SHRF MONTHLY REPORT

SHRF MONTHLY REPORT -- APRIL 2005

COMMENTARY

No matter how harsh the situation is along the Shan-Thai border, as strict measures are being taken to stop refugee flows, and inside Thailand, as authorities are arresting and sending back those who they call illegal migrants, refugees from Shan State are still coming to the Thai border and grabbing at any chance to cross into Thailand, paying unreasonably big amounts of money for safe transport and risking everything they have.

This is a clear indicator as to how harsh life in Shan State is for these people that they risk everything to get into Thailand just to be able to work and survive as wage labourers, working more hours and earning less than others because they are regarded as illegal migrants, and liable to be arrested and sent back across the border any time.

It also means that the situation in many areas in Shan State has worsened to such an extent that it is very difficult even to survive.

With various types of extortion which are depleting their hard-earned meagre income; many kinds of systematic and random forced labour which are using up their precious time and energy; and many restrictions which are hampering them from being able to earn a living; imposed on them by the SPDC authorities, many people have found it almost impossible even to survive and have fled to other places.

In this month’s issue, in addition to other various types of human rights violations, there are some incidents of restrictions that have caused many people to flee to other places, including Thailand.

MENTALLY DISTURBED WOMAN RAPED AND SHOT DEAD IN MURNG-PAENG

In December 2004, a mentally disturbed woman was raped and shot dead by a patrol of SPDC troops from IB43, outside Murng Pu Long village in Murng Pu Long village tract, Murng-Paeng township.

Naang Wai (f), aged 24, of Murng Pu Long village in Murng Pu Long village tract, Murng-Paeng township, was a mentally disturbed woman who laughed and cried and roamed the village day and night.

Late in the evening of 2 December 2004, a patrol of about 15 SPDC troops from IB43, led by Sgt. Saw Than, came into Murng Pu Long village and seized Naang Wai, who was going around at night, took her out of the village and raped her and finally shot her dead.

On the next day, the villagers saw the body of Naang Wai, with clear signs of having been raped, outside Murng Pu Long village. Although the villagers knew very well what had happened and who the culprits were, no one dared to take the case to the authorities.

CATTLE TRADERS SHOT DEAD, ROBBED OF THEIR MONEY, IN MURNG-KERNG

In December 2004, 3 cattle traders were robbed of their money and shot dead by SPDC troops from LIB514 in Murng-Kerng township.

The 3 traders, Ting Mawng (m), aged 38, Zin-Na (m), aged 36 and Zaw-Ti-Ka (m), aged 41, were originally from Naa Lur village in Ham Ngaai village tract, Murng-Kerng township, which had been forcibly relocated to the outskirts of Murng-Kerng town in 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops.

The 3 men had pooled their money together and agreed to jointly trade in cattle. They each invested a share of 120,000 kyat in their joint venture so that they had 360,000 kyat capital to start with.

On 20 December 2004, after buying one head of cattle at the price of 14,500 kyat at a village, the 3 traders continued to search for more cattle in other villages in the rural areas of the township and, at one point, ran into a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops from LIB514, led by commander Saw Naing Oo.

The traders were stopped and searched by the SPDC troops. After finding that the villagers were carrying a sizable amount of money with them, the troops forced them to go with the patrol. The SPDC troops finally robbed the villagers of their money and shot them dead in the jungle after forcing them to go with them all day.

A VILLAGER SEVERELY BEATEN, CAUSING DEATH, IN LAI-KHA

In mid 2004, a villager of Mai Hai village in Naa Poi village tract, Lai-Kha township, was beaten up by SPDC troops from LIB515 in his village so severely that he died of the beating 10 days later.

Ma-La (m), aged 43, was heading home with a basket of rice after borrowing it from a relative’s house when he was stopped by a patrol of SPDC troops who had just come into the village.

When the troops saw the rice in the basket Ma-La was carrying, they accused him of taking the rice to the Shan rebels and interrogated him. The SPDC troops repeatedly beat and tortured him during interrogation because Ma-La kept denying the accusation.

After beating Ma-La to their satisfaction, the SPDC troops left the village and Ma-La’s fellow villagers had to carry him home because he could not get up. Ma-La sustained several serious injuries, especially a badly fractured head which might have affected his brain, and died 10 days later at his home.

Ma-La was survived by his wife and 2 children. His widow was so shocked by his death that she has been suffering from a kind of mental disorder since then, and the 2 children are still too young to work and fend for themselves.

VILLAGERS FORCED TO SERVE AS GUIDES AND SEVERELY BEATEN UP, IN NAM-ZARNG

In February 2005, 2 villagers who were being forced to serve as guides were severely beaten up by SPDC troops from MOMC #17 (Military Operation Management Command) until they both lost consciousness, in Loi La village tract in Nam-Zarng township.

