64 DISPLACED PEOPLE MASSACRED IN KUN-HING
On 23.5.00, a column of 90-100 SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) troops from IB246 led by Capt. Htun Aung seized and gathered 64 displaced people, including men, women and children of all ages who were staying and working in their farms outside Kun-Hing town and near the main road, and shot all of them dead in a group.

All the victims were displaced people who had been forcibly moved to the relocation sites in 1996-97 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops in the area. These people, who had no land for cultivation in the relocation sites and near the town, had been permitted by the military authorities in Kun-Hing since 1998-99 to go and farm at places some distance away but within 3 miles from the town, and along and near the Kun-Hing - Nam-Zarng main road.

On the day of the incident, without any warnings, the said troops searched the area and seized all the people they found staying at their farms and brought them together to a place between Saai Mon village and Kun-Hing town, about 20 metres south of the main road. There were altogether 64 men, women and children of all ages.

The SPDC troops separated all the men from the women and children and lined them up, while some of them made the women and children stay together in a group, and shot all the men dead.

The women and children were so terrified by the gruesome scene that they cried and screamed and tried to run away. The troops then turned their guns and fired at them until they all fell dead on top of one another in a pool of blood.

These people were innocent farmers who originally were mostly from different villages in Saai Murng area that had been moved to the outskirts of Kun-Hing town and had been subsisting over the last few years by farming small plots of land within the limits allowed by the authorities. However, they were shot dead as if they were in the free-fire areas.

The following is the list of the names of some of the victims and their original villages, which have been confirmed.

(Note: So far 21 of the victims have been confirmed)

Not very long after killing the 64 villagers, the troops continued to search the area and shot dead many more villagers. Some were shot dead in groups and some were shot from a distance and were wounded.

Zaai Wi-Ma-La (m), aged 23, originally from Naa Yaang village, Saai Khaao tract, Kung-Hing township, was shot on 27.5.00 from some distance at his rice farm at Huay Pu by the same troops and was wounded in his left arm. He was returning from fetching water and saw the troops coming towards his camp before he got near them and he ran and escaped back to his home in the relocation site.

Naang Pawk (f), aged 31, originally from Wan Phid village, Naa Poi tract, Kun-Hing township, was shot with 7 other villagers by the same troops on 28.5.00 at their farm 2-1/2 miles south of Kun-Hing town. Naang Pawk was returning from gathering firewood and saw the troops from afar and managed to run away and escaped, but was shot after and was wounded in her right arm. The other 7 were all shot dead in the farm.

Zaai Wi-Ma-La and Naang Pawk were too afraid to go to the town hospital and secretly treated their wounds by themselves.

6 DISPLACED WOMEN RAPED AND KILLED IN A GROUP IN KUN-HING
In late May 2000, 6 displaced women, who made their living peddling small consumer goods in the rural areas of Kun-Hing township, were raped and shot dead by SPDC troops from IB246, led by Capt. Aung Htay, near the Kun-Hing - Murng-Paeng road between Ka Li village relocation site and Kun-Hing town, Kun-Hing township.

These women were originally from villages in Ho Yarn tract that had been forcibly moved to Ka Li village in 1996-97 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops in the area and had been subsisting on meagre incomes by peddling food and small things, bought from Kun-Hing town, in the surrounding rural areas.

On the day of the incident, these women were going from Ka Li relocation site towards Kun-Hing town to buy their goods and were carrying 3,000-5,000 Kyat of money each. On the way, they ran into a column of 70-80 SPDC troops from IB246, led by Capt. Aung Htay, who stopped them and took them to some distance away from the road and robbed them of all their money.

After robbing the women, Capt. Aung Htay raped one of them and told all his troops to rape all the women. However, Sergeant Aung Soe told the 20 troops under his command not to molest the women for fear of getting into danger during a military operation.

Capt. Aung Htay even told a civilian guide to enjoy himself with any of the women, “Take any of the women if you like and I am going to kill them all later”. But the civilian guide said he did not feel like it because he was feeling very weak and sick, and asked for some medicine from the Captain.

Out of 70-80 troops, only 21 troops and a civilian guide had refrained from molesting the women, the rest of the troops raped all the women to their satisfaction and after a while Capt. Aung Htay ordered his troops to make all the women sit in a group and shoot them dead.

