CONDITIONS IN THE GAS PIPELINE AREA

An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
August 1, 1995 / KHRG #95-27

The Gulf of Martaban in the Andaman Sea is rich in undersea deposits of natural gas not far off the coastline of southern Burma's Tenasserim Division. Seeing this as a potentially major source of income, SLORC has been keen to exploit this resource as quickly as possible. It has negotiated multi-billion dollar contracts with French oil giant TOTAL, as well as Unocal of the USA and Thailand's PTTEP. Typically, rather than have the gas go to the people of Burma the SLORC plans to pipeline it to energy-hungry Thailand, where it will be used to fuel a new facility being built by EGAT, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand. The oil companies are responsible for extracting and processing the gas as well as constructing the pipeline, while SLORC is primarily responsible for providing security and labour. The pipeline is planned to go through Karen and Mon territory, coming onshore just south of the Heinze Basin and heading almost straight east to the Thai border at Nat Ein Taung. When the gas begins to flow (scheduled for 1998), SLORC is to receive direct payments of at least US$400 million per year from the oil companies. However, the Karen and Mon resistance forces are against the project, as it is bringing down forced relocation, forced labour and other abuses on their people as well as environmental destruction in their forest and sea reserves. They have vowed to stop the pipeline by political means if possible, and if not then to destroy it. SLORC has assured the oil companies that it will militarily destroy any threat to the pipeline. Thus far, the oil companies are primarily ignoring these issues and threats; they have stated that the 46-year-old civil war in the region does not exist, and they have claimed at various times that there are either "no villages in the area" or "no human rights abuses in the villages we've visited in the area"; "no trees along the route" or "no foreseeable damage to the forests along the route", etc., according to the need of the moment.

This report does not aim to give comprehensive details of the pipeline project to date, as this has been done elsewhere. Instead, this report focusses on presenting some information and interviews related to developments in the pipeline route area, particularly since the beginning of 1995. The information and interviews used have been obtained from several sources, including the Mergui-Tavoy Information Service, the Committee for Publicity of People's Struggle in Monland, independent sources and KHRG interviews.

Summary of Effects on Civilians

Until 1995, the main effects on civilians in the pipeline route area included forced relocation, forced labour on the Ye-Tavoy railway line, and human rights abuses stemming from increased concentrations of SLORC troops for pipeline security. As early as 1991, villages such as Louk Thaing, Mi Gyaung Laung, Pu Loat Kone, Leh Ein Zu, Min Ma Pan, The Kwe, Lee Poe, Wah Daw, Me Ke, Me Yan Chaung, Thone Tan Gone, Kyaut Lone Gyi, E Thee, Taung Che Yin, and Ateh Yapu were forced to move by SLORC troops in preparation for the anticipated pipeline. Three of these villages, along with several others which are not in the list, are not right along the pipeline route but have been forced to move because they are perceived as posing a threat to the pipeline. In 1994-95 more villages, such as Shin Tabi, Ye Bone, and Pyun Sah Lay, have been forced to move by the ever-increasing numbers of SLORC troops in the area. While these villages are not on the pipeline route, every village within 50 km. of the pipeline route is now perceived as a threat if it has the capability to support opposition forces with food or intelligence - in other words, all villages in forested or remote areas which do not have a SLORC garrison. The reason being given to these villages for the relocations is that they are "suspected of contact with insurgent groups". In several areas near the pipeline including the more mountainous areas further east toward the Thai border, there are reports that SLORC troops are now forcing villages near the pipeline route to relocate not by issuing direct orders, but simply by systematically looting, harassing and terrorizing the villagers until they flee of their own accord. This treatment was inflicted by LIB 408 on the Mon villages of Me Daw (population 300) on March 22 and Wah Gyun (population 100) on March 25. Both villages are in Ye Pyu township, and both have now been abandoned as no one dares stay there anymore. Unocal has on occasion claimed that there are no villages and no people in the pipeline area, and on other occasions has claimed that all the people it had visited in the pipeline area were happy and no one had been relocated. However the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, worried about its investment in a gas-fuelled power plant, published ads in the Bangkok Post trying to improve confidence in the pipeline, and in one ad it admitted "Myanmar has recently cleared the way by relocating a total of 11 Karen villages that would otherwise obstruct the passage of the gas resource development project." (Bangkok Post, 17/4/95) EGAT seemed to think this was a point in favour of the pipeline, increasing its chance of successful completion.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to do labour constructing the Ye-Tavoy railway line since late 1993. The details of this labour are already covered in several reports by KHRG and other groups. Comments by SLORC officers along the railway route, SLORC itself and others have made it very clear that a major reason for the sudden hurried construction of this railway line was to support the gas pipeline infrastructure and the thousands of troops being used to secure the area. However, the foreign oil companies have faced so much international pressure about this railway that they have now categorically insisted that they will not under any circumstances use the railway. As an apparent result of this, work on the northern segments of the railway has noticeably slackened off in 1995, and some of the stretches cleared with so much loss of life in 1994 have actually become partly overgrown, while SLORC has focussed its efforts on completing the southernmost 12-mile stretch from Tavoy to Ye Pyu. As the railway labour decreased in the pipeline area, construction suddenly began in February 1995 on jetty and helipad or landing strip facilities at Ka Daik, a small village on a southern arm of the Heinze Basin. It appears that the oil companies may be planning to keep their promise about the railway and bring in their supplies by sea. Ka Daik is now a highly secure location and no villagers are allowed to go near the jetty facilities being constructed. Fishermen from other villages on the Heinze Basin have been ordered not to enter the jetty area in their boats on pain of death.