On 9 February 2005, a patrol of about 40 SPDC troops from MOMC #17, led by Maj. Khin Naing, came to Kaeng Kham Awn village in Loi La village tract, Nam-Zarng township, and forcibly conscripted 2 villagers to serve as guides.

When they had gone for about 2 miles after leaving Kaeng Kham Awn village, the SPDC Major asked the 2 civilian guides if they had seen Shan soldiers in the area and if they had ever provided them with food. The villagers then said they had never seen any Shan soldier in the area.

After going for a short while, the Major switched on a walkie-talkie and told the 2 villagers to listen. Voices of people talking in Shan to each other by other walkie-talkies could be heard from that walkie-talkie.

The SPDC Major then accused the 2 villagers of telling lies. “These are Shan rebels talking to each other through their walkie-talkies. When I asked you, you said there were no Shan soldiers in this area!” he said.

The Major then further accused the villagers of deliberately not wanting to tell what they actually knew and beat them with a stick. The villagers were beaten severely many times from head to toe until they both fell down and finally lost consciousness.

The victims were Zaai Ti (m), aged 39 and Zaai Pan-Ta (m), aged 37, from Kaeng Kham Awn village in Loi La village tract, Nam-Zarng township. When they regained consciousness, the SPDC troops had already left the place and they managed to stagger back to their village.

The voices heard in the walkie-talkie could belong to just any one, complained the villagers. It could even be the SPDC troops themselves because many of them spoke fluent Shan, they said. However, no one dared to lodge a complaint with the authorities.

VILLAGERS TAKEN HOSTAGE, MONEY EXTORTED, IN MURNG-NAI

In December 2004, 3 displaced villagers were taken hostage by SPDC troops of LIB526 and money was demanded for their release, in Nawng Hee village tract, Murng-Nai township.

The villagers were originally from Nam Tawng village in Nawng Hee village tract, Murng-Nai township, which had been forcibly relocated to Sen Taw village relocation site in the same area in 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops.

On 4 December 2004, a patrol of about 20 SPDC troops from LIB526, led by Capt. Thein Win, came to Sen Taw village relocation site and took away Lung Ta, Lung Aw-Ta and Khat-Ti-Ya. Lung Ta and Lung Aw-Ta were formerly headman and secretary respectively when they were at their original village, Nam Tawng.

The SPDC troops kept the villagers in the forest and sent Khat-Ti-Ya back to their village to bring back money for their release, 350,000 kyat for Lung Ta and 450,000 kyat for Lung Aw-Ta. After 2 nights, Khat-Ti-Ya was able to bring back the money and all 3 of them were released.

The SPDC troops tried to make themselves look like Shan soldiers and presented themselves as belonging to a unit of Shan resistance forces. However, many of them were recognized by the locals as being SPDC soldiers.

Another incident took place 2 weeks later at Loi Saai village in the same village tract. This time it was SPDC troops from LIB324 who kept 3 villagers hostage and demanded money for their release.

On 21 December 2004, a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops from LIB324, led by Capt. Aung Naing Win, posing as Shan soldiers, came to the Palawng village of Loi Saai in Nawng Hee village tract, Murng-Nai township, and arrested 3 villagers:

1. Paw Noi (m), aged 56, village elder and consultant
2. Paw Awng (m), aged 47, village headman
3. Paw Saang Sawng (m), aged 43, secretary of the headman

The SPDC troops presented themselves as belonging to a unit of the Shan resistance and said that they had never received any rice support from the villagers, and demanded 5,000 kyat of money from each family in the village for their release.

There were 81 families in Loi Saai village and 405,000 kyat of money had to be given to the SPDC troops for the release of the 3 villagers.

After receiving the money, the SPDC troops killed one pig and one cow belonging to the villagers, cut them up, dried the meat and took them away. Before they left, they changed their clothes, from the camouflaged combat suits they had been wearing into the ordinary military fatigues of the SPDC troops.

The pig weighed about 40 viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg) and was worth about 32,000 kyat, and the cow was worth 11,000 kyat, said the villagers.

FORCIBLE MILITIA SERVICE AS A MEANS OF EXTORTION, IN MURNG-PAN, MURNG-NAI, LARNG-KHUR AND KUN-HING

In late 2004, SPDC troops in Murng-Pan, Murng-Nai, Larng-Khur and Kun-Hing townships conscripted many people to serve as people’s militia and later extorted money from their relatives for their release.

