Karen Human Rights Group

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Women and men work together in a rush to finish ploughing their fields in mid-June 2006, so they can sow a crop before fleeing SPDC columns which were already beginning to shell villages in the area. These villagers are from Lay Pu Der and T'Kaw Toh Baw villages, both near the SPDC-patrolled road from Pwa Ghaw to Saw Htah in northern Papun district. The couple in photo 1-273 are in their sixties and would normally leave heavy ploughing labour to their adult children, but their children were also rushing to finish other work. Though younger, the woman in photo 1-274 would normally leave ploughing to the men of the family, but in the hurry to sow before fleeing to the hills all family members had to take part in heavy work. [Photos: KHRG]

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The villagers of Bler Ghaw and Taw Mu Pleh Meh villages flee through the night and following day of June 14-15 2006, carrying sleeping mats and belongings quickly thrown together as an SPDC column from Military Operations Command #10 approaches their villages. The column of several hundred troops was sweeping northward up the western side of the Yunzalin River in northern Papun district, shelling and burning villages in their path (see photos below).

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On June 15th, the SPDC column from Military Operations Command #10 fired mortar shells at this village on the Yunzalin riverbank as they approached to burn it. The columns of rising smoke show where the mortar shells were exploding, first on the outskirts of the village (left) and then among the houses (below). The troops then entered, looted the village and burned it.

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The SPDC column proceeded to destroy the villages of Htee Baw Kee, Bler Ghaw, Htee Mu Kee and others. These photos (left and below) were taken the day after Htee Mu Kee was burned, when some of the villagers returned to inspect the damage. They found their homes and rice supplies still smouldering.

In Htee Mu Kee high school (photo 1-284 below), the troops had broken into the school office, hurled all the books and papers to the floor and set them alight.

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Photo 1-286 above shows a villager's basket and fishing nets destroyed and left on the ground, along with the remains of small livestock killed by the troops.

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On June 16th and subsequent days, the Htee Mu Kee villagers tried to salvage what they could from their systematically destroyed homes.

Even in houses which the troops had not burned, they had entered to loot and to scatter people's rice on the floor, puncture or destroy their cooking implements, and rip down overhead storage racks and walls (below).

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The kitchens above were deliberately torn up, and the rice bin below was found tipped and spilled all over the floor.

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In the photo below, one of the villagers tries to put together a meal for himself and a pet cat among the ruins of his kitchen.

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On June 17th 2006 (left and below) villagers emerged from their villages and the hills west of the Yunzalin River, arriving at the riverbank to cross on bamboo rafts as they fled eastward. The SPDC column from Military Operations Command #10 focused its attacks and placed its new camps on the western side of the river, so people throughout the area were crossing the river to hide in the hills to the east, in the hope that they could return to their fields by harvest time if the SPDC troops withdraw. The presence of new SPDC camps in the area suggests, however, that this is unlikely. [These and all photos above: KHRG]

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On June 15th 2006, SPDC Light Infantry Battalion #363 fired mortar shells and machine-gun rounds into Gker Ghaw Koh village in northeastern Papun district, and also fired mortar shells across the Yunzalin River into Thaw Kee Der village. This is one of the 60-millimetre mortar shells which failed to explode. [Photo: KHRG; ignore the incorrect date burned on the photo]

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This woman from Htee Baw Kee village in northern Papun district fled her village when it was shelled by the SPDC in mid-June (see photos above), when she was close to giving birth. After "many days" of living on the move in the forest in the heavy rain, she found her way to this rice field hut near Kay Pu village and gave birth here at the beginning of July with no midwife and no medicines. When this photo was taken on July 3rd she was suffering from a fever, and one of her other four children (photo 1-298) had to be entrusted with caring for the new baby. [Photos: KHRG]

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Mortar shell transport cases discarded by an SPDC column after firing the shells at undefended villages in the Nah Yoh Htah area of northern Papun district in June 2006. SPDC columns usually shell villages without warning before entering to burn them. Photo 1-300 (right) shows a patch of giant bamboo destroyed by one of the mortar shells fired at Bp'Na Koo Bplaw village on June 15th 2006; this bamboo grove is just a few metres from some villagers' farming huts at the edge of their rice fields. The troops went on to burn the village (see below). [Photos: KHRG]

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On June 16th 2006, an SPDC column of Military Operations Command #10 based at Ler Mu Plaw approached Bp'Na Koo Bplaw village in Saw Mu Plaw village tract of northern Papun district. First they shelled the undefended village with mortars (see photos above), then entered and burned 22 houses and a rice storage barn.

