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VI.  SPDC Deserters

As the SPDC continues to rapidly expand its Army, desertions also continue to increase. According to those who have fled the Army, the regime now gets many of its recruits by conscription lotteries in villages and townships, and many more by forcing soldiers to bring in 5 new recruits before they are allowed to leave the Army at the end of their multi-year term of duty. To fulfil this requirement, many soldiers hang around markets and schools and coerce boys aged 13-16 to come with them by holding out the promise of a uniform, a gun, and a salary. Many boys sign up and disappear without their parents ever knowing where they went, while SPDC youth organisations such as ‘Ye Nyunt Youth’ also funnel children, particularly orphans, into the Army. Once in the Army, the boys are brutalised by officers who also steal much of their pay and rations and then order them to get their food from the villagers. Communication with their families is censored, and many of them are illiterate so communication is impossible. Many deserters have told KHRG that most of the soldiers in their unit would have liked to escape, but feared retaliations against their families and knew that they would be arrested if they tried to return home; they are also afraid because they have been told that resistance groups will execute them, which is very seldom true (resistance groups often execute prisoners, but not deserters). As a result, some soldiers reportedly commit suicide. Even so, the rate of desertion is increasing. For examples of the testimonies of former SPDC soldiers and other related information, see Interviews #17-18 in "SLORC Abuses in Chin State" (KHRG, March 1997),  "Interviews With SLORC Army Deserters" (KHRG, May 1996), "Testimony of SLORC Army Defectors" (KHRG, August 1994), "Comments by SLORC Army Defectors" (KHRG, June 1994), Order #147 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A" (KHRG, February 2000), and Order #D1 in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 99-A" (KHRG, February 1999).

Photo #6-1: Young SPDC soldiers shortly after their desertion, Pa’an District. [Photo: FBR volunteer]

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Photo #6-2: A young SPDC deserter in Papun district. [Photo: KHRG researcher]

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