Since 1994, work has also been going on to build military facilities on Heinze Boke Island, not far offshore just south of the mouth of Heinze Basin. Most of the construction is being done with forced labour by villagers from the Hpaungdaw-Kanbauk area near the coast. Hundreds of them are being forced to do 7 days labour every month on a rotating basis, taking all their own food. Now that railway labour has been replaced by labour on the island, many of them have fled their villages. One possible purpose for these new military facilities is to provide naval protection to shipping going into the Heinze Basin to support the pipeline. However, the villagers say that the main camp being built is for a new Army battalion to be based there, along with an airstrip. This raises the possibility that a support facility for the pipeline, such as a compressor station (necessary at intervals along the pipeline to keep the gas flowing) may be planned for the island, which is located a short distance south of a direct line from the offshore rigs to the place near Hpaungdaw where the pipe is slated to come onshore. Right now forced labour on the facilities is continuing.

On March 26 1995, SLORC troops from LIB #408 conscripted forced labourers from Byu Gyi village, near the pipeline route, to urgently construct a helicopter pad. On the evening of March 28th, two helicopters arrived containing Burmese officials and a group of foreigners. They carried out a survey of the area, reportedly for an onshore oil exploration project which is also going on. Immediately afterward, the military forced the villagers to build three rows of bamboo and wood fencing surrounding a particular plot of land near the village. Since then SLORC soldiers have guarded the enclosure and have not allowed any villagers in.

SLORC has given firm guarantees to the oil companies that it will take all measures necessary to secure the pipeline route, and despite the fact that the route passes through areas where there is still fighting the oil companies appear to believe in SLORC's ability to do this. As a result, SLORC has brought more than 10 new battalions into the region as a whole, a total of over 5,000 soldiers. Initially this consisted of Light Infantry Battalions 401 thru 410. Now more Battalions are being brought in, such as Infantry Battalions #267 and #269. Every new Battalion that comes in starts by confiscating large areas of farmland to build its Battalion bases, support facilities, and outposts. Commanders generally prefer level ground in the most convenient locations, which is also usually the best farmland. Farmers are evicted and receive no compensation whatever. Instead, they and all the other villagers are immediately forced to provide most of the wood, bamboo, roofing and other building materials to build the entire camp, free of charge. Then they are forced to do most of the labour to build it, also free of charge. Once it is built, each village is forced to provide 5 or 10 people to each camp in the area on a rotating basis, to find firewood, cook, clean, dig trenches and bunkers, build fences and mantraps, and run errands for the soldiers. Furthermore, each Battalion needs up to 100 "permanent porters" at all times, on rotation from the surrounding villages, to carry its supplies and ammunition. If there is fighting or heavy patrolling in the area, the number required suddenly increases to 500 or more, and the soldiers go to the villages to capture porters. Each Battalion generally charges fees to each village so that its officers can live well and send large sums home to their families; a village of 100 houses will generally have to pay roughly 20,000 to 30,000 Kyat per month to each Battalion nearby. Then the soldiers regularly go to the villages to steal rice, livestock, cash and belongings, even handwoven clothing to sell or send home as souvenirs. Any resistance to these demands results in torture or execution of village elders or others. As Unocal president John Imle said in January 1995, "If you threaten the pipeline there's going to be more military. If forced labour goes hand in glove with the military, yes there will be more forced labour."