These photos taken on June 19th and 20th show the ashes of some of the houses, and the return of the villagers to salvage what they could. [All photos below: KHRG]

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Photo 1-305 above shows all that is left of a villager's rice storage barn, with the paddy still smouldering four days later.

The two boys standing in the ashes of their house in photo 1-306 (left) said that they had not been able to carry everything when they fled so they had come back to fetch their pigs, chickens and clothing, but it had all been burned together with their house so they each had only two shirts left.

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When another family had finished recovering all that they could from the ruins of their house, the total was only enough to fill the sack shown in photo 1-308 above.

The two men in photo 1-309 (left) found their pig still alive, but it had been shot and left wounded by the SPDC troops, so they killed it and butchered it for meat.

The kitten in photo 1-310 (right) was found dead on the steps of its house, having starved to death after the villagers fled.

Photo 1-311 below shows the base of the front steps to one family's house, surrounded by their stored paddy grain which the SPDC soldiers had dumped out the front door.

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Meanwhile, the villagers were still staying in temporary bamboo huts in the surrounding hills like those shown in photo 1-312 above.

Their rice fields, including those shown in photo 1-313 (left), lay untended and the villagers said they were likely to be destroyed by weeds because the SPDC had established a new camp nearby on a hilltop called Twih Mee Kyoh beside K'Baw Kee village, so they dared not return to tend their fields.

Fleeing and living in temporary shelters in the heavy rains of the monsoon led some of the children to fall sick; in photo 1-314 (right), a grandmother comforts her grandson after telling KHRG she could not find any medicines for him.

The children in photo 1-316 (below right) told KHRG their house in the village had been burned along with the others; they were waiting at their shelter on June 20th while their parents had gone out to forage for food. [All photos: KHRG]

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Villagers from Kaw Roh Baw Htah, near Bp'Na Koo Bplaw (see above), return to their hiding place in the forest after salvaging food and belongings from their village on June 17th . [Photo: KHRG]

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Four days after the burning of Bp'Na Koo Bplaw (see above), these villagers in nearby Htee See Kee village were nervous and watching for any sign that their village might be attacked by the SPDC troops who had just established a camp on Twih Mee Kyoh hill beside K'Baw Kee village, just a short walk away. Children continued in the local school, but with their minds on their families and escape routes.

The eighty-seven year old grandfather in photo 1-320 (left) said he had no plans to run. He is blind and can no longer walk, nor can his wife. He told KHRG that if the other villagers fled they would have to remain behind in the village, because it would slow down the other villagers too much to carry them and both of their sons were already shot dead by the SPDC years ago. He said if their house is burned they will die there, and that they will only get something to eat if the other villagers can bring food back to the village for them.

A few weeks later, an SPDC column approached and the villagers fled into the forest (see photos 1-360, 1-373 and 1-374 below). [Photos: KHRG]

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A temporary shelter used by the SPDC column destroying villages near Kay Pu in late June 2006. They built the shelter using split-bamboo walls looted from villages where people had fled, then abandoned the shelter when they moved on. [Photo: KHRG]

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The two photos above show nursery school and high school students in Kay Pu village on the upper Yunzalin River in northern Papun district at the end of June 2006. Though SPDC forces were already shelling villages in the hills just to the west, they were trying to stay in their village as long as possible.

Groups worked together to transplant paddy (photo 1-324, right) in the hope that even if they had to flee into the forest they might have something to harvest later in the year. Everyone was anticipating fleeing eastward into the hills soon.

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The Kay Pu village Christian church (photo 1-325, left) was already burned by the SPDC in 1998, but the villagers rebuilt it with solid wood posts and pews and bamboo walls. Local villagers told KHRG they feared the SPDC would burn their church again this year. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers in Kay Pu village tract of northern Papun district hurry to plough and transplant their paddy in July 2006. Even though SPDC columns are moving through the nearby hills and shelling their villages, they hope that if they sow this crop they might have a chance to harvest something in November/December if the SPDC columns are less active. This is their only hope if they are to have anything to eat for the coming year. [Photos: KHRG]

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Between July 15th and 22nd 2006, SPDC Light Infantry Battalions #368 and 369 patrolled and destroyed villages and farm field huts in the Yeh Mu Plaw area of northern Papun district. They established a new outpost at Thay Wah Kyo (a.k.a. Hill 3474) near Bpee Thu Der and Yeh Mu Plaw villages (see map; see also Forced Labour, Extortion and Abuses in Papun District [KHRG #2006-F7, 29/7/06]).

