13 DISPLACED FARMERS MASSACRED IN MURNG-KERNG

On 27.3.00, 13 relocated farmers, 8 men and 5 women, who were clearing a plot of land for growing rice in a forest some distance from Murng-Kerng town were shot dead in a group by SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) troops from LIB514 led by Capt. Pan Aung.

The farmers were originally from Yaang Loi village, Yaang Loi tract, Murng-Kerng township, that had been forced to relocate to the outskirts of Murng-Kerng town by SLORC/SPDC troops in 1997-1998.

Since there was no land available for them to farm in the town vicinity and they could not as wage earners earn enough for their virtually starving families, these farmers had secretly tried to grow rice in the forest on hidden plots of land.

Taking turns to help clear each plot of land belonging to different families, these farmers worked in a group. They had been working for 8 days when, on the day of the incident, they were surrounded and gunned down without any questions or warnings by a column of 80-90 troops of Company No.5 of LIB514, under the command of Capt. Pan Aung.

The victims were:

5 DISPLACED FARMERS SHOT DEAD IN THEIR FARMS, THEIR CAMP LOOTED, IN KUN-HING

On 2.4.00, SPDC troops from IB246 led by Capt. Aung Htay shot dead 4 farmers, 2 men and 2 women, and wounded 1, who managed to run away and escape, at a farm near a deserted village of Naa Hawng in Wan Lao tract, Kun-Hing township.

After being stationed in Kaeng Tawng area for 3 months, the troops of Company No.3 under the command of Capt. Aung Htay were ordered to return to the base of IB246 in Kun-Hing town.

On their way back to the town, the troops searched the forests and deserted villages along their way and at one point saw 5 people working in a farm at a remote spot near an old village of Naa Hawng, in Wan Lao tract.

Without asking or giving any warning, the troops opened fire at them, killing 4 instantly. One of the farmers saw the troops in time and ran away and escaped, but sustained a fractured head which he got from falling down while running.

The victims were:

After they killed the farmers, the troops looted their makeshift camp, taking away the following possessions:

1. 4 Baht-weight of gold ornaments
2. 1 musket
3. 1/2 basket of rice
4. 80 baskets of unhulled rice (the market price of 1 basket of unhulled rice at the time was 1,000 Kyat)

3 DISPLACED WOMEN RAPED AND KILLED IN KAE-SEE

In late March 2000, 3 Shan women were raped and shot dead by SPDC troops from Company No.3 of LIB514 led by Capt. Than Myint at a place 2-1/2 miles south of Kae-See town, Kae-See township.

The 3 women were originally from Wan Khem village, Wan Khem tract, Kae-See township, that had been forcibly relocated to the outskirts of Kae-See town in August 1998 by the then SLORC troops from the same LIB514 led by Commander Mya Thaung.

On 26.3.00, the women were foraging for wild vegetables in the forest about 2-1/2 miles south of the town when they were surrounded and arrested by a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops. The troops accused the women of being wives of Shan rebels, tied them up and interrogated them, demanding to know where the Shan resistance soldiers were in the area and who their leaders were.

While the women were being tortured and questioned, a male civilian porter, Sai La Kyaw, who happened to be from the same original village as the women, tried to explain to the troops that the women were not wives of Shan soldiers, but innocent villagers from the same village as him. But the SPDC soldiers only slapped his face and ordered him to stay away immediately.

Since the women had not seen any Shan soldiers and did not know their whereabouts, they could only explain about their ignorance and could not give any information demanded by the SPDC troops.

Eventually, Capt. Than Myint, the patrol commander, took the youngest woman for himself and ordered 2 of his junior officers to take the other 2 women and raped them.

The 3 SPDC military officers raped the women all night and into half of the next day and finally gave the 3 women to the remaining 30 troops. The troops then gang-raped the women to their satisfaction and eventually shot all 3 of them dead.

RAPE AND THREATS IN MURNG-TON

On 29.3.00, Capt. Hla Maung, commander of Company No.4 of the SPDC Kaeng-Tung-based LIB529, stationed at Naa Kawng Mu, raped a displaced Shan woman at Naa Kawng Mu village, Murng Harng tract, Murng-Ton township, and threatened to imprison the village leaders who had come to complain about it.

The victim, Naang (Mya Tawng), was originally from Kung Kaat village, located in Wan Lao tract in Kun-Hing township, that had been forcibly relocated some years ago by the then SLORC troops. After being displaced from her original village and having tried to earn a living in a relocation site for some time, she had come to Naa Kawng Mu village in Murng-Ton township in March 1999.

On the day of the incident, Capt. Hla Maung came to the house where she was staying in Naa Kawng Mu village and asked for some cooked sticky rice. However, when he learned that Naang (Mya Tawng) was all alone in the kitchen and no one else was in the house, he put his pistol on her and raped her, threatening to shoot her dead if she dared make any noise.

