Daniel Pedersen

The misery of an unfortunate birthplace

Dan Pedersen

July 30, 2009

More than 200 people are living in pitiful conditions at the Safe Haven Orphanage on the Thai-Burma border.

About three quarters of them are newly-arrived refugees forced across the border by a rapacious campaign of forced recruitment into the armed forces of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, allies of Burma’s ruling military junta.

Most of them are children.

They live under thin plastic sheeting suspended over festering mud puddles alive with mosquitoes and larvae.

Until recently many of the children were suffering from malaria, but the Thai Public Health Ministry treated them.
But that does not stop new infections.

Water for the settlement is drawn from the Moei River, just below its confluence with the Salween River.

Both rivers are churning after two weeks of almost continuous rain and with no chemical treatment or filtering process for drinking water, the children are falling foul of all manner of ailments.

“One little girl has worms in her brain,” said an exasperated 25-year-old Brazilian woman who volunteered to teach English when she saw the already-poor conditions the children were enduring.

And that was before more than 150 more turned up.

Natcha Kehapeerasit, the displaced former principal of a school in Burma’s Karen State, is heavily pregnant but continues teaching her pupils who have come with her across the river.

“We have made a new school,” she says rubbing her belly as rain streams off the thatch roof of her tiny new home and gesturing to some bamboo poles holding up sheets of blue and white striped plastic.

Natcha says the children will likely call this place home until March 2010, when another school year ends.

Asked what is needed she replies simply: “Food, something to write with and notebooks.”

There is no mention of qualified teachers or extra clothing and the food requirements she reels off are simply rice, fish paste, salt and dried chillies, “because Karen people, they love chillies very much”.

What about sugar?

“No we don’t need sugar,” says Natcha firmly, “we have no need for it”.

There is no spare ground at the orphanage – rocks that jut from the earth and are too big to dig up take up the only space not occupied by people.

There is a narrow access track that winds through the rock outcrops.

It is in surprisingly good condition, but only because the myriad non-governmental organisations operating out of the nearest major town, Mae Sot, don’t come here.

“The Thailand-Burma Border Consortium gave us some of the plastic sheets,” said the Brazilian teacher, who washes in the river along with everyone else.

“But we haven’t seen UNHCR or anyone else like that, they just don’t come.”

About 45 minutes’ drive south, NGO 4WD vehicles adorned with logos from agencies the world over buzz in and out of Mae La refugee camp, delivering supplies and tending their particular projects.

Many refuse to cooperate with others when it comes to coordinating delivery of aid, insisting on delivering it personally.

The end result of such recalcitrance is duplication in some instances, while the children at Safe Haven Orphanage sleep with the mosquitoes, don’t have enough to eat and drink muddy water.

Money is urgently needed to buy food and essential items for basic living.
This is an open appeal to anyone who can afford to help these people, victims of an ongoing campaign of genocide to force them from their home country.

ENDS

Villagers flee as DKBA attempts to press local population into military service

Don Talenywun

July 29, 2009

Whether more than 4,000 displaced villagers from Burma will be able to return home in the near future lies in the hands of the armies locked in battle in Karen State, says the latest situation report from an international agency.

Penned on July 23, the report’s author said another 200 people had fled into Thailand in the 24 hours before the report was written.

Reports from other sources suggested more than 400 people had crossed the Moei River in the 48 hours before that.

Behind this exodus is a push by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, an allied militia of Burma’s ruling military junta, to upsize to become a private border security force for Burma’s State Peace and Development Council.

The DKBA is looking to bolster troop numbers from 3,000 to 6,000 to fulfill its obligations to the SPDC according to a new agreement recently signed.

To gain these numbers a campaign of forced recruitment has begun in the Karen National Liberation Army’s Seventh Brigade region, which the DKBA and SPDC now control.

Villagers want no part of fighting with the DKBA, but many cannot afford to pay the cost of avoiding conscription and so they flee.

The KNLA abandoned significant, long-standing base camps in Seventh Brigade, separating into small bands of guerilla fighters, because its soldiers did not want to fight their own people.

The base camps no doubt would have been taken by the DKBA/SPDC alliance anyway, but more lives would have been lost.

As it stands most injuries, in the hundreds, and deaths, perhaps totaling more than 100 throughout the campaign’s duration, have come as a result of landmines.

