SHRF MONTHLY REPORT - AUGUST 2006

COMMENTARY
LAND CONFISCATION
        Confiscation of cultivated land by the Burmese military authorities in Shan State continues to be one of the main factors that is depriving the local people of their livelihood and causing them to flee to other places in desperate search of other means of livelihood.
        Since more than a decade ago, as the military has been dramatically expanding its presence in Shan State, large areas of land have been confiscated for various reasons. Lands were initially seized from the local people for setting up new bases for new military units and for expanding the base areas of the existing ones.
        Land areas surrounding or in the vicinities of military bases were then sooner or later confiscated for the troops to provide themselves with farm produce, wood, bamboo, firewood, etc., or merely for security reasons.
        Furthermore, even larger areas of land have also been confiscated for various state-run projects such as coal and mineral mines, road construction, rubber and physic nut plantations, etc..
        Apart from other gross human rights violations such as killing, rape, beating and shooting, a special section is given to incidents of land confiscation, including forced relocation and forced labour in some cases, during the first 6 months of this year in this month’s issue.
        There are reports on the confiscation of tens of thousands of acres of cultivated land of the local people in Kaeng-Tung and Mu-Se townships for rubber plantations, and for physic nut plantations in Larng-Khur and Kun-Hing townships, by the SPDC authorities in Shan State.

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A PALAUNG VILLAGER SHOT DEAD IN KUN-HING
        Sometime in late 2005, a villager of Maak Khi Nu village in Luk Long village tract, Kun-Hing township, was shot dead by a patrol of SPDC troops from IB246 near his village on his way back from his farm.
        Sometime in September 2005, during the Buddhist Lent, a Palaung villager of Maak Khi Nu village, Ai Mint (m), aged 30, went to collect his farm produce and brought it back to sell as well as contribute to a merit-making religious ceremony that would be organized at his village.
        On that day, some other villagers of Maak Khi Nu also did the same in order to sell their farm produce and  contribute and take part in the said religious ceremony to gain merit collectively with their fellow villagers on the coming sabbath day in the next couple of days.
        While all the other villagers returned from their farms early and safely to their village, Ai Mint and his son (about 10 years old) came back later than the others and ran into a patrol of SPDC troops not far from their village. Although the other villagers knew Ai Mint was stopped by the SPDC troops from IB246 that had been patrolling in the area at the time, they dared not do anything.
        After a while the villagers in the village heard 2-3 shots of gunfire from the direction of the SPDC troops and saw Ai Mint’s son come running into the village. The SPDC troops shot dead Ai Mint after interrogating him for a while, according to his son, who ran into the village as the troops shot his father.
        After about half-an-hour some villagers went stealthily to look at the SPDC troops. When they saw the SPDC troops had left the area, they called up the other villagers and went to look for Ai Mint.
        The villagers saw the lifeless body of Ai Mint lying in a pool of blood on the side of the road and they carried him back to the village to conduct a proper religious funeral rite for him.
        Instead of having to organize a merit-making religious ceremony, the villagers of Maak Khi Nu only had to conduct a funeral rite for their fellow villager on that sabbath day, and no one dared to complain about the incident for fear of further abuses.

GANG-RAPE IN KAE-SEE
        In March 2006, 2 women, aged 15 and 19, were gang-raped by a patrol of more than 30 SPDC troops from IB13 at a remote farming camp called Wan Khaam Phurk in Wan Hai village tract, Kae-See township.
        On the evening of 16 March 2006, a patrol of more than 30 SPDC troops from IB13 who were patrolling the area of Wan Hai village tract came to Wan Khaam Phurk, a camp with a few huts where a few village families were temporary staying to work their remote farms.
        When the SPDC troops surrounded and searched the camp, there were no men because they had already fled to hide outside the camp as the news of the troops’ coming reached the camp before their actual arrival, and only some children and elderly villagers were found in some huts.
        However, the troops found 2 young women hiding in one of the huts. The women, Naang La, aged 15 and Naang Oo, aged 19 (not their real names), knew of the SPDC troops only when they entered the camp and did not have time to run away and tried to hide in the hut.
        After the SPDC troops were sure there were only the 2 women and no one else in the hut, they  shut the door from the outside and detained the women in the hut, and they settled down for the night in the farming camp.
        When an older woman, the young women’s mother, who had gone to fetch water before the SPDC troops arrived at the camp, came back, the troops did not let her go to her daughters, but detained her at a different place.
        During the night, group after group of SPDC troops took turns and gang-raped the 2 women in the hut the whole night until all more than 30 of them were satisfied. They left the camp in the next morning.

