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A hillside rice field belonging to villagers from Lu Thaw township, northern Papun District in September 2006. At this time in the crop cycle, farmers would normally be weeding their crops. However, as the SPDC military has been targeting villagers living in the hills of Lu Thaw, the owners of this field would have risked exposing themselves to attack had they ventured into the open to tend to their crops. As a result, they were forced to abandon their rice fields which were subsequently overgrown by weeds, threatening the rice plants and limiting any potential harvest.

Large sections of this rice crop at H--- village, Nyaunglebin District were destroyed when a patrol of SPDC soldiers marched indiscriminately through the field in late November 2006. This incident took place just as the villagers were preparing to harvest the rice, thereby reducing the year's crop yield. [Photos: KHRG]

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On December 16th and 17th 2006 SPDC forces operating in southern Toungoo District razed 16 homes at Htee Hsa Bper village (shown above). Prior to the destruction of the village, local residents had fled into the surrounding hills to evade the soldiers. The SPDC had been using Htee Hsa Bper as a temporary camp from where they conducted sorties to attack and raze nearby villages during November. For more information on SPDC attacks on villages in this area see Bullets and Bulldozers: The SPDC offensive continues in Toungoo District, Karen Human Rights Group, February 2007. [photos: KHRG]

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SPDC forces set fire to this hill-side agricultural field shortly before this photo was taken on March 5th 2007. By setting the field alight before the surface brush had adequately dried, the Army left behind a tangle of unburnt stumps and branches and prevented local villagers from conducting the standard controlled burn required prior to the arrival of the rainy season in late May to early June. Both the SPDC and DKBA have adopted this practice widely over the past years in combination with crop destruction in order to obstruct hill-side rice cultivation, which remains the primary agricultural practice of Karen villagers living in the non-SPDC controlled mountain areas. [Photo: KHRG]

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SPDC forces operating in Lu Thaw township, Papun District burnt this field before it was able to fully dry out. As a consequence, stumps, branches and large trees were left intact or only partially burnt, as shown here at the end of February 2007. This un-burnt debris obstructs villagers from planting their crops at the start of the rainy season. The owner of this field at Htee Baw Kee village, will have to clear the land by hand before planting is possible. [Photo: KHRG]

This ash marks the location of 60-year-old Htee Baw Kee villager Saw W---'s former home; burnt down by SPDC forces during an attack on his village in early 2007. [Photo: KHRG]

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Following a February 2007 relocation order from SPDC Light Infantry Battalion #439, residents of Weh Law Taw village, Nyaunglebin District were forced to dismantle their homes, pack up their belongings and move everything to a military-controlled relocation site. In the photos shown here, the buildings at Weh Law Taw village are in the midst of being dismantled. Notice segments of walls and roofing which have already been taken down and the piles of wood and thatch [photo B-6] which have been piled up for transportation to the relocation site for the construction of new homes. In photo B-7 an older woman and a group of children travel by bullock cart from Weh Law Taw to the relocation site following the transportation of supplies. The Army has been ordering such relocation in order to eradicate all settlements remaining in non-SPDC-controlled areas and consolidate the civilian population under firm military authority. [Photo: KHRG]

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During the rainy season of 2006, SPDC forces pushed through with attacks against civilians in northern Karen State; shooting villagers on sight and destroying their homes. Upon fleeing SPDC attacks on their homes in Tantabin township, southern Toungoo District, these villagers took whatever possessions they were able to carry and travelled on foot southeast through northern Papun District - where the SPDC has been intensifying its offensive - in order to reach the Salween River where it forms the border between Thailand and Karen State.

When these photos were taken in September 2006, the villagers had just embarked on a 'buffalo' boat which they took downstream to Ee Thoo Hta camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the Burma side of the Salween. [Photos: KHRG]

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Villagers from Th'Dah Der, Lu Thaw township, Papun District travelling on foot loaded up with personal possessions and food supplies. When SPDC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) #501 attacked their village in March 2007, they were forced to take whatever belongings and food they could carry before fleeing into the forest to make their way to a more secure hiding site. Many of the displaced communities from Papun District who have been unable to remain in hiding near their home villages have made the arduous trek eastward to Ee Thoo Hta camp along the Salween River. [Photos: KHRG]

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On March 6th 2007, the residents of Htee Baw Kee village gathered their possessions and fled their homes at 10:00 at night in order to avoid SPDC troops approaching from Wa Gklay Dtoo camp. In such situations villagers rely on local communication networks to give them advanced warning of impending SPDC attacks. In this way, civilians can more safely evade military patrols and ensure that fewer possessions and food supplies are left behind during flight. [Photos: KHRG]

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These villagers form a combined group of IDPs from Hser Htah, Ploh Htah and Gker Ghaw Koh villages of Lu Thaw township, Papun District. On March 1st 2007, the day before this photo was taken, SPDC forces arrived at Gk'Neh Mu Der village, a 45-minute walk away, and began marching towards Hser Htah and its neighbouring villages. Learning of the advancing troops, the villagers collected their possessions and limited food supplies and fled to hide in the forest. [photos: KHRG]

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This short video shows a community of displaced villagers fleeing from their homes in Toungoo District. They are travelling by column through the forest after having evaded SPDC forces advacing into their home areas. Many civilians fleeing SPDC attacks in Toungoo District head southeast towards the Salween River where it meets the Thai-Burma border. [2:23 mins] [Video: KHRG]