On 27 October 2004, SPDC troops of LIB520 conscripted 58 men, ages between 18 and 35, from the village and community leaders in Murng-Pan township, to undergo a session of people’s militia training. However, as the conscripts arrived at the military base, they were put in military attire and ordered to go with a patrol of SPDC troops.

After several days, the conscripts had not returned to the base where the people’s militia training was supposed to be held, but an SPDC Sergeant from LIB520 told a former village leader that anyone who did not want their sons to serve as people’s militia could easily get them back by paying 10,000 kyat to his superiors for each of them.

It was then understood by the villagers that this was just one of the new tricks of the SPDC troops to make money. Although there were incidents in which people actually had to undergo militia training, sometimes they were just extortion games in which people could get the conscripts back by paying the demanded amount of money.

In several other townships, such as Murng-Nai, Larng-Khur and Kun-Hing, similar incidents had taken place at about the same time. But the villagers were not conscripted from their headmen and leaders. The SPDC troops simply came to a village with a list of names and rounded them up one by one and took them away.

A message was then sent to their relatives about the situation and all of them were later released in return for 10,000 kyat each.

MASS FORCED LABOUR AND EXTORTION IN NAM-ZARNG

In January 2005, people in Kho Lam village tract in Nam-Zarng township were forced by SPDC troops of MOMC #21 (Military Operation Management Command) to repair and clear the sides of the roads for 6 whole days, during which mini-tractors were forced to transport sand, stones and the villagers.

Starting from 16 January 2005, 20 people from each of the 5 quarters in Kho Lam village, 100 in all, were conscripted each day to work in repairing the main road between Kho Lam village and Wan Zing village in Kae-See township and clearing the sides of it.

The road was about 30 miles long, with about 20 miles in Nam-Zarng township, and the villagers had to repair the 20-mile section in the township, starting from Nam Hoo village on the frontier back towards Kho Lam village.

Each day, 100 forced labourers worked on the road with 8 mini-tractors transporting them to the work site in the morning and later in the day transporting sand and stones necessary for fixing the road, and finally bringing them back home in the evening.

The villagers had to take turns and work for 6 consecutive days providing their own food and tools. The 40 mini-tractors in the area also had to take turns, 8 tractors per day, and work for 5 days, providing their own food for the drivers and fuel for the tractors.

Villagers who did not have mini-tractors and had not been conscripted to work on the road had to contribute money for the road-repair and fire-guard, between 3,000 kyat and 6,000 kyat per household, according to their economic status.

FORCED LABOUR AND EXTORTION BY A CEASEFIRE GROUP IN MURNG-NAI, NAM-ZARNG AND LARNG-KHUR

In late 2004 and early 2005, after using unpaid forced labour of villagers from surrounding villages in Murng-Nai, Nam-Zarng and Larng-Khur townships, a Pa-O ceasefire group lured the villagers into growing opium, promising good wages, but paid only half of the actual amount when the job was done.

During the period from August to November 2004, the said Pa-O ceasefire group, based at Nawng Mai Sak village west of Murng-Nai town, near the frontiers of Murng-Nai with Nam-Zarng and Larng-Khur townships, forced villagers from surrounding villages in the 3 townships to cultivate corn for them.

After the corn was harvested, members of the ceasefire group told the villagers that they would hire workers to cultivate opium. The workers would be provided with rice rations at the rate of 3 condensed-milk-cans per worker per day. The wages would be paid at the end of the cultivation at the rate of 500 kyat per worker per working-day, however some amount could be drawn in advance for emergency use.

Tempted by the 500-kyat wage and 3 tins of rice rations per day, and since there was no other paid job available at the time, many villagers accepted the job. The following are numbers of villagers from each of the 3 townships:

1. Murng-Nai township, 68 men and 43 women
2. Nam-Zarng township, 86 men and 52 women
3. Larng-Khur township, 13 men and 15 women

There were 167 men and 110 women, altogether 277 people from the 3 townships.

In February 2005, when the opium was about to be harvested, the villagers were gathered by officers from the Pa-O ceasefire group to pay their wages. The villagers were told that some reductions had been made from their wages for the costs of the rice given to them as daily rations and they would get only 250 kyat per day as a wage.

It was quite a shock for the villagers. Not knowing in advance, many of them had drawn more than half of their wage, which they thought was 500 kyat per day, and fell in debt to their employer, some of them up to 2-3,000 kyat.

Those who had not drawn more than half of their wage mostly received only around 500 kyat and only a few of them managed to get around 1,500 kyat, for the 3 whole months of hard work. This has also caused many of them to flee to other places in search of a better means of survival.

