YE-TAVOY RAILWAY AREA: AN UPDATE

An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
July 31, 1995 / KHRG #95-26

The Ye-Tavoy railway route runs 110 miles north-south from Ye in southern Mon State to Tavoy in Tenasserim Division, running roughly parallel to the Andaman Sea coast of southern Burma. It is to be an extension of the existing rail line from Moulmein southward to Ye. Construction began in late 1993. SLORC troops were moved into the area, sent orders to villages and rounded up tens of thousands of Mon, Karen, Tavoyan and Burman villagers to do forced labour clearing the route and building the railway embankment, on 15-day rotating shifts under gruelling conditions. They had to bring their own food and were beaten for any lapse in work. Many died of illness, beatings, or landslides. The elderly, children as young as 10, and pregnant women were not excluded from the labour quotas. Details on the work in 1993-94 can be found in the KHRG report "The Ye-Tavoy Railway", 13/4/94, as well as reports by several other human rights groups.

TOPIC SUMMARY

Railway labour (Story #1,2,4-10,12,14,15), abuse of the elderly (#8,9,10,13), abuse of children (#1,4,6,8,10), abuse of women (#1,2,4,6,8,12), rape (#6,12,15), beatings on the railway (#1,2,4-6,8,12,15), other beatings (#1,3,4,5,10,13,15), deaths on the railway (#5,6,8,9,15), other deaths/ killings (#4,11,13,15), extortion (#1,2,6-9,12-14), looting (#1,2,3), land confiscation/ destruction (#1), forced labour for commercial logging (#3), convict labour (#5,15), political prisoners on the railway (#5), prison conditions (#5,15), porters (#1-4,9-11,13), testimony by SLORC soldiers (#4,11), abuse of soldiers (#4,11), natural gas pipeline (#9,13).

NAME: "Maung Kyi"            SEX: M             AGE: 32
FAMILY: Married a Karen Christian, then converted to Christianity
ADDRESS: Ye Bu village, Ye Bu Township         INTERVIEWED: 17/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Christian

I've been here [the refugee camp] more than 20 days now. We had to face so many difficulties because they always asked for free labour, that's why I'm here. They're building the railway so we have to send "volunteer" workers every day, we also have to pay many taxes and our families are very poor. We have to work every day just to eat on that day, that's why we can't pay their taxes anymore. Pay or not pay they don't care, you still have to work. When we go we have to take our own food, pay our own money for transport and everything. The problems for our families are all increasing, food, taxes, everything.

In our area we have a mobile column of SLORC. They demand tax from every village because they say they're providing security for the area. And when they rest in the village they say the village has to give them money for their food. They come very often, all the time, several times a week. When they're in the village, if you have to go to your farm or orchard they won't let you go. They don't allow us to go to our orchards, but they stay in the orchards and take all the fruit - betelnuts and all kinds of things. Some of them trade the fruit for alcohol, some sell it and when they get the money they make a big party for themselves. At the time to harvest the fruit they just go to the orchards, and they tell all the villagers "You're not allowed to come here because our troops are deployed here." No other reason. Then when they leave they take everything with them. When they come into the village they demand chickens, pigs, ducks, everything, and they just shoot them with slingshots. They don't care about the owner. When they want to abuse us, they accuse us of cooperating with the KNU. Then they beat us and kick us. We have so many difficulties. When they come they ask for people, but the people have such trouble getting a living so they aren't there, they are in the fields or orchards or in the stream to get fish. But the soldiers say if they're not there then they've gone to contact insurgent groups, and then when the person comes back the next day he receives beatings, blows and kicks from SLORC. This year at harvest time they beat 10 of us at once. They came and called us one by one to come to them, then they asked "Where did you go? Where did you stay?". One started beating and kicking, then the others all joined in. For 5 minutes, some hit us with the butts of their guns, some kicked us with their jungle boots and some punched us with their fists. People hit with the rifle butts suffered the worst. Their flesh was split. People hit with boots and fists were bruised and swelling up. This has happened several times. That time it was 409 Battalion, but 403 also comes to our village.

Our village has to go work on the railway, and in our area there is a mobile column so we also have to keep 3 people on standby for use by this Column. They have to cook, find firewood and carry water for the column. When we're on this duty they don't think of giving us time to rest. We have to carry water, then as soon as we get back they send us for firewood, then when we get back they look at their watch and say "Now it's time to cook." If we don't finish in time or get back from wherever they've sent us [as messengers] on time, then sometimes they beat us and punch us. We never get a rest, and we also have to take our own food for the day. Every time the Column comes into the village, if they ask for "50" then every house has to pay 50 Kyats. We have to pay it almost every week now. Moreover, we also have to pay labour fees. Some of the villagers can't go to do railway labour because they're ill, so if they say that will cost 3,000 then we have to pay 3,000 to the mobile column. Whenever they find young girls along their way they take them by force. I don't know what they do to them because I never saw it with my own eyes.

We have to give 3 people as standby porters, rotating every 5 days. We have to do this for both 409 Battalion and 403 Battalion. We have a village head and he gives us a list of who will go on standby for which days. Suppose a husband has to go work on the railway and it's his turn, then if he has a son his son will have to go as a standby porter; if not, his wife or daughters have to go.

At the railway, first we had to clear the forest - cut down the trees and dig out the stumps. Later we had to carry the stones that they brought on trucks and put them all along the route. The work is very hard. Then we had to carry logs [sleepers] to make the railway. We had to cut down trees near our village to make sleepers - they even made us cut down our durian trees to make sleepers. The railway is about 5 miles from our village. Our village has 60 houses so 20 people have to go, for one month at a time. It's arranged by the village head. We have to take our own food. We have to start at 6 a.m. and we can only stop at 6 p.m. At 12 noon we have time for lunch, but as soon as we finish our lunch they blow the whistle and we have to go back to our assigned places. The youngest people there are 8 or 9 years old, and the oldest are over 70, nearly 80. If you're sick when your time comes you have to send someone else from your house. If you can't, you have to hire someone to go in your place. There's no way out! You just have to find some way to go. I've been there 3 times myself. We built small shelters by a stream to sleep. We were always guarded. At night they wouldn't let anyone go anywhere, and in the daytime they always had sentries during working hours. Nobody tries to escape. If you try to escape, the next morning they send an order to the village head to pay a fine.

People are punished for not working well. The soldiers say, "You didn't come here to rest or to get ill. You came here to work. Get on with your work!" They beat and kick people. Some people have worked there a long time and they're old and tired, so they just try to rest for a minute, but the soldiers come yelling "You're not here to rest! Get on with your work!" and beat and kick them. This happens all the time. Even me, I've received their blows. Sometimes I was too tired so I tried to sit down and rest, so three or four times they came and punched and kicked me. Sometimes they hit very quick, pa-pa-pa-pa-pa! I don't know how many punches I got. Even if you can't work after that, you have to work. I saw some people seriously wounded from beatings by the soldiers, because they hit people on the head with rifle butts and their heads were cut open. When you go to the railway you have to take some medicine, because if you get sick they never give you any. If you're too sick to work anymore someone has to go work in your place. #403 Battalion is in charge of the work. There are about 4,000 villagers from our area working there in Ye Bu Township. Every village has to send people according to SLORC's demands.

We'll have to work on this railway until it's finished. I can't guess how long it will take. Eight or nine people's orchards in Ye Bu township have already been destroyed for the railway. Pati Saw Da Thay, K'Plah Wah, U Ya Yee, U Kalah, U Pe Thein, and Saw Pay Way from my village have lost all, their orchards completely destroyed. [Villagers often have fields a few miles from the village, as in this case.] They got nothing for it. Because of that some of them fled to the border, some went to stay with relatives in other villages. There used to be more than 80 houses in our village, now just over 30 are still left. Our village had Karen and Burmese, no other groups. I don't know where all of them have gone, but about 7 families have arrived here. Our family took 3 days to get here with our small children. Now we've decided to stay here in the camp.

NAME: "Nai Ba San"           SEX: M             AGE: 43
FAMILY: Married, 7 children aged 6-22
ADDRESS: Bauk Pin Gwin village, Ye Pyu Township           INTERVIEWED: 5/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farmer

I arrived here [the refugee camp] in February because of the oppression by the Burmese soldiers. I don't want to stay in Burma, so I came here with my family. First I worked on the railway, and then while I was working there the soldiers arrested me to be a porter. The soldiers came to our village and took the people to work on the railway. They took 20 people for 5 days, then they took another 20 people for the next 5 days. If a villager didn't want to go he had to pay money to the soldiers. They beat people who didn't go with sticks and guns, and if people didn't go, the soldiers arrested them and held them for 2 or 3 days, then when the villagers went and gave money they were released. The railway is very near our village, so we slept in our village while we worked there. We worked from 6 a.m. until 11, then we got a rest and then finished work at 3 p.m. We had to dig and carry the ground to make an embankment. We had to carry the dirt about 30 meters. We didn't receive food from the soldiers. I had to bring food and tools from my house. The soldiers didn't pay us either. LIB 410 was on the railway. There were 10 soldiers guarding 20 people. Sometimes they beat us. They always had a stick. I was beaten. While I was carrying dirt, the soldiers kicked me with their boots and I fell down. I was hurt. I also saw people punched, beaten with sticks and sometimes with rifle butts. I heard that some people died because of beatings, but I didn't see it. Some people got very sick, but they didn't get any medicine. They could go home and buy some medicine in their village. Then as soon as they were getting better, they were called to work again. When I was sick, the soldiers didn't say anything but they came and checked me every day, and when I was better they called me back to work on the railway.