New Battalions and Headquarters Locations
(list not complete)

Since the beginning of 1995 activity along the pipeline route has increased as intensive ground survey work has been ongoing to finalize the exact route. TOTAL has stationed its French and Belgian engineers at a base camp about 2 miles northwest of Kanbauk along the road to On Bin Kwin. Unocal has no people on the ground in the pipeline area as yet. All passenger cars going along the road between the villages are now forced by SLORC troops to make a wide and inconvenient detour in order to stay well clear of the TOTAL camp, and they must go around and enter Kanbauk from another direction. LIB #405 has been assigned the principal security duties in this area from Kanbauk west to the coast at Hpaungdaw, and is based at Sein Goo, On Bin Kwin, Pyin Gyi, Lay Gyi, Maw Gyi and Hpaungdaw. A new Battalion headquarters camp is to be built at the Baw Di Gone end of Kanbauk village (we have not yet ascertained whether this is for LIB 405 or yet another new Battalion). Villagers expect their farms will be confiscated without compensation and they will be used as forced labour building and maintaining this camp, as per usual. Villagers are now accustomed to seeing helicopters overhead all the time - the TOTAL employees often use civilian helicopters operated and maintained by Myanmar Airways personnel, but they also often travel by military helicopter and Tatmadaw military trucks. They are constantly accompanied by armed Tatmadaw units when outside their base camp.

The intensive ground survey work began in February 1995. Prior to this, villagers were notified that jobs would be available. However, TOTAL brought in most of their workers, about 1,000 according to the villagers, from Rangoon. Only about 200 villagers from the Kanbauk-Hpaungdaw area were accepted, though hundreds more applied. Selection was handled by a selection committee of township-level SLORC officials, not by TOTAL. Villagers wishing to apply had to buy an application form from the Village LORC for 15 or 20 Kyat. They also had to have a medical and face the selection committee. Each applicant had to pay a bribe of about 1,000 Kyat to pass the medical, and a larger bribe to the selection committee. Clear preference was given to friends and relatives of Township-level SLORC officials, and following that to members of USDA (Union Solidarity Development Association, SLORC's artificially-created "mass support" organization). Those who were hired received a blue uniform and a yellow plastic helmet. Pay is 200 Kyat per day, paid every 5 days. TOTAL, sensitive to international concern over forced labour, allocated US$30 per day for each worker. The local SLORC officials pay this as 200 Kyat, using roughly the official rate of 6 Kyat to the dollar. However, black market rate is 110 Kyat to the dollar. If TOTAL pays the wages to SLORC in foreign currency (as SLORC probably insists), then the local SLORC officials have been pocketing about 3,000 Kyat per worker per day, almost 95% of the entire payroll. Even so, 200 Kyat per day is more than double the going wage for day labour in the area.

Most of the paid labourers are housed in the TOTAL base camp, which is divided into the "expat camp" and the "locals camp". The "native" workers are squeezed at least 4 to each small hut and according to close witnesses are treated with general contempt by the French engineers. Part of their work involves maintaining and expanding the camp, but most of the work is improving and tarring the road between Kalein Aung and Kanbauk, and clearing forest and scrub for the pipeline route survey work. Witnesses report that in many cases, SLORC troops are using forced labour "permanent porters" on rotating duty from the villages to do the hard labour felling the trees and scrub, then when the paid workers come along they just have to clear away the wood and scrub which has been cut by the porters. This is most likely done without the knowledge of the foreigners. SLORC has reportedly taken other steps to hide human rights abuses from them, such as taking the loads from porters' backs while they pass the TOTAL camp, then putting the loads back on the porters afterwards. The survey work stopped on May 9th and all the workers were told they would not be needed again until the end of the rainy season (probably November).

Villagers in the area said they had been promised by SLORC and TOTAL that the pipeline would bring them an improved standard of living, but now they say it has only brought more suffering. Because of the huge increase in troop presence in the area, they have to do more forced labour. The amounts of fees collected by the troops, such as "porter fees", "sentry fees", "pagoda fees", "sports fees" and others, all of which are simply extortion in disguise, have increased to the point where many families who used to have to pay about 100 Kyat per month before TOTAL arrived say that now they must pay 400 or 500 Kyat per month. The SLORC troops, always looking for a new excuse for extortion, have now begun collecting "gas pipeline fees" which can go as high as 1,000 Kyat per month for one family. At the same time inflation in the area has accelerated, probably partly fuelled by the scarcity of goods brought on by the looting conducted by several new Battalions, and partly by the sudden presence of over 1,000 relatively highly-paid labourers in the area. Even if more labourers are hired locally next season, the pipeline work could begin to bring on a "gold rush" syndrome, where rapid inflation leaves anyone not involved in the pipeline completely destitute. Then once the pipeline is completed, little or no local labour will be required and the local economy will completely collapse.