All sides in this theatre of war use landmines.

Even the DKBA, which wants to draw on the human resource pool currently languishing in Thailand, has told Thai authorities it is not safe for civilians to make their way home because there are too many landmines.

Most of the newly-arrived refugees are in the Tha Song Yang region, to the north of Mae Sot.

The Tha Song Yang District Committee – consisting of district officials, border police, the military and UNHCR officials – has now decided to leave people where they are, in six relocation sites close to the Moei River, until the end of the wet season.

That makes it harder for non-governmental organisations to properly supply those dislocated people with emergency rations and does not take into account small clusters of people who have not gravitated to those six main sites.

Thai authorities are reticent to allow a new camp to be established – something major NGOs want – because it will add to civil administration duties, the military cannot ensure security and, as a nation, Thailand would have to acknowledge the Burmese junta is waging war against its own people.

ENDS

 

Battle report

June 1 to 30, 2009

Between KNLA and SPDC army troops

KNLA Areas	No. of clashes	SPDC		KNLA
				Items captured				Lost
		KIA	WIA	KIA	A-Rifle			Hand grenade
Bde-1	-	-	-	-	-			-
Bde-2	9	9	20	-	-			-
Bde-3	-	-	-	-	-			-
Bde-4	5	11	15	-	1			-
Bde-5	40	17	30	-	-			-
Bde-6	2	5	4	1	-			6
Bde-7	9	13	26	-	-			-
GHQ	4	1	4	-	-			-
Total	69	56	99	1	1			6

 

Between KNLA and DKBA troops

KNLA Areas	No. of clashes	DKBA			KNLA
					Items captured
		KIA	WIA	Surrendered	WIA	M-16	RPG-7	Rfl rounds
Bde-1	1	1	1	1	-	1	-	100
Bde-2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-4		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-6	1	1	1	2	-	1	1	114
Bde-7	59	100	218	-	8	-	-	-
GHQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	69	102	220	3	8	2	1	214

 

Note:

Of the KNLA wounded in Bde-7 in actions against the DKB , 6 were due to accidents.

• Among the enemy KIA in Bde-2 were one brigadier general and one Bn commander
• In Bde-4, among the enemy KIA were one sergeant major and 3 sergeants
• In Bde-6, 3 DKBA trucks hauling rice were destroyed
• In Bde-7, among the DKBA WIA were one company 2IC, one 2nd Lt. & one corporal. Among the SPDC troops KIA was one sergeant. Among the WIA were one sergeant and one corporal

Abbreviations:
Bde = Brigade; GHQ = General Headquarters; MA-1, MA-2, MA-3, K-3 etc. = Myanmar Army assault rifles, designed by China and manufactured by SPDC; T-ceiver =Radio transceiver; M-79 = 40 mm grenade launcher of US origin; LM G = Light Machine Gun; AK = Assault rifle of Russian origin; RPG=Rocket-propelled Grenade Launcher; M-16 = Assault rifle of US origin; Bn = Battalion; Coy =Company; 2 IC = Second in Command; Maj. = Major; Capt.= Captain; Lt. = Lieutenant; 2nd Lt. = Second lieutenant; KIA = Killed in action; WIA = Wounded in Action.

Locations of KNLA Brigades:
Bde-1, Thaton District
Bde-2, Toungoo District
Bde-3, Nyaunglaybin District
Bde-4, Mergue-Tavoy District
Bde-5, Papun district
Bde-6, Kawkareik district
Bde-7, Pa-an District
GHQ Battalions, Kawkareik and Pa-an Districts.

ENDS

 

Stoic Karen vow to fight for their right to life

As the Thai government and international organisations attempt to deal with the aftermath of the Burmese junta’s destructive offensive in the Karen National Liberation Army’s Seventh Brigade the junta’s soldiers march on.

They began a massive thrust against the Karen people in Sixth Brigade in June of last year.

Sixth Brigade is south of the border town of Mae Sot.

The State Peace and Development Council stormtroopers flanked by their allied militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army then marched north, into Seventh Brigade region, to Mae Sot’s north.

They sent more than 3000 people across the border into Thailand and for now there they shall stay, struggling to survive, forced from their homes and farms.

Their former villages, the ones that have not been burned down, are now dangerous ghost towns, surrounded by landmines and boobytraps.