After he finished, the Captain took the sticky rice and left immediately. As soon as the captain was out of sight, Naang (Mya Tawng) ran to the house of the village tract headman and related her plight to him. The headman then called 5 village committee members, together with Naang (Mya Tawng), and went straight to the military camp where Capt. Hla Maung was staying.

When the village leaders tried to hold him responsible for raping Naang (Mya Tawng) in her kitchen, the Captain denied the charge right away and asked why she did not shout or scream when she was being raped but tried to make trouble after it, and accused the villagers of trying to frame him. He said, “Are you trying to find fault with me because you know I will be transferred?”

Saying that, Capt. Hla Maung fired his pistol into the air 3 times and said, “Don’t you dare bring such a ridiculous and untrue accusation against anyone again, or I can take legal action against you and put all 5-6 of you in jail”, and boarded a car that took him away towards Murng-Ton, and probably back to the LIB529 base in Kaeng-Tung.

RAPE IN KAENG-TUNG

On 6.3.00, 2 Shan women were raped by SPDC troops from LIB314 near Yaang Khum Mu village, Nawng Kwaang tract, Kaeng-Tung township.

The 2 victims, Naang (Zang), aged 18 and Naang (Nawt), aged 17, were from Yaang Khum Mu village and, on that day, were foraging for wild vegetables along the banks of Nam Yaang stream some distance from their village.

While the girls were busy gathering as many vegetables as possible, 3 SPDC soldiers from LIB314 led by Lt. Hla Htwe quietly approached and seized them by surprise. The girls screamed in terror and struggled to free themselves, but the village was out of hearing distance and the soldiers were too strong for them.

The soldiers raped them several times on the bank of the stream, depriving them of their virginity, and left as soon as they finished.

When the girls related their plight to their parents, who then complained about it to the village and community leaders, no one dared take the case to the SPDC authorities in the area.

TORTURE AND EXTORTION IN MURNG-PHYAK

On 23.3.00, 3 innocent villagers were arrested and tortured by SPDC troops from LIB333 at Kawng Mu village, Murng Tawm tract, Murng-Phyak township.

On that day, a patrol of about 60 SPDC troops from Murng-Phyak-based LIB333 came to Kawng Mu village and arrested the following villagers:

The troops accused the villagers of being secret intelligence agents of SSA-E (Shan State Army-East), took them to the village Buddhist temple and interrogated them from 11:00 hrs. until 20:00 hrs. in the evening.

The soldiers not only beat the villagers with their rifle butts and kicked them with their army boots but squeezed their testicles until all 3 of them lost consciousness several times.

Finally, after village leaders testified to the innocence of the villagers and begged the soldiers several times to release them, the soldiers demanded money for their release, 3,000 Kyat for each.

After the money was paid and the victims were released, they were so beaten up, they could not walk or even stand up because of their swollen testicles and had to be carried back to their houses by the villagers.

BEATING IN MURNG-KHARK

On 26.3.00, 5 villagers, the headman and members of the village committee, of Kham Tee village, Pa Kha Long tract, Murng-Khark township, were arrested and tortured by SPDC troops from IB227.

A patrol of 12 SPDC troops from IB227 led by Capt. Kyi Win came to Kham Tee village and arrested 5 villagers and took them to Wan Tap village in Murng Nung tract.

At Wan Tap, the soldiers interrogated the villagers in the village Buddhist temple, beating and torturing them, and accusing them of helping the ‘Wa’ group in keeping and trafficking in amphetamines.

In an attempt to force the villagers to confess and reveal the place where the supposed amphetamine pills were hidden, the soldiers tortured them until all of them suffered from severe injuries and were not able to walk, and had to be carried back to their village by fellow villagers.

The 5 victims were:

TORTURE USED AS DETERRENCE IN MURNG-SART

On 28.3.00, 3 villagers of Nam Lin village in Murng Kok tract, Murng-Sart township, were beaten and tortured, while other villagers were forced to watch, by SPDC troops from LIB527 at the village Buddhist temple.

A column of about 60 SPDC troops from Murng-Phyak-based LIB527, who were patrolling the areas of Murng Nung and Murng Kok tracts, arrested 3 male villagers at Nam Lin village in Murng-Kok tract, accusing them of being intelligence agents of SSA-E.

The troops took the 3 villagers to the village temple and ordered the village headman and the villagers to gather there.

When the village headman and most of the villagers had gathered at the temple, the troops started interrogating the 3 villagers and forced the other villagers to watch.

The troops beat and kicked them, hit their backs with rifle butts, rolled bamboo stems on their shins and, using various torturing methods, forced them to confess that they were secret agents of SSA-E.

The victims, however, kept denying the charge, stating that they had nothing to do with SSA-E and unyieldingly endured the agonizing pains.

The headman and village leaders, on the other hand, kept begging the troops to stop their cruel torture and guaranteed the innocence of the 3 villagers.

Finally, the troops stopped their interrogation process and ordered the village headman to kill a pig and cook them food and provide whiskey.

After feasting on fresh pork and whiskey, the troops left the village, leaving their victims who were so beaten up they had to be carried home.

FORCED PORTERING IN KAENG-TUNG

In late February and early March 2000, villagers in Tong Ta tract, Kaeng-Tung township, were forced to serve as porters for 5 days without pay by SPDC troops from IB245.

On 29.2.00, a column of 30 SPDC troops from IB245 led by Capt. Sein Win came to Naa Le Kao village in Tong Ta tract and forcibly took 6 villagers to serve as porters, and later took another 4 villagers at another village, Naa Le Mai, in the same tract.

The villagers had to carry military things as well as lead the way along through many village tracts -- Murng Sen, Murng In and Murng Paeng tracts. Although they were at first told to serve as porters just for 1 day, the villagers had to go on for 5 consecutive days.

The porters had to toil along all day with their heavy loads and were fed inadequately with rice only twice a day. During the nights, they were tied up together and had to sleep on the bare ground.

CONSCRIPTION OF VEHICLE AND EXTORTION IN KAENG-TUNG

On 15.3.00, SPDC troops from IB244 forcibly conscripted a civilian truck and extorted money from the villagers in Ta Ping tract, Kaeng-Tung township.

On that day, 12 SPDC troops from the said battalion conscripted a truck at Yaang Kung village and went to Wan Sen village, Ta Ping tract, by that truck. At the village, they ordered the villagers to gather at the village temple.

At the meeting, the troops said that they had come to collect opium tax and told the villagers to pay ‘tax’ for their opium farms.

But the villagers explained to the soldiers that there was no one in the village who had opium farms or had anything to do with the drug since they were all tea farmers.

Actually, all the villagers of Wan Sen village and some other villages, such as Wan Kaang and Wan Saai, in the area made their living as tea growers and were quite well known for their high quality tea.

Finally, even though the villagers managed to convince the troops that no one in the village had opium farms, they still had to pay the ‘tax’ in kind of their own produce -- tea. “If you don’t grow opium but grow only tea, then you’ll have to pay it in tea. We want 1 viss of tea from each house”, ordered the commander of the troops.

VILLAGERS ROBBED AND THREATENED IN MURNG-YARNG

On 16.3.00, 2 villagers from Hok Hin village, Murng Phen tract, Murng-Yarng township, were robbed of their chickens and threatened to be shot by SPDC troops from Murng-Yarng-based IB279, on the way to the town market.

On the day of the incident, Lung Zan-Da, aged 46 and his daughter, Naang Sawnt, aged 21, were transporting 1 pig and 5 chickens on their ox-cart from their village to be sold in Murng-Yarng town market.

On the way they met 5 SPDC soldiers from IB279 who stopped them and asked them questions concerning amphetamines.

Lung Zan-Da explained to them that he and his daughter were only ordinary farmers who knew nothing about the drug, but the soldiers became angry and took away the 5 chickens on the ox-cart.

Lung Zan-Da tried several times to convince them of his ignorance and begged them to give back his chickens. But the troops did not return the chickens and even fired one of their G-3 rifles 3 times into the air and threatened the villagers, “Do you think we are afraid of you because you are in the ‘Wa’ area? We can easily kill you if we want to, you know. Do you want to die?

Being so terrified, Lung Zan-Da and his daughter dared say no more and drove their ox-cart away quickly towards the town market. They lost their 5 chickens which they intended to sell for 300 Kyat each at the market.

LIVESTOCK SHOT, THE OWNER SCOLDED IN MURNG-KHARK

In March 2000, a cow was shot by SPDC troops from IB227 and the owner and villagers were scolded by the SPDC township authorities in Murng-Khark township.

On 21.3.00, a patrol of 7 SPDC troops from IB227 came to Nam Moi village, Tong Pha Kao tract, Murng-Khark township, and shot for meat a cow belonging to a villager of Nam Moi.

On the next day, 22.3.00, the cow’s owner, Lung Lee, aged 49, complained about it to the village headman and they, together with the village tract committee Chairman, went to Murng-Khark town to lodge a complaint at the SPDC township office.

The township authorities, however, did not take any action to further the case but even scolded the owner and the village leaders. “You are just trying to get yourselves into trouble. Why did you ever come to make such a complaint, you know they are soldiers, don’t you? All you could do is beg them for mercy, and if they don’t listen, let them be”.

Lung Lee thus lost a cow worth 76,000 Kyat and was not allowed to complain about it.

VILLAGERS FORCED TO PROVIDE FIREWOOD AND FINED IN MURNG-KHARK

On 21.3.00, SPDC troops of Murng-Khark-based LIB327 issued an order requiring the villagers of Wan Phaai Tai village and Wan Phaai Nur village to provide 3 arm-span stacks of firewood by each village within 3 days, from 22 to 24.3.00.

Because of frequent and extensive cutting over the years, wood has become so scarce that the villagers of both villages had been able to gather only about 3 stacks and transported them to the military base in the given 3 days.

The troops then ordered each village to provide 6,000 Kyat in cash for the remaining quotas of firewood.

The villagers explained about the scarcity of the wood and tried to ask for 7 more days to fill up their remaining quotas. But the troops said that the designated time was up, it was no use trying to beg for more time, it was indeed only a waste of time and told them to bring the money as demanded.

The villagers had no choice but to collect the money among themselves and paid the military as soon as possible to avoid an even more severe punishment.

VILLAGERS FORCED TO PROVIDE FISH IN MURNG-YARNG

On 12.3.00, SPDC troops from IB278 stationed at a camp near Wan Zaang village in Murng-Yarng township ordered the villagers of Wan Zaang to catch 20 viss of fish for them by 13.3.00.

Knowing that it was virtually impossible for a small village of only 11-12 houses like Wan Zaang to catch that much fish in just one day, the villagers explained about the difficult situation they were in and begged the soldiers to reduce the amount to 5 viss.

The soldiers, however, stuck to their words and even warned the villagers again that the fish was to be brought to them no later than 13.3.00.

Having no choice, the villagers of Wan Zaang had to collect money among themselves and buy all the fish from a fish pond of another village, Murng Luay, and gave the demanded amount to the SPDC soldiers. That pond of fish cost them 5,300 Kyat of money.

VILLAGERS ROBBED OF THEIR CHINESE MONEY IN MURNG-YARNG

On 16.3.00, 5 villagers from Nam Khe Mai village, Yaang Kawng tract, Murng-Yarng township, were robbed of all their food stuff and money by 2 SPDC troops.

The villagers, 3 men and 2 women, were returning from visiting the town market in Murng-Yarng town when they were stopped by 2 SPDC soldiers at a remote spot on the way.

The soldiers searched all of them and took away all their money and the food stuff they had bought from the town market.

Each of them lost about 5-600 Yuan of Chinese money which in all amounted to about 2-3,000 Yuan, and 5-6,000 Yuan worth of food stuff they had bought from town to be resold in their village.

The market money exchange rate was at the time 40-50 Kyat of Burmese money to the Yuan.

LIVESTOCK SHOT, VILLAGERS FORCED TO PROVIDE MEAT IN KAENG-TUNG

On 10.3.00, a patrol of 7 SPDC troops from IB244 shot dead a cow and forced the villagers to cut up meat for them at Wan Saao village, Kaad Thaai tract, Kaeng-Tung township.

While patrolling the area, the said troops saw a herd of cattle grazing in a field outside Wan Saao village and shot at them, killing 1 and causing the rest to run away in different directions into the surrounding forests.

The troops then went into the village and said to the village headman, “We saw some cattle eating the second rice crop in the field outside the village and we shot one of them dead. Tell your villagers to go and cut it up and bring 5 viss of meat for us, you can do what you like with the rest. We will be waiting at the temple”.

The headman and the villagers knew only too well that no one grew a second rice crop in the fields outside the village this year and they were deserted at the time, which served as a grazing ground for the cattle.

However, no one dared utter a word in protest, lest the troops make more trouble, and quickly did as they were told and provided the demanded meat. For the villagers, the sooner the troops left the village, the better and safer.

Zaai Saam Long (m), aged 46, lost one of his cattle which could easily fetch 17,600 Kyat in the market.

FORCED LABOUR IN TA-KHI-LAEK

On 23.3.00, SPDC troops of LIB316 forced the people in Pa Leo tract, Ta-Khi-Laek township to work for them without rest and without pay.

On that day, villagers of Kawng Khi Laek and Nam Laan villages were forced by SPDC troops from Ta-Lur-based LIB316 to clear trees and brush around the military camp in Pa Leo tract, Ta-Khi-Laek township, and also cut and gather firewood for them from the fallen trees.

For the whole day of 23.3.00, from 9:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs, the villagers from both villages had to work without a break.

They were not provided with food or water, and had to eat the little food they brought with them from home while working.

ROBBERY IN MURNG-YAWNG

On 28.3.00, villagers of Ho Loi village of Akha people in Murng Yu tract, Murng-Yawng township were robbed and their houses looted by SPDC troops from Murng-Yawng-based LIB334.

On the day of the incident, a patrol of 7 SPDC troops from LIB334 came to Ho Loi village and searched all the houses, going from door to door.

The troops robbed every villager they found and looted all the houses, taking all valuables they could find, and even clothes that appealed to their liking.

According to the villagers of Ho Loi village, they lost possessions worth no less than 300,000 Kyat.