The 6 victims were:

(Note: These troops left their base on 22.5.00 and returned on 7.6.00, so this event took place sometime between these dates and after the massacre of 64 victims)

A HUNTER SHOT DEAD IN MURNG-KHARK
On 28.4.00, SPDC troops from IB227 shot dead a villager who was returning from hunting near his village, Nam Maw, in Nam Yaang Long tract, Murng-Khark township.

At dusk on that day, sometime between 06:00 and 07:00 p.m., a villager of Nam Maw village, Zaai Khe, male, aged 26, who had gone hunting during the day, was returning and was getting near his village when 3 SPDC troops from IB227 who were coming from the direction of Nam Yaang Long village saw him.
As soon as they saw Zaai Khe, who was carrying a musket by a string over his shoulder, the SPDC troops shot at him without warning or asking any questions. Zaai Khe was hit and fell down dead on the spot.

After shooting Zaai Khe, the SPDC troops went into Nam Maw village and said to the village headman, “He is a rebel. Don’t know from which group. We shot him dead because he was going to shoot us. He is lying at the head of your village. Go and look at him and bury him”. Saying that the troops immediately left the village.

After the troops left, the village headman and some villagers went right away to the site of the incident only to find an innocent fellow villager, Zaai Khe, who had gone out to hunt that morning, lying dead in a pool of blood.

KILLING OF A LAHU VILLAGER IN KAENG-TUNG
On 11.5.00, SPDC troops from IB225 arrested a Lahu man of Waeng Long village in Murng Khawn tract, Kaeng-Tung township, and shot him dead on the bank of Nam Khawn river.

On the day of the incident, 2 Lahu men from Waeng Long village, Kya In, aged 36 and Kya Pa, aged 40, went to the town market in Kaeng-Tung to sell some chickens. They were returning home, after selling their chickens, and were getting near Nam Khawn river when they saw 3 SPDC troops close by coming towards them.

Fearing the SPDC troops would rob them of the money they had just earned from selling their chickens, the 2 Lahu men started to run away. The troops shouted at them to stop, but they kept running away along the bank of the river. The troops then fired their guns into the air to threaten them, and one of the men, Kya Pa, became so frightened that he stopped, while his friend, Kya In, dashed into the nearby forest and disappeared.

The troops were so angry that they beat and kicked Kya Pa until he fell down flat on the ground, and then asked him, “Why did you run away from us?” Kya Pa told them that he and his friend were so terrified by the sudden encounter that they ran away even before they realized it and that they had no other reasons for running away.

However, the troops tied Kya Pa up with a rope and robbed him of 1,200 Kyat of money which he had just earned from selling his chickens. After that they released him and told him to run away and, when he did, they shot him dead on the bank of the Nam Khawn river.
After the SPDC troops left the scene, Kya In, who had escaped and had been hiding and witnessing his friend being abused by the troops, came out from his hiding place and looked at his friend.

When he was sure that his friend was dead, he went to his village and reported the event to the village leaders. The body of Kya Pa was then brought back to their village and an appropriate funeral rite was conducted for him.

A FISHERMAN SHOT AND WOUNDED IN MURNG-PHYAK
On 1.5.00, a villager of Wan Yaang village in Lang Saad tract, Murng-Phyak township, was arrested and shot at by SPDC troops on the bank of Nam Yaang stream near his village.

The victim, Zaai Naw, male, aged 21, was catching fish in Nam Yaang stream when, around noon, a patrol of 25 SPDC troops came from the direction of Murng Ngen village and, when they saw him, ordered him to come out of the stream.

When Zaai Naw got near them, the troops seized him, tied him up and interrogated him, beating and torturing him all the while. The troops wanted to know the places where former MTA (Mong Tai Army) soldiers had hidden their arms caches.
Since Zaai Naw did not know about any hidden arms caches, he could not answer their questions. The troops became angry and shot at Zaai Naw, and he fell down into the stream.

Zaai Naw was hit in his left shoulder, and when the troops left the scene, he managed to stagger back to his house. He was hiding and trying to treat his wound himself secretly at the time of this report.

FORCED PORTERING AND BEATING IN MURNG-SART
On the morning of 12.4.00, a column of about 60 SPDC troops from LIB527 led by Capt. Tin Kyaing conscripted civilian porters from Yaang Kham, Wan Nawng and Waeng Laek villages in Murng Lung tract, Murng-Sart township.

The troops, seeming to have urgent business, surrounded the villages and forcibly seized the villagers to use as porters. Altogether 23 villagers were seized, 7 from Yaang Kham, 11 from Wan Nawng and 5 from Waeng Laek.

