KILLING AND TORTURE OF FARMERS IN MURNG-SART
In November 1999, 4 farmers who were working in a rice field at Murng Sen village in Murng-Sart township were arrested by SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) troops from Murng-Sart-based LIB527 and beaten so severely that one of them died in the rice field and the other 3 had to be carted back and treated at their homes.

The 4 Shan young men were staying overnight with their parents at their rice fields and were threshing rice in the middle of one of the fields early in the morning when they were surrounded by about 30 SPDC troops. The troops accused them of being Shan soldiers of SSA-E (Shan State Army - East) in disguise who had come to help their parents harvest their rice crop and arrested them.

The SPDC soldiers beat, tortured and interrogated the farmers, forcing them to tell where they had hidden their weapons. The parents of the young farmers tried in vain to explain that these men were not Shan soldiers but only ordinary farmers, while having to watch their sons being tortured and beaten until all of them lost consciousness. Realizing that the villagers might really be innocent , the troops then left the scene, leaving their victims lying scattered in the field.

One of the farmers never regained consciousness and died in the middle of the farm. The other 3, however, even though they regained consciousness, were not able to move and had to be taken back to their village by ox-carts and treated at their homes (presumably because they were too afraid of reprisal and further abuses to go to the town hospital). The 4 victims were:

1. Zaai Hong, aged 17, who died in the field
2. Zaai Kam, aged 21, severely wounded
3. Zaai Pheo, aged 19, severely wounded
4. Zaai Laa, aged 30, severely wounded

KILLING OF A SICK MAN IN NAM-TU
On 21.10.99, a villager was shot dead by a Corporal from LIB324 of the SPDC at a forced labour site between Wan Parng and Murng Yaen villages in Nam-Tu township.

On that day, while doing forced labour at a military rubber plantation, a villager named Loong Suay, aged 46, from Wan Parng village, Murng Yaen tract, had fallen so sick that he became too weak to continue working and went to lie down in a nearby hut.

Corporal Tin Tun, in charge of the SPDC troops from LIB324 who were overseeing the forced labour site, accused Loong Suay of feigning sickness because he did not want to work for the military and shot him dead in the hut in the rubber plantation, situated between Wan Parng and Murng Yaen villages.

MOTORCYCLIST SHOT DEAD IN MURNG-KHARK
On 2.10.99, SPDC troops from LIB328, who were on security duty at Ta Purm bridge in Murng-Khark township, shot at a motorbike that was crossing the bridge, instantly killing the driver and causing injury to the one riding behind.

As a rule, all passengers of all kinds of civilian vehicles had to get down and walk across the bridge, and only the drivers were allowed to remain in their seats.

This motorcycle driver was not familiar with the rule because he was not a regular driver and had not travelled that way for a long time. This time he was only taking a new motorbike from Kaeng-Tung to Murng-Khark as he had been asked by his relatives to do.

Not knowing the rule, he drove slowly across the bridge with one passenger sitting behind him. Without any warning or questioning, the troops standing guard at the other end of the bridge shot at him and he fell down dead in the middle of the bridge. The one behind him was thrown over and hit his head on the side of the bridge, splitting his scalp and fracturing his skull.

Even after learning about the innocence of these people, the SPDC did not do anything to help the dead and the wounded, they simply confiscated the motorcycle.

The 2 victims were:

1. Zaai Kaang (the driver - killed), aged 28, from Kaang Naa village in Zone 5, Kaeng-Tung township
2. Zaai Nim, aged 36, wounded, from Naa Nawng Mo village, Murng-Khark township

KILLING OF VILLAGERS NEAR THAI-BURMA BORDER
On 10.9.99, 3 villagers from Thailand who were gathering bamboo shoots and vegetables were shot at by a patrol of about 20 SPDC troops in the border area opposite Chiangmai province of Thailand. 2 were instantly killed and 1wounded.

The 3 villagers were from Kan Kan village in the border district of Wiang Haeng in Chiangmai province. They had gathered enough bamboo shoots and vegetables along the border and were resting and eating their day meal at a place that happened to be just across the border inside Burma, when the SPDC troops shot at them without asking or warning them.

