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FBR REPORT: People
struggle to survive attacks in northern
Karen State as villagers are captured and
killed in central Karen State,
Burma
Report from the field in northern Karen
State |
| Karen
State,
Burma |
| 29 January,
2008 |
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| Sick man in hiding, Toungoo
District (Jan 26. 2008) |
Since violently displacing more than 30,000 villagers in
2006 and early 2007, the Burma Army has not slowed in its
aim of the complete occupation and domination of Karen
State.
Burma Army troops have used the significant expansion
of camps and roads during the recent offensive as a
springboard from which to launch frequent attacks against
the civilian population. Homes and villages have been burned
down, villagers shot and killed on sight, landmines laid,
and crops destroyed. While these recent attacks are smaller
in scale than the offensive of 2006-2007, for the Karen they
are a continual pounding in the midst of a slow
strangulation. People continue to be wounded, killed, and
chased into the jungle while their homes and villages are
burned down.
Much of the population of northern Karen State is now
displaced, with more than 24,000 people still in hiding
close to their old villages, and over 6,000 having already
fled to the Thai border. For those remaining, continual
attacks, patrols, and the close proximity of new
Burma Army camps has made returning to villages and
fields impossible. In some areas, such as Tantabin Township
of Toungoo District, every single villager is an IDP. People
are tucked into small valleys and stream beds, with baskets
packed, constantly prepared to flee
Burma Army attacks. Just today, the Burma Army
mortared and machinegunned a vally near Saw Wa Der where
IDPs are hiding. No one was hurt but many packed their
belongings and prepared to flee again
For survival, IDPs must ration their most recent harvest,
which for most families only lasts a few months, and rely on
the ability to hunt and gather vegetables, as well as the
small amount of food provided by relief organizations. The
difficulty of this life has forced thousands to flee the
area in hope of reaching refugee camps in
Thailand. In eastern Tantabin Township, between the
Mawchi and Busakee roads, there were over 4 thousand people,
mostly in their villages, just three years ago. Now there
are only 1,000 people, all in hiding.
In spite of this expansion of camps, roads and patrols
that shoot on sight, the displaced people here remain
steadfast in their hope for a better future and their
struggle for freedom against Burma's dictators. Everywhere
we go families greet us with smiles and laughter. People
thank us for coming to visit them and ask us to come again
as soon as possible. At the same time they ask us for help
and ask us to tell our friends around the world that they
need help. They have told us, "If the Burma Army is not
stopped, or we do not get help, when you come to Karen State
in the future, there will no longer be Karen people. Please
tell the rest of the world to help us." The dictators of
Burma have no interest in stopping the oppression of
the ethnic peoples or of relinquishing their power, and
until the dictators are stopped, no amount of food or
medical relief is enough to solve the human crisis now
existing in northern Karen State, Eastern
Burma. The people here need protection from the Burma
Army.
Thank you for all your care for these people, and God
bless you,
The Free Burma Rangers in Northern and Central Karen
State,
Burma.
January 29, 2008. (Photos and a map follow)
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| Map of Burma Army Camps and
attacks in Northern Karen State, Burma.30/1/08 |
Burma Army Kills One Villager and Injures Another in Yaw
Kee Area of Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District.
On 1 January,
Burma Army soldiers from LIB 704, under MOC 4, shot
and killed Saw Bo La Gyi, 53,(please see photo below), from
Yaw Kee* village in Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District,
eastern Karen State. At the same time the Burma Army shot
and wounded Saw Bo Wa, 32, also from Yaw Kee. Yaw Kee has
been attacked multiple times in the last several months, and
villagers have been living in hiding since their village was
mortared and burned down in October. Villagers remain in
hiding and, like Saw Bo La Gyi and Saw Bo Wah, live in
constant fear of attacks and patrols, particularly when
moving back to farms, gardens, and hide sites.
