NOTES ON LANDMINE USE - SLORC & KNLA

These informal notes were prepared in response for specific requests for information on landmine use.   They are not intended to present a complete picture of landmine use.

The technical mine information below was obtained from KNLA sources and was current as of early 1994, though it is apparently still current. The notes regarding effect on civilians are mainly from KHRG observations. Abbreviations: SLORC = State Law & Order Restoration Council, the junta ruling Burma; KNLA = Karen National Liberation Army, the Karen resistance force; DKBA = Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, a Karen faction allied with SLORC.

SLORC Mines

The most common landmine used is the American M-76, of which the Burmese now manufacture their own copies. Almost all of these found used to be American-made, but now more are the Burmese copies. They are the "classic" landmine design, made of heavy-duty metal, cylindrical, about 2" diameter and 4-5" high, with a screw-in top the diameter of a pencil which extends a couple of inches above the body of the mine - this screw-in top is surmounted by a plunger the size of a pencil eraser which is what sets off the mine. The safety pin goes through the plunger, and can be used to rig a tripwire. However, most common use is to bury the mine with only the plunger above ground, generally hidden by leaf litter. The body of the mine is Army green, stencilled with yellow lettering: for example "LTM-76 A.P. MINE / DI-LOT 48/84" (copied off a recovered SLORC mine). "A.P." means Anti-Personnel. This mine is designed to kill or maim people. The person who steps on it is almost certainly killed, and anyone in a 5-metre radius is wounded.

Increasingly common (now possibly more common with SLORC than the M76) are Chinese landmines, the cheap variety with which the Chinese are flooding the Asian and global marketplace, costing about US$2 each. These are flat cylinders, about 3" diameter and 1½" high, very small and light. They look like toys - the exterior is cheap green plastic, and the whole top surface is a dark green spongy touch-sensitive plastic "leatherette" detonating pad. There is a ring in the side as a safety pin. These are not usable with a tripwire. The only marking is some numbers stencilled on the bottom - one SLORC example reads "28-88-652A". These aren’t as powerful as M76 mines, but still often kill and at the very least blow off your leg. They are apparently hated by mine-clearance people because there isn’t much metal in them to detect electronically.

Claymore mines are also often used, both the American M18 and its identical Burmese-made copy. The Burmese are apparently self-sufficient in these now, as American-made versions are no longer seen. These are the flat, curved-front mines with folding legs which are set up above ground, and when detonated the whole front explodes spraying the area in front with about 700 metal pellets which can rip several people at once into unrecognizable shreds. The American versions even have quaint notices stencilled on them: "FRONT - TOWARDS ENEMY", "WARNING - EXPLOSIVE IS POISONOUS IF EATEN", and "DO NOT BURN - PRODUCES TOXIC GASES". The Burmese copies have similar notices on them, including "FRONT - TOWARDS ENEMY" in Burmese. On the back of the American ones is written "BACK - M18A1 APERS MINE". The whole dimensions are about 10" horizontal x 5" vertical x 2" thick, with 4" folding pointed legs to stick it into the ground. The main compartment containing the explosive and pellets has a heavy-duty plastic Army green exterior. The American-made ones have an assembly on top so that an electric current can be used to test that it won’t blow up in your face - the Burmese copies don’t bother with this feature. Claymores are generally used with remote controls, set up in strategic spots and used to initiate an ambush, or with tripwires to protect a camp perimeter. They can be used with tripwires in a similar way to landmines, but this is unusual and I have no knowledge of this being done in Burma. However, the claymores used to protect a camp perimeter pose a threat to civilians and livestock. Needless to say, anyone hitting the tripwire and anyone who is with them is dead without question.