SLORC has also promised new clinics and health programs stemming from the pipeline, but villagers report no evidence of this. Instead, in Kanbauk the villagers were forced to contribute money and labour to complete an unfinished building which had stood idle for years. SLORC now calls this a new clinic, but it has no medicine and no doctors. SLORC has done similar things in Shan State when it wants to create artificial evidence of "development".

While these things are happening at the western end of the pipeline route near the coast, the eastern end near the Thai border is still not "secure". As a result SLORC has mounted a military offensive since February 1995 in the Nat Ein Taung area, where the pipeline is slated to cross the border into Thailand. Hundreds of villagers from throughout Ye Pyu Township have been taken as porters for this offensive for up to a month at a time, fed almost nothing, given no medical treatment, and treated brutally. Some have been beaten to death or left behind to die in the mountainous jungle of the area. Fighting in the area is still continuing. Despite the fact that SLORC has now flooded the entire pipeline route area with troops, fighting continues to break out in several areas along the western half.

On March 7 and 8, 1995 in Ye Pyu township, a small group of Karen militia forces ambushed SLORC military columns which were moving together with a gas pipeline survey team, though the Karen soldiers had no way of knowing this at the time. The March 7 attack was aimed at Tatmadaw helicopters on the ground near Zin Ba, and the March 8 attack was on a SLORC column east of Kanbauk. TOTAL people and their employees always move together with Tatmadaw columns and usually use Tatmadaw trucks and helicopters for transport. Both attacks were in the western/central areas of the pipeline route, which is supposedly already "secure". At least 5 people were killed in the attacks. TOTAL claimed that all 5 were civilian Burmese survey workers, though this would be extremely unlikely. Given that the survey team were grossly outnumbered by the SLORC troops of the column and that SLORC soldiers were the target, it is more likely that most or all of the Burmese killed were soldiers. There were several allegations that foreigners were among the dead, though TOTAL has flatly denied this. Some witnesses claim that 2 of the bodies were immediately flown out to Rangoon in body bags. Initial reports that these were 2 Algerians working for TOTAL were later discounted; however, there was later a reported indication by an employee of EGAT that one of the dead was Thai and one or two of the others were white men. The Karen attackers did not stay around to see who had died, and no clear confirmation of any of these reports has been possible. However, one clear result of the attack is that a column of 100 soldiers from #408 Light Infantry Battalion, led by Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Han Tint (Army Serial No. Ka/12671), went to villages in the area and accused them of not providing the SLORC troops with enough intelligence in advance to avert the attack. He then ordered Einda Yaza, Maw Gyi, Mintha, Ah Leh Gyi, Sein Goo, Sin Zwe, and several other villages to pay 100,000 Kyat each as compensation for the attack. He threatened that any village which failed to pay the money would be driven out, so the villages had to pay. This is in keeping with Unocal President John Imle's declaration in January 1995 that "for every threat to the pipeline there will be a reaction".

When the next dry season comes in November, work on the pipeline is certain to be stepped up as the plan moves closer to actual clearing of the route and its surrounding killing ground, digging the trenches to protect the buried pipeline from sabotage, and laying of pipe itself, scheduled for completion in 1997. As the work is stepped up SLORC security will have to be intensified, and the related human rights abuses are certain to increase. The heavy labour of clearing the route and its wide killing ground is certain to involve forced labour. It will be impossible for SLORC to hide this from the oil companies or the outside world. Therefore, there is a chance SLORC will announce that they have decided to clear a "road" or a "railway" to Nat Ein Taung, do it with forced labour, then lay the pipeline along it. The pipeline will require a maintenance road alongside it in any case. On the surface, this approach would allow the oil companies to shrug off any knowledge of or responsibility for forced labour. To date, the oil companies have claimed that they will see to it that no human rights abuses occur. However, TOTAL has no more than 10-15 people on site, and Unocal and PTTEP have none. The companies have not yet tried to explain how 10-15 people will prevent 3-5,000 troops spread over 70 km. of plains and forested hills from committing human rights abuses. Unocal president John Imle has on occasion asserted that his people who are "trained in such matters" have determined that there were no ongoing human rights abuses in several areas by flying over them in helicopters. However, he has expressed no interest in talking to villagers in those areas in the absence of SLORC, and he has made clear that he is against allowing independent international human rights researchers into the area.

TOPIC SUMMARY

TOTAL job application process (Interview #1,3), paid labour duties (#1,3,4, 6,12), forced labour on pipeline survey (#1,3), pipeline fees (#2), other fees (#1-5,7,11), inflation (#1,2,3,14), porters for offensive to secure Nat Ein Taung (#7,8,9), other porters (#5,10,11), plans for pipeline construction near Nat Ein Taung (#13), forced relocation (#10), land confiscation for Battalions (#1,3), effect of new Battalions (#1,3), forced labour at Heinze Boke island (#4,5), TOTAL base camp (#1,2,4,6,12), other oil company activities (#13), Ye-Tavoy railway (#10,13).