They took both men and women. There were women working on the railway. They didn't take children, but they took old men and women. People all went with their children. Sometimes women with babies were allowed to come back to the village, but their husbands had to stay at the worksite the whole day. In our group, there were 20 people led by a Buddhist monk. We had to work for 5 days, then we could rest 2 days, then work for 5 days again. Then after 2 weeks they changed the workers.

In February while I was working on the railway, a soldier came and arrested me to be a porter. He said "Follow me!" They took 5 of us. I had to follow the soldiers through the villages for 10 days, carrying rice. Those soldiers were LIB #410 also. In the villages, when the soldiers stole chickens and pigs we had to carry those too. I carried continuously and it was heavy, over 20 viss [32 kg.]. The soldiers ate the chickens and only gave us a little bit. We didn't get good food. I got sick with malaria. They said to me "You are lazy!", and beat me. They kicked me with their boots. I saw them hit other porters on the neck with sticks. They shot them in the back, shoulders, and legs with slingshots, and beat their legs with sticks. Some porters were badly hurt, but later they could walk again. After 10 days I came back to my village. They called 5 more people to go as porters, and they called me to work on the railway again. I didn't go. The soldiers arrested me and took me to their camp. They accused me of being a Mon soldier. They wanted money from me. I was there for 3 days. Then my daughter and my wife had to sell their earrings to get money, and my wife gave the soldiers 1,500 Kyat so they released me. Then I fled and came here. This place is better than my village - there are no Burmese soldiers here. In my village there are always Burmese soldiers, so I couldn't stay.

Last year it was worse, but this year is still not good - last year the villagers had to work 10 days without rest, then they changed the people. This year we work for 5 days, then get 2 days to rest, then 5 days more, then they change the people. Last year I had to work about 7 weeks on the railway. I also had to pay taxes on my farm, 4 baskets of rice per acre. SLORC gets everything for free from the villagers, and whenever they want money the villagers have to pay. I don't think this railway is good. I don't agree with it. By the time it's finished, the soldiers will have taken everything from the villagers for themselves. I don't agree at all.

NAME: "Nai Lon"             SEX: M              AGE: 33
FAMILY: Married, 4 children aged 3-12
ADDRESS: Bauk Pin Gwin village, Ye Pyu Township          INTERVIEWED: 4/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farmer

I came here [the refugee camp] 2 months ago because of the Burmese troops. I had to be a porter and I had to work on the railway, and if I didn't want to go when they called me I had to give them money. Our village has 400 houses. Some people had to work on the railway line, some had to cut wood, and some had to be porters. Last year I worked on the railway for one month After each 10 days' work, I had 2 days' rest and I could sleep at home. Since then I had to work for one whole year cutting wood for them. I had to work all the time, every day. I had no time to work for my family, so we didn't have anything to eat anymore. That's why we came here.

I worked for one month, then I could take only 2 days' rest and then they called me again to cut the wood. It was expensive hardwood. We were ordered to cut ironwood, all hardwoods, all wood with an expensive price. I don't know all the names in Burmese. Sometimes they [the soldiers] used it to build their houses and sometimes they sold it. We had to cut the wood into planks. After we finished cutting it, the soldiers took it away on carts. I don't know where they took it. There were 6 people in each group cutting wood. There were many groups. Some people had to cut the trees down, and others had to cut the planks. I saw 60 people working in the same area. Sometimes it was near the railway, sometimes far. We had to do it for #404 Battalion. They have moved now. They didn't give us anything, no salary. When I couldn't go to work, I had to give them money. I had to give 200 Kyats per day. Every evening, all the workers had to go to the soldiers' camp and they told us what we had to do the next day and how. If we were cutting trees near our village we could go sleep at home, but sometimes it was far from the village and we had to sleep under the trees. I had to bring rice, fishpaste and salt from my house.

Once while I was cutting the wood, some other soldiers [from IB #104] came and took me as a porter. I was a porter for 20 days, carrying their food, their rice, their walkie-talkies, etc. We went many places in the jungle. In villages they took everything they could - chickens, pigs, etc. When they disliked a villager, they beat him with a stick. When they met people outside the villages they arrested them to get more porters. Sometimes they beat them with a stick, so hard that they had to be carried to hospital. After my time as a porter I had to go right back to cutting wood for them - no rest.

Once when I was sick I couldn't go to work, so the Burmese soldiers arrested me, accused me of being a Mon soldier and put me in jail. They beat me at my house and tied me up, then they took me outside the village and hit me again, with sticks and guns. They hit me on the head. Ever since the beatings, my brain has not been well, even now. They hit me many, many times on the head and on the neck with a G3 rifle butt. They also hit me in the stomach, and they hit my legs with my own knife while I was tied up. I wasn't bleeding, but it hurt a lot. After the beatings they held me at their camp for 2 days and 3 nights. Each night they beat me some more and asked questions. They asked "Are you a Mon soldier?" Then they said "You have a gun in your house, so you are a Mon soldier!" I have a hunting-gun, but I have a licence for it. I am just a villager. But they also accused me of having a walkie-talkie. Then on the third day my family gave them 15,000 Kyat and the soldiers released me.

I went back home but my brain was not well. I felt like a madman. I treated myself with jungle medicine, then after about one month I felt better. Then I came here. I walked 4 days from my village to arrive here with my family.

NAME: "Ko Kyaw Thein"             SEX: M             AGE: 20
FAMILY: Single, 6 brothers and sisters, both parents dead
ADDRESS: Insein Town (just outside Rangoon)           INTERVIEWED: 3/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist

I was in the Army for 3 years. I was a Private. I got 650 Kyats per month. Soon I was to receive 700 Kyats. My only education was at the monastery school as a novice. My parents died before I joined the Army. When they died I stayed with my grandparents. They were farmers. I was very sad and depressed after my parents died, so I ran away from home [apparently in 1991 at age 16, though he's not sure] and I met my friend from the Army at Insein railway station. He advised me. He said many good things about the Army, and that I would get a gun and a uniform. He told me many stories about the soldier's life, and it was all very exciting. He took me to Battalion 16 at Kyo Gone in Rangoon. I had to wait 2 or 3 months until they had enough recruits to start the training. The training was 4½ months, and altogether there were 251 of us. We learned close fighting, small arms use, and we had demonstrations of heavy artillery. At first they tortured us, and then it got lighter. I couldn't sleep well. But the training was only part of it - we also had to do labour at a rubber plantation. The owner gave money for our work but we didn't receive it. They [the officers] took it all. If we were late or couldn't report for work, we were beaten, usually about 20 or 30 times on the hips with a stick. Sometimes the Sergeant beat us himself, sometimes he asked the commander to do it.

After the training I was posted at #409 Light Infantry Battalion at Ala Chaung in Ye Pyu township. When I arrived there, they gave us a refresher course on small arms. I was at the camp for 3 months, and we had to do hard work like building barracks. After that we had to go to the frontline two or three times. There were two big battles, one at Nat Ein Taung and one at Kawza near Bauk Pin Gwin, against combined groups of Mon, Tavoyan, and Burmese Student soldiers.

In the camp we had sentry and patrol duty, duty to build roads and bridges, and my group had the duty to collect porters for the Army. We had to collect porters in the villages, but also those on their way to work or in the jungle. The officer ordered us to collect every man we met, so we did. We only collected men, no women. We had to fill a quota of porters, so we often had to collect old men over 40 to get the number we needed. If they didn't want to go we beat them. If we didn't bring back enough porters our officers would beat us, so even though we didn't want to beat the porters we had to do it. Usually there were 8 or 9 of us and we had to collect 20 or 30 porters whenever the Army needed them, which was very often. I was in the group to collect the porters, it was other soldiers who had to make them work. The porters are forced to do very hard work in the camp and on the roads, road construction work. We had to force the villagers to work. Almost all the villagers were Mon.

Yes, we collected workers for the Ye-Tavoy railway. If we didn't bring enough workers, our officers beat us. They kicked us and ordered us to collect not only one person in each family, and not only men but also women, the youngsters and the elderly for the railway. That was last year, in the rainy season [June-October 1994], near Bauk Pin Gwin village. Those people had to work under the heavy rain to dig and carry the ground to make the embankment. When the weather was dry, they smoothed the embankment and repaired it. They had to clear and cut trees and bamboo, so they were very tired. Sometimes workers were bitten by snakes, and others hurt their hands and legs. But there was no medical treatment for them. They were just allowed to go home, and then they could go to hospital so they didn't die. One third of them were women. We didn't collect children, but the children couldn't stay at home alone so they had to come along. The workers couldn't go home, so they built shelters for themselves near the work site. They had to work there 2 or 3 months. They were replaced by people from other villages. They rotated. First one village, then another, and after all the villages in an area had been taken then we started with the first again. My duty was only collecting workers. Guarding them was the duty of other soldiers. I was staying in a camp near Kyauk Ka Din. For the villages far from the railway line, they sent orders to the headmen to send workers. For the nearby villages, we had to collect the villagers ourselves. Very often, I beat and punched people if they didn't want to go. Sometimes I kicked them with my boots, sometimes I punched. I ran away at the end of rainy season, but after that workers were still collected. They will be collected until the railway is finished.

Every day every meal we got bean soup and fishpaste. There was enough rice, but bean soup and fishpaste were scarce [the Battalion receives much better rations than this, but they are generally horded or sold by the officers and NCOs]. On Sundays we could get passes to go visit other places, but the officer never gave us leave. In 3 years I never saw my family. I contacted them by letter, so they knew where I was. The officers didn't let us listen to the radio. If anyone bought a radio, they would seize it and pay back the cost. From our salary they deducted money for uniforms, boots, hats, belts, etc. So sometimes I only received 15 Kyats per month, or even 5 Kyats. They deducted so many things, I didn't even understand what some of them were! The junior soldiers had to do everything for the senior soldiers. If we refused, we were punched. Sometimes I got punched, and sometimes beaten with a stick. Sometimes after being beaten a soldier had a broken nose, a black eye or broken teeth. Sometimes we were punched in the ribs and we couldn't walk for 2 or 3 days. The soldiers also beat the villagers severely every time they didn't do their work properly.

At the frontline, if soldiers were seriously wounded and there was no chance to send them back then they were shot dead. The other soldiers carried his gun and equipment back. Each section [6-10 soldiers] had one or two porters, and Artillery sections had many. Sometimes during fighting we were worried for the porters because they were in the wrong position, so we called them - but usually they wouldn't come because they were afraid of the fighting, and then some soldiers punched them and beat them with rifle butts. Some porters were even beaten to death. I saw this, and I did this. Once I told a porter to stay with me, but he disobeyed and ran away. So I beat him with my rifle butt and ordered him to stay beside me. I beat him on his shoulder. It was not serious. He was about 23 years old.

The officers always gave a lot of heavy duties and they usually punched and beat us. I didn't want to collect porters anymore or workers for the railway. The officers didn't even give them rice, oil and salt, and they got no medical treatment and no money. For example, the labourers hurt their legs, their hands and their heads from digging the ground, but they were not treated. They received nothing. So we felt pity on them and we didn't want to collect them. Sometimes we discussed it. Then we decided to run away. There were 3 of us. Then at the Battalion base, more joined in the discussion. Sergeant xxxx said that he was going to join a revolutionary group, and we agreed with him. Altogether 6 of us ran away, but two were captured. Four of us arrived here. It was very difficult. We escaped very secretly and we chose a secret route, but we had nothing to eat on the way except raw banana-stems. We surrendered in a Mon village, the villagers sent us to the Tavoy district office and then we were sent here. We got information that one of our two friends who got caught was shot dead, and the other was put in jail. At first when we ran away we were very afraid to meet the Mon soldiers, because our officers had threatened us. They said "If you try to run away you will meet the Mon soldiers and they will kill you all slowly with a bamboo string. The surrounding villages are all full of Mon soldiers." We escaped from our camp at the end of the rainy season last year [about September-October 1994]. I despised collecting porters. It is very inhumane. I hated that. But I was ordered to do it by the officers. My commander was Colonel Kyaw Zan Hla. He is Arakanese. My company commander was Captain Han Myaung. I was in Company #1. Now while I am here I have no worry, I will stay here and serve the PDF [People's Democratic Front, a small armed opposition group]. I am a soldier here, but my duty here is just sentry duty. I want to fight them.

NAME: "Nai Win Hlaing"          SEX: M             AGE: 20
FAMILY: Single
ADDRESS: xxxx island, Tenasserim Division               INTERVIEWED: 1/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farmer

Before the railway, I was in Moulmein Jail as a prisoner. I don't remember the exact date I went in, but I spent one year and 6 days in the jail. I was a Mon soldier. I was arrested by the police, in my family's house in my village on xxxx island. I was visiting my family. While I was eating, they arrived and arrested me. When we reached the police station they beat me. They made a fire around me and burned me, then they filled a plastic bag with water, put my head in it and tied it around my neck. They beat me with an iron bar everywhere except on my head, especially on my back. They beat me every night for 3 days. At night time, they always came and beat me. One time, for 3 hours! There were many policemen. Then I confessed that I was a Mon soldier and they stopped their beatings. They put me in the lockup. They made me sign some papers and forms, then they took me to court. I was sentenced to 4 years jail and they sent me to Moulmein prison. I was sentenced under Article 17/1 [association with illegal or opposition organizations]. I had a lawyer who said alot to defend me but the judge didn't listen to him. The judge said "This case is a serious case", then he sentenced me to 4 years. He was not from the military.

In the jail I was put in a big room with about 100 prisoners. We got one plate of rice for one meal. If we said it wasn't enough, they shouted "Go and die!" We slept at 9 p.m. on the concrete floor, with no pillow. Nobody could stand up except for the toilet, and then you had to shout for permission. We were allowed 7 bowlfuls of water to bathe for each prisoner, with no soap. There were a few political prisoners, but mostly criminals. They mixed us together. We all wore white prison clothes - white shirt and white longyi. We had to work in the morning and afternoon, making pathways inside the jail, making baskets and growing vegetables. They also sent some prisoners to work in Mandalay. The guards beat the prisoners, especially for fighting. Also, as soon as new prisoners came the guards ordered other prisoners to beat them, then the next day no more beatings.

They took me to the [Ye-Tavoy] railway before the end of last rainy season - maybe September [1994]. They took 250 of us by train. We were kept separate from the passengers, with chains on our legs, and they locked the carriage. We were sent to Ko-Mile [9-mile] labour camp. When we arrived, we were the only ones there. They made us dig the ground and prepare it for the railroad. The trees were already cut down but the railroad [embankment] was badly damaged, so we had to rebuild it. We were not with any villagers. We worked in chains. We wore them the whole day and night. It was not possible to take them off. They were attached to our waist. We had to walk slowly. [They are heavy metal leg shackles which lock around each ankle, with a short chain between, and are also attached to a metal ring encircling the waist - worn constantly, they cause fatigue and friction sores.] I have scars from the chains. We had to start work at 7 a.m. after having breakfast, boiled rice. From 11 to 12 we got a break for lunch, then we worked until 4 p.m. We got no water except at lunchtime. Every lunch we got beans with rice, and vegetables in the evening, but it was not good. In the evening we could rest. We were allowed to go to the toilet, but only in front of the guards. There was a latrine. For cooking the guards selected 5 prisoners, and they didn't work on the railway, they just did the cooking.

We worked every day, except one day a week when we had to clean the camp compound. Sick prisoners could rest but I never got sick. There were about 5 guards: 2 soldiers and 3 policemen. All the prisoners were from Moulmein Jail. There were about 10 political prisoners like me among the 250, but there were a lot more in Moulmein Jail. These 10 had all belonged to revolution groups and were sentenced to 3 or 4 years. They were all Mons. Other types of political prisoners [he means those who speak or write things against SLORC] have been heavily sentenced for many years, so they are not allowed to go outside the jail [prisoners with heavy sentences are not generally allowed to go outside for forced labour, for fear they might escape]. The prisoners at the railway were all 20 to about 30 years old. The guards didn't beat us, they ordered the prisoner-in-charge to do it. He had no chains. He beat us a lot, but he had no choice. If he didn't beat us, the guards would beat him. I was beaten a lot, on the body with a cane stick. Five blows at a time, then stop, then again 5 blows, almost every day. Whenever anyone did anything wrong, everyone was beaten. Sometimes the prisoner-in-charge was also beaten, by the guards. Some prisoners were beaten very severely so they were allowed to rest the next day, but then soon afterwards they died. Five prisoners died on the way to the camp from beatings. Three died at the camp of sickness. Even prisoners who got sick, if they could move they had to work. If they couldn't move, they were allowed to rest.Prisoners who got sick were treated, but I don't know what medicine they gave them. All the prisoners who got sick died. Nobody survived. The doctor gave them the medicine. There was a doctor in the clinic in the village nearby- but not a very good one! Most of the sick died on the way to Ye hospital, and they brought them back to the camp.