KNLA Mines

The KNLA makes their own landmines similar to a smaller version of an M76 (their capacity to do this may have decreased after the fall of Manerplaw in early 1995) and they also use American-made M14 mines, also like an M76 but shorter, smaller and lighter (bought on the Vietnam/Cambodia surplus market). Neither of these explodes as strongly as an M76, but they are still extremely deadly and radio messages from various KNLA Brigades every week mention SLORC soldiers, sometimes more than one at a time, being killed by them. The KNLA also uses anti-vehicle mines on military supply roads, the kind which need the weight of a vehicle to set them off, but I don’t have any technical details on these. SLORC often forces villagers to sweep roads for these and drive bullock-carts along to detonate them. They sometimes find them, but I have no reports of villagers being blown up by them. KNLA uses American-made claymore mines (bought on the Vietnam/Cambodia surplus market), but exclusively for ambushes of SLORC columns. Given that SLORC columns often send villagers out in front as minesweepers, it is certain that there are villagers killed by these claymores (although remote control is used, so the ambushing soldiers will wait for the SLORC soldiers to reach the spot before detonating the claymores).

Notes on Usage

SLORC uses claymore mines only around army camp perimeters, rigged to tripwires. They use M76 and Chinese landmines around their army camp perimeters, and also in places where they think KNLA might camp or hide in the forest, such as at good water sources. They sometimes lay mines behind them along the path if they think KNLA may be tracking their movements. They generally mark the map coordinates and inform other SLORC units in the area, though this is not specific enough to pinpoint the mine. SLORC never removes mines it has laid. Villagers are never told the location of the mines, because SLORC doesn’t want them to tell the KNLA. In some rare cases, the villagers are told "Don’t go towards that village because there are mines". Villagers in some areas have learned some of the tricks to decrease the risk of stepping on mines and how to occasionally spot the triggers of M76 mines, though the Chinese mines are almost impossible to spot. However, just as the use of landmines is lower in Burma than in places like Cambodia, the villagers’ awareness of how to avoid them is also lower. As for KNLA soldiers, Karen areas and refugee camps are full of "former KNLA soldiers" with one leg.

KNLA uses remote-controlled claymores to ambush SLORC columns, and lays landmines primarily on paths very close to SLORC camps where SLORC troops are expected to pass. If villagers are lucky they will be informed, but not generally. KNLA claims that it does not lay mines randomly in the forest or along village paths. As KNLA has very limited resources, it is probably true that they target their landmine use on specific spots that have a lot of SLORC traffic - however, regardless of this villagers regularly step on KNLA mines, which only emphasizes the fact that there can be no such thing as "controlled" use of landmines. KNLA occasionally uses vehicle mines on military supply roads to hit military supply trucks. These roads generally have little or no civilian traffic allowed, so if anything is hit it will almost certainly be a military truck. However, these mines are used more randomly than strategically, so it is highly doubtful whether anything is gained by blowing up one out of every hundred SLORC military trucks. Even when it happens, the surrounding villages are burned and forced to pay heavy compensation (see below), which sometimes turns people against the KNLA.

I have no specific information as yet on use of landmines by the DKBA, though they are reportedly using them or the threat of them in Pa’an and Papun Districts, in order to scare villagers off the idea of fleeing to refugee camps in Thailand by letting villagers know the paths are mined. DKBA gets all its ammunition from SLORC, so if they are using mines these may be supplied by SLORC; they may also have some from captured KNLA arms caches.

Neither SLORC nor KNLA formally maps where they put their mines other than those around the perimeters of army camps. A unit may take down some notes or more often just go by memory, but there is no formal system. They will just know that they aren’t to go into a particular patch of bush or off the path in a particular area, and if the villagers are lucky they might be told as well. Neither side ever attempts to remove landmines which they have laid. Of course, units change and memories fade, and soldiers of both sides sometimes step on their own mines. When this happens to SLORC, they still go to the surrounding villages, blame the villagers for laying the mine and exact retribution. Also, soldiers on both sides are sometimes killed or maimed while laying mines or booby traps. I have seen several Karen soldiers who have lost both of their hands and their sight from this kind of accident. For the rest of their lives they have to go around on the arm of a friend, being spoon-fed, having their cheroots lit for them, etc.