One of the villagers had already eaten his meal and was drinking water in a stream some distance downhill away from their resting place when the shooting started. Startled by the sounds of the gunfire, he ran away and escaped, but was shot after and one of his hands was slightly wounded.

The other 2, however, were shot dead while enjoying their meal.

RAPE OF RELOCATED VILLAGERS IN KUN-HING
On 22.11.99, 6 Shan women, 4 of them under 18 years of age, were raped by SPDC troops from Company No.5 of LIB524 led by commander Hla Aung in the forest near the road between Kun-Hing town and Ka Li village relocation site.

The women were originally from Huay Phu village in Sai Murng tract that had been relocated to Ka Li tract in 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops. They tried to earn a living at the relocation site by selling tea leaves, cheroots, dried fish, biscuits and other small things which they bought from Kun-Hing town with only 2-3,000 kyat of capital each.

On the day of the incident, these women were returning from the town after buying their merchandise when they were stopped by a patrol of about 23 SPDC troops at about mid-way between the town and Ka Li relocation site. The troops asked them what they were going to do with the goods they had bought from the town and the women said that they were going to sell them to the villagers at Ka Li and tried to explain that it was the only way which they could make some little profits on which they could subsist.

But the troops did not listen to them and accused them of buying those things for the Shan resistance soldiers and arrested them. They were then divided among the officers and taken away to different places in the forest beside the road and raped repeatedly until about 17:00 hrs in the evening when they were released. Whenever the women cried or screamed out of pain or anger, they were slapped and punched all over their faces until they were bruised and swollen.

After the women got back home, their parents complained about their plight to the village and community leaders of Ka Li relocation site. The leaders, however, explained that if they brought the case to the senior military officer, the victims would only be told to point out the rapists in a line of soldiers from which the culprits were deliberately left out. If they were not able to find the perpetrators, they would in turn be accused of telling a lie and trying to tarnish the image of the military and would have to suffer further abuses. There was no way in which they could win the case.

The 6 women were: (not their real names)

1. Naang Suay, aged 20
2. Naang Taan, aged 19
3. Naang Nu, aged 17
4. Naang Thun, aged 17
5. Naang Phawng, aged 16
6. Naang Poi, aged 16

RAPE IN MURNG-SART
On 17.11.99, 3 women were raped by SPDC troops from Company No.3 of LIB333 led by commander Thein Maung at a place about 1-1/2 miles away from Murng-Sart town.

On that day, 1 man and 3 women from Pa Sak village in Me Nim tract, Murng-Sart township, gathered wild vegetables in the morning and sold them at the market place in Murng-Sart town. With the money they got from selling the vegetables they bought 1 pyi of rice and 1/4 viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg) of pork each and in the afternoon returned to their village which was only 3 miles away from the town.

They had been doing that almost routinely for more than 2 months until the day when they were stopped by a group of about 7 SPDC troops from LIB333 as they were returning from the town market. The troops seemed to be deliberately lying in wait for them at a place about mid-way between the town and their village.

Commander Thein Maung and his men forced the villagers at gun point to go into the nearby forest and tied the man to a tree with a rope, and raped the 3 women. When the women cried and screamed, the soldiers slapped their mouths and faces and threatened to kill them if they did not stop screaming and crying. The troops raped the women for 3 hours before they let them go.

The victims were: (not their real names)

1. Naang Muay, aged 22
2. Naang Hawm, aged 19
3. Naang Peng, aged 18
4. Zaai Kyaw Khawng, aged 16, the only man victim, who was tied to a tree while the women were being raped.

RAPE IN KAENG-TUNG
On 11.11.99, a villager of Wan Paeng in Murng Khawn tract, Kaeng-Tung township, was raped by a Private, Kyaw Lwin, from Company No.2 of Loi Muay-based IB226.

At the time of incident, the Company 2 was in charge of an outpost camp at Wan Oi village in Murng Khawn tract, about 10 miles southwest of Kaeng-Tung.

Naang Khin (not her real name), aged 23, was washing vegetables on the bank of Nam Khawn river all alone when Private Kyaw Lwin appeared from nowhere and forcibly raped her, and went away back to the military camp as soon as he finished.