Two men tried to escape, but the guards saw them and chased them. One was captured in the forest, and the other reached a village but the Karen villagers sent him back. The guards ordered the men to lie down and then made 5 prisoners walk on their bodies. Then they took them to their office and put them in the stocks [mediaeval-style leg stocks of wood or bamboo], and beat them everywhere, including the head. When they were done, both of them had broken arms and were unconscious, but they didn't die. Then they were left there in the sun for more than a month. Each night, they were moved and slept with the other prisoners. They didn't receive any treatment, even for the broken arms. They just put some leaves on the places where their heads were bleeding. They were about 30 years old. They were not political prisoners. At night, the guards ordered us to sleep close beside those two [to prevent another escape attempt]. There were more than 100 prisoners sleeping in a building the size of this rice storehouse, with 2 windows. There was a guard inside and guards outside, and there were 3 fences of sharpened bamboo sticks and one barbed wire fence.

On a Sunday [their day off railway work] while we were working in the vegetable garden, the guards took 9 of us to carry water. It was just after lunchtime, and the police guards were drinking alcohol. We were outside the camp. The guards told us not to run and we said "Yes". Then they said we could eat the layer of rice crust from the bottom of the pots, so I went to get it. The kitchen was also outside the fences. I saw that the guards there were sleeping. The prisoner-cook asked me "What are you looking for?" I said "I want to pick some jackfruit for the meal". He said "Good - go and get them." The guards were all sleeping or drinking. A guard told me to take off my slippers and shirt, so I did and laid them down [as a guarantee to prevent escape]. Then I went into the jungle and ran away. Just 13 days before that, the order had come from Rangoon to remove our chains because it was too difficult to work in them. So I had no chains. A lot of people were trying to escape at that time. I heard that 2 others tried to escape that day after me, but they were recaptured. I knew the way, and I arrived at xxxx village. That was 3 months ago now. I'm not sure what I will do now. Maybe I'll go and report to my regiment again, but I'm not sure.

NAME: "Mi Ong Son"                 SEX: F             AGE: 23
FAMILY: Married, 1 child aged 2 years
ADDRESS: Mock Ka Nin village, Ye Township              INTERVIEWED: 19/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farm labourer

We arrived here [the refugee camp] two weeks ago because we couldn't stand the SLORC's oppression any more. Both I and my husband had to work on the railway. When my husband was working on the railway he became ill and he couldn't work, so I had to go in his place. I went once but my husband went 3 times. Altogether we had to work 2 months. I was working there in February. I had to carry rocks and dirt on my head in pans. I had to carry it about 50 yards, up to the top of the embankment. I carried my son [2 years old] on my back. The men broke the rocks. At first there were only men. But many men got sick because of the hard work, so they had to ask their wives to help. Every woman had to go if her husband couldn't go or was sick. Some girls I saw there were only 6 to 10 years old [most likely the 6-year-olds had come along with their parents], and there were women about 60 years old. Some women were pregnant, and some even delivered babies there because they weren't allowed to go home until their work was finished. The children also had to carry the dirt, but a little less.

There are about 2,000 houses in my village. It is a big village. Fifty families each had to send someone at each rotation [2 weeks] over a period of 3 months. The headman collected the people. I had to take the train to Ye [her village is north of Ye], then the car and then by foot to the worksite. The train journey was about 4 hours, then 2 hours by car and 24 hours walking. The train and the car were free. At the railway each family was assigned about 50 yards [of embankment to build]. It had to be about 2 times the height of this house [i.e. about 8 m.]. They gathered three or four families to work together. They could only go home when it was finished. Then after that they had to go work at another place. They can rest at home for about 10 days, then they have to go to another place.

We got no salary or food. Every month or every 2 weeks, our families sent food for us. We had to make shelters to sleep in. If we didn't make one we'd have to sleep on the ground. We had to use our own tools. The soldiers were spread along the railway, guarding. My husband was beaten. They hit him in the back with the wooden part of the gun. They beat him because he was ill. They don't allow people to rest. They order them to work all the time. Everyone who is sick is beaten. One woman and one man died. The soldiers beat them because they were sick and they couldn't work. The woman was about 60 years old. The sick got no medicine. They had to buy it themselves. They weren't allowed to go home. The soldiers teased the women, especially the young girls. One girl was raped. She was 24 years old, from Gom Sai village. She died. They killed her. I don't know her name. That happened while I was working there. There were also about a hundred prisoners from Moulmein. They were in chains. They broke rocks and carried rocks.

Lots of people tried to escape. If they were caught, they were beaten. I ran away when I ran out of food, while we were working. I was tired and hungry and I went into the forest near the railway. The soldiers caught me and forced me to work again. Later, I escaped back to my village and met my husband who was sick, and we fled together. We left our house and came here. [She came together with her sister, 22, who was also forced to work on the railway.]

As a farm worker I made 50 Kyats per day. If you can't go work on the railway, you have to pay 500 Kyats per day. I don't see any benefit to this railway.

NAME: "Ko Hla Shwe"              SEX: M             AGE: 33
FAMILY: Married, 3 children aged 16 months, 3 and 14 years
ADDRESS: Sin Swe village, Ye Pyu Township            INTERVIEWED: 1/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

I served as village headman for 2 years. The villagers chose me to be headman. But now I have run away from my village. I arrived here [the refugee camp] about 20 days ago. I am going to tell you why. They demanded a lot of things from villages in our Min Tha village group, so we couldn't pay anymore. We asked them to reduce it but they refused. I felt a lot of pity for my villagers. They demanded money for porter fees and forced labour fees. In short, we are now paying money to buy their longyis [sarongs] for them. For our own families there is very little. People in our village group have to work a lot for them. There are 6 villages in Min Tha village group - Min Tha is the biggest. So our orders come from Min Tha camp [LIB 406], and we must always follow the orders. They demand 20 people for labour. This is for railway construction. Our village has about 30 houses. Excluding the elderly and the very poor, there are about 20 houses. So each of these 20 houses has to send one person for forced labour. If you cannot go, you have to pay 2,500 Kyat for each week missed. This is not just one day's work. [The labour is rotating, so each house has to supply one person constantly.] So we have no way to eat, no way to make money, but still we must go for their labour. It is very difficult.

When people had no money they borrowed from others. But we couldn't borrow any longer. We had no more gold. We could only give our clothes to the soldiers as a deposit, or our pots. Some people sold their pots. The soldiers said "If you can't give labour, give money. If you can't give money, find a way. You must solve it by yourself, but you must give the money." If not, they arrest us. They sent many [order] letters. Every week. One month we received a demand for our village to give 135,000 Kyat. I can't remember all the smaller demands. Each year, we had to give them 155,000 Kyat which was only for their camp food supply and construction costs, not counting the money for them. The headmen of all 6 villages get these orders through the village group.

The railway is 3 or 4 miles from the village. We had to send 15 people each week. Our village had 30 houses, so one week we sent people from 15 houses, then the next week from the other 15. When the rains came heavily, they stopped. When the sun came back, they started again. We have been gathering people for the railway over the last 2 years. Last year they demanded 10 labourers, but this year 15. But the money is the same. If we can't send a man, we have to pay 2,500 Kyat per week, the same as before. The places we have to work are close to 7-mile, 8-mile, and 9-mile villages. We had to dig and carry ground. Now the labourers sleep in huts, about as big as the rice storehouse here [20 feet by 40 feet]. There are more than 10 of them. They are quite close together, and at most 100 labourers sleep in each one. We worked, but usually the next day the rain destroyed all our work.

Now nobody lives in Sin Swe anymore - maybe only one or two households are still living there. We couldn't face their demands, which have been continuous for the last 5 years. They don't care about us. Wherever they go, their only duty is to make demands. We couldn't give anymore, so we moved. Even after families left, their demands remained the same. Then when we couldn't give, they would arrest us and punish us. And the families left one by one. Most people destroyed their houses themselves, and gave the materials to others. Otherwise, if nobody is left in a house the soldiers destroy it. For the future, I think it will be no better for us. Month after month, they just make more and more demands. If the situation improves, I will go back. For now, staying here we get enough to survive. Ten families from my village are already here [in the refugee camp].

NAME: "Nai Win Maung"                   SEX: M             AGE: 58
FAMILY: Married, 3 children but all died from illness more than 10 years ago
ADDRESS: Du Ree village, Ye Township              INTERVIEWED: 19/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farm labourer

I came here because I couldn't stay there. I couldn't stand their torture, and I couldn't pay all the porter fees and taxes for the railway. I came with my wife, about 20 days ago. I had to work on the railway in October, November, and also December [1994]. For 2½ months. I was breaking rocks and ground and carrying them, and levelling the way [embankment]. I worked from 7 a.m. till 11 a.m., then from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. After that, rest. We had to pile the dirt, 20 armspans [about 100 feet] long and as high as this house. There were 24 of us. It took us 2½ months, then we could go home. I brought food from my village, and sometimes I had to buy some. Some tools were given by the soldiers and some, like baskets, we had to bring ourselves. We slept along the railway, under a shelter made with leaves. We had to build the shelters ourselves. But we moved after we finished each section, and then we had to build another shelter. There were about 10,000 people working on the railway in that area.