Most of the people interviewed below told their stories in May 1995 inside Burma, after fleeing their villages and becoming homeless. Their names have been changed to protect them. False names are shown in quotation marks; all other names are real. LIB = Light Infantry Battalion; IB = Infantry Battalion. Ya Wa Ta = Village Law & Order Restoration Council or Village LORC, SLORC's form of local administration. All numeric dates are given in DD/MM/YY format.

NAME: "Ko Hla Myint"            SEX: M             AGE: 30
ADDRESS: Kanbauk village        INTERVIEWED: 11/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

Q: How did they find labourers for the gas pipeline project?

A: They have application forms. We had to buy them for 15 Kyats from the village head. We tried, but we were not accepted. They brought their labourers from Rangoon and other places, about 1200 or 1300 or more. About 500 villagers wanted jobs, but only about 100 were accepted. It was by decision of the authorities, I think. Only a few were accepted. Anyone who failed the medical checkup was refused a job. I don't know how much the people paid to pass the medical. They were only the ones who were close to the authorities. Ordinary villagers were refused. We were not happy. We had no work except forced portering and forced labour [for SLORC troops]. Most of their workers were brought from Rangoon.

Q: What did the paid labourers do?

A: They built houses and some buildings along the On Bin Kwin road. There are about 30 buildings at their camp, between On Bin Kwin and Kanbauk. Foreigners live there, and also labourers from Rangoon. They repaired the road, some worked for the surveying and some cutting the trees [clearing the way for survey work]. There were forced porters too. The forced porters cut down the trees, then the paid labourers cleared them away. The paid labourers get 200 Kyats for one day, but the porters get nothing. The route has been cleared from Kyauk Sa Ywe to Thon Taung Gwin.

Q: What about the road?

A: They repaired the road from Kalein Aung to Kanbauk [Kalein Aung is east of Kanbauk, near the junction with the main north-south road]. About half of it has now been tarred. Some farmers lost their land. Now they are planning to build a new Battalion camp at the entrance to our village, and many more farmers will lose their land. [The battalion is for pipeline security, and no land compensation is ever paid.] They have not built it yet, it is just their plan. I've already had to work one, two, three, four months for the soldiers without getting any money [at army camps and as a porter], and I have no time to work for myself. I heard if the gas pipeline comes, our situation will improve. But actually, we only have to work for them [soldiers] more without getting any pay. We have to take our own food and build their barracks, bunkers and so on. Before, had to give them about 100 Kyats per month as porter fees [extortion fees paid to avoid even more forced labour]. Every family. But now, it is 400 Kyats. They said if I could not pay the money they would take me as a porter for 1 whole month. If we don't pay the money, they will take action.

Q: TOTAL Co. said they will have health programmes - have you seen any result of this?

A: No. I think there are no changes. No programmes. There was a building the Council started building under the Ma Sa La [the Burma Socialist Programme Party, Ne Win's pre-1988 dictatorship], but it was never completed. Now SLORC has forced the villagers to give money and labour to finish it. Now they say it is a village clinic. But no patients go there, because there is no medicine and no doctors.

That is why we chose to leave our village.

NAME: "Daw Than"        SEX: F         AGE: 38
FAMILY: Married, 4 children
ADDRESS: Kanbauk village             INTERVIEWED: 5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

Q: Why did you leave your village?

A: I was working for the Mines Department. My salary was 650 Kyats per month. But I had to pay porter fees, and "gas pipeline fees". It cost me about 1200 Kyats per month, sometimes 1400 Kyats. Then if the railway labour camp called for villagers again, I had to pay 400 Kyats more. But for now, it was mainly fees for the gas pipeline and to avoid portering. Once I quarrelled with the authorities. I said I could not give the money, and they replied that if I could not give the money then I have to go and work as a porter. It got too difficult to stay there. All the prices and fees are so high. So I resigned from the Mines Department, and then I came directly to the border.

For the pipeline, now they are clearing the ground and surveying. The buildings are nearly finished where the foreigners are staying, about 1½ miles from Kanbauk. Three girls are cooking for them. They also brought in 3 or 4 pickup trucks by helicopter.

NAME: "Kyaw Win"         SEX: M         AGE: 28
FAMILY: Married, 3 children
ADDRESS: Kanbauk village, Ye Pyu Township        INTERVIEWED: 11/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

Q: When did you leave Kanbauk?