*Yaw Kee is sometimes spelled Yawchi
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| Saw Bo La Gyi, 53, from Yaw
Kee village, shot dead by the Burma Army on 1
January, 2008. |
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| Saw Bo Wah, 32, from Yaw
Kee village, shot and wounded by the Burma Army on 1
January, 2008. |
Photo Essay: Boy blinded by Burma Army landmine,
villagers home's burned, people in hiding, and relief teams
in Karen State's Toungoo District
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| Saw Hsa K'tray Saw,
receiving medical care shortly after being blinded.
(Nov. 2007) |
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| Man from Laykee village
shows the small crater left in the ground where the
landmine exploded, blinding Saw Hsa K'tray Saw.
(Jan. 2008) |
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| the charred remains of a
home in Laykee village, burned down by the Burma
Army in August, 2007. (Jan 22, 2008) |
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|
Burma Army soldier at a new camp only one and
a half hour walk from Laykee village.
Burma Army soldiers attacked Laykee village
from camps on their newly completed north-south
road. They have continued to attack villages and
build new camps like this one. (Jan 22, 2008) |
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| A new
Burma Army camp and section of the new road
from their camp at Busakee in the North, to their
camp at Ler Mu Plaw in the South. (Jan 22, 2008) |
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|
Burma Army troops from Div. 88 operating in
Toungoo Districts. (Jan. 2008) |
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| Family from Si Ka Der
village, close to Bukee village, hiding from
Burma Army attacks. (Jan 23. 2008) |
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| The ashes of a home in
Bukee village, Toungoo District, burned by the Burma
Army on December 5, 2007. (Photo Jan 24. 2008) |
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| body of a porter, forced to
carry loads and shot and killed by the Burma Army in
early December while they moved to attack Bukee
village. (Jan 26. 2007) |
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| villagers from Tha Eh Kee
village, hiding from the Burma Army. (Jan 26. 2008) |
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| providing medical treatment
to IDPs from Ha To Per. (Jan 27. 2008) |
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| Relief Team member
distributing clothing and Good Life Club materials
to children from Saw Wa Der and Ha To Per villages.
(Jan. 2008) |
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| children from the burned
village of Bukee, after receiving Good Life Club
jackets. (Jan. 2008) |
Attacks in central Karen State, Dooplaya District:
Burma Army kills villager and combines with DKBA to
destroy and extort villager property.
(Note: The Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army, DKBA are a proxy force of The Burma Army. This report
was sent directly from the field by the Dooplaya FBR team
now providing humanitarian assistance to people there.)
On 24 January, 2008 troops from
Burma Army IB 231 arrested and then killed Maung Ga
Shwey, the headman of Na Shwe Mo village. IB 231 is from MOC
12.
On 23 January, soldiers from DKBA battalions 907 and 999
captured two villagers from Mae Pla village in Kawkareik
Township. They then beat them and demanded that they become
DKBA soldiers or face two years in prison.
On 18 January, troops from
Burma Army IB 231 and DKBA battalion 999 forced 17
villagers from Ta Pru village in Kya Inn Township to carry
loads for them. The same day, they captured 3 women and 5
children from Ler Dwa village in Kya Inn Township. Their
current whereabouts have not yet been reported.
On 17 January,
Burma Army IB 231, LIB 545 and DKBA battalion 999
forced four villagers from Mae Pa Nya village, all of whom
own saw mills, to pay 100,000 Kyats and 10 tins of rice each
to their local battalion commanders. Soldiers then entered
the village and stole more than 100 kg of pork from the
villagers, as well as 300,000 Kyats from a villager named Ma
Hpa Nwa.
On 24 December, 2007, troops from
Burma Army LIB 407 entered Mae Naw Thaw and burned
down huts belonging to seven villagers. Also in December,
Burma Army soldiers and troops from DKBA battalion
907 burned down huts and property belonging to villagers
from Pa Htraw Der and Aw Kaw villages
| The Free Burma Ranger’s
(FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to
internally displaced people inside
Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR
reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the
humanitarian needs of people who are under the
oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical,
spiritual and educational resources for IDP
communities as they struggle to survive Burmese
military attacks.
For more information,
please visit
www.freeburmarangers.org |