The soldiers are spread along the railway. They always guarded us in groups of 15 to 30 soldiers. It is difficult to escape. They keep rotating. They came and checked us twice a day. I was not beaten because I worked all the time, but I saw other people beaten up. Some people got sick and couldn't work, so they were beaten. I saw a man from Kot Dot village who was badly beaten. After they kicked him he couldn't work, but he was forced to work. He was hurt internally. He was about 20 years old. Some women had husbands who had gone to Thailand [to find work], so they were alone with their children and they had to go work on the railway. The youngest children were about 13 or 14 years old. The oldest were over 60. A lot of people got sick. Some died. They were sick, and they had no food, no supplies, no medicine. If we needed medicine we had to get it from our friends. The SLORC troops had medicine for themselves, not for us. They said "If you can't work, no problem. You stay here until your duty is finished either way." Then the sick people have to stay a longer time to finish their assignment. There were pregnant women there, but they didn't have to work as hard. I heard some delivered babies there, but that was at other places. I didn't see. When they were digging the mountainside, some people were killed because of a landslide, and one man from Ye broke his back.

Some people escaped. They fled because they knew that they could never finish their job, so they were certain they would be beaten. After they escaped the soldiers made trouble for their village headman and their family. So people were afraid to flee because they have their belongings and their farms in their village. Since last year #343 Battalion as well as 2 or 3 other Battalions have come to our area. Mostly it is #343 Battalion that supervises the railway labour. Sometimes they change the troops.

After I finished my work on the railway [after December 1994] I worked in my village. But we had to pay so many taxes, and I couldn't. Here if I need to go to the hospital I don't have to pay, and I receive rice. It is better than in the SLORC-controlled area.

NAME: "Nai Tin Shwe"               SEX: M             AGE: 64
FAMILY: Married, "I had 12 children, 6 are still alive but only 4 stay with me (age 14-33)"
ADDRESS: Tamin Seik village, near Ye            INTERVIEWED: 19/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farm labourer

I arrived here [the refugee camp] three weeks ago. I had to work on the railway for two months this year, and I had to pay for railway sleepers. We had to pay 200 Kyats every month for other things as well. We had to pay all the time. The headman said, "If you can't pay, you can't stay here. We will take your house. You can go and stay wherever you want where you don't have to pay." That's why I came here, because I couldn't pay the money for the sleepers and other things so he said I couldn't stay in the village. If someone can pay he can stay in his house, but I couldn't so I had to leave. I had nothing to bring - no blankets, no mosquito nets. I came with nothing. I came over 20 days ago. My daughter came with me, and her husband also had to work on the railway. He couldn't get any money to live. My son came, and he is 14 years old. I am 64 years old and I had to work on the railway for two months. I had to go and work at Mitaw Lah Gyi, Mitaw Lah Lay, and Bauk Pin Gwin. These places are close to Tavoy! [i.e. far from his village; the villages mentioned are not all close to Tavoy, but villagers around his area use the expression "close to Tavoy!" to mean any place which is very far away.]

I worked from November until January - more than two months. The worksite was so far away, I couldn't work the whole time until May. I couldn't carry. We had to carry dirt up to a height of 27 feet from the hole [to build the embankment]. It was too hard for an old man like me. They forced the prisoners to do it too. We couldn't dig the ground [the ground can be rock hard in dry season]. They made explosions with dynamite and then we had to carry up the dirt. We had to work for the government, but with our own food. They sold one bowl [about 2.5 kg, uncooked] of old and bad rice for 15 Kyats. We didn't receive any money from the government. They didn't beat me because I am old, but some young people were beaten very often. There were many old people, some even older than me. There were also some women my age. They collected anyone who could carry a basket of dirt. Even widows had to go work. Some people who couldn't go were forced to pay money to them, about 1,500 Kyats per household. So many difficulties. Some labourers were sick with malaria and died on the worksite. Last year at our worksite, four people were buried together in the same hole because the ground collapsed on Kyaik Mei Ma Lok mountain. Last year I also had to work hard. Normally we had to work for 15 days each time. But this year we had to work for two months continuously.

Then in February and after, they restarted the work and they took labourers again. But after 15 days, the people fled back to the village because there was fighting. All the worksites had to stop. The fighting was with Karen or Mon soldiers, I'm not sure. Maybe Mons. I didn't have to go that time. Then after that, I came to the border. Just before I left the village, every household had to pay 200 Kyats per month. About 200 prisoners were still working at the worksite, and the money was to buy food for them. If I'd stayed there I would have faced so many difficulties. I had to pay so many fees like porter fees, construction fees, ... I am an old man, so I can't earn alot. I had nothing to eat. That's why I had to leave. I lost my way during the trip. Some people guided me here.

Before it was worse because so many people had to go and work. This time they had troubles and they stopped. They already stopped, and I heard they won't work this year. They will probably start again at the beginning of next dry season. I'm very happy that they closed the worksite this year. Otherwise we would be almost dead. It was really lucky that fighting started just after they started the work. They [the Mon or Karen soldiers] came and opened fire for 3 or 4 nights, everyone fled and the worksite closed down. But now they [SLORC] ask for money. Even if we work very hard we can't afford to pay. We don't even earn enough to eat. They took so many people as porters, even the elderly. People were released only after bribing them with 10,000 Kyat. They take everything we earn. There is no reason to stay there any longer.

More than 10,000 people were taken as porters to Bo Mya's area [far away for SLORC's offensives in the Manerplaw and Salween areas]. They took about 20 from my village, and more than 500 in our Ye Township. Some were captured while they were working at their farms. When I left the village, I still hadn't seen any of them come back yet. I think they are still in the jungle in Bo Mya's area. They even took the civil servants, like schoolteachers. They arrested old men, and then their sons had to go in their place. Old or not, they don't care. They take everyone and force them to carry according to their strength. If someone can carry shells, he has to carry shells. If he can't carry shells, he has to carry rice. So many porters have died, but I didn't see it myself. The living conditions are very bad. We are never in peace.

Now I have heard that they will build a new railway in the dry season at Nat Ein Taung [this is the gas pipeline route - it will not be a railway, but clearing for the pipeline. SLORC may try to cover up forced labour for the pipeline by pretending they are building a road or railway]. We will have to go and work there also. It is a 5-year project. If we have to go and work there, we will not be paid. We will have to buy our own food and go for 15 days each time. The headman told us they will build this new railway. He learned it from the higher ranking officers. There is a government order that the villagers will have to work on that new railway. It comes from their office. They will start clearing in the dry season [November-May]. For this, they will use bulldozers. These machines can clear everything, even the clumps of bamboo, everything! They can pull down big trees and take away clumps of bamboo very easily. [Nai Tin Shwe had clearly only seen a bulldozer once or twice before, possibly on television]. After that, the people will have to dig the ground and build the embankment. To get to Nat Ein Taung is very far, 4 days' walk. That is for a young man - older men like me will need more time. I heard that after finishing the [Nat Ein Taung] railway, they will start the pipeline. The ones who will build the pipeline are foreigners, because the Burmese can't do it themselves. The foreigners will tell them what to do and the Burmese will do the work. Last year [Nov/94-Jan/95] there were so many foreigners at "14-mile", one day's walk from Ye [south of Ye, north of the pipeline route]. They slept at the army camp. Whenever they went out for measuring or surveying, they were escorted by many soldiers from 343, 62, and other Battalions, as well as soldiers from Tavoy. They were using something like a telescope and tapes to measure. Only they can use these - the Burmese can't do anything by themselves. At "14-mile" there is a small airstrip, and nearby they built a microwave tower, same as the one in Thanbyuzayat. They made a temporary one. I think they will build a very big one. Maybe it is a receiver to contact all over Burma.

NAME: "Maung Aung Htay"              SEX: M             AGE: 20
FAMILY: Single, parents alive and 5 brothers and sisters
ADDRESS: Pyu Pat, Paung Twp. (between Martaban & Thaton)              INTERVIEWED: 4/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

I was working in Kyauk Ka Din village as a caretaker on a rubber and betelnut plantation, and then the headman collected workers and I was taken to work on the railway for the SLORC Army. The whole village had to go - women and men, the whole village. They collected all the adults, then the children couldn't stay at home alone so they went along with their parents. That was 5 months ago [in January]. We had to walk 2 hours to the worksite, carrying our own rice and other belongings.

