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[Note: Clicking on a photo will provide an enlargement of the photo]
Papun District (Mudraw in Karen) is bounded by Nyaunglebin District in the northwest, Thaton District in the southwest, and the Salween River and Thailand to the east. Over 100 villages in northern Papun District have been systematically shelled, burned and destroyed since 1997 by SPDC troops trying to eradicate support for Karen resistance in the region (for details see "Wholesale Destruction", KHRG, April 1998). About 100 of these were ordered to move, but many of the villages never saw the order because the villagers always flee when SPDC troops approach. In response, the SPDC launched a campaign to simply destroy all villages without warning.
Most villages have already been completely burned and destroyed, but SPDC patrols continue going through the area to burn any trace of villages which still remain, food supplies, and the shelters of villagers who are hiding in the forest. These patrols have reportedly mined and booby-trapped the burned remains of some villages, because they know that villagers are in hiding nearby and that they frequently return to scavenge for food, belongings and materials in the burned ruins of their villages. Villagers sighted in the region are sometimes taken as porters, but are more frequently shot or otherwise executed on sight. The vast majority of villagers are living in small clusters of shelters and lean-to’s hidden deep in the forests and high in the hills, trying to access their old hillside rice fields or to clear small new ones in the hills. These fields have not yielded much, especially with the lack of rain this past rainy season which killed much of the rice before it could mature.
In September 1998, SPDC patrols were sent through Lu Thaw township to destroy rice crops where possible, and much of the crop was cut down with machetes or stomped down by the troops. Villagers in hiding in the forest are living primarily on roots and jungle leaves. Even in areas where SPDC troops seldom arrive, such as Day Pu Noh area, there is almost no rice available because drought destroyed the crop, and villagers are surviving on rice soup, sharing around whatever rice they can find or buy from town. Villagers in this region are much closer to Thailand than those in the other districts mentioned in this report, but most of them do not want to go because of their very close attachment to their land, their extreme fear of landmines and SPDC troops along the escape routes, and their fear of abuse and forced repatriation by Thai troops which they know may await them on arrival at the border.
For more information on the situation in Papun District, see "Wholesale Destruction" (KHRG #98-01, February and April 1998), KHRG Information Update #98-U5: "Continuing Hardships for Villagers in Northern Karen Districts" (15/11/98), and an upcoming KHRG report on the current situation in the district.
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Photo #M1: Wet rice farmer Saw D--- stands by his fields near Day Pu Noh village. In this area SPDC troops did not destroy the crop, but almost all of it was destroyed by a drought in early rainy season. People in the area have almost nothing to eat. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M2: Daw Peh village, Lu Thaw township, recently completely burned by LIB 369. This ground used to be covered by the houses of the village. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M3: Gkaw Weh village, Lu Thaw township, completely burned by LIB 369 troops. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M4: Ywa Po Lih village, Lu Thaw township, burned by SPDC troops from Military Operations Command #10, LIB #361 and 364. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M5: D--- village, Lu Thaw township. Most of the village was burned by LIB 364 under officers Mya San Htun and Myo Win Aung. All the villagers fled, but a few have returned and built makeshift shelters to live in, like the one in the photo. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photos #M6, M7, M8, M9: Burned houses in Klaw Day village, Bu Tho township. On 26 November 1998, SPDC troops came to the village, ordered them to choose a new headman and to begin making regular reports to the Army base within 10 days. The villagers didn’t dare go, so on 7 December a column of troops from LIB 434 and LIB 341, both under Strategic Command #1, came and burned down 18 houses in the village. [Photos: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M10: Two young SPDC soldiers who deserted in Papun district. An ever-increasing number of SPDC soldiers are now deserting. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M11: Naw Y---, her 7 children and her parents, B--- village, Lu Thaw township. SPDC LIB 361 troops shot her husband dead on sight in late 1998. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M12: Naw E---, B--- village, Lu Thaw township. She was with her mother, Mugha Naw Roh Say, when LIB 361 troops opened fire on them in late 1998. Her mother was killed, but she managed to run and escape. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M13: Dta Oh Der villagers living in hiding in the forest, Lu Thaw township. The containers on the right are hollowed bamboo, used for carrying water. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M14: Shelters in the forest of Lu Thaw township where villagers from Peh Gkaw and Ku Day are living in hiding from SPDC patrols. [Photo: KHRG monitor]
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Photo #M15: Internally displaced villagers from Dta Meh Der and Dta Paw Der villages in Yeh Mu Plaw village tract. Many villages in the area have been shelled and burned, and SPDC patrols still pass through the area hunting for villagers in hiding. [Photo: KHRG monitor]