A: On May 8, 1995.

Q: How much did you have to pay to Village LORC for porter fees?

A: Every month 150 Kyat per family. For each turn 10 porters are demanded. Anyone who fails to go has to pay 4,000 Kyat fine for a replacement. We also have to pay 60 Kyat for the Ya Wa Ta [Village LORC] development fund and 30 Kyat for the USDA each month. [USDA is the "Union Solidarity Development Association", created in 1994 by SLORC in an attempt to artificially create a mass support organization for itself.]

Q: What about the procedure to apply for pipeline jobs?

A: Our village was limited to 200 applications. Most of the employees are from Rangoon. Only those who are close to the officials are accepted, only close hands and money-givers. Those with no money are not considered at all. The application forms were sold for 20 Kyat each by the Ya Wa Ta officials [Village Law & Order Restoration Council - local SLORC administration] We had to give in our applications to the TOTAL head office. Each applicant had to pay 1000 Kyat to get a good result on the medical exam. When they first arrived, the company promised to give us priority. We are really disappointed. They only think about giving priority to those from Rangoon. There are about 1000 workers from Rangoon and 200 from Kanbauk. TOTAL pays them 200 Kyat per day.

Q: What kind of work is being done?

A: Building construction, around On Bin Kwin and Ka Daik villages. Some are doing survey work, some building roads and some repairing buildings. The road construction is from Kalein Aung to Kanbauk. Farm fields are being damaged, but what is worse is that a new Battalion base is to be built. We hear that it will be at the entrance to our village, at Baw Di Gone [quarter]. If it is sited there then most of the orchards and fields will surely be destroyed.

Q: Do the villagers have to do forced labour to build the camp?

A: No, not yet, but they will have to for sure. The base is just being planned right now.

Q: Who is doing the [pipeline-related] work?

A: Mostly the 200 who were selected by TOTAL, and many [forced] porters too. The porters are from the outskirts of the village. Some are rounded up by the Army, and some are on rotating porter duty. The porters are mostly asked to do clearing work which is harder than the chain survey work. Many of the porters have fled, that is how we know. Except for the officially hired workers, no workers are paid. That is what the fleeing porters told us.

Q: How do you feel?

A: We have had to pay many kinds of fees to the Ya Wa Ta since 1988. The porter fees have increased annually. When TOTAL first arrived the fees were 400 Kyat, but now it is up to 500 Kyat [per family per month]. We were promised work to make us prosperous but now we feel cheated. Besides destroying our gardens, the SLORC soldiers help themselves freely to our fruit so we face many hardships. That is why we have come here to the refugee camp.

============================================================

I am from Kanbauk. Alot of villagers from Kanbauk and other villages around there are working on the gas pipeline, about half of them along the On Bin Kwin - Kanbauk road, and some at their base. Now they are paying money. Adults get 125 Kyats per day. They are paid every 5 days. [They are supposed to get 200 Kyat per day. Either she has heard wrong, or SLORC is taking part of their pay.] I depend on my husband's salary. He gets 1,000 Kyat per month working for the Mines Department. It is not enough to survive [because of the SLORC fees], so we left.

There are about 5 or 6 foreigners at the pipeline base. It is difficult to describe them, because we only saw them in their cars. The soldiers were always with them. We heard they were French.

Now there are alot of forced labourers working at Heinze Boke Island. Some villagers from Kanbauk went there, and they haven't come back. I don't know what they're doing there.

NAME: "U Sein Myint"             SEX: M          AGE: 65
FAMILY: Married, 6 children
ADDRESS: Kaung Hmu village, Ye Pyu Township         INTERVIEWED: 10/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

Q: When did you leave your village?

A: On May 7, 1995.

Q: Why?

A: We could no longer pay the porter fees or give all the labour ordered by the Ya Wa Ta authorities. I don't mean railway labour. Our village is one of the 7 small villages that make up Hpaungdaw main village [on the coast]. We were ordered to go to work on construction of military camps on Heinze Boke island. [These are apparently being built to secure shipping of pipeline supplies or a possible offshore pipeline-related facility.] Every month 30 people had to go from our village for seven days. We were not paid, we even had to take our own food for the seven days. Anyone not going for his turn had to pay 3000 Kyats. There are about 250 houses in Kaung Hmu village.

Q: Were there porter fees?

A: Yes, every family had to pay 200 Kyats per month porter fees. They also collected 5 people as porters every week. Anyone who didn't go was fined 4000 Kyats by the Ya Wa Ta. The Ya Wa Ta also collected 200 Kyats for something they called the "miscellaneous fund", to be paid every month without fail.