When Naang Khin told her parents about her plight, her father took her to their village headman who in turn took them to the village tract headman at Wan Oi village. When they all went to complain about it to the Company Commander, Capt. Htun Sein, he only scolded them.

He said, “I have sent Private Kyaw Lwin, the one you are talking about, to the town since yesterday. But you said it was him. How could it be him? You are only too quick to accuse us soldiers. Go back home or I will order my men to lock you up here”.

The village tract headman could say nothing and had no choice but to lead them back to the village to avoid further abuses.

CONFISCATION OF PINEAPPLE FARMS IN KAENG-TUNG
In mid November 1999, SPDC authorities in Kaeng-Tung, acting under the order of the Commander of the Golden Triangle Regional Command, Brig-Gen. Thein Sein, confiscated 30 acres of pineapple farms belonging to the villagers of Kaeng Ka village, Kaeng-Tung township.

Since the farms were full of pineapples, the owners were ordered to collect them within 3 days. Though the farmers tried hard, they could only gather some portions of their pineapples within the given time.

After 3 days, however, the SPDC troops ordered them to stop collecting the pineapples and diverted water into the farms. On the next day, they brought a tractor into the farms and ploughed the land to prepare for planting a second harvest rice crop for the military, destroying a large amount of pineapples worth nearly 1 million kyat.

Civilian trucks conscripted for official use in kaeng-tung
On 15.11.99, members of Kaeng-Tung township USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association; a group formed nationwide under the Chairman of SPDC, Senior Gen. Than Shwe), with the authority of the SPDC officials in Kaeng-Tung, conscripted 15 civilian trucks to carry sand for the construction of their office building.

While working, 1 of the trucks broke down on the way with a load of sand on it. The truck owner, Zaai Saam from Aa Sok village in Zone 1, could not fix it and had to unload the sand and hire a car to tow it to the town to be fixed, without informing the USDA members about it immediately.

When the USDA members learned that Zaai Saam had unloaded the sand on the way, they called him to their office and ordered him to transport 3 more truckloads of sand to replace the one he had unloaded on the way as a punishment.

Zaai Saam tried to explain that he had had to do that because the truck was too heavy to be towed to town, he did not do it with any ill intention. But he was not able to convince the SPDC youths and had to comply with their order.

CIVILIAN FORCED LABOUR USED BY PEOPLE’S MILITIA IN MURNG-YAWNG
On 10.11.99, an anti-insurgency people’s militia group in Murng-Yawng, organized by SPDC and formed mainly with ethnic Chinese members of MTA (an armed resistance group that capitulated to SLORC in early 1996) led by commander Kyeo Saang, together with SPDC troops from LIB334, ordered the villagers of Murng He, Murng Khan, Murng Kaai and Murng Ngawm villages to dig trenches and build fences for the camp of the people’s militia.

The villagers were required to work for them for 15 days with great difficulties because the time coincided with the rice harvest and they had to take turns among themselves with hardly any time to rest.

It was said that this people’s militia group, which consisted of mostly ethnic Chinese, was unwilling to pay for hired workers and had sought help from the SPDC troops to conscript the forced labour from the surrounding villages.

RICE QUOTA IN MURNG-YAWNG
The township level SPDC in Murng-Yawng has put the rice quota the farmers are required to sell them at a rate of 15 baskets per acre for this year, 1999, though it had been only 10 baskets per acre last year.

Every farmer in the township was required to fulfill this quota in accordance with the size of his farming land, no matter how bad his rice harvest might turn out to be.

This year, because of bad weather and floods, many acres had been destroyed and the rest had not yielded much, leaving most of the farmers without enough rice to fill up their rice quotas.

However, they were still forced to sell their rice quotas, so they had to buy rice from other townships to fill them up.

EXTORTION OF PASSING VEHICLES IN MURNG-PHYAK
On 21.11.99, about 15 SPDC troops from IB221 led by Lt. Yan Naing, who were taking security at Murng Ngaam bridge where the road to Murng-Yawng branched out, demanded 1,000 kyat from each of the passing vehicles as a tax for crossing the bridge. Those who did not pay were not allowed to cross over the bridge.

When some owners and drivers asked about the reasons for collecting bridge crossing tax, Yan Naing was furious and scolded them. He said, “Why do you ask? I am the biggest here and it’s up to me to collect what tax and how much. If you don’t want to pay, then you don’t cross. That’s all”.