FORCED BUYING OF RICE IN LAI-KHA

In December 2004, SPDC troops from Nam-Zarng township forced several villages in Naa Poi village tract in Lai-Kha township to sell them rice at a rate many times lower that the current market price.

On 9 December 2004, SPDC troops, based at Kho Lam village in Nam-Zarng township, went to Naa Poi village tract in Lai-Kha township and forcibly bought rice from villagers in Kung Sim, Mai Hai and several other villages.

The SPDC troops forced the villagers to sell until they got 500 baskets of rice at the rate of 500 kyat per basket. The market prices were between 1,250 kyat and 1,500 kyat per basket at the time.

After buying the rice, the SPDC troops immediately trucked all of it back to their base at Kho Lam village in Nam-Zarng township.

RESTRICTIONS AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN CENTRAL SHAN STATE

Since the beginning of 2005, more restrictions concerning the livelihood of the people have been imposed by the SPDC authorities in several townships in central Shan State, effectively depriving many people of their means of survival.

In several townships such as Murng-Kerng, Lai-Kha, Nam-Zarng, Kun-Hing and Murng-Nai, farmers have been banned from selling their rice and/or bran except to the military. Orders have been issued saying that farmers who wanted to sell rice or bran, no matter what the amount, must sell only to the military unit closest to them, at the rate fixed by the authorities.

It has been learned that SPDC troops in central Shan State will not be issued rice and will need to buy it from the local farmers. The SPDC troops also keep a lot of pigs and the bran is needed to feed them.

In Kaeng Tawng area of Murng-Nai township, people are being restricted from going to gather a kind of wild vegetable called “phak man”. This vegetable grows only once a year during the dry season and lasts for about 2 months, from around mid-March to mid-May.

The vegetable, “phak man”, is very popular in central Shan State and could fetch very good prices, especially in town markets, for those who could bear the trouble to gather it. It is not easy to gather because it usually grows on steep rocky slopes.

“Phak man” grows in abundance in the areas along the Nam Taeng river, downstream of the waterfall where the SPDC authorities are to build a hydroelectricity plant. But people are being banned from going to those areas because they are close to the waterfall. For some reasons, the SPDC troops do not like people going near the waterfall.

Gathering and selling “phak man” during its seasons every year has been one of the best means of income for almost half of the population in Kaeng Tawng area in Murng-Nai township for generations. Now they have been deprived of one of their best traditional means of livelihood.

As the SPDC troops are selling teak and other kinds of hardwood in Kaeng Tawng area to several logging companies, local people are banned from cutting any wood for domestic use.

In order to be able to sell consumer goods to the employees of the logging companies at high prices, the SPDC troops banned all other traders, including those of Chinese and Indian decent, from bringing in and selling consumer goods at low prices.

Only ethnic Burmans with some connections with the military are allowed to trade in consumer goods. As a result, the original local people also have to buy their daily necessities at high prices which they could hardly afford.

Many people are facing a very difficult situation. Many farmers could not get enough rice even to feed their own families and those who have some extra rice could not sell it for any profits. Wage earning jobs are difficult to find and as a result it is very difficult to earn a living.

In addition, Burman colonies from lower Burma have been coming all the time and settling down among the locals, negatively affecting the customs and traditions of the local communities.

All the above mentioned factors have been causing many people in central Shan State to continue to flee to other places, including Thailand.

RESTRICTIONS AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN KAENG-TUNG

People in several village tracts in the area under the control of a ceasefire group in Kaeng-Tung township are facing a lot of difficulties concerning their livelihood because of the restrictions on their movements and various extortion.

In Murng Ma, Murng Laa and Saler village tracts in Kaeng Tung township, which are in the area under the control of the ceasefire group, NDAA (National Democratic Alliance Army), called special region No. 4, many people do not have National ID cards.

These people cannot travel without permission from the authorities. When they need to travel even for a short while, they have to pay 20 yuan of Chinese money to the NDAA authorities and 8,000 kyat of Burmese money to the SPDC immigration authorities at Murng Laa to get permission.

Every month, people in the area have to pay 150 yuan to the NDAA and 500 kyat to the SPDC for electricity. Whether the electricity has been used or not, the fixed amounts have to be paid to the authorities of both groups.

They are not allowed to cross over to China. Those who need to cross to China to earn a living have to do so stealthily. When they are caught crossing the border, they have to pay a fine of 100 yuan each to the Chinese authorities.

Whether people in the area have rice fields or not, or grow rice or not, each person needs to give the NDAA ceasefire group 3 big tins of husked rice every year.

All these are difficulties people living in those village tracts under the control of NDAA have to face. According to them, they are like people in the prisons in Burma; they just manage to survive.