The villagers were forced to carry very heavy packages of different shapes without knowing what they were; no one told them and they dared not ask.
They started out at about 15:30 hrs towards Murng In tract without stopping until 22:00 hrs when they stopped for the night’s rest near Nam Yaang village in Murng In tract. All the way long, the troops pressed the porters to go as fast as possible without letting them take any rest or food, beating and kicking those who lagged behind.

Because the porters had not eaten anything since the morning of that day, they were weak and could not go fast enough, so many got kicked and beaten repeatedly. They were fed a small amount of boiled rice with salt only when the troops stopped for the night, well after 22:00 hrs.
On the morning of the next day, 13.4.00, at about 06:30 hrs., the porters had to carry their mysterious heavy loads again after eating a little boiled rice and salt fed to them by the troops. Again they were kicked and beaten all the way until they reached Nam Phoi village in Nawng Tao tract, at about 18:00 hrs in the evening.

At Nam Phoi village, they were released without being given any food and replaced by a new batch of civilian porters. All the porters suffered from bruises and pains all over and 2 of them, Ai Saam, aged 41 and Ai Kawng, aged 26, had been so repeatedly beaten and kicked with army boots that they were virtually dead.

LAND CONFISCATION AND FORCED LABOUR IN KAENG-TUNG
SPDC troops of Military Tactical Command stationed at Kaeng Ka village, zone 2, in Kaeng-Tung, confiscated pineapple gardens of the villagers and forced them to grow other kinds of vegetable for the military.

The villagers were made responsible for virtually every aspect of cultivation, from the start to the end until the produce was transported to the military base either by shoulders or by trucks.

In March 2000, a Major from the Military Tactical Command came to Kaeng Ka village and ordered the villagers to gather. To the gathering he said, “All of you in this village are followers of the Regional Commander because you live near our military base. And as such, he loves all of you and wants you to know how to make a livelihood. You must grow vegetables in the fields in front of your village and look after them, and when they grow up you can sell them and share the profits among all the villagers”.

When the time came that the vegetables were old enough to be eaten or sold, however, no villagers were allowed even to take them to eat, let alone to sell them. In addition, the villagers had to take turns and keep watch to keep away animals because they were also responsible to pay for any of the vegetables that had been destroyed by pigs or cattle.

PEOPLE FORCED TO STAND IN WAIT TO GREET THE GENERALS IN TA-KHI-LAEK
On 9.5.00, people in Ta-Khi-Laek township were forced to wear their traditional costumes and wait along the main road from the airport to the town all morning to greet General Maung Aye, Vice Chairman of the SPDC, and his entourage who arrived from Rangoon by air in the afternoon.
Since 06:00 hrs in the morning of that day, different peoples and tribes of the villages along the road from town to the airport and all the townspeople of Ta-Khi-Laek town had to wear their different traditional costumes and stand in wait along the airport-town road through which Gen. Maung Aye would be coming.

As the time wore on and the sun got higher and hotter, people began to suffer from the heat and hunger as many had not eaten anything that morning, thinking that their “honoured guests” would arrived early. However, they were not allowed to leave their places by the members of USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association = a politically motivated organization headed by Than Shwe, Chairman of the SPDC, himself) overseeing the event and were forced to stand in the sun until 13:00 hrs when Gen. Maung Aye arrived.

When the guests arrived, all the people had to do was to, according to one villager “just stand quietly with our hands in front of us, palms together in a position of respect, as they went by, not even one among the 21 special guests returned our hospitality with a smile”. “A pleasure for the bosses, a hell for the people” added others.

AKHA VILLAGERS ROBBED IN MURNG-KHARK
On 23.3.00, at about 14:00 hrs, 7 SPDC troops from IB227 led by Lt. Aung Than robbed the Akha villagers of Nawng Saam Khaa village in Ho Pong tract, Murng-Khark township, of their money and valuables.

On that day, the said troops came into Nawng Saam Khaa village, shot their guns into the air 3-4 times and ordered all the villagers to gather in the centre of the village. Lt. Aung Than then said to the gathering, “We have the order to search your village for illegal objects. When we do the searching, every one of you must remain here, no one is allowed to leave this place”.

The troops then searched house after house for over 2 hours, while 1-2 of them guarded the villagers. Finally, when the search was complete, Aung Than said to the villagers, “Very well, you have no illegal objects in your village”, and left the village.