A THAI VILLAGER BEATEN BY SPDC TROOPS OPPOSITE MURNG-TON
        In April 2006, a Thai villager was severely beaten on the head with a glass bottle by 3 SPDC soldiers from LIB528 at a border village in Fang district in Chiangmai province, Thailand, opposite Pung Pa Khem village tract in Murng-Ton township.
        The victim was an ethnic Palaung of Thai nationality, Ai Kham (m), who had opened a small food stall at Law Le village at the border with Shan State’s Murng-Ton township. Ai Kham lost consciousness from the beating and had to be taken to Fang district hospital for treatment.
        On 18 April 2006, 3 SPDC soldiers from a contingent of troops from Kaeng-Tung-based LIB528 who were temporarily stationed at an outpost camp in Murng-Ton township, just close to Law Le village in Thailand, came to Ai Kham’s food shop at Law Le village.
        Since they were in Thai territory, the SPDC troops did not carry any weapons. They bought a bottle of whiskey and drank at Ai Kham’s shop. After a while the SPDC soldiers asked Ai Kham to sell them some goods on credit because they did not have enough money.
        But Ai Kham refused to give anything on credit, not knowing if the SPDC troops would ever come back to pay for it. The SPDC soldiers became angry and one of them grabbed the whiskey bottle they were drinking from and harshly hit Ai Kham on the head with it.
        Ai Kham fell down on the ground and lost consciousness, with blood streaming down his head, and the 3 SPDC troops ran away across the border before other villagers could do anything and went back to their camp. Ai Kham was then taken to the hospital by his relatives and fellow villagers.
        About 9-10 days later, some SPDC troops from the said outpost camp were seen going around asking people who were tending their farms and gardens in the border area to inform them if they had any information about 3 of their troops who had recently run away.
        However, many local people thought that the SPDC troops seemed to be afraid of accusation by the Thai authorities and were only playing a drama so that they could deny responsibility for their troops’ behaviour.

A VILLAGER SHOT AT, BREAKING HIS LEG, IN MURNG-KERNG
        In March 2006, a villager was shot and his leg broken by a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB514 at his house in Nawng Khio village in Murng Khun village tract, Murng-Kerng township.
        On 3 March 2006, Zan-Da (m), aged 20, of Nawng Khio village took out some of his rice from his barn and prepared some rice sacks to be taken to a rice mill. But for some reason he could not take his rice sacks to the rice mill on that day until the evening and had to leave them outside because there was no time to put them back into the barn or the house.
        During that night, Zan-Da had to sleep outside the house among the rice sacks to protect them from being stolen by thieves or destroyed by animals. At one point, Zan-Da heard footsteps entering his house compound and coming towards him and he shone his torch towards the footsteps, thinking there were thieves.
        Unfortunately, to his great shock, Zan-Da happened to be shining his torch on the face of an SPDC soldier who immediately rushed at him, saying, “Why are you shining on my face”, and shot him in his right thigh at point-blank range. Zan-Da did not know that a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB514 was coming into his village.
        The shot broke the bone of Zan-Da’s right thigh and there was an attempt by the villagers to take him to a clinic or hospital to get medical treatment. But the SPDC troops did not allow them to leave the village and the villagers had to treat Zan-Da’s wound themselves.
        Only on the next day morning did the SPDC troops tell the villagers to provide an ox-cart for them to take Zan-Da to be treated at the hospital. What became of Zan-Da after that was not known because the witnesses of the incident left the village on the same morning.


SITUATION OF LAND CONFISCATION

CONFISCATION OF CULTIVATED LANDS IN 2006
        Over the last 2 decades, especially starting from around mid 1990s, the Burmese military has been expanding its presence in Shan State, an ongoing process up to the present.
        Since then, large areas of land, most of them cultivated by the local people, have been confiscated by the Burmese junta’s troops in all parts of Shan State for various reasons.
        Lands have been, and are still being, confiscated for setting up many new bases for new military battalions and for the expansion of the existing battalions all over Shan State, and land areas surrounding or in the vicinities of military bases have been, and are still being, subsequently confiscated for the junta’s troops, or merely for security reasons.
        Furthermore, vast areas of land have also been, and are still being, confiscated for plantations of rubber and physic nut, etc., which are either controlled by the state or private business firms, or joint ventures of the state and private firms.
        Interestingly, private firms and companies that are given favour and granted concessions by the junta’s authorities to work with or for them are usually owned by one of the notorious former or current drug barons.
        Whatever the reasons for the land confiscation, the majority of those who lost their land have also lost their means of livelihood, because the majority of Shan State populations are in the agricultural sector who have to one way or another depend on the land to make a living.
        The following are incidents of land confiscation in Shan State by the SPDC authorities during the early half of 2006:

LAND CONFISCATION FOR RUBBER PLANTATIONS IN KAENG-TUNG
        In June 2006, large areas of woodland and grassland in Murng Laang village tract in Kaeng-Tung township have been confiscated by the SPDC authorities of LIB314 to make room for rubber plantations.
        The SPDC authorities are said to be intending to plant 1 million rubber trees in the areas during 2006. But the project is to be privately run by an ethnic Chinese businessman, Than Htun, under some sort of agreement with the SPDC authorities.
        The project has already been started at present and 250 workers are being hired to do the job on a daily basis with the wages of 1,500 kyat per worker per day.
        The LIB314 had some 9 years ago already confiscated some land in the northern part of Murng Laang village tract for rubber plantations. At that time about 300,000 rubber trees were planted and now rubber is being collected from them starting this year.
        This time, however, the confiscated land area was so great that it started from the previously confiscated land until it reached the southernmost point of the village tract, taking up virtually all the woodland and grassland which had traditionally served the villagers as their source of firewood and grazing grounds for their cattle.

FORCED RELOCATION AND LAND CONFISCATION IN KAENG-TUNG
        In May 2006, 5 families of townspeople in No. 1 quarter were forced to move away and the land area they lived on was confiscated by the SPDC police in Kaeng-Tung town, Kaeng-Tung township.
        On 24 May 2006, 5 families, comprising about 20 members collectively, were forced to move away and the land on which they had been living for more than 20 years was forcibly confiscated by the SPDC police to make way for the expansion of a police station.
        The land was situated on the slope of the famous Zawm Mon hill in the centre of the town and was over 1,200 square metres in area. About 5-6 years ago, the police set up a temporary checkpoint or a guardhouse on the same slope at a spot just above the said land area where the families were living.
        After a while the police built a motor road from the foot of the hill up to the guardhouse and showed signs of setting up a permanent establishment at the place by grading the ground and building barracks for housing police families.
        Finally, in late June this year, the families were completely forced out of the land by the police authorities to make way for the expansion of the new police establishment. Although the families tried to lodge a complaint with their community leaders, no one dared to do anything about it.
        Since no place has been provided for their resettlement, the families are now temporarily staying in the Buddhist monastery compound on the Zawm Mon hill with the permission of the abbot, at the time of this report.

CONFISCATION OF RICE FARMS IN KUN-HING
        In May 2006, 25 plots of rice farms, covering many acres of land collectively, were confiscated from displaced farmers by the SPDC troops of IB246 for growing physic nut plants, in Kun-Hing township.
        On 10 May 2006, community leaders and villagers of No. 3 quarter of Kun-Hing town were summoned to the base of IB246 and told that plots of land that the villagers had cleared and prepared for growing rice in the area would be confiscated by the authorities for growing physic nut.
        The No. 3 quarter of Kun-Hing town was a sort of relocation site to which people from surrounding villages had been forcibly relocated during the mass forced relocations carried out by SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops 8-9 years ago.
        Most of the inhabitants were displaced farmers who had managed to eke out a subsistent living over the last 8-9 years by cultivating small rice farms in the area. The villagers had already cleared and prepared the ground of their farms for another rice growing season when they were confiscated by the SPDC authorities.
        There were at least 25 plots of such farms in the area about 1 mile from Kun-Hing town, each covering 2 to 4 acres of land on average and belonging to one farming family, that were confiscated, effectively depriving those families of their means of subsistence.
        Furthermore, although at the time of this report the authorities had not yet forced the villagers to grow physic nut, they had already told them to buy physic nut seeds from them at the rate of 3,000 kyat per litre (approximately), 3 litres per family.
        Since there was no time to find new proper places and clear new plots of land for rice farming, many families who could not find alternative means of livelihood have fled to other places and some of them have already reached the Thai border.