And the junta’s troops continue to march north, heading for the KNLA’s Fifth Brigade.

This is, word for word, what Fifth Brigade has to say about what is to come.

KNLA press release

ENDS

A human disaster is occurring and the world doesn’t seem to care.

Daniel Pedersen

Mae Sariang, Thailand

People are flooding over the Moei River into Thailand from Burma to become stateless no-ones.

At best there are only 6000.

They don’t make the news.

Driving north from the border-town of Mae Sot you find clusters of people spread out along the river banks, living under tarpaulins.

The sound of 120mm shells echoes in their ears as they huddle against the relentless rains of this wet season.

And they are simply grateful for having made it away from their home country, a country in which their own government is attacking them with conscripted, dislocated forces.

This is Burma’s ruling military dictatorship, the State Peace and Development Council’s preparation for the 2010 elections.

Via that election they hope to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the ‘international community’.

The preparation of a constitution upon which this new election is to be based was a corrupted affair and enshrines the military as the supreme power.

This latest offensive that drove thousands of people across the border into a neighbouring country began at the capital of Karen State, Pa-an.

From there they ran for their lives, not even stopping at Internally Displaced Peoples camps along the border.

As he drove north to hand out money at orphanages that have tripled in size in the past two weeks, Colonel Nerdah Mya said this latest offensive was aimed at wiping out the Karen National Union, which has been a thorn in the side of the junta for 60 years.

Eliminating political opposition is one of the keys to this election.

They must force their detractors into submission.

So the SPDC have put their military forces to work.

Who may suffer is inconsequential.

 DKBA burns down houses, school and hospital in Kler Day area

ENDS

Young mother, pregnant teenager victims of LIB 205 soldiers

Free Burma Rangers

Karen State, Burma

June 15, 2009

Two teenaged Karen women, one eight-months pregnant and the other a young mother, have been raped and killed by Burma Army soldiers. Naw Pay, 18, was eight months pregnant and Naw Wah Lah, 17, had a six month old baby.

The soldiers responsible are from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 205, led by Lieutenant Colonel Than Hteh and Captain Kyi Myo Thant.

These soldiers are taking part in the ongoing fighting around Ler Per Her IDP camp which is some 15 kilometers from where the rapes and murders happened.

When the soldiers arrived in Kwee Law Plo, Lu Pleh township, they found the men had already left because they were afraid of being forced to be porters for the army, making it easier for the soldiers to drag the women from their houses and rape and kill them.

On the same day, Burma army soldiers from LIB 81, led by Major Zaw Myint Oo and Captain Sein Toe Aung captured the Headman of Htee To Kaw village and five of his friends from Takreh township, Paan district. Where they are now is not known and some believe they may already be dead.

Every day five people from Htee To Kaw village are forced to work for the Burma Army, cooking food, carrying water and carrying up food and other supplies to the front line areas.

Hundreds have fled the villages near Ler Per Her in the last few weeks because of demands from the Burma Army and DKBA to be forced porters in support of the fighting.

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) which fights alongside the Burma Army, has reportedly ordered villagers sheltering just across the border in Thailand to go back and live under their control. Some villagers reported they were afraid the DKBA will cross into Thailand and force them to go back.

On June 13 the DKBA captured the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) base of 21 battalion in Karen State the other side of the Moei River opposite Mae Salit village in Thailand. On June 15 the DKBA captured the KNLA bases of 22 and 101 battalions in Karen State opposite Noh Boh and Mae Plu in Thailand. The Burma Army and DKBA are expected to continue the attack on the KNLA 7th Brigade headquarters and the base of 202 battalion. Latest reports indicate Ler Per Her IDP camp is now under the control of the DKBA and Burma Army.

More than 600 people, mostly women and children are staying at Noh Bo temple, one of the seven sites where Karen IDPs from Ler Per Her and surrounding villages have fled to in Thailand.

 

The Free Burma Ranger’s (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

ENDS

Karen leader explains reaction by Thai authorities

Office of the supreme headquarters

Karen National Union

Kawthoolei

June 12, 2009

During the past several days the Burma Army has intensified attacks on villages in central Karen State, eastern Burma. Villagers have been forced to flee their homes, thousands remain displaced and many are trying to seek refuge in Thailand. KNU vice president David Thackrabaw comments on “the business” behind this human catastrophe.

“ We received a letter without a letterhead and without a signature”, said Thackrabaw.

“It appears, well it says it’s from Taskforce Four, so we take it as unofficial.”

“But to be on the safe side, most of the KNU leaders have gone back to their own side, to their own side of the border.

“Those few that remain are here for medical reasons,” he said.

Q: What sort of stock did you put in that recommendation considering there was no letterhead and there was no signature?

A: “Well I think the local Thai authorities came under pressure from the Burmese regime and also I think the local Thai authorities came under pressure from the business people, they want to maintain good trade relations.

“I think the business [community], or military, on the other side complained about the KNU presence in Mae Sot town.

“But we removed them all and all are operating on the other side of the border.”

Q: When you say business, would you consider them legitimate businesses?

A: “Yes, most of them are legitimate, say for instance exporters of textiles and other consumer goods and [that generates] a large income for Thailand. They are legal, and there are also some ideas that there will be contract farming on the other side of the border, but close to the border.

“It was a project and policy of the previous government led by Khun Thaksin (Shinawatra, the former prime minister deposed by military coup in 2006).

“And I feel that that policy is still in force, because when there is a change in government, normally a change in authorities follow, of local authorities, but not immediately.

“So I think that policy still has momentum.

“According to that policy the refugees are to be repatriated to the other side of the border and employed in contract farming and the Thai businesses have agreed to buy everything that is produced, agricultural produce.

“[This includes] sugar cane, beans, rubber, palm oil, so it is a very large project and the present government is probably not very enthusiastic about it because of the global financial crisis, they don’t want to invest in this prevailing atmosphere.

Q: When you say that Thai businesses have much to gain from cross border trade with Burma, why is it so heavily weighted towards profit for Thailand?

A: “Thailand is importing gas, from offshore gas fields and there is also logging of teak, now when they export they profit.”

Q: For Thailand to be generating such profits, would that mean there is a lack of equity on a global scale for product bought from Burma? Surely for Thailand to be able to sell it on at a profit they must be getting it very cheap from Burma?

A: “But they import a lot of gas, for instance all the taxis in Bangkok run on gas [so that may push the price down].

“I don’t know the exact details [of the Thai-Burma deal], but I think there may be [price] adjustment depending on the global conditions.

“But whatever, the junta is gaining large amounts of foreign exchange from gas exports.”

Q: You said before Taskforce Four, that’s a purely Thai unit?

A: Yes, it’s purely Thai, a detachment of the Third Army stationed at Mae Sot.

Q: And the Third Army, their territory stretches quite a way doesn’t it?

A: Yes, it goes all the way up to Mae Hong Son and in the south it goes as far as Kanchanaburi, it takes in much of the border line.

Q: With the current situation with the Thai authorities, do you think the civilian administration in Bangkok is aware of it.

A: No I don’t think they are aware of it, we think it is purely local.

Q: So it wouldn’t be policy as such?

A: No, not central policy, it’s a local policy.

Q: Do you think that indicates that perhaps the military and the civilian administration are going in different directions?

A: Yes, sometimes it is like that, but the military, like I said, sometimes it is influenced. But we have had people talk to the central administration and it is not central policy. And anyhow, in a country like Thailand, they have local authorities who have a lot of say in local matters.

Q: The building of this second friendship bridge, what do you think is the driving force behind that?

A: Well, because they have business so good, they want to build another bridge, that’s according to press reports. The one in existence is getting old so they want to have a new bridge and it’s going to pass through the DKBA camp not far from the border.

Q: And do you have any idea of the exact location?

A: Yes, it’s known as Koko and it’s about seven or eight miles downstream from the present bridge and remember the river flows from south to north in this area, the Moei River.

Q: Are there unofficial trade routes already established there.

A: Unofficial? Yes a few I think, but not a large trade volume, there are some banned commodities crossing in that area, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but some suspect the DKBA is exporting to Thailand illegal drugs, like amphetamine. With that money they buy consumer goods and sell some of them to the people inside. By that I mean in the towns and cities, consumers.

Q: With the DKBA earning obviously large revenues from such illicit activities, how is the KNU faring?

A: The KNU on the other side is not engaged in those activities, so the KNU income is very small, very limited, we have a few mining activities, a few logging activities and cross-border trade tax, or duties, is not much.

Q: Do you have any tax gates?

A: Yes a few.

Q: Are they arranged with the Thais?

A: No, not with the Thais, it’s on our own soil, not on the Thai side, so it’s quite free.

Q: What sort of percentage of tax is applied to, say, timber coming across?

A: Timber, it depends on timber sales and whether the KNU gets the sale, and the money from the sale as a revenue and a small tax that goes with that.

Q: Does the SPDC get any of that tax?

A: In some areas, yes, [not KNU areas] the DKBA share with the SPDC, because the DKBA are involved in logging, so the DKBA pays something like half of it [their profits] to the SPDC troops in the area. It’s more local than national.

Q: Have you heard that in some cases the DKBA might hold back those payments, in a bid to set up their own developments?

A: No the DKBA is heavily dependent on the SPDC, they are like SPDC puppets and they are levying tax on logging, they are working for the SPDC.

Q: What about talk of these attempts – not from you but from [Colonel] Nerdah – to reconcile the DKBA, the KNU/KNLA Peace Council and the KNU?

A: (Laughs) Well I think it’s not very realistic because the Peace Council as well as the DKBA, they’re puppets, total puppets of the SPDC. They have very little independence and probably the DKBA and the Peace Council believe, there are some rumours going on that the KNU, it is so weak.it is ready to make ceasefire or to surrender like them. They are defectors, they are traitors to the KNU. Partly this is because they are weak in their thinking, they don’t have a revolutionary ideology. All they have is their money and their business, whereas the KNU struggle is for the Karen people. It is not for the KNU officials or for the KNU as an organisation. Our struggle is for the freedom of the Karen people and their rights. In other words the KNU struggle is for a just peace. There are kinds of peace that are still totally controlled by the SPDC. It is a peace of no military clashes, but they are not free to protect their own people. They are not free to do anything good for their own people.

They are working for the SPDC. And if the SPDC no longer wants them, then they must do as the SPDC bids them to do. First the SPDC will try to disarm them, because they will see that they are no better than a militia organization, so they will try to disarm them and then reform them as a border security force or something like that. That is what the SPDC is trying to do now, and some lower-ranked people have come to realise that they have been duped by the SPDC, so they want to come back, a large number want to come back. They want to come back to rejoin the KNU, but we will have to see.

Q: So how do you feel about one of your own going around and attempting to reconcile these disparate groups, would reconciliation be welcomed?

A: If it is not controlled by the SPDC, then of course we shall see what is best. But mostly they want to do business, especially the peace council. The so-called peace council want to do business and they are afraid of the KNU attacking them. We try to let them know that they have been duped. Only a few at the top are benefiting by defecting to the SPDC side. And if they don’t come back then we have to hit them, we will have to fight them one day, because they are working for the SPDC.

Q: Do you think it might be a little early to be talking about reconciling with Htin Maung, in the grander scheme of things it wasn’t that long ago he split?

A: He is corrupt, he absconded with a lot of money, the district’s money, the brigade money and income from logging, he absconded with it.

Q: So are these wounds too fresh to be considering reconciliation?

A: Yes it’s too early – he should have been hanged in the first place for his treachery to the cause of the Karen people. And even if there is a real change of heart, he should be tried.

Q: So I guess there would still be elements within the KNU who would be out for blood. Does that mean talk of reconciliation is a little premature?

A: It was a plan by the SPDC. It was all planned by the SPDC to sow dissension, to divide the KNU. This is my personal opinion, if there is overture then the EC [KNU executive council] will have to decide. There will be a collective decision about whether we should talk or not talk. This is serious. There has been a lot of open defiance of the elected leadership of the KNU.

Central Executive Committee
Karen National Union

For further information contact -

VP – Mobile: (66) 087 207 9296

GS – Mobile: (66) 086 215 0367

ENDS

Attacks continue on Karen in Ler Per Her refugee camp area

Free Burma Rangers

Karen State, Burma

June 12, 2009

Villagers continue to flee and thousands remain displaced as attacks intensify against Karen villagers and resistance in Pa-an District, central Karen State, eastern Burma.

Seven mortars fired by the Burma Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) landed in Thailand on June 8 and 9 according to reports received by the Free Burma Rangers.

On June 8 three mortars landed close to Ta Zu Nya, opposite a position held by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the resistance force of the Karen National Union (KNU). Four landed close to Mae Salik village in Tha Song Yang province, Tak district, western Thailand on June 9.

 

Key Developments

• Villagers continue to flee and thousands remain displaced as attacks intensify against Karen villagers and resistance in Pa-an District
• Mortars fired by the Burma Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) landed in Thailand on June 8 and 9
• Intensity of fighting at the frontline increased on June 12 in the KNLA 21st battalion area

 

The fighting at the frontline increased on June 12 at 8:30am to 9:30am at the KNLA 21st battalion area (opposite Mae Salik village). The Burma Army and DKBA continuously mortared the area and are reportedly planning to attack KNLA 22 and 101 battalion areas opposite Mae Salik. Some 200 mortars landed in the areas under attack. 60mm, 75mm and 32mm shells were fired.

On June 11, the Burma Army and DKBA attacked the KNLA 22 and 101 battalion areas at 1:25pm and rained 20 mortars on the area. The KNLA resisted this attack and drove them back a short distance. The DKBA Special Tactical Command led by Ner Kha Mwe brought up more soldiers for continuing attacks on this area.

In total there are reported to be some 3,521 people who have fled across the border to U Thu Hta, Noh Bo, Mae Salik and Mae Salik Noi (Kray Hta) in Thailand as a result of the fighting.

The attacks on Ler Per Her and the surrounding area began on June 5 with most leaving Ler Per Her Internally Displaced People camp by June 7. On June 9, 12 more families arrived in U Thu Hta, bringing the total at that location to 1,410. They are from Mae La Ah Kee, Mae La Ah Hta, Per New Pu, Wa Mee Kla and Pyo Pawan Lay.

Relief efforts are being coordinated in Thailand by the Karen Refugee Committee with assistance from FBR, Partners Relief and Development and other NGOs. FBR and Partners have sent in clothing, medical supplies, food and blankets. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium has also provided food, shelter, cooking implements, blankets and other relief supplies to those displaced.

Karen villagers fleeing from Ler Per Her

Medicine is also being provided by some Thai authorities in cooperation with medical treatment by Karen medics. Thai soldiers have also provided 100 tarps to the displaced people.

The KNLA are deploying 101, 22, 21, 202 battalions and soldiers from the 7th Brigade Headquarters.

The Burma Army battalions involved are Light Infantry Division 22 of Tactical Operations Command 222, Light Infantry Battalions 201, 202, 203, 205, 210 and Infantry Battalion 81. LIBs 338 and 339 remain at their base camps. (There are ten battalions in each Military Operations Command with usually only seven deployed. There are ten battalions in each LID and approximately 120 to 150 soldiers in each Burma Army battalion).

The DKBA, a proxy army of the Burma Army, is deploying 333 Brigade led by Mg Kyi, 555 Brigade led by Pya Pya and 999 Brigade led by Pah Nwee. In these attacks, Mg Chi Thu is the tactical commander. The DKBA is armed with 61mm, 81mm, and 82mm mortars, and .5 machine guns. The aim of the DKBA is to displace villagers who resist their control, control additional territory and crush KNU resistance in their areas.

 

The Free Burma Ranger’s (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

ENDS

Reprisals if soldiers’ demand for food in support of attack on refugees not met

Free Burma Rangers

Karen State, Burma

June 10, 2009

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which fights alongside the Burma Army, has threatened to shell Thai villagers if they do not supply food to them in support of their attack on Ler Per Her refugee camp. Noh Bo village is a few kilometers away from Ler Per Her camp on the Thai side of the Moei River.

The DKBA and Burma Army began an attack on Ler Per Her refugee camp on June 7, raining shells on the area around the camp. The DKBA made the threat to shell Noh Bo villagers after beginning shelling in Burma opposite Noh Bo at 8am on June 8.

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which fights alongside the Burma Army, has threatened to shell Thai villagers if they do not supply food to them in support of their attack on Ler Per Her refugee camp. Noh Bo village is a few kilometers away from Ler Per Her camp on the Thai side of the Moei River.

On June 7, DKBA soldiers also launched an attack on the KNLA 7th Brigade Headquarters opposite Mae Salik in Tak Province north of Mae Sot. The DKBA and Burma Army soldiers have reinforced at Mae Tha Waw and are expected to continue attacking.

