Following the military coup on February 1st 2021, the State Administration Council (SAC)[2] has not respected human rights norms and thus has committed many kinds of human rights violations.
This Situation Update covers events occurring during the period from April to July 2021 in Bu Tho and Dwe Lo townships, Mu Traw (Hpapun) District. During this period, soldiers from SAC[3] Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[4] #407 committed human rights violations against the civilians of Bu Tho and Dwe Lo townships. The human rights violations that occurred were: looting, making threats against villagers, arbitrary arrest and torture, arbitrary killing, firing mortars at villages, and the burning of houses and villages.
Looting
A human rights violation occurred on April 7th 2021, in A--- village, Lay Hpoh Hta village tract[5], Dwe Lo Township, Mu Traw District. It was a case of looting.
Soldiers from SAC LIB #407, who were coming to clear the landmines along the road from Hpapun to Kamarmaung, were not able to proceed past A--- village [due to the likelihood of being ambushed or attached by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[6]]. Due to a KNLA blockage of the road, the SAC troops were not receiving their rations, and so they stole rice and various other goods they wanted from A---villagers. That looting occurred on April 7th 2021.
Soldiers from SAC LIB #407 stole the following items from victims [villagers]: from Saw[7] B---, one basket [32 kilogrammes] of rice; from Saw C---, one basket of rice and two rice cookers; from Naw[8] D---, two square containers [each one equal to 18 litres] of cooking oil and a VIVO smartphone that cost 250,000 kyats [USD 140.61][9]; and from Saw E---, two large rice cookers, three fuel tanks, and a refrigerator. Soldiers from SAC LIB #407 forcefully took all these belongings.
Killing
On April 29th 2021, soldiers from SAC LIB #407 were ambushed by the KNLA [where they were patrolling], roughly 30 minutes by foot to the south of G--- village, Ma Htaw village tract, Dwe Lo Township, Mu Traw District. After the ambush, as the SAC soldiers returned from patrol, they saw Saw H---, a 35-year-old G--- villager, who was in his own house, shouting and talking randomly because he was drunk. The SAC soldiers shot at Saw H--- several times. [Some] shots hit Saw H---‘s head, killing him at the scene [instantaneously].
On May 1st 2021, following Saw H---’s death, all G--- villagers abandoned their village and fled to J--- village in Myaing Gyi Ngu special area because they did not dare remain in their village [due to fear of the SAC and fear that fighting might break out]. On July 24th 2021, KHRG received an update that approximately ten households [out of approximately 70 households] had returned to G--- village.
Arbitrary arrest, torture, and threats against villagers
A human rights violation case happened on April 29th 2021 in K--- village, Ma Htaw village tract, Dwe Lo Township, Mu Traw District. That human rights violation was a case of arbitrary arrest and torture.
On April 29th 2021, soldiers from SAC LIB #407 arrested 47-year-old Saw L--- without evidence of any misdeed [and no explanation for why he was being arrested]. The soldiers were stationed in K--- village monastery to clear the road between Hpapun and Kamarmaung, which had been blocked by trees cut down by the KNLA. They [the SAC soldiers] [arrested Saw L--- in K--- village] then sent Saw L--- to M--- village, which is located five miles south of Hpapun Town. They confined him [Saw L---] in M--- village elementary school. While Saw L--- was held in confinement by troops from SAC LIB #407, the soldiers tortured him, crushing [bashing in] his shin with a metal pipe and stabbing his chest with a knife. He escaped [on his own] 20 days after his arrest and fled to hide in the forest two miles away from K---. [Although KHRG was able to speak with Saw L--- to get this information, no further details about his situation were provided.]
Soldiers from SAC LIB #407 also threatened the villagers of K--- village, Ma Htaw village tract, Dwe Lo Township. Later in the evening on the day that Saw L--- was arrested, one of the commanding officers of SAC LIB #407 gathered the villagers in the monastery and threatened them, saying that they [the SAC] would fire mortars at K--- or burn the village if any villagers tried to help Saw L--- escape, or if he escaped [on his own]. Because of this, the villagers did not dare remain in the village and so some fled from the village to hide in the forests and valleys.
Firing of mortars at villages
From April 30th to May 2nd 2021, Military Tactical Operations headquarters (1) based in Hpapun Town shot 120 mm mortars and 81 mm mortars, which fell and exploded in the surrounding villages [N--- and G---]. Because of the shelling and the flying of military aircraft [undertaking surveillance], the villagers abandoned their village and fled.
Some villagers fled to the forest, some fled to Q--- village and some fled to Myaing Gyi Ngu special area, starting from May 1st 2021. As of yet [the end of the reporting period], the villagers that fled have not dared to return to their village.
Burning of houses
On May 2nd 2021, soldiers from SAC LIB #407 burnt down houses in N--- village, Ma Htaw village tract, Dwe Lo Township. On July 12th 2021, they burnt down houses in G--- village, Ma Htaw village tract, Dwe Lo Township.
In N--- village, the SAC soldiers burned houses belonging to 56-year-old Daw[10] P--- and to 52-year-old Saw R---. In G--- village, they burned houses belonging to 43-year-old U[11] S---, 40-year-old U T---, 49-year-old U W---, and 43-year-old U Y---.
The villagers whose houses were burnt down do not dare return to their villages and find it difficult to build new houses elsewhere because it is the rainy season. Therefore, some of them are now living in the forest, while others are living in poor conditions in the buildings of various monasteries in Myaing Gyi Ngu special area.
Villagers from Dwe Lo and Bu Tho townships, Mu Traw District, where SAC LIB #407 troops have committed various kinds of human rights violations, have abandoned their villages and fled to other places such as Q--- village and Myaing Gyi Ngu special area.
Further background reading about recent human rights violations and the security situation in Mu Traw District in Southeast Myanmar can be found in the following KHRG reports: