In A--- village, B--- village tract[2], Ler K’Saw Township, Mergui-Tavoy District, the State Administration Council (SAC)[3] and the village militia, who are affiliated with the SAC, are trying to forcibly recruit villagers. The militia’s leaders, named Saw[4] Noh Kha Lay and Saw Khway, are forcing villagers to join their militia. Villagers were threatened with forcible eviction from the village if they refused to join.
This militia was formed in June 2023 in A--- village. Since then, the A--- village militia has joined with another militia from C--- village, which is nearby. When the militia was first formed, many A--- villagers did not support it and did not agree to its formation in their village [and so it could not recruit members easily]. Officially, 10 villagers have [voluntarily] joined the militia in A--- village. As only very few villagers supported the militia and there were not enough supporters from whom to recruit members, the militia intended to forcibly recruit villagers.
In response to the forced recruitment of villagers in A--- village, a battalion commander [unknown name] from the local Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[5] sent a warning letter to A--- village [on an unknown date in 2023] instructing the militia to not force villagers to take up weapons. Following this, Saw Noh Kha Lay, one of the militia leaders, requested that the SAC allow him to be stationed in A--- village with the militia. The SAC agreed to this request and provided him with seven guns to arm his men [in December 2023]. Saw Noh Kha Lay is currently stationed in A--- village with the militia [as of April 2024].
Throughout December 2023, the SAC troops based in A--- village, ordered seven villagers per week to be gatekeepers at the entrance of their army base [in A--- village]. The SAC battalion feared attack from local armed resistance forces and so they used the villagers to keep watch and be a defence against attack.
One villager from A--- village, who had fled the village to avoid recruitment, explained to KHRG: “I dare not to accept [to join the militia] because it will be very terrible if the SAC is stationed in the village, and the PDF [People Defence Force][6] come [into the village] to shoot [start fighting with SAC]. If possible, I want them [villagers who joined the militia] to return their guns [to the militia]. I want to live peacefully in the village. And I do not want them to join the SAC as well. But I dare not say it because they [villagers who joined the militia] have weapons. […] What I need [for the situation] to be better is that they leave the militia. But we were [verbally] threatened [by the SAC and the militia] so we could not stay in the village if we did not do it [join the militia].”
As of March 2024, the SAC sent more troops to A--- village and set up a temporary shelter in the village so displaced villagers dared not to return to their village anymore. Some villagers fled to the riverbank, some to their farm huts, some to the border area, and some crossed into Thailand. Most villagers had already fled before the SAC had sent more troops, since force recruitment was occurring, but those who initially fled nearby their village were still returning at day time and back to their displacement site at night time.
Further background reading on the security and human rights situation in Mergui-Tavoy District can be found in the following KHRG reports: