaung man villager named Loong Mawk-Hurng near the village.

Loong Mawk-Hurng was leaving the village to go to work at his farm when the SPDC troops were approaching and he was arrested and interrogated. The SPDC troops suspected Loong Mawk-Hurng was going out to report to the Shan soldiers about their coming, so they beat and tortured him to make him confess. But Loong Mawk-Hurng denied the charge until he passed out 2-3 times and finally died of the beating.

Loong Mawk-Hurng's widow and his son were so frightened they fled to the border and sought refuge with their relatives inside Thailand.

SAMPLE RELOCATION ORDER IN PARNG-LONG, LOI-LEM TOWNSHIP

TRANSLATION

To/
                                                                                                Date: 14.2.98
-------------
-------------
Subject:                        : Relocation of villages
        1. Concerning the above subject, in order to completely destroy the SURA
rebels, villages on the south and north of SaNin, on the west and east of
Nam Pawn river and between Lai-Kha -- Parng-Long car road, have to be
moved. Therefore we hereby inform you to move to Parng-Long by 25.2.98.
        2. In accordance with their respective villages and households, a
statistical record of family-heads, men, women and children, male/female;
if there are schools and monasteries, names of monks and students; must be
made urgently and submitted to the military base at Wan-Yurng. The
villagers will be resettled according to that record.
        3. Since arrangements have already been made at Parng-Long town to
resettle them in accordance with their respective village tracts, village
headmen must move their villagers in an orderly manner, and after the
relocation, anyone found in the restricted areas will be assumed to be
rebels and shot.

Date: 1998 February(14)                                                 

                                                                (signature)
                                                        Commander of Column (2)
                                                No.(515) Light Infantry Battalion 


Shan Human Rights Foundation.