Effects on Civilians

There are no statistics so it is impossible to say for sure, but by observation it appears that soldiers (of both sides) are more often casualties of landmines than civilians in Karen areas. This is because the laying of landmines is not quite so rampant and random here as in other countries. However, the casualty toll on civilians is still high; from what villagers say, there must be at least 3 or 4 landmine explosions per month involving civilians, and probably more. Even when landmines hit their intended targets, the soldiers, civilians are often wounded or killed because they are with the soldiers as porters or guides. Worse yet, SLORC deliberately sends conscripted civilian porters in front of their military columns to detonate any landmines that may be in the way. When civilian porters are wounded by landmines, SLORC generally puts their load on the back of another porter and marches on, leaving them behind in the forest to die. When KNLA porters are wounded by mines, they are treated the same as the soldiers; however, KNLA medics are not well equipped and there are generally no treatment facilities in the area, so they most often die as well. Villagers are also killed or maimed by landmines when they go around the forest alone cutting bamboo, gathering vegetables, etc. Roughly equal proportions of men and women are killed or maimed this way. In the villages and refugee camps not many civilian landmine victims are seen, because they generally die from loss of blood and the absence of medics or treatment. The soldiers survive more often, because they almost always have a medic with the column. Villagers also lose a lot of livestock to landmines, because they let their animals roam untethered to graze, and the animals often wander near military camps.

Whenever a landmine explodes, SLORC exacts retribution on the villages in the area. This happens even when only villagers are hurt or when the mine was laid by SLORC in the first place, because it is part of the SLORC "Four Cuts" program to keep villagers in fear and under control. First the elders of the nearest villagers are arrested, tortured and accused of laying the mine. (If it was a SLORC column that encountered the mine, even the porters with the column are often accused of laying it, beaten and threatened with execution). Then some houses are usually burned down as an "example" to the villagers. If a SLORC soldier was wounded or killed by the mine, some villagers will generally be publicly executed as an "example". In many cases, villages in the area will be immediately forced to move to military-controlled "relocation sites", which double as labour camps, and told that anyone seen in the area of their village in future will be shot on sight. Money is also demanded as "compensation", anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 Kyat per village - a huge amount for subsistence farmers to pay. Even when villagers or their livestock step on SLORC mines, the SLORC troops sometimes demand money "to replace the cost of the mine". Because of all this, villages in some areas ask the local KNLA commanders not to lay any mines in their area. Some commanders listen, but most do not.

SLORC is always building new military access roads into Karen areas, and not only are villagers forced to build these roads, but because of the threat of mines they are forced to stand sentry on them after they are built. Usually most of the women and children in a village are taken for this duty, sleeping along the roadside at 100 or 200 yard intervals. If they see anyone on the road they are supposed to report it up the line to the SLORC camp. Their motivation is that if any mines are later found on the road, their village will be blamed. They are also forced to sweep the road for mines whenever a military supply convoy is due to come, usually several times each month. First the women and children have to sweep the dust of the road to uncover any mines. In many cases, the elderly of the village are then forced to drive their oxcarts along the road loaded with rocks or village children. Sometimes a SLORC truck is loaded with village women and children and slowly driven along the road. If the villagers find a mine or a mine explodes, the village will be blamed and face even heavier retribution than they would for an anti-personnel mine. As the mines are intended for heavy vehicles, the sweepers generally do not set them off or find them. Sometimes a SLORC truck is destroyed, and surrounding villages are fined 50,000 to 500,000 Kyat each "for the cost of the truck", as well as facing executions, burning of houses, and possible forced relocation (especially if they cannot pay the money).

Recommendations

In Burma as in other conflicts, in the final analysis landmines make no difference to the outcome, and they create no strategic advantage for either side. They only cause a great deal of suffering, agony, and longterm cost to the community through disablement, both among soldiers and civilians. Strong international conventions should be signed to ban their manufacture and use, and any government or opposition group found to be manufacturing or using them should be politically ostracized and face stiff economic penalties.