Shan commander: Army goes on rampage

Human Rights

Shan commander: Army goes on rampage

The Burma Army has been on the loose for the past week raiding villages, turning things upside down and making life miserable in general for all the residents in the area he is operating, claims a brigade commander from the Shan State Army 'South':

Lt-Col Moeng Zeun, Commander of the SSA's 758th Brigade that is active in the northeastern sector of southern Shan State, pleaded with S.H.A.N., "Couldn't somebody do something for our people?"

According to him, 4 battalions:

• Light Infantry Battalion 332, based in Mongpan, commanded by Lt-Col Pe Thein

• Light Infantry Battalion 520, based in Mongpan

• Light Infantry Battalion 525, based in Langkher

• Light Infantry Battalion 577, (not available)

have, since 23 September, been descending on the villages in the area, which is east of the Loilem-Mongkerng road and north of the Loilem-Takaw road, telling the inhabitants they were looking for the rebels and their sympathizers together with any weapons, documents or articles they might have entrusted to them. "Even children herding cattle and elderly people were not spared," he said. "Many people, including women, were tied up and flogged, while undergoing their interrogations. Others were even slashed with knives to extract information."

Moengzeun in 1984 (#3 - from left, front row)_courtesy: RAIDS

Lt-Col Moengzeun (left) in 1998 with Col Yawdserk (right)

Six villagers, 5 men and 1 women from Loilam, were still going through the agonies in Tartmawk at the time of his reporting (11:30). "They also use tricks like pretending to come across cartridges left behind by us in the villagers' homes, when in fact they were the cartridges they have brought with them, in order to extort money from the villagers," he added.

One of them, he said, is a villager from Lin Leng, near Tartmawk, who was forced to pay 80,000 kyat $ 80) to extricate himself from the charge of having lethal articles illegally in his possession.

More than 50 people have been victims to the Army's excesses, he declared. "I am not making up stories," he assured, "I'll send the evidences to you soon so you can put your mind at ease."

S.H.A.N. however has not been able to obtain confirmation from others sources.

The Burma Army has been charged by several rights and activist groups as the worst offender of human rights and Rangoon has steadfastly dismissed them as "baseless".