Q: Will the gas pipeline pass through your village?

A: Yes. We have only seen the survey work up till now. Some people from Kaung Hmu applied for the work but did not get the job. We heard that the jobs went to some people from Hpaungdaw.

Q: Do you think the village will benefit from the pipeline?

A: We see no prosperity yet. Instead we have to face additional burdens. Now with the increased number of soldiers in the area we are ordered to be on "stand-by duty" [lists of names must be submitted to the Army camp, and these people must be available at a moment's notice for any forced labour or errand required by the soldiers]. We also have to pay 50 Kyats a month to the "stand-by" fund. So now we have to face both the Ya Wa Ta and the SLORC soldiers at the same time. Because of all this we had to flee to the border. We cannot live in peace in our place, and we cannot afford to keep paying all the various fees and funds.

NAME: "Nai Chit Nyunt"             SEX: M              AGE: 64
ADDRESS: xxxx village, near Kanbauk, Ye Pyu Township              INTERVIEWED: 4/6/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Christian

I saw the natural gas companies near Kanbauk. They had SLORC soldiers for security. People told me it is TOTAL company. I did not work in their camp, I just sent the people from our village to work there. The headman asked me to guide them there. There were 15 people from my village. They got 200 Kyats a day to do surveying work. They cut down trees and cleared the area for the survey team.

I went inside the [TOTAL] camp. The camp has wire all around it and about 200 soldiers for security. There are 50 more soldiers out the back, but no soldiers inside the camp. They also have helicopters from Myanmar Airways landing beside the camp, and they have put many security troops near the place where the helicopters land. At the entrance there is a checkpoint gate. They asked me where I came from. I told them I was coming to bring workers, and they let me through the gates. I went inside to meet U Aung Than and I left all the workers with him. Then I went back. I saw some foreigners there. I was there in the first week of March.

NAME: "Aung Mya"             SEX: M             AGE: 23
FAMILY: Single
ADDRESS: Ka M'Laing village, Thayet Chaung Township          INTERVIEWED: 11/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

I had to go as a porter in February. The SLORC village chairman collected 500 Kyats from each house in our village. We don't know the reason he collected the money, we just had to go and pay it. I couldn't afford to pay 500 Kyat to the village chief. So I was sent to Thayet Chaung village to Battalion #405 headquarters because I couldn't pay the money. All the porters were kept together there in the Thayet Chaung village sports building. The soldiers guarded us and didn't allow us to go outside. Then about 200 of us were sent to Battalion #410 headquarters near Zin Ba village [on the pipeline route]. Then we had to carry rice and other things for Battalions 405 and 410, to Nat Ein Taung. Each porter had to carry 30 viss [48 kg.] I had to carry rice, about 3 big tin-fulls. Some porters got sick or fell down. The soldiers beat us. Some porters died while I was a porter. I knew one of them from my village of Ka M'Laing. His name was Ko Thein Myint. He was about 30. His father's name was U Han Kyi. His wife is Ma Than Kyi, now she is left with 4 children. Ko Thein Myint's health was not very good right from the start. He was sick all the way along while we were porters. Two days after we left Zin Ba, Ko Thein Myint fell down together with his load, 3 big tins of rice, about 30 viss [48 kg.]. He fell to the ground and he couldn't stand up anymore. The soldiers didn't help him. They said "This guy is pretending he is ill", and they hit Ko Thein Myint with the butts of their rifles. Ko Thein Myint couldn't speak more than one word, and he died on the spot where he fell. I just heard him say "Please, I'm going to die".

The SLORC soldiers from Battalion 405 ordered us to carry Ko Thein Myint's body to the side of the path, and ordered us to cover his body with branches. We did as the soldiers ordered us, and we left Ko Thein Myint's body there. There were other porters also killed like that - one from [Kywe] Min Gone village in Thayet Chaung township, and one from Kyauk Ka Moat village in Thayet Chaung township. They died the same way Ko Thein Myint died. I didn't know their names because they weren't from my village. They were each carrying one sack [50 kg.] of rice like the rest of us, and the SLORC soldiers ordered us to do the same thing with their bodies as we did with Ko Thein Myint's body.

I was a porter for 15 days. We were not paid - we even had to take along our own money from home to buy food on the way. There was no compensation for the dead. For Ko Thein Myint, the SLORC village chief collected money from the villagers in our village, about 3,000 Kyats, and gave it to Ko Thein Myint's wife. When I got back, I was ordered by the SLORC village chief to be a "volunteer" worker for a short time. I had to go to Maung Mei Shaung village in Tavoy Township and work building the railroad. I was there for 15 days. I had to take my own money for food, and even for my bus fare. I didn't receive any money at all from them. I saw prisoners working with chains on their feet at Za Har village [a convict railway labour camp near Tavoy].