These are some of the villagers in the area, who had to flee to the high mountaintops to evade the Army columns seeking them out to shoot them on sight or forcibly relocate them to SPDC-garrisoned roadside sites. [All photos: KHRG/FBR]

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The villagers are used to evading SPDC control in this way, and quickly established the shelters shown in the photos, took care of their sick and made sure everyone had enough food.

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In these circumstances extended families form crucial support networks, and beyond the family unit groups of adolescents, adults or the elderly join in work to keep the village community together.

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Everyone waits, hoping that the SPDC column will move away from their village so they can return, or at least so they can retain access to their fields from their forest hiding places.

Meanwhile they forage to augment their diet. Due to limits on how much people can carry, when they left the village most people were only able to bring along rice and chillies (photo 1-343 below).

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It was the middle of rainy season, a particularly difficult time to be displaced because the rains fall constantly, and malaria and diarrhoea are serious threats. Normally they would simply wait here for the SPDC troops to move on, but the establishment of the Army outpost prevents people from returning to their villages and months later as this is written they remain displaced, expecting an intensification of SPDC patrols when the rains end in October.

Rice fields like that shown in photo 1-344 (below left) had already been sown before the villagers were displaced, but had to be abandoned, and it remains uncertain whether any harvest will be possible. Photo 1-345 below shows two piglets that starved to death in a village near Ku Day after the villagers were forced to move into the forest to evade SPDC troops from the nearby Army camps. [Photos: KHRG/FBR]

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At dusk on July 17th , villagers in the Ku Day area of Papun district set out with KNLA escorts to retrieve rice from their villages and hidden rice storage barns. This must be done by night because their villages are near the Kyauk Kyi - Saw Htah road and surrounded by SPDC army camps. [Photos: KHRG]

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A group of internally displaced villagers in Nah Yoh Htah area of northern Papun district takes a rest in another village after fleeing when SPDC forces shelled and destroyed their village in July 2006. [Photo: KHRG]

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Villagers from Dtroo Kee and Htee See Kee villages take shelter in the forest at the end of July 2006 after SPDC troops had established a camp on Ler Dt'Khaw Kyoh hill just 15 minutes' walk from their villages in northern Papun district. [All photos: KHRG]

The Htee See Kee villagers had managed to build a school in the forest (below), and the local teachers were trying to continue teaching primary school as normal.

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Some villagers returned to the village when they could to retrieve food supplies; in photo 1-355 (right), a woman uses the leg-powered mortar at her house to quickly pound some of her paddy supply in Htee See Kee village while KNLA soldiers stand guard, so she can take the rice back to the hidden site in the forest.

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Atop the right end of the ridge in the background of photo 1-356 above lies the new SPDC camp at Twih Mee Kyoh, near Nah Yoh Htah in northern Papun district (see SPDC military begins pincer movement, adds new camps in Papun district [KHRG #2006-B10, August 2006]). SPDC troops from Light Infantry Battalions #362 and 363 burned and destroyed K'Baw Kee village, which lies at the base of the ridge, on June 1st 2006 and then established this camp on the ridgetop. The ricefield in the foreground was sown by the K'Baw Kee villagers in early June, but now lies untended as they have been forced to flee into hiding in the forest and the field lies in sight of the SPDC camp.

Photos 1-357 and 1-358 show the ashes of a house in K'Baw Kee and one of the rice storage barns, with some of the half-burned paddy still laying on the ground.

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In photo 1-359 (left), a KNLA soldier observes the SPDC camp for any sign of patrols being sent out to hunt down the displaced villagers.

When the SPDC battalions burned their village on June 1st 2006 (see above), the people of K'Baw Kee fled to Kay Pu. Some survived by finding paid day labour for other villagers; in photo 1-360 (right), an adolescent girl counts out the 10 milktins of rice she has been paid for a day's work in the fields, barely enough to feed her family for the day. As shown by other photos in this gallery, the Kay Pu villagers themselves can spare very little, but they hire the displaced from other areas partly as a means of sharing whatever they have.

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The woman from K'Baw Kee in photo 1-361 (left) had fallen sick after being on the run in the rain in the forest for a week, but had nothing for treatment except herbal remedies. [All photos above: KHRG]

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At the end of July 2006 a KNLA patrol (above) enters the village of Ghee Thoo Kee in northern Papun district, now abandoned because it is close to an SPDC camp so the villagers have all fled into the forest. Photo 1-363 (above right) shows part of their hillside rice fields, sown but now untended and becoming overgrown because they are too close to the SPDC camp.

