MONTHLY HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION REPORT
TENASSERIM DIVISION
Mergui-Tavoy District Information Department, Karen
National Union
February 2004
Contact ehna@ksc.th.com
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES:
FORCED LABOUR
EXTORTION
LANDMINE
EXTRA
JUDICIAL KILLING
TORTURE
LOOTIONG
FORCED
RELOCATION
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FORCED LABOUR
On February 21, 2004,
Major Aye Myint Commander of No.3 Tactical Command
based in Lerpaadoh village, northeast of Mergui summoned the village headmen from Dih Plaw, Te Hta,
P'rut Khu, and ordered them
to send 50 post of woods and 250 pieces of bamboo. The
commander also demanded 500 roofing leaves from each village
of Buthawplaw,
Tarwahta (Sarawa), Pahtooklo, Lerpaadoh, Kyauk Peik and Dahbawko (Kinnigyum). The
commander ordered the villagers to send the items by February 27 as the latest.
Villagers from Tenasserim
township, Mergui district,
were forced to work on the army's farm. On February 24, 2004, officers of the Burmese
army's No.2 Tactical Command ordered the villagers from Taket,
Hle Seik, and Thabokleik to work on the army's rice farm. The villagers
were assigned: Taket for 20 acres, Hle Seik for five acres and Thabokleik for 10 acres.
Villagers from Mammasa and Mamasa Hkee, in Palaw townshyip, Mergui district were
forced to build a road by People Militia or Pyithusit.
On February 25, 2004,
the leaders of Mammasa Pyisuist
ordered people to build a road from Mammasa to Mammasa Hkee. The villagers had
to collect sand and stones and lay it on the road. Saw San Sih
who, did not follow the order, was arrested by Pyithusit.
Burmese army's No.309
Artillery Battalion head by Mah Yan
Zan ordered Wahtho (Wahchaung) village in Palaw township, Mergui district to clean
the place for the army in Ahzannigone on February 26.
Those troops took cashew nuts from villagers in Pyicha.
Pyicha was deserted because of the villagers were
forcibly relocated by Burmese troops and had to abandon their plantations.
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EXTORTION
February 9, 2004, Burmese army No.12
Divisional Military Training Center, 50 miles to the south of Tavoy in Tenasserim division
ordered the local village
of Pyicha
to give them 16 kg of white rice per household and 1
basket of paddy rice per acre. Pyicha village tract
and its nearby Hmyit Chinzu
village tract were also ordered to give 4 baskets of paddy rice per household
to Pyithusit (people militia).
A Burmese army officer
demanded rice from local villagers in Tenasserim township,
Mergui district. On February 24, 2004 Min Zan Oo from No.561 Light Infantry Battalion summoned the
village elders from Taket Hsweh
Plaw and ordered them to collect and give the army
100 baskets (the standard unit of measurement of rice. 1 basket = 21 kegs) of
rice.
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On February 26, 2004
an armed group of Mon entered Thihko village, in the
east of Tenasserim township, Mergui
district and demanded the money from the village headman Oo Saut.
The armed group left with 200,000 cash of Kyat. It is not known who the group
is connected with.
Burmese army's People
Militia or Pyithusit from Pawat
Tawma village in Tenasserim township,
Mergui district took some rice paddies from the
displaced villagers. On February
28, 2004 Pyithusit
leaders Saw Hsah Wah and
Saw Khin took about 115 baskets (the standard unit of measurement of rice is 1
basket = 21 kegs) of rice from the inhabitants who were hiding beside their
village. They took from Saw Lu Ku (30 baskets), Saw Poe Hay (35 baskets), Saw
Su Poe (40 baskets) and Pu Tho
Ha (10 baskets).
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LANDMINE
An eight-year-old boy
stepped on a landmine that had been planted by the Burmese army. On February 25, 2004,
Saw Wah Lay's son was playing beside his village in Htee Seh Baw
Htee Hta, Tenasserim township, Mergui district when he
stepped on a landmine. He survived but lost his left foot.
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EXTRA JUDICIAL
KILLING
On
February 9, 2004, Burmese troops from
No.224 Infantry Battalion led by Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Myint Naing burnt down eight
houses in Pawa area 60 miles in the southeast of Mergui. These troops captured 23 internally displaced
persons (including 12 children) and killed one named Saw Hpo
Pe.
Myint Naing have distributed leaflets
warning civilians that anyone who support or helps "Kawthoolei"
(KNU) would be killed.
Burmese troops Battalion
Commander Lt. Col. Myint Naing
from No. 224 Infantry Battalion arrested a villager from Pawat,
Tenasserim township, Mergui district and beat him severely on February 28, 2004.
After that Saw Wah Lay was submitted to Tenasserim
town hospital but the hospital could not help. He was taken back to his home
where he died from the pain two weeks later.
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On
February 28, 2004 Burmese troops from
No.558 Light Infantry Battalion's No.1 Column head by Lt. Col. Than Daing,
killed the villager Saw Rotex (18 years) son of Saw Rayner, from Panwepoklo, Palaw township, Mergui district.
The villager founded the corpse of Saw Rotex with a
broken leg and one empty eye, near his hiding place in Tah
Meh Lor. His friend Saw Ne Thaw (16 years) son of Saw Ni San was wounded in the
knee after he managed to escape.
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TORTURE
On February 9, 2004,
about at 5 p.m.,
40 men from No.224 Infantry Battalion led by 2nd column commander
entered to Hle Seik village
situated on Tenasserim-Moe Daung car road in
Tenasserim township, Mergui
district and burnt down a house own by a 35 year old widow Naw
Ree, on February 10.
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On February 14, 2004
Burmese soldiers from No. 12 Divisional Military Training Centre based near Pyicha village in Palaw township, Mergui district beat a
villager in Pyicha, named Saw Karuh
Teh. His head was wounded by the beating.
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LOOTIONG
On February 10, 2004,
a Christian pastor Rev. Min Maung accidentally caught up a group of No.224 Iinfantry Battalion soldiers while going to Met
Wa
village, in Tenasserim township, Mergui district. The
soldiers took away 10,000-kyat cash from him. Met Wa
village is on TenasserimMoe Daung
road.
On February 10, 2004,
a column from No.224 Infantry Battalion killed a buffalo owned by Hle Seik villager Saw Lel Ma Htur. This troop also
looted all the household utensils which cost 500,000 kyat from Hle Seik villager Saw Ke. Tenasserim township,
Mergui district.
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FORCED RELOCATION
On February 14, 2004,
11 families working on their plantation up stream of Pa Wa Chaung
in Tenasserim township, Mergui district were ordered to move to Pawa
village where along with local villagers they were forcibly relocated to Pawa Plaw Hpa
Htaw (Pawa Kwin She) monastery. Though the displaced did not finish
building their new shelter in the new site, the houses they left were burnt
down by SPDC troopers. As well as this, 750 baskets of paddy rice, 100,000
betel nuts and 1 garden were also destroyed.
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