In early May 2007 SPDC Light Infantry Battalion #220 attacked Htee Nya Mo Kee village in Nyaunglebin District. Villagers from both Htee Nya Mo Kee as well as neighbouring Ler Wah village fled into the surrounding hills carrying whatever supplies they could gather during the attack. In photo B-8 Ler Wah villager Saw M--- marches through the forest with his young daughter in front of him and his baby in the basket on his back. In photo B-10 another Ler Wah villager builds a temporary shelter in the forest after having fled the SPDC attacks. [Photo: KHRG]

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Photos B-11, B-12, B-13 and B-14 show the remains of Nya Mo Kee village following the departure of SPDC LIB #220 troops from the scene of attack. In photo B-14 the burnt remains of a villager's rice supplies; rice storage basket and winnowing fan are visible resting atop the charred floor below. [Photo: KHRG]

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This displaced family [photos B-15 and B-16] from northern Tenasserim Division lives hiding in a bamboo home which they built in order to more effectively evade SPDC forces operating in their home area. Due to restrictions on travel and trade which the army has enforced in Tenasserim, these villagers must purchase their supplies from western Thailand as they are unable to venture into the larger villages and towns within Burma. Photo B-17 shows some of the huts which they built at their temporary hiding site. [Photo: KHRG]

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This brief video shows one example of an IDP hiding site which includes seven bamboo huts built by Karen villagers from northern Tenasserim Division who fled from SPDC incursions into their land. [0:48 mins] [Video: KHRG]

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Villagers from Dtay Thoo Der and Yeh Muh Bplaw village tracts collect rice from a Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP) distribution centre at a KNU regional office in Lu Thaw township, Papun District in September 2006. The systematic destruction of hillside rice fields, food stores and food storage containers has forced large numbers of villagers to rely increasingly on alternative sources of food such as these cross-border provisions. SPDC forces nevertheless employ starvation as a weapon to drive civilians out of forest hiding sites in areas beyond military control. [Photos: KHRG]

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Naw L--- of B--- village, Mone Township, Nyaunglebin District is shown here weaving a bamboo mat in late November 2006. She told KHRG that she plans to use this mat for ground cover in the forest. Naw L--- said that she expected she would be forced to flee into hiding once again when SPDC soldiers returned to her village. [Photo: KHRG]

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The villagers shown here on February 8th 2007 are part of a displaced community, now living at G--- in Hsaw Htee township, Nyaunglebin District. They have had to regularly relocate over the past years in response to continuous SPDC military operations targeting their home area.

The shelters they have constructed in the forest provide a measure of protection against the elements and support their evasion of military patrols. The women and man shown in the photo to the right fled into the forest when the SPDC attacked their home at Dta Say Der village, Hsaw Htee township, Nyaunglebin District.

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The villagers from B--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District who constructed the shelter shown in the photo on the left told KHRG that they had built it so as to have somewhere already prepared to which they could flee whenever SPDC troops encroached onto their land. Upon the departure of these soldiers, the villagers could then return to reclaim their homes, while nevertheless keeping the forest shelters for any future flight. This cyclic pattern of displacement is commonplace as SPDC forces seek out villagers who flee into the forest, only to return to their abandoned homes as soon as the soldiers depart. [Photos: KHRG]

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Naw L---, a displaced women living in Hsaw Htee township, Nyaunglebin District, pictured here with her children on February 10th 2007. Naw L--- stands with her infant child and an M-79 grenade launcher slung over her shoulder and a bandolier of 40 mm grenades around her waist. Her husband, a KNLA soldier, went to tend to the family's hill-side rice fields, entrusting Naw L--- with the weapon to protect their children. Naw L--- told KHRG that if the SPDC soldiers approached, she would shoot them before they were able to fire at her or her fellow villagers. The SPDC operates with a shoot-on-sight policy in areas that it does not fully control, including much of Nyaunglebin District, and its soldiers regularly fire on and kill civilians in these areas. [Photos: KHRG]

Villagers from northern Tenasserim Division established this temporary and covert 'jungle market' for trading among displaced communities. As the SPDC Army enforces strict movement and trade restrictions between civilians living in hiding and those under SPDC control, such markets provide one of the few means for many IDPs to access supplies that are not available locally. Such trade furthermore serves to undermine the SPDC's efforts to starve out those villagers living in hiding and force them into military-controlled areas. [Photo: KHRG]

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A displaced family from Khaw Hta village, Papun District takes a rare opportunity to play and rest on January 15th 2007 after having fled from SPDC forces. [Photo: KHRG]

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Villagers from Gklaw Hta prepare a meal in January 2007 amidst temporary shelters constructed at a hiding site in Papun District. Displaced communities such as this one face pervasive food insecurity and rely heavily on locally available plants and animals and also cultivate covert hillside paddy fields where possible. SPDC restrictions on travel and trade and destructions of paddy fields and rice stores lead many displaced families to rely on watered down rice porridge in order to stretch out meagre food supplies. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers who fled from Gklaw Hta village constructed these temporary bamboo and thatch huts at a hiding site in Papun District, shown here in January 2007. SPDC forces regularly conduct search and destroy missions targeting displaced villagers living at hiding sites such as this one in order to drive them out of the hills and into military-controlled relocation sites. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers in Papun District shown in February 2007. Despite living a precarious living hiding from SPDC forces in the forest, these communities seek to maintain their regular family structures and daily occupations. One displaced villager prepares a meal on an open fire in photo C-20 which the two young children in photo C-21 are enjoying. Photo C-22 shows another displaced villager constructing the base for a new shelter out of bamboo poles and photos C-23 and C-24 show two others next to their laundry spread and drying on the nearby branches. [Photo: KHRG]

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