I came to the border because I had to be a porter, I had to pay porter fees all the time and so I was unhappy living in my village, and I left and came here. As for SLORC, we have to pay them and work for them all the time, and we dare not speak our minds because we are always afraid they will take action against us. So I was fed up with living under the SLORC regime and I fled to the border to start a new life.

============================================================

I had to go as a porter to Kyauk Ein and Daw Eit. There were about 80 porters. We were with IB #25. We had to carry beans, ammunition, but mostly rice. I had to carry about 3 big tins of rice [48 kg.]. We got very tired, but if we were slow the soldiers beat us. We didn't get enough food. We bought rice from the soldiers. The soldiers cooked by themselves, then they sold the extra rice to us for 20 Kyats per plate. About 5 or 6 porters got sick, but they got no treatment.

NAME: "Ko Maung Gyi"              SEX: M           AGE: 30
FAMILY: Married, 2 children
ADDRESS: Kyauk Taung village, Tavoy Township         INTERVIEWED: 11/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Burman Buddhist, farmer

I was ordered to be a porter. I refused to go, and there was a scuffle. Then they handcuffed me and took me to the police station. The policemen at the station beat me. Then they sent me to the Tavoy jail by car. I was sentenced to one month in jail. They never took me to court. I don't know what Article they sentenced me with.

Before that I always had to be a porter twice a month, and if I couldn't go I had to give them 1500 Kyats. Then after I was released I had to work as a porter again. Our village was divided into 4 groups and they always took one from each group. It was arranged by the Ya Wa Ta [Village LORC] members.

NAME: "Pu Hla Shwe"            SEX: M              AGE: 64
FAMILY: Married
ADDRESS: Pyun Sah Le village          INTERVIEWED: 5/95
DISCRIPTION: Karen farmer

I left and came here because Burmese soldiers forced us to move. They forced our village to move to Na Bu, last year in March. I refused to move. I have ricefields and farms. In our village the soldiers also collected porters and forced labourers for the railway. I ran, so they never made me a porter. They said they were moving our village because the Karen soldiers came there sometimes and they didn't want that. Na Bu is a Tavoyan village. When they ordered us to move, I don't want to think about how I felt. I left, and now I have been here 4 or 5 months.

============================================================

There are 70 houses in my village. We have to pay forced labour fees once a month or once every two months. Also porter fees. Each family has to pay 1,500 Kyats, and then the next month another 1,500 Kyats [note: compared to villages in other areas this is an exorbitant amount, most likely resulting from the heavy concentration of troops present to protect the pipeline]. There are 2 groups for labour - they take one group for forced labour at worksites [like Army camps, roads etc.], and another group as porters. Widows like me and handicapped people belong to the forced labour group for worksites. As for the porters, they are changed monthly. They also take other porters - lately they've come three times and taken people for 10 days each time. [The monthly porters have to stay with the soldiers at all times and rotate every month, but when the soldiers need extra people they just come and take them].

============================================================

Q: What do you know about the gas pipeline project?

A: Last month [April] they were building some buildings outside of Kanbauk, about 2 miles from Kanbauk [the main TOTAL camp on the road to On Bin Kwin]. The helicopter was crossing overhead every day, sometimes about 10 times a day. It was carrying something. [Other witnesses report a box slung underneath, possibly for aerial survey.]

Q: What about the paid workers?

A: They were repairing the road from Hpaungdaw. They used to carry logs along that road, so it was damaged and needed repair. They were also clearing the ground, but I don't know the details. They started last month. The paid workers get blue uniforms and yellow helmets - all the same, officers and labourers.

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, Ye Township           INTERVIEWED: 19/5/95
DISCRIPTION: Mon Buddhist, farm labourer

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, where the pipeline is slated to cross the border into Thailand - 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, where "Nai Tin Shwe" was doing forced labour on the railway]. 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. [In this area, the surveying was most likely related to onshore exploration work, though the microwave tower could also be useful to the pipeline project.]

Q: How old is your son?

A: My son is 30. He had to go as a porter once a month. It was his turn, so he had to go.

Q: How much does rice cost now?

A: One pyi [about 2.5 kg.] costs 45 or 50 Kyats. One viss of cooking oil is now 200 Kyats. Everything is up. It's very difficult to stay anymore.

Q: You are quite old, so you have seen other governments in Burma. Which has been the worst?

A: Oh, dear. Now we have moved from our village and are staying here. Previous governments were also bad, but at least we could stay in our village. Now they are the worst.