CONFISCATION OF CULTIVATED LAND, FORCED LABOUR, IN LARNG-KHUR
        In March 2006, many acres of cultivated land of the villagers in several village tract areas in Larng-Khur township were confiscated by the SPDC military authorities of IB99 for growing physic nut plants.
        Most of the land areas confiscated were sugarcane and tobacco plantations in the areas of Nawng Long, Nam Terng, Wan Zid, Pung Thun, Nam Tern, Naa Khaa, Son Oi and several other villages. As the villagers were finishing preparing their lands for another round of crops, an order came out.
        The order was issued on 20 March 2006 by IB99, banning the villagers from growing any new crop on their lands since they would be confiscated by the authorities for growing physic nut.
        It was said that IB99 was given the duty to grow 2,000 acres of physic nut plants by the higher-up authorities since around February, but they deliberately waited until the villagers finished preparing their lands so that they did not have to force them to do it.
        However, villagers were still forced to provide free labour in growing physic nut. Those who owned some kind of machines, e.g., mini-tractors, rice mills, cars, trucks, etc., were obliged to grow 3,000 plants of physic nut, while villagers who did not own any machine had to grow 500 plants, per household.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF CULTIVATED LAND CONFISCATED IN MU-SE
        In January 2006, tens of thousands of acres of cultivated land were confiscated by the SPDC military authorities for growing rubber trees in Mu-Se township.
        The confiscated land areas were mostly tea plantations, woodlands on which villagers grew trees for firewood and various other fruit orchards and gardens in the areas of the following 16 villages: (1) Terng Long, (2) Ho Po, (3) Waeng Naang, (4) Khu Waeng, (5) Maan Waeng, (6) Paang Long, (7) Kawng Sa, (8) Zaan Sa, (9) Nawng Mo, (10) Paang Kham, (11) Saai Khaao, (12) Nam Sim, (13) Maang Haang, (14) Nam Kat, (15) Maan Kaang and (16) Maan Tham.
        When, on 1 January 2006, the authorities came with tractors and bulldozers and bulldozed down tea, banana and various other fruit trees and other trees in the areas of Terng Long village without informing the villagers, village elders and community leaders went to enquire about it.
        What the villagers were told by the drivers of the tractors and bulldozers was that on the order of the Commander of the Northeast Regional Military Command, Lt. Gen. Myint Hlaing, 37,000 acres of land in the area were to be confiscated to make way for rubber plantations, and that they were just implementing the order.
        Since then, tens of thousands of acres of land in the areas of the said 16 villages have been confiscated and all the trees and plants destroyed by a domestic private company working on the order of the SPDC military authorities.
        The said private company was known as “So So Pye Pye”, based in Mu-Se, and was owned by a man named Htun Aye. Htun Aye was also locally known to be one of the local drug barons working closely under Lt. Gen. Myint Hlaing and making a lot of money for their mutual benefits.
        Many tea plantations, fruit orchards and gardens, etc., of the people in those areas have been destroyed in the process. Many people who had mainly depended on those lands for their livelihood for generations have been effectively deprived of them overnight, putting them in a very sad and difficult situation.

LAND CONFISCATION BY CEASEFIRE GROUP IN NAM-ZARNG
        In March 2006, farmlands cultivated by villagers of Pa Hok village for generations were confiscated by a Pa-O ceasefire group in the area of Pa Hok village in Loi Phaa village tract, Nam-Zarng township.
        There were 2 Pa-O ceasefire groups in Nam-Zarng township, known locally as Red Pa-O and White Pa-O, each with their own designated areas of control. The said farmlands happened to be where the land areas under the control of the 2 Pa-O groups met and had been under dispute for some time.
        Both Pa-O groups claimed that the area where the farmlands were located was under their control and finally earlier this year both groups issued orders banning villagers from cultivating all the farms in the said land area for one year.
        However, when it was time to prepare the ground for the coming crop growing season, many Pa Hok villagers still went to work the farms in the said land area because they did not have other places to farm and no alternative means of livelihood.
        Then on 10 March 2006, members of the Red Pa-O ceasefire group came and asked why the villagers had not stopped as ordered. The villagers said that they had been working and depending on the farms for their living since the times of their fathers and grandfathers and they had no other means of livelihood.
        But the Red Pa-O soldiers told them to shut up and leave the place, adding that all the land starting from Loi-Lem township down to Nam-Zarng had been entrusted to them by the Burmese military government to look after.
        They even told the villagers to lodge a complaint if they wanted to. But the villagers believed nothing would come from lodging a complaint with the SPDC authorities except perhaps only more abuses by both parties.
        More than 10 families of Pa Hok villagers who lost their farms have fled to the Thai border after trying for more than one month and failing to find other means of livelihood in Nam-Zarng town.