Similarly, the extensive and fertile irrigated rice fields at Ler Mu Plaw (visible in the distance of photo 1-364, right) are untended and abandoned because they are overlooked by the SPDC Military Operations Command #10 base of Baw Hser Koh. Since June, the SPDC has been firing heavy 120-mm mortar shells at all villages in the area from the mortar emplacement at this camp. [Photos: KHRG]

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These villagers are from Klaw Mi Der, Peh Taw Day and Paw Pah villages in southwestern Toungoo district. Earlier in the year the SPDC forced them to move to a military-controlled relocation site at Play Hsa Loh village, where there is an SPDC Army camp (see map).

They tried to survive there but were constantly used for forced labour by the military and were given no food or access to land, so they escaped and when these photos were taken on June 30th 2006 they were heading through northern Papun district in an effort to reach the Thai border.

The woman in photo 1-369 (below) has a small baby, but had to stop in this hut along the way because she fell ill from the rain and the hard conditions.

The SPDC is trying to force all hill villagers into relocation sites like Play Hsa Loh, but the villagers are resisting because they do not want to do forced labour under SPDC control. Ignoring the wishes of the villagers, some international aid agencies operating through Rangoon (including the United Nations Development Programme) are advocating channelling aid into forced relocation sites like Play Hsa Loh to make them more viable, thereby helping the SPDC to bring villagers under more direct military control. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers in Si Day village of northern Papun district prepare their belongings for flight on July 4th 2006 as an SPDC Military Operations Command #15 column approaches their village from the direction of Bu Sah Kee further north.

Rather than leave their livestock to be killed by the SPDC troops, some villagers butchered it so they could take the meat with them (photo 1-371 below). The troops were delayed by the rains and did not arrive at their village until late July, but in early August they built a new camp just outside Si Day village, making it unlikely that these villagers can return home any time soon (see the KHRG report SPDC military begins pincer movement, adds new camps in Papun district of August 2006). [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers from Htee See Kee flee in the rain on July 7th 2006 after getting information that SPDC troops from the nearby Army camp at K'Baw Htoo were setting out toward their village. They had been preparing for flight since the troops burned nearby Bp'Na Koo Bplaw village in mid-June (see photos 1-301 through 1-316 above). [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers from Taw Baw village, near Nah Yoh Htah in the upper Yunzalin River, hurry to transplant their rice on July 7th 2006. Though they are planting their own fields, by night they have lived in the forest ever since SPDC troops ransacked and destroyed their village in May. Throughout the rainy season they hope to remain on the move evading SPDC troops, so that they will be able to harvest this crop when the time comes in November. [Photo: KHRG]

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One of the major problems of the ongoing SPDC offensive against northern Karen villages is that it has continued through the rainy season, when SPDC forces would normally retreat to their camps and the villagers would therefore be able to work their rice crop. In 2006, however, SPDC forces remained active in and around people's villages and rice fields, making it too dangerous for many people to continue tending their crop. These photos show hillside fields and irrigated flat fields belonging to people from the villages of Ku Day (photo B-53), Oh Day (photo B-54), T'Ku Der (photo B-55), and Kaw Loh (photo B-56), all in northern Papun district. They had already sown their hillside rice crops and transplanted paddy seedlings from the nursery beds to the irrigated fields, but by the time these photos were taken at the end of July 2006 they had been forced to abandon these fields for fear of SPDC landmines and patrols who would shoot them on sight. The rice will likely rot or be destroyed by insects, weeds and wild animals. Without even having to physically destroy the crop, SPDC forces have managed to wipe out the harvest in large regions simply through their continued presence. They are fully aware of this, as shown by their activities when harvest time came in November 2006: in many areas, they sent small patrols out to the rice fields which would simply fire off a few shots in the air, presumably to frighten off the villagers, then repeat this action in the next block of rice fields, in order to ensure that the harvest could not be brought in and would be destroyed (see SPDC forces attack rice harvest to force villagers into 'new towns', KHRG, November 20th 2006). The massive destruction of food supplies for tens of thousands of people are one of the less documented crimes against humanity which form part of this offensive. [Photos: KHRG]

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Photo B-57 shows Dtee Thu Der villagers in Nyaunglebin district on their way to another village on July 24th 2006 after SPDC troops destroyed their village. Afterward, some of the villagers returned to fetch some rice from their hidden rice storage barns near their village; because SPDC forces were still in the area, they went with a KNLA escort for security (photo B-58). [Photos: KHRG]

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These villagers from Ku Day in northern Papun district moved to this shelter at their buffalo grazing ground after SPDC troops set up a temporary camp in their village in July 2006. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced village teachers carry on school in their hiding site in northern Papun district, July 2006. [Photo: KHRG]

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Children studying in Dtaw Ku Mu Der school, near Kay Pu in northern Papun district, on July 7th 2006. The SPDC established two new camps near here in 2006 and destroyed several nearby villages, so the students and teachers told KHRG they always have to be ready to flee. The school had only begun for the year on July 4th, two months late, because prior to that there had been too much SPDC activity nearby to open the school. Their parents are still determined to send their children to school, and some said that if the village is destroyed they will set up a school in the forest. See also photos below. [Photo: KHRG]

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Later in July the villagers of Dtaw Ku Mu Der (see preceding photo) had to flee because of the new SPDC camps. They built these huts at hidden sites in the forest within reach of their rice fields so they could continue tending their crops.