Partners Relief and Development and Free Burma Rangers are providing help to some 3,521 refugees who have fled the camp at Ler Per Her. They are supplying food, clothes, plastic, tarps and mosquito repellant. Villagers who have fled are particularly facing problems with malaria, Acute Respiratory Infections and diarrhea.

24 soldiers from the Burma Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army have been killed or injured in the fighting. In three days of fighting, no casualties have been reported among the Karen National Liberation Army soldiers trying to prevent them overrunning 7th Brigade HQ and Ler Per Her refugee camp. FBR received reports that shelling lasted all day on June 9 and began again at 8am on June 10, particularly in the areas opposite Noh Bo and around the 7th Brigade Headquarters.

More Attacks in Northern Karen State

Meanwhile in northern Karen State, the Burma Army attacked in the Ho Kee and Ha To Per villages in Tantabin township, Toungoo district on June 5.

More than 100 villagers have fled into the jungle since the attack began. Khin Maung Sin took over as commander of the Military Operation Command 5 and leader of Kler Ler camp after the previous commander died.

The Free Burma Ranger’s (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.

 

The Free Burma Ranger’s (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

ENDS

15-year-old gang-raped, villager has hands cut off

Free Burma Rangers

Shan State, Burma

June 4, 2009

A 15-year-old girl was raped by 12 Burma Army soldiers in Shan State according to information from the PaO National Liberation Organization.

The soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 426, including battalion commander Nyunt Oo, raped the girl on May 14 in an orange grove where she had been working.

She is now in Taunggyi hospital.

Soldiers from the same LIB cut the hands off U Khun Lon, 35, from Kawn Tai village, Tan Yaan village area, Hsi Hseng district, southern Shan state, on May 18.

The 13 soldiers forced the villagers together, tortured them and accused them of communicating with the resistance groups.

Another man called Win Bo was hit several times with the butt of a rifle and seriously injured.

The soldiers also burned down a house and took Win Bo and a further 18 villagers to Chee Ta Lee temple and tied them up.

An attack on Burma Army soldiers on May 3 in the same area left 12 of these soldiers dead.

U Khun Main, 43, headman of Pan Nyo village in Sai Khow village area, also Hsi Hseng district, was cut around his head with a machete and beaten with rifle butts on May 23 by soldiers under Captain Sun Aung from the same LIB. He was seriously injured and is confined to his bed according to the PNLO.

On May 20, the LIB 421 led by Major Yae Htut came to Daw Na Kalu village on the Shan/Karenni border and stole from the villagers. They took five and a half kyat Tha of gold (worth approx US$2,619) and 11 silver coins worth about US$70 and 1.57 million kyat in cash (worth approx US$ 1,246).

The soldiers also stole animals and told the villagers in East Paung Chaung they could not leave the village between 6pm and 6am.

According to information from the PNLO, since May 24, LIBs 425 and 426 are not allowing the PaO National Organization to go east of the road connecting Ho Pong and Hsi Hseng and are arresting anyone in camouflage clothes.

Some 500,000 PaO live in Shan State. The PNO signed a ceasefire with the SPDC in 1991, but soldiers of the PNLO continue to fight for independence.

ENDS

OFFICE OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS

KAREN NATIONAL UNION

KAWTHOOLEI

June 8, 2009

1. The KNU has met with successive regimes in power for resolution of the civil war peacefully by political means, though it has been leading armed resistance for more than 60 years.
2. In the early part of 2009, the SPDC made an overture, through the Thai government, for resolution of conflict by peaceful means with armed organizations based along the Thai-Burma border. The KNU, on the basis of equality and mutual respect, made known through the Thai government, its willingness to undertake resolution of problems through political dialogue.
3. For the resolution of armed conflict through political negotiation, the KNU has consistently urged the SPDC, the regime in power, to create politically conducive atmosphere, and show sincerity and goodwill.
4. Up to this day, instead of decrease, there has been an increase in military attacks and various forms of human rights violations against the local Karen populations in the KNU areas, by the SPDC troops, according to their plan of expanding area of control. Similarly, the SPDC is putting Daw Su on trial for further incarceration of her, rejecting calls for release of all political prisoners and suppressing severely the legal activities of political parties and organizations.
5. Towards the end of last May, in accordance with the SPDC plan of transforming the DKBA troops into Border Guard Force, villages in the KNU areas have been ordered