Karen Human Rights Group

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A group of Karen villagers who fled after SPDC troops destroyed their villages in Toungoo district arrives at the Salween riverbank in April 2006 after a difficult and dangerous 2-week journey through heavily SPDC-patrolled hills. At the Salween they were able to crowd onto cattle boats for transport downriver to Ee Thu Hta, where they set up a temporary camp for internally displaced people on the Karen State side of the river. They could not cross to the Thai side of the river because Thai authorities are not willing to allow more arrivals into the Karen refugee camps. (Continued below)

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After the exhausting trip in difficult conditions, the elderly man in photo 1-137 above required an intravenous drip provided by local medics. The woman in photo 1-138 (left) had brought her mentally handicapped daughter all the way from their village.

Children did what they could to help, or gathered together to play. They could not go exploring, however, because the area surrounding this site is thick with landmines, placed by the KNLA to prevent this site being attacked by the several SPDC Army units stationed less than two hours' walk away.

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The child in photo 1-144 (above) had suffered a broken arm en route, while the woman in photo 1-145 (left) is being walked back to her shelter by a nurse after getting a needed IV drip.

In photo 1-146 (below left), a mother takes the opportunity to give haircuts to her three children. Food was shared out and prepared, and as darkness settled on the first day a communal meal was served out (below).

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In the days immediately following, the displaced villagers cut bamboo and began construction on dozens of temporary houses for themselves and those who were sure to follow. Hundreds did follow, and within two months the population here had risen over 1,000, and continued to climb toward 2,000. The larger the site becomes, the more vulnerable it will be to attack by SPDC troops based both up and down the river. At present it appears that the only thing protecting the villagers are the hundreds of landmines deployed surrounding the site by the KNLA to deter attack. [Photos: KHRG]

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Hundreds did follow, and within two months the population here had risen over 1,000, and continued to climb toward 2,000. The larger the site becomes, the more vulnerable it will be to attack by SPDC troops based both up and down the river. At present it appears that the only thing protecting the villagers are the hundreds of landmines deployed surrounding the site by the KNLA to deter attack. [All photos: KHRG]

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The clearing on the top of the next hill is the SPDC Military Operations Command #10 camp at Htaw Mu Pleh Meh, just above Ler Mu Plaw. The SPDC maintains a 120mm mortar position here and has been using it since April 2006 to shell all Karen villages within a 10-12 kilometre radius (see Offensive columns shell and burn villages, round up villagers in northern Papun and Toungoo districts [KHRG #2006-B7, June 2006]).

A column of four battalions was sent north from Ler Mu Plaw in the last few days of May, and as of July they were still destroying villages in the Nah Yoh Htah area. First they call for the village to be shelled with 120mm mortar fire from Htaw Mu Pleh Meh, which can destroy several homes with one blast. Then they fire smaller 60mm and 81mm mortars into the village from closer range and shell the known pathways out of the village to kill the villagers as they flee, before entering the village firing small arms. The houses are looted and then burned, and the village, fields and food storage barns are landmined before they move on to the next village. [Photo: KHRG]

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An abandoned house in Dweh Toh Mee village, Lu Thaw township, northern Papun district. All the villagers fled in early April 2006 because SPDC columns were moving into their area to commence operations. [Photo: KHRG]

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At the end of April 2006, SPDC troops from Light Infantry Battalion #361 based at Maw Pu camp sent a column into Th'Dah Der area east of the Yunzalin River in northern Papun district (see map).

On April 28th the column shelled and then burned most of the houses in the Karen village of T'Kaw Toh Baw in Lu Thaw township of Papun district because they could not control this area and use the villagers for forced labour. Photos 1-156 through 1-162 taken several days later show the burned ruins of the villagers' houses. [Photos: KHRG]

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The villager in photo 1-163 below returned on May 3rd to find that nothing remained of his family's belongings except this sleeping mat, which the soldiers had slashed with a knife and then thrown on the ground. In photo 1-164, a cooking pot deliberately destroyed by the soldiers hangs as a warning that villagers are no longer allowed to live in these hills. [Photos: KHRG]

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The villagers of T'Kaw Toh Baw headed for safer territory with whatever they could carry.

After a short rest in the shade to let the elderly and those with small children catch up (right), they once again set out to distance themselves further from the SPDC column. [Photos: KHRG/FBR]

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All of the villagers fled and took shelter where they could, including under this farm field hut in rice fields near Th'Dah Der village (above and left, photos 1-173 and 1-174). [Photos: KHRG]

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In photo 1-175 (above), a family prepares to cook the only duck they had left after SPDC soldiers took and killed all their other ducks and chickens. In the first days of May they were joined by the villagers of Th'Dah Der (photo 1-176), who fled to the fields in anticipation that their village would also be burned.

The husbands of both Naw E--- (photo 1-177 below, with her three children) and Naw W--- (photo 1-178) had been shot and killed by the column. [Photos: KHRG]

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Internally displaced Karen villagers at a hiding site in northern Papun district, April/May 2006. [Photos: KHRG]

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At the beginning of May 2006 Naw K---, 23 (foreground), a schoolteacher in southeastern Toungoo district, gathered together 40 of her pupils and fled together with them into Papun district to escape SPDC troops. Along the way her pupil Naw T--- (background) fell seriously ill, so Naw K--- brought her to this KNU-run clinic and was caring for her when this photo was taken in mid-May. [Photo: KHRG]

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On May 3rd 2006, a column of SPDC Light Infantry Battalion #1 (part of Light Infantry Division #66) entered the area of Hsaw Wah Der village in Tantabin township of Toungoo district. This village is between the Kler Lah - Bu Sah Kee and Kler Lah - Mawchi vehicle roads, both of which are heavily militarised by the SPDC, so the villagers face a lot of demands from the SPDC and pressure to move to the vehicle road.

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The column encountered 20 year old Hsaw Wah Der villager Saw Bu Ler Htaw along the path. They shot him dead on the spot, then stole his money and baskets of rice and went on to Hsaw Wah Der village, where they shot and killed one of the villagers' pigs. The next day the people of Hsaw Wah Der fled into the forest.

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They told KHRG that troops from Light Infantry Battalion #14 of SPDC Light Infantry Division #66 had come to their village in recent months, stolen villagers' things and shot and killed other villagers as well, so they decided it would be better to take whatever they could carry and live in hiding in the forest, evading SPDC control. [Photos: KHRG]

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Hsaw Wah Der villagers flee into the forest on May 4-5 2006 (see story above).

They carried whatever food and belongings they could with them, including some of their chickens. The first one or two nights, they had to cook and sleep on the ground among their belongings, pigs and small livestock (photos 1-195 and 1-196 below). [Photos: KHRG]

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On May 8th the column returned to destroy Hsaw Wah Der village. They saw 80 year old Hsaw Wah Der villager Saw Tha Paw along the path and shot him dead on sight. His body was left on the path (above).

On arrival at the village, the troops looted the houses and that night they burned five houses and three farm field huts to the ground (below). [Photos: KHRG]

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In the following days, some of the villagers returned to see their homes, only to find them a pile of charred ashes. Seen in the forest after the burning (photo 1-204 below), these Hsaw Wah Der villagers said returning to stay in their village was now no longer possible. They began setting up basic shelters in the forest, surviving on whatever they had brought with them (photos 1-205 through 1-208 below). [Photos: KHRG]

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More people continued to arrive from the surrounding villages (photo 1-209), while some villagers headed back to their destroyed houses or hidden paddy barns to try to retrieve some rice (photo 1-210). [Photos: KHRG]

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Houses in Teh Bo Plaw area of Saw Mu Plaw village tract, Lu Thaw township, Papun district, shelled and burned at the end of April 2006 by a combined column of SPDC Light Infantry Battalions #362 and 363 based at Ler Mu Plaw. The villagers escaped before the column arrived, and one of them is shown here returning to salvage what he can from the ruins of his house. The column then went on to destroy other villages in the area (see below). [Photo: KHRG]

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The ashes of Htee Muh Hta village in Saw Mu Plaw village tract of Lu Thaw township, Papun district, which was shelled and then burned to the ground by an SPDC column from Light Infantry Battalion #362 (part of Military Operations Command #10 based at Ler Mu Plaw) on May 8th 2006 at 2 p.m.