Then on August 24th, SPDC troops from Military Operations Command #15 (Light Infantry Battalions 535, 537 and 552) came to the village. They shelled it with high-calibre mortar fire, hitting the village church and a goat-pen, then entered the village and camped there for several days, during which they burned most of the houses.

Photos B-64 and B-65 were taken on August 30th, showing one of the mortar shell craters and one of the burned houses. Afterward the displacd villagers were afraid to return for fear that the departing troops may have booby-trapped their houses with landmines. The village was attacked again toward the end of 2006 (see photos B-317 through B-322). [Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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Huts built in the forest by villagers from Htee Si Kee village, near Kay Pu in northern Papun district, after SPDC troops from Miltary Operations Command #15 (Light Infantry Battalions #535, 552, and 537) came to the village on July 28th 2006 forcing the villagers to flee. The villagers also built a school hut so their children could continue studying (photo B-67). [Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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SPDC attacks against the villagers of Htee Si Kee (see above) have been going on for years; this photo shows huts of Htee Si Kee villagers who fled two to three years ago from a previous wave of SPDC attacks, and have set themselves up here at P--- ever since. [Photo: KHRG; ignore the incorrect date burned on the photo]

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Students from Boh Nah Der village, near Kay Pu in northern Papun district, carry a blackboard from their improvised school. After being displaced in July 2006, they set up this school in their displacement site in the forest. [Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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Villagers from Dtee Thu Der and Dtee Thu Kee villages living in hiding in the forest in August 2006. Their villages are south of the Kyauk Kyi - Saw Htah road in Papun district and not far from several new SPDC Army camps, so they fled into the forest near their villages to evade SPDC columns while remaining close to their land.

The old man in photo 1-380 below is blind, but still capable of cooking for himself in the forest.

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In photo 1-381 (left), a mobile medic checks on Naw T--- from Dtee Thu Der, who delivered her baby in the jungle while the villagers were on the move.

Photo 1-382 (right) shows some of the displaced villagers gathering for a meeting on their plans. Children are always welcome at such meetings. [All photos: KHRG]

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Though many displaced villagers managed to sow at least a partial crop when the rains began in June 2006, the SPDC troops continued their operations against villages and ricefields throughout the rainy season, effectively forcing the villagers to remain in hiding and preventing them from weeding their fields. By August, the sown rice fields in Toungoo district shown above were already becoming overgrown with fast-growing rainy season weeds.

Realising that their chances of a decent harvest in November-December are now ruined, more villagers are deciding they have little option but to flee the area or face starvation in the coming year. This group of villagers headed south into Papun district on their way to the Thai border in mid-August 2006, accompanied by KNLA escort soldiers.

In photo 1-386 (below left) they are climbing a steep hillside toward an SPDC-patrolled road; these crossings are extremely dangerous because the SPDC has landmined the forest along the roadsides, and if seen along the road the villagers will be shot on sight. Having crossed the road safely, photo 1-387 (below right) shows them continuing on their way. [All photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect date burned on photo 1-385]

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After destroying several villages in the area and forcing the villagers into displacement, the troops of SPDC Military Operations Command #15 abandoned their camp at Lay Gkaw Kyoh, on a hill overlooking Htee Si Kee village in the upper Yunzalin River area, and shifted to the nearby MOC #15 camp at Twee Mee Kyoh (see map).

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These photos were taken on August 30th, when a KNLA unit went to check the abandoned camp and demine it. They show some of the firing positions, covered bunkers, shallow trenches and defences built by the SPDC troops across a villager's already-sown rice field and in the surrounding bush along the hilltop.

The KNLA team unearthed five landmines left as booby-traps, including the SPDC-made MM2 mine shown to the right.

Photo B-76 below shows part of a mortar shell casing, also left behind by the troops.

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The bamboo stake enclosure visible in photo B-77 below may have been used to hold under guard the forced labour convict porters used to serve the soldiers in the camp. [Photos: KHRG; ignore the incorrect dates burned on the photos]

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