Each person had to dig the ground into holes 10 square feet by one foot deep, dig 4½ holes like that and carry the dirt. So if my family had 4 people, we would have to do this work 4 times - so 2 people would dig the ground, and the other 2 would carry it up and pile it on the railway [embankment]. It took nearly one month. We got no food and no salary, and we had to bring our own tools. People who didn't want to do this work had to pay 300 Kyat for each hole 10 square feet by 1 foot deep. We worked 8 hours a day. We got up early and started. At 10 a.m. we had a break until 2 p.m. Then we had to work again until sunset, about 6 p.m. They didn't allow us to leave until all the work was completed. Soldiers were guarding us during the work. There were very many workers, and about 10 or 15 soldiers from #403 Battalion guarding us. If a villager took too long a rest, they forced him to get back to work. I didn't see anyone being beaten, but people got sick. The soldiers didn't give any medicine. I saw some people seriously ill, but I didn't see anyone dying. They let those people go home, but they had to hire other people to come and replace them if their work wasn't finished. At night we slept in our own shelters. We had to build our own shelters at the worksite, or else sleep on the ground. The children stayed in the shelters while their parents were working. No one looked after them. The youngest worker was about 10 years old, and the oldest about 60. The place was near Yah Pu village. The area had already been cleared.

I was there about one month. Then after 3 or 4 months back in the village they called me as a porter. The Army #409 Battalion ordered 2 or 3 porters from every village, and the headman ordered me. I had to go with the Army to the nearby villages, carrying pots and other cooking equipment. I had to work the whole day. The duty was for one month, then other villagers came to replace us. We ate the same food as the soldiers, like rice, beans and fishpaste. If porters couldn't carry they were beaten up. I didn't see it in my column, but I saw it happening in other columns. Some old people who couldn't carry their burdens were punched and kicked by the soldiers. It was very painful. I saw one who couldn't walk because of the beating, and they abandoned him. Nobody took care of him. I didn't see if he died. Some of the ones who couldn't carry anymore decided to run away. Those who were caught were beaten very severely, but most of them were never caught.

After a month as a porter I stayed only one month in the village, and then they called me again for the second time to go for #104 Battalion. The second time I was a porter for only 2 days, then I ran away. Three of us ran away from the camp at about 10 o'clock at night - me, another porter, and this SLORC soldier here [he arrived together with deserter "Ko Ko Maung" - see testimony in this report]. We had planned our escape together. The soldiers chased us but they couldn't find us, so we escaped. The next morning we reached a village and met Mon troops in a betelnut plantation. We explained our situation to them and they took us to their district office. We escaped on May 6th. Now I would like to stay here as a DPA soldier [Democratic People's Army, a relatively small armed opposition group]. I have never been a soldier before. I can't manage to live in Burma [meaning 'down in Burma' as opposed to Mon territory]. There are so many taxes, like porter fees and other taxes.

NAME: "Ko Ko Maung"            SEX: M              AGE: 23
FAMILY: Married, no children
ADDRESS: Hlegu Township, near Rangoon          INTERVIEWED: 4/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist

I was in the Army for 4 years. I was a Private, and I got 700 Kyat per month. I stopped school when I was 8 or 10 years old, in 4th Standard. When my mother died, I went to stay with my aunt in Rangoon. One of my cousins failed his examinations, and my aunt scolded him and beat him. He ran away from home. We all searched for him, and I found him at Mingaladon recruiting centre. I couldn't manage to call him home. So I decided to join him to stay together with him, and we both went into the Army. That was in December 1990. I joined, but I had to wait one year before the training. I stayed at Mingaladon and worked for the Army as a labourer in an Army plantation. They were vegetable gardens for food for the Army. Then I was in training for about 6 months at Weh Ga Lit central training centre No. 4 near Thanbyuzayat. I learned assault and small weapons use. After I was posted to a unit, I had to learn about big weapons. There was nothing about how to treat civilians. During training we were beaten by the commanders, very often. They punched us and slapped us when we couldn't manage the lessons.

I was sent to #104 Battalion at Tavoy. I was there for a month, then they sent me on duty to Nat Ein Taung camp. We had to dig holes, build trenches, overhead bunkers and fences in the camp. We stayed at the camp, we didn't go fighting. Only sometimes, we went patrolling outside the camp. Then I returned to my base [at Tavoy] and stayed there about 6 months. Then I was deployed with a mobile unit to Kawza village area to search for enemies and fight them. I have many experiences of fighting rebel troops. Sometimes we lost 30 or 40 soldiers, including some officers. I was wounded slightly once, in my leg. Sometimes we arrested villagers. When we arrested suspects, we interrogated them and if it was clear that these villagers had contact with rebels, we killed them. If there was no evidence, we released them. The commander gave the orders. I was ordered to kill villagers twice. One was from Kawza village, and another was a rebel that we caught living in a village. We never took the villagers' property, but sometimes we shot their chickens for our food. My unit was a mobile unit so we didn't deal too much with the villagers. Our officers ordered us to reach certain places by certain times. If the porters couldn't carry the ammunition, we wouldn't reach the place in time. So then we beat the porters to go faster, so we could get there on time. Sometimes we beat them, sometimes we didn't. I never beat porters. The officers didn't beat soldiers, but they punished us. Soldiers who made mistakes had to carry 7 or 8 bricks in a backpack and run around for at least half an hour. Most of the soldiers were young. The youngest was 16, and the oldest was about 30.

I didn't like the behaviour of the Army with the villagers. When old people were treated badly, I felt like it was my father or my mother. What would they feel? If the soldiers treat people like that in other areas of Burma, maybe my relatives are suffering the same. Twice before I tried to escape from the Army with a friend. The first plan was discovered by the officers. When the officer asked my friend "Who will desert the Army with you?", he said "Nobody. I am alone." Because he shut his mouth, I was safe. This time I had decided to flee and I discussed it with two porters. When we had been on patrol these 2 porters had been with me all the time, so I thought they might have the same idea as me. It was the 16th [of May] and we were in Kyauk Ka Din village. I told them that I would join the Mon army and asked them "Will you follow me?" They said "Okay, we will follow you." Then during my guard duty we ran away from the camp.

My wife and I were staying in the camp in the family barracks. I left her at the camp. I think now she will be sent back to her parents' house, not too far away. That's usually what happens. Another time, Cpl. Tin Myint Oo escaped from the camp with 5 of his soldiers. I was part of Column 2. My commander was Maj. Aung Kyaw Oo, and the Battalion Commander is Lt. Col. Zaw Win Myint. Now I would like to stay here and serve of a soldier with these troops [Democratic People's Army]. If I have a chance to fight the SLORC Army I will be happy.

NAME: "Nai Nee"               SEX: M             AGE: 41
FAMILY: Married, 3 children aged 7 to 19 years
ADDRESS: Kwan Dut village, Ye Township                 INTERVIEWED: 19/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, day labourer

I arrived 2 weeks ago [at the refugee camp]. I couldn't stay in my village anymore. We were afraid. They take the men as porters. They take people for the railway. We can't work for ourselves, we have to work for the Army all the time. Last year I had to go to the railway three times, and once just before I came here. This year is much worse than last year. My village has 60 houses. One person from each house had to go. We had to dig a hole 50 feet long. To measure the depth, the soldiers gave us a stick. This year, there is no chance to stop working. Last year, we worked for one month and we could stop for two weeks. This year over 10,000 people worked there. Every village had to go. The headman ordered me, and I started in March. He didn't say how long I'd have to work. Last year I worked 3 times, sometimes for 2 months, sometimes 1 month. This year I only worked for one month, then I fled to the border.

There were 7 worksites in the area. I worked at "7-mile". From my village [north of Ye] I had to walk 4 hours to the car road, then I took a bus to Ye. Those who didn't have money couldn't afford the 45 Kyats for the bus fare. They had to walk from my village to Ye - it takes 24 hours. We had to sleep one night in Ye. Then from Ye to the worksite, 24 hours walking again. There were 60 people from my village. We had to work there. We had to build our own shelters. We built a shelter for 10 people, very small and crowded, but we could sleep. There were no toilets, we had to go to the bushes. We drank water from a stream. We had to find our food ourselves. We didn't have a specific place to work - every day they told us where to work. We worked from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m., then lunch. Then from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Then we had dinner and we slept. There were about 10,000 people in "7-mile" area. We had to bring food from our village. There were many shops around there, so if we had money we could buy food there. If we had no money, we couldn't buy anything. There was no clinic, no medicine. Somebody from Ka Law village came to sell medicine every morning and every evening.

Q: Were you paid any salary?

A: Are you crazy? No money!

Q: SLORC says you can watch videos at night.

A: [Laugh] No, no - we were in the jungle there!

Q: SLORC says the villagers enjoy staying there and don't want to go home.

A: We were working hard on the railway to finish as soon as possible, so we could go home to do our own work. SLORC never gave us even one milktin of rice!