When the villagers returned to their houses, 17 in all, they found that their money and other valuables, including ancient silver coins and Chinese money, and even raw opium in some houses, had been taken away by the troops.

EXTORTION OF OPIUM IN MURNG-PAENG
During the period between 17-20.4.00, SPDC troops of LIB360 extorted 17 viss of raw opium from the Lahu villagers of Huay Kut in Tham Yaam tract, Murng-Paeng township.

Sometime during the said period, a column of about 60 SPDC troops from Murng-Paeng-based LIB360 led by Maj. Thein Lwin surrounded Huay Kut village and called out the village headman. The SPDC Major then said, “We heard your village got a very good yield from your opium harvest this year. You must pay taxes to us; we are the soldiers who are protecting you from the enemies”.

The village headman, and some other villagers who had crowded around, told the Major that they had already paid the due taxes and had sold most of the rest to buy rice, and that the remainder was so little that it was hardly enough for them to buy other basic necessities for the rest of the year.

The Major became angry and said, “If you don’t want to pay, we’ll take it ourselves”, and ordered his troops to search the houses. Eventually, the troops took away 17 viss of raw opium from the 37 houses in the village.

LAND CONFISCATION IN SEN-WI
During the latter part of 1999, SPDC military authorities in Sen-Wi township confiscated many acres of lands cultivated by the people. These lands were to be used for military bases and facilities.

Some villagers, whose ancestral lands containing orchards, farms and gardens on which they had to mainly depend for their livelihood had been confiscated, submitted letters of appeal to the Commanders of the concerned units and battalions, and also to the Commander of the Northeast Regional Military Command in Lasio. However, no one was heard to have received any responses.

In one case, a group of 15 villagers submitted on 16 September 1999 letters of appeal to the Commander of No.16 Military Operation Command that had actually confiscated their lands and to the Regional Commander in Lasio.

According to their letters, altogether 50.65 acres of their cultivating lands on which they had to chiefly rely for their subsistence, located near Nam Hu Tao village in Kawng Haw tract, Sen-Wi township, had been confiscated by No.16 Military Operation Command and they appealed to the military authorities to spare them those lands since many acres of land in another part of the village had already been taken by the Military Construction Engineer Unit.

However, until earlier this year, there was still no answer to their appeal. The following list is of the names of the villagers and the acreage of land they have most certainly lost.

RICE PROCUREMENT IN SOUTHERN SHAN STATE
Earlier this year, during the period from 6 to 13.1.00, SPDC authorities forced farmers in several townships in southern Shan State to sell their rice quotas for the year 1999, at a rate much lower than the current market price.
The following is a kind of statistical chart showing the quota of each township, according to a reliable source in southern Shan State.
1. Murng-Pan township
(a) Intended quota 35,129 baskets
(b) Acquired amount 12,586 baskets
(c) To be filled 22,541 baskets

2. Larng-Khur township
(a) Intended quota 20,903 baskets
(b) Acquired amount 16,847 baskets
(c) To be filled 3,056 baskets

3. Mawk-Mai township
(a) Intended quota 50,788 baskets
(b) Acquired amount 30,140 baskets
(c) To be filled 20,648 baskets

4. Lai-Kha township (only known quotas for some villages)

1. Wan Long village 43,093 baskets
2. Wan Phai village 1,224 baskets
3. Paang Tai village 1,467 baskets
4. Wan Yurng village 9,808 baskets
5. Wan Thi village 1,751 baskets
6. Phaa Tang village 1,226 baskets
7. Hai Seng village 1,221 baskets
8. Naa Pan village 8,999 baskets
9. Nawng Kaw village 1,601 baskets
10. Taad Mawk village 4,350 baskets
11. Wan Saang village 1,590 baskets
12. Wan Seng village 3,244 baskets

(5) Murng-Nai township (only known villages)
(1) Maw Sawn village 1,664 baskets
(2) Naa Kan village 10,227 baskets
(3) Wan He village 1,280 baskets
(4) Phai Heng village 6,651 baskets
(5) Nawng Murng village 3,173 baskets

(6) Quotas for some townships in eastern Shan State
(1) Murng-Yawng township 80,000 baskets
(2) Murng-Phyak township 65,000 baskets
(3) Ta-Khi-Laek township 157,000 baskets

In order to fill their quotas, many farmers who did not have or could not produce enough rice had to borrow or buy from others to avoid punishment.