These photos were taken the following morning; photo 1-215 (below) shows a KNLA soldier walking through the still-smouldering ruins of a house.

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Photos 1-216 and 1-217 (below) show some of the villagers' livestock, shot and left to die by the troops to destroy their food supply. The villagers, however, had warning of the SPDC column's approach and no one was in the village when it was attacked.

Since the beginning of May 2006 columns from Military Operations Commands #10 and #15 have been shelling and burning all villages in this area of northern Papun district (see Villagers displaced as SPDC offensive expands into Papun district [KHRG #2006-B4, May 2006] and SPDC military begins pincer movement, adds new camps in Papun district [KHRG #2006-B10, August 2006]). Saw Mu Plaw area was one of the first to be hit because it lies just west of MOC #10's base at Ler Mu Plaw. See also photos below. [Photos: KHRG]

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Immediately after burning Htee Muh Hta village (see above), the Light Infantry Battalion #362 column sought out and destroyed the two nearby settlements of Dta Baw Koh Htah and Toh Thu Plaw (right and below), which were not villages but were being used as temporary homes by displaced villagers in hiding. [Photos: KHRG]

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Any rice they found was either taken or dumped on the ground to destroy it (photo 1-222, below left), and livestock was shot and left to die, like the buffalo in photo 1-223 below, shot in a rice irrigation channel. The displaced villagers had prior warning of the column and escaped before it arrived. [Photos: KHRG]

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Most of the villagers managed to evade the Light Infantry Battalion #362 column sent to burn the villages in Saw Mu Plaw area, but whenever the troops sighted villagers they opened fire on them. Saw Lah Kyaw Mu, a 21 year old student from Yay Woh Loh Der village in Ler Mu Plaw village tract was shot on sight, his body left to rot here in the bush where he fell (below left). This photo was taken on May 10th 2006, two days after he was shot. The other villagers who escaped the column are now displaced once again, including the small girl in photo 1-225. [Photos: KHRG]

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Children in Ler Wah area of Nyaunglebin district head into the hills on May 10th 2006 with whatever rice they can carry, as SPDC troops arrive near their villages for the third time in the past year. In photos 1-228 through 1-231, their parents select sites and construct basic bamboo shelters to wait until the SPDC troops leave the area of their villages. [Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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In photo 1-232 (above) a baby sleeps in a hammock in the forest, cared for by its father because the mother is ill.

The young boy in photo 1-233 (left) had to flee by himself when the SPDC approached on May 10th , and was found by his parents in the forest the next day.

Nonetheless, as suggested by photos 1-234 and 1-235 below, despite the dangers the children appear much happier living in hiding in the forest than those forced to move to the SPDC's Plaw Law Bler relocation site (see Section 2 on Forced Relocation). [Photos: KHRG]

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When SPDC troops came to Ler Wah area in May 2006 they shelled and shot up the villages they entered without warning, though most villagers had already fled. Photo 1-236 (left) shows the scar on a villager's bamboo wall where a bullet or shell fragment penetrated the house.

In Maw Pu village, people had already cut their fallow fields (right, photo 1-237) but had not yet burned off the scrub after it dries, a crucial step to clear the field and nurture the coming crop. By the time they could return to their field it had already rained, making a proper burnoff - and therefore an adequate crop - impossible.

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Photos 1-238 and 1-239 show other local fields which villagers had prepared for planting but were unable to sow as long as SPDC forces remained in the area. This ensures that they will suffer food shortages in the coming year.

Photo 1-240 (below) shows part of the Khay Loh stream in the area, where villagers used to come to fishing until SPDC soldiers began laying in wait in the bush and sniping at them without warning. [All photos: KHRG]

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Villagers from Ler Ker Der Kah in Than Daung township, Toungoo district, living in hiding in the forest in mid-May 2006 after the SPDC destroyed their village. As long as they have food, they do not want to flee to Thailand. [Photos: KHRG]

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In the first two weeks of June 2006, SPDC Military Operations Command #15 sent over 1,000 troops in two columns along the upper Bilin River valley to destroy all the villages there (see the KHRG report Offensive columns shell and burn villages, round up villagers in northern Papun and Toungoo districts of June 2006).