Our group stayed together in one area. Once a day the soldiers came to look around, but they didn't stay. Maybe they stayed hidden in the bushes, I don't know. We didn't dare escape because the soldiers would inform our headman. If a person tried to escape and was arrested later by SLORC, he had to go as a porter for a long time and serve as a human shield for the troops. In March I was beaten because I couldn't work. [Soldiers caught him sleeping during the day when they came around.] I was sick and wanted to go home. I didn't have any more food, but they didn't give me any and they accused me of pretending to be sick. They said "Why are you sick now? You were not sick when you started to work here. You are pretending to be sick." They beat me. They punched me in the stomach so many times. "Why are you sleeping?" the soldiers said, and "What kind of animal are you to think you can sleep like this?" [a very rude expression in Burmese] Pah...Pah...Pah... I couldn't count the punches. They punched me very hard, and they also kicked me but that was not as bad. One soldier beat me, then I went outside and other soldier beat me. After that, I couldn't carry any heavy load anymore. I had internal pain. When the work was finished, I went to get treated at the hospital. It still hurts now.

I heard about one person from Thaung Prang village [in Ye Township] who was beaten to death, and that SLORC soldiers from "9-mile" worksite raped a woman from Thaung Prang at night and then killed her. The soldiers always teased the women. Sometimes they touched them with their hands. The women didn't dare say anything. About half of the workers were women. We were all together, breaking rocks and carrying the dirt. It was the same work as last year. I was the only one from my family, because I didn't let my wife or my children work there. They sold vegetables in the village to live while I was gone. At the railway, I had no more food so I asked the leader if I could go back home to get some food. I went back, but my wife and children had already left to come here. So I followed them.

In the village we also had to pay 50 Kyats per month per family as porter fees. They also ordered money for the railway, to pay the technical supervisor. Both soldiers and villagers had to guard the railway. So we had to pay 300 Kyat for that too, because those villagers are SLORC followers.

NAME: "U Myint Gyi"             SEX: M             AGE: 56
FAMILY: Married, 8 children aged 10 months to 27
ADDRESS: Kyauk Gone village, Ye Pyu Township            INTERVIEWED: 1/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Tavoyan Buddhist, fisherman

I arrived here [the refugee camp] in the middle of April. We couldn't stay in our village anymore because we had to pay 250 Kyat per week. So we hid in the jungle, and then I couldn't do my work. That's why I couldn't stay. If I worked all day I could only get food for one day, and I have a big family. I couldn't stay with them because I always had to run. I slept in the jungle for 4 months. If I have many normal problems I will face them even if I have to die. But I couldn't pay and I couldn't run from the soldiers, so I couldn't stay in my village. I brought my whole family with me. I've never been here before, I'd only heard about this place.

The soldiers don't care about the elderly or the young - if they see you they will arrest you and force you to be a porter. If you can pay 3,000 Kyat they will release you. But I couldn't pay, and I couldn't go as a porter. Even when they arrested an old man, they still held him and demanded that the villagers send 5 young men for 5 days before they would release him. But then after 5 days they still didn't release him. I've been a porter 5 times, two times last year for 2 weeks each time, and 3 times just before coming here, in February, March, and April. The last time was from Nat Gyi Zin to Yah Pu, Kyauk Ka Din and Alah Sakan, over the hills. The other times were to Kyauk Ka Yan and Mine Yan and back. The Battalions that come to my village are #410, 404 and 408, but I was a porter for #104, then #108, then #409 Battalion. We got a milktin of rice and beans twice a day. When we reached the camp sometimes we got better food, like bits of coconut in our beans. It was not enough. If we had money we could buy more food. We slept in a monastery compound. The soldiers guarded us, and if we needed to go to the toilet we had to ask their permission.

I had to carry 2 soldiers' bags, about 5 viss [8 kg.] each, but I don't know what was in them. The others had heavier loads. Those who couldn't climb were severely kicked and beaten. The porters who carried ammunition got tired quickly. They were often kicked and beaten, and the soldiers scolded them badly. Some fell down and pretended they couldn't get up again, and some fell down the slope on purpose so they could try to escape. But some were beaten to death with sticks and boots, and they also hit them with rifle butts and rifle barrels. There was an old Mon man about 60 years old. He was on his back, and they poked him in the belly with rifle barrels and hit his back with rifle butts. Also, the porters who got sick had to die. If they couldn't go or couldn't move, the soldiers pushed them down the mountainside. If there was a ditch, they pushed them into it. Sometimes they threw them into the bushes. If somebody found them later, maybe they'd have a chance to live. We passed someone moaning in the bushes, and the soldiers never paid any attention or even looked. So the porters' saying is "If you can't walk, you die. You walk, you live." Some of the porters were teenagers, 16, 17, 18 years old. Some were in their 60's. There were about 100 soldiers and 80 porters or so, from different villages. I didn't try to escape because I was afraid. They usually shot at the ones who tried to escape. I only went back home when they released me.

There are 150 houses in my village, mostly Mon with some Tavoyans and Burmese. Many people came here already, and a few are still arriving. I heard from the newcomers that now the people in our village are not being allowed to grow rice, and instead the soldiers are forcing them to build a road from Pyu Gyi to Kyauk Gone. The road is half finished. Our village is far from the railway, but last year I had to work there for 15 days near Nat Gyi Zin, digging and carrying the ground. Compared to being a porter, I want to refuse both kinds of labour, but being a porter is harder. At the railway we stopped work at 5 p.m., but as a porter I got no rest. They didn't call again for railway labour this year. They stopped the work, and now the railway route is damaged. We heard that they will call us for the pipeline project too, but they have not done it yet. Maybe they stopped that project already. Before leaving my village I heard they were doing work on it, both porters and villagers, and that there are soldiers there. But I didn't see, because there is a river between my village and that place.

Now things in my village are getting worse. It started getting worse about 2 years ago. The villagers are forced to work but they don't receive even 5 pyas [0.05 Kyat]. We heard that foreigners give money, but the SLORC gives no money to the villagers. This government is like a giant beast that tortures human beings. I came to stay here, so I will stay here. Here there are also many problems [with the Thai authorities], but I think we will have to stay at least 5 years. If the situation doesn't get better in my village, maybe 10 years.

NAME: "Nai Maung Hla"           SEX: M              AGE: 28
FAMILY: Married, 3 children aged 1 to 8 years
ADDRESS: Aru Taung village, Ye Township          INTERVIEWED: 19/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farmer

I got here [the refugee camp] two weeks ago, because we couldn't face any more oppression from SLORC. I had to go work on the railway twice, in January and February. Before they took people from other villages, but now they have started to take people in our village. It is our turn now. They also asked 100 Kyats per month per family, 50 Kyats per month as porter fees, and 50 Kyats for the railway. They said the money was to hire people to guard the railway. They also ordered villagers to go and guard the railway, but I didn't have to go for that. I had to dig the ground and build an embankment over 16 feet long and 9 feet wide. I wasn't beaten, but if people couldn't do the work for them then they were beaten. The railway is 9 miles from our village. With the railway, the SLORC troops will be able to move more easily in the area. They will build camps and make more problems for the ethnic people, so it is not good for the villagers. I heard that they will build a fence all the way from our village to Taung Moon. Maybe they will relocate our village to another place. I don't think we will be able to travel peacefully. So many of them will come there soon.

This year it is the same as last year. But we are worried more than last year, because it is almost rainy season so we are worried about our paddy fields [i.e. that if they are called for labour they won't be able to plant a crop]. I have a farm where I grow durian, jackfruit and pineapple. But now I have come here with my family, and I feel better here. It took us about 3 days. We couldn't carry anything with us. Many people have already left our village. Some are here, and some more are planning to come here. There are 450 households in my village. I've met about 10 of them here so far.

NAME: "Maung Aung Shwe"             SEX: M             AGE: 26
FAMILY: Single
ADDRESS: Rangoon             INTERVIEWED: 7/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist

I am from a big family - we are 8 brothers and sisters. I am in the middle. All are single. I was a 10th standard student. We went to Myitkyina [Kachin State] and Pakant to look for jade. We went happily and legally. One day, we were drinking and eating at a small shop. A policeman came and demanded money from my brother, but my brother said "I don't want to deal with the police. Don't ask for money. Go away." A quarrel broke out between my brother and the policeman. The policeman started swinging a stool. I was hit on my head, and I stabbed the policeman in the belly with a fork. I went back to my house, and then I went to the hospital and got 7 stitches on my head. My brother stayed with the policeman, took care of him and took him to the hospital. I went into hiding in Mandalay. After 26 days, the policeman died. I returned home to Rangoon to see my mother. I arrived home at 1 p.m. I sent someone to buy a packet of cigarettes while my mother slept and I waited upstairs. Then 12 policeman in civilian clothes came in, went upstairs, broke the door of my room and arrested me. I was amazed at how they caught me. My mother didn't even notice them coming in.

They took me to the police station, beat me and asked me many questions. My whole body was hurting, especially my stomach. I couldn't lie down and I couldn't sleep well because of the pain. It was difficult to urinate for about 12 days. They made me "ride the motorcycle" [a standard SLORC torture - the victim is forced to squat on the floor for extended periods, pretend he's riding a motorcycle and make motorcycle noises, while the officer gives commands like "Turn left! Stop!" The victim has to make honking noises when his ear is pulled. Meanwhile, he is constantly being beaten with clubs]. They blindfolded me and beat me. They made me stand on needles. The police beat me continuously for 12 days. They ordered me to give them the murder weapon, but I couldn't give them the fork. They asked questions about the fork. I was kept for a month in a special room, then I was returned to the police station cell for 14 days. Then they sent me to court. I explained the truth about what had happened. The only problem was that I couldn't show them the fork. The judge said I was trying to hide the evidence exhibit. I was sentenced under Article 201, and also for causing death. That was in March 1993. They sent me to Insein Jail. I was there for 1 year and 3 months. In jail we had to work, but if you bribed them then they allowed you not to work for a few days. Some paid 900 Kyats to get 14 days rest. Some gave 1,500 Kyats for several months at a time. Those who couldn't pay were called in the morning and given duties like cleaning the compound, cleaning the toilets, working in the kitchen, etc. The food was not good but it was enough. Every morning yellow-bean soup and every evening vegetable soup, but without seasoning. It didn't taste good. Pork or fish once a week.

I was in a huge room separate from the main building. About 120 prisoners stayed there, sometimes fewer, but always at least 90. When there were 120, we only got a very small space to sleep. My family came once a week. They gave money to the prison officers and sent food. I could speak to them, but there were guards around. We weren't allowed to write letters but I did it secretly. I paid money to borrow books. If prisoners fought each other, the guards put them in the dark room, the hot room or a room filled with water. I found some prisoners stabbed with a sharpened iron bar. I don't know how that quarrel started. Iron bars were easy to get in the jail. I also heard that some prisoners killed themselves.

The youngest prisoner was 12 years old. The oldest was about 80. There are many old prisoners. Usually, murder was 5 years. Premeditated murder and rape could be 15 to 20 years. An accident causing death is at least 1 or 2 years. A torturer could get 3 or 4 years, and a car accident 1 or 2 years.

After 15 months they took me to Hlegu Township, on the Rangoon-Mandalay highway project. We dug and carried the ground. We wore chains. We had to wear them day and night. At forced labour places, rapists have to wear the chains for 1 year, and murder, robbery and burglary cases for 6 months. Villagers were also working on the road, but prisoners and villagers worked separately. The prison authorities guarded us, but soldiers and police guarded us too. There were Lon Htein [riot police] from Pegu, and soldiers from #217 Battalion, #11 Division. They watched us from behind. We were always working. Prisoners who worked slowly or got tired quickly got beaten and kicked. It was hard work to carry stones or dirt up the bank. Once there was a dispute and the guard hit me twice with a stick, on the shoulders and the back. If a prisoner couldn't pay them, they beat him too much, so I gave them 2,500 Kyats. If prisoners fought each other they were beaten severely, and sometimes even put in a cell or put in stocks in a building in the camp. Some had to stay in the stocks for 15 days, or a maximum of one month. The prisoners slept in a barracks that was built for us before we arrived. There were about 250 prisoners in one barrack. From Insein Jail, there were 250 of us on the highway, but there were also 200 more prisoners working at farms nearby. We had half a day's rest each week on Sunday morning, and I had to work at the vegetable farm then. I was there in 1994, I don't remember which months.

I was there for 2 months, then they sent me to the prisoner camp at Thaton. We had to crush stones in a quarry, at Yin Ne Ain in Thaton Township. In front of our camp was a plain with many huge stones laying on the ground. We worked in chains. The prison authorities administered the camp. They had rifles. There were only prisoners working there. Some died because of explosions, and rocks hit them. Some died because of disease, and they couldn't get to the hospital in time. During the time I was there about 17 or 18 died, mostly on the way to the hospital. We had a "medic". He was chosen from among the prisoners. If a prisoner could give money to the medic, he could rest. According to the rules the authorities should pay the prisoners 10 Kyats per month, but they never do. They just gave the prisoners some cheroots and MSG [for cooking]. I worked there for 6 months [from the rest of his testimony, it appears that it was actually only 3 months]. Then I was moved to another place with some other prisoners.

I was sent to Ko-Mine ["9-mile", on the Ye-Tavoy railway] railway camp. I was there for more than 4 months. I was promoted to Guard. My duty was to make sure that no prisoners escaped. I also had to dig and level the ground, and cut into the hillside. Sometimes we had to clear the ground for the railway, and sometimes we had to clear it to make space for more prisoners to stay. We started at 6 a.m. We had a lunch break between noon and 1 p.m., and we finished at 5 p.m. I was still in chains for 1 month, then they freed me from the chains. [His 6 months wearing chains at forced labour were up - murder cases have to wear the chains at forced labour for 6 months, as he said above.] Until your time is due, they never take off the chains. In some cases, a prisoner's time to wear chains is over but the authorities don't receive the order from above, so they still cannot take off the chains. The work at the railway was a bit harder than at the other places. We were surrounded by 3 lines of guards. There was a line of barbed wire, then sharpened bamboo stakes and traps. Then behind those, the police were guarding, and then the soldiers. The prison authorities usually stayed in their barracks outside the fences. They arrested people and demanded money, and then with that money they hired women. The soldiers were from 343 Battalion. At the other side of Ko-Mine bridge, it was 406 Battalion.

There were 350 prisoners in the camp from many jails: Sittwe [Arakan State], Mandalay, Myaung Mya [Irrawaddy Delta], Bassein [Irrawaddy Delta], Moulmein, etc. There were 3 prisoners' barracks for 350 prisoners. The latrines were just inside the fences, out the back door of the barracks. At night there were sentries near the toilets - we had to announce ourselves with our prisoner number, name and what we wanted to do. Twice a day we got rice, less than one milktin full [very little], and banana stem and salt in water which was not boiled, just hot. There was no clinic in the camp, only in the village [9-Mile village, nearby]. We wore white shirts and white longyis [prison uniform, of very coarse material].

There were villagers there too, doing the same work as us: digging and clearing. Our work was harder, but theirs was also hard and they had to bring their own food as well. They also were guarded. Some of them were raped, girls aged 12, 13, 16 and 18. The officer who raped them was [Capt.] Nyi Nyi from 343 Battalion. The girls were from Han Kan, Thaung Byin, and villages just south of Ye. I heard about some of these cases, and some I saw. He called the girls while they were working along the railway in the daytime. When I was going to the toilets, I saw one. She didn't shout because they had guns. They threatened her, and then after they released her.

I saw people who were beaten. Me, I was beaten on my head for fighting. Most of the guards were drunk, so they beat and kicked us all over. Sometimes they forced us to lie down and beat and kicked us from above. Sometimes they jumped up and down on us. After we were beaten, when the working period was over we went to the clinic in the nearby village to get medicine. Then the next day when they counted the prisoners we could ask for lighter work if we were injured. I couldn't work after that. They allowed me to work slowly, but not too slowly. If I was too slow they would beat me, so I kept working. It was quite difficult to move after the beating, especially in my waist. Some were beaten badly and died later. They couldn't be cured. I knew 3 of them. 4 died of beatings altogether. The day I left, one died of cholera. He was sent to the clinic but his body already smelled bad, so they put him in a car for the hospital but when it started moving, he died. Win Naing from Myaung Mya died because of lack of food. He was 22 or 23. He died on the way to the clinic, after he was badly beaten. Kyaw Kyaw died of disease. He was 19. Also, Zaw Oo. In the past he was a Corporal in the Army. He tried to escape and the soldiers shot him. He was around 20 years old. [He was in jail for attempted desertion.] Another one tried to escape and the soldiers shot him too, but I don't remember his name. He was from Bassein and used narcotic drugs. His sentence was 5 years.

My family came to visit me twice at the railway. They could give money for me, but they had spent a lot on me already. My father is a mechanic for the Railway Corporation, and my mother makes food and sells it. We are 8 children, but only 2 are working.

I escaped from Ko-Mine camp in February [1995]. I heard that some people in villages would help people on the way. The man who helped me was xxxx [some details of his escape are omitted in order not to damage the chances of future escape attempts]. That day I didn't go to work. I pretended to be sick and asked permission to stay. That day there were only 2 policemen near our barracks, and they were both my friends. One of them left to go to send a sick prisoner to the hospital - along the way, the sick man died. So xxxx was left alone. We made a trick, and told him "The Intelligence Officer wants to see you". He left, and we took our chance. We crossed the fences. We went over the barbed wire, then we cut the woven bamboo fence with a knife. Then we crawled through the fence. We hurt ourselves doing that. We went to xxxx area, then we crossed the mountains. Now I want to go to Bangkok and I want to contact my parents. My parents don't know I've escaped. I am very afraid to go back to Burma.