The owners and drivers could do nothing other than pay the demanded ‘tax’ because they needed to continue their journey and did not want to waste time.

FORCED LABOUR USED BY PEOPLE’S MILITIA IN MURNG-PHYAK
On 19.11.99, people’s militia in Murng Hai village tract, Murng-Phyak township, ordered the villagers of Murng Hai Tai and Murng Hai Nur villages to cut bamboo and build a fence around their camp at Murng Hai Tai for 3 days.

This people’s militia was formed under the instruction of Ta-Khi-Laek-based LIB331 of the SPDC as an anti-insurgency group and comprised mainly former MTA members who had surrendered to SLORC/SPDC in 1996, and was stationed at Murng Hai Tai village in Murng-Phyak township.

In conscripting people for the forced labour, members of the people’s militia used the name of LIB331 in order to gain authority over them. Since it was coinciding with rice harvesting time, the villagers begged them to postpone it a few days until they finished harvesting their rice crop.

But the militia would not consider the hardship the villagers had to face and refused to change their order. They even threatened the villagers, “Do it now! Or we will tell the Burmese soldiers to come and seize all your rice fields”. The villagers had no choice but to comply.

EXTORTION IN TA-KHI-LAEK (TACHILEK)
On 28.11.99, Lt-Col. Ko Ko, Chairman of Ta-Khi-Laek Township Peace and Development Council, instructed members of Ta-Khi-Laek township USDA to collect 200,000 baht of Thai money from all the villages and town quarters in Ta-Khi-laek township.

The money is said to be kept for use in hosting SPDC senior officers from Rangoon who would come to inspect the hotel and casino businesses in the Golden Triangle area in January of Y2K.

To fulfill the required amount of 200,000 baht, each house in the town had to provide 800 baht and in the rural areas, 600 baht. Many villagers who did not have ready money had to sell their rice paddy to pay the USDA.

THE PLIGHT OF VILLAGERS OF MURNG KAAN TRACT IN MURNG-SART
During 1999, the people in Murng Kaan tract, Murng-Sart township have to suffer various human rights abuses committed by various armed groups such as SPDC (State Peace and Development Council), UWSA (United Wa State Army), LGF (Lahu Guerrilla Front) and SSA-E (Shan State Army - East).

Murng Kaan, Thalaang and Phaktu Murng villages that comprise Murng Kaan tract are being virtually surrounded by these armed groups and the villagers are being given troubles in various ways by one group or/and another all the time in varying degrees.

They would be forced to do forced labour by one group while another one would extort money. One group would call an urgent meeting and another one would berate, torture or beat up the villagers. One thing or another is happening all the time and sometimes many things happen at the same time.

A local villager complained that they had to suffer even more than people in other areas because they were being oppressed by armed groups from 4 sides at the same time.

VILLAGERS ACCUSED OF SIDING WITH NLD AND PUNISHED IN MURNG-KHARK
Villagers of Wan Tap village in Murng Nung tract, Murng-Sart township, were accused of siding with NLD (National League for Democracy - one of the main opposition political parties in Burma that won a landslide victory in 1999 general election) and punished by IB227 of the SPDC.

In November 1999, the Fire Brigade in Murng-Sart township, organized by township SPDC, issued an order requiring every village in the area to provide 5 persons each to be enlisted as members to serve as fire fighters.

The villagers of Wan Tap asked the Fire Brigade authorities to reduce the number of persons to 2 because their village was so small and had only 20 families. This apparently angered the authorities and they complained to IB227 that the villagers were NLD sympathizers who were against the SPDC.

The IB227 then ordered the villagers, as a punishment, to provide 15 arm-span-piles of firewood for the military by 29.11.99. (1 arm-span-pile = a stack of about 2 ft. long pieces of wood, 1 arm span in width and height)

RICE QUOTA IN MURNG-YARNG, FLOOD VICTIMS NOT SPARED
In early November 1999, Murng-Yarng township SPDC ordered all the rice farmers in the township to provide their rice quotas at the already set rate of 15 baskets per acre to the authorities before the end of November.

The villagers of Wan Nam and Wan Tham Mon whose rice crop had been mostly destroyed by floods during the rains begged the authorities to reduce their quotas to 7 baskets per acre because they simply did not have enough rice to fulfill them.

The villagers’ request was rejected and they were also scolded by the SPDC authorities, “We don’t care whether you get enough rice, it has nothing to do with us. You must fill your quotas according to the fixed rate, and of the same kind as the rice seeds you have planted. We must get the exact amounts that have been decided by higher authorities, not even half a basket must be less than that”.

The villagers had to buy rice from other villages to fulfill their quotas and many of them had to sell their livestock and belongings to get the money needed to buy the rice.

USDA MEMBERS-TURNED COW THIEVES FORCED TO BE RELEASED IN TA-KHI-LAEK
On 28.9.99, 2 USDA members who had stolen a cow and were being detained at a police lockup were made to be released by the township SPDC authorities in Ta-Khi-Laek, on the grounds that they were USDA members.

The 2 USDA members, Zaai Saam and Yi Ko of Ho Yaang village in Murng Ko tract, had stolen a cow and taken it to a market across the border in Thailand to be sold. The cow owner, Loong Ti, knew about it and reported it to the village headman who, with the help of the police, went after the thieves and arrested them with the stolen cow, brought them back and locked them up at the police station in Murng Ko, on 26.9.99, and let the owner take home his cow.

Two days later, on 28.9.99, the cow owner, Loong Ti, and the headman were summoned to the SPDC township office in Ta-Khi-laek town by the township authorities. When they got to the office, Captain Aung Win, Chairman of the Township Peace and Development Council, put on a frighteningly stern face and said to them, “How dare you blindly accuse and arrest people without considering who they are. Zaai Saam and Yi Ko are our men and they are now being detained because of you. Go and get them out right away, and make sure you get them out!”.

Fearing further abuses, Loong Ti and the headman went back to their place and contacted the police, told them about their plight and talked them into accepting 800 baht of Thai money for the release of each of the thieves.

FORCED LABOUR USED BY USDA MEMBER IN KAENG-TUNG
In June 1999, the Chairman of a village branch USDA at Nawng Paan village in Yaang Kaeng tract, Kaeng-Tung township ordered the villagers of Nawng Paan to cut bamboo and make a fence for his garden.

The USDA Chairman, Pu Long, even threatened the villagers that if anyone refused to do what had been ordered, he would report them to the higher authorities as being enemies of USDA and have them arrested.

Knowing that USDA could wield formidable power, the villagers dared not pose any questions and obediently did as they were told.

IRRESPONSIBLE USDA IN KAENG-TUNG
In July 1999, village headman and village branch USDA Chairman, Zaai Maao, of Nawng Kaang village, Kaat Tao tract, Kaeng-Tung township, threatened to arrest a villager whose son was struck by his buffalo.

A 12-year-old boy was struck by Zaai Maao’s buffalo and had to be treated for 2 days at the hospital. Traditionally, the animal owner would have had to console the victim by tying a string around his wrist and make some little compensation.

The USDA Chairman, however, would not even do that, but scolded and threatened to arrest the boy’s father who had asked for it. He also refused to help pay some portion of the 2,500 kyat cost for the boy’s treatment

VILLAGERS FORCED TO PROVIDE BATHING WATER IN MURNG-TON
Since October 1999, SPDC troops from IB65 stationed at Naa Kawng Mu village in Murng-Ton township have been forcing the villagers to bring water to their camp for bathing almost every day.

An order had been issued that anyone who failed to bring water would be punished. Since the villagers do not have time to carry water every day to the military camp, they have to collect money among themslves and hire a truck to do the job for them.

EXTORTION AND FORCED LABOUR IN LAI-KHA
In 1999, SPDC military authorities in Lai-Kha township issued an order requiring farmers who grew onion and soya bean to pay a 3,000 kyat tax for every acre of land used and to grow 3 ‘pyi’ of soya bean seeds for the military.

In this way the farmers were restricted from engaging in large scale cultivation and from getting much profit.

Farmers who wanted to grow onion or soya bean had to register with the military authorities and pay the due tax beforehand, and if the money and the size of the lands did not match, the farmers would be punished.