These photos show the people of Dta Meh Der and Pah Heh Der villages fleeing into the hills east of the river in mid-June with whatever food and belongings they can carry. The rains had already begun, and rivers and streams were already in flood.

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The people of some villages in the valley had already built huts hidden in the forest in anticipation of the SPDC attacks, making the move easier; this was the case for the Dta Meh Der villagers in photo 1-252 (left) taken on June 8th.

The rain and Karen landmines slowed the SPDC columns, while dozens of villages were quickly evacuated before the troops could arrive. The villagers had to remain in these shelters in the hills for several weeks, but the column withdrew to the north in late June and they were able to return to rebuild their destroyed villages.

See also the photos immediately below, and photos 1-388 through 1-406 in the Convict Porters section showing the SPDC encampments and the remains of some of the column's convict porters. [Photos: KHRG]

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People from villages in the Bilin River valley take refuge in the forested hills in June 2006 while SPDC troops from Military Operations Command #15 destroy their villages (see above). Groups fled all along the river, some with KNLA escorts (photo 1-256 above).

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The rains were already in full force, so they first set to building simple shelters for the most vulnerable, then the young and strong went out to cut and split giant bamboo (photos 1-258 and 1-259) for making stronger shelters with floors raised above the bare ground.

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Some of the basic rhythms of village life returned, with people preparing food while others improved their shelters or returned to retrieve food from hidden rice storage barns. There was little to eat, however, except plain rice (photo 1-263).

Women had the most varied jobs to do, ranging from caring for children and cooking (photo 1-266 below) to foraging in the forest.

In photo 1-267 a few children take a break, but they are also called upon to care for younger siblings and forage in the forest. [All photos: KHRG]

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Villagers from Baw Kwaw, Thay Koh Muh Der and Dt'Lay Gaw Der villages in the upper Bilin River valley of Papun district heading through the rain to hiding sites in the forest on June 6th 2006 as SPDC troops attacked their villages.

Nine days later, photos B-22 and B-23 below show some of them preparing to return to their villages after the SPDC column had moved on.

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Though they returned to the villages, many left some supplies and essential belongings in huts hidden in the forest in anticipation of being displaced again (photo B-24 below).

[Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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The remains of a temporary post built by SPDC soldiers in villagers' rice fields near Thay Koh Muh Der, in the Bilin River valley in Papun district, when they were destroying the villages along the valley in June 2006. This makes the crop inaccessible to its owners. Photo B-26 (above right) shows some of the rice plants the soldiers uprooted to create a 'mat' to sit on, and photo B-27 (right) shows part of the field where they uprooted rice and planted vegetables for themselves; clearly they were planning to stay longer than they did.

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They also looted rice from the villagers' storage barns and brought it up the hill for themselves (photo B-28, above left). Firing positions like the one shown in photo B-29 (above right) command a wide view of the valley and are used to snipe at displaced villagers.

Photos B-30 and B-31 (above and right) show some of the mortar shell canisters left behind by the troops, after firing the shells at nearby villages.

Among the abandoned shelters, villagers found the body of a murdered convict porter (photo B-32 below) still in a blue prison uniform; during the offensive several hundred convict porters have been killed when they are no longer of use to the troops. Local villagers believe that the rubber slippers, basket and bits of clothing seen in photo B-33 (below right) probably belonged to this or another convict porter murdered at the camp by the troops.

[Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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Villagers in the Bilin River valley down with malaria on July 3rd 2006, contracted during the period in mid-June (see above) when they were hiding in the forest to evade the SPDC column sent to destroy their villages. [Photos: KHRG]

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Part of a villager's hillside rice field in the Bilin River valley (above). The villagers had already sown a crop here in early June, but when the SPDC column from Military Operations Command #15 came through they trampled the young rice plants in this field and destroyed the crop. Here a KNLA patrol looks at the damage on June 28th , and then moves on to look at one of the SPDC column's abandoned temporary camps along the Bilin River (above right). They also found the skeleton of a villager's buffalo (right), either shot dead by the column or killed by a landmine.

See below in the Convict Porters section for further photos of the SPDC's temporary encampments along the Bilin River and the corpses of convict porters found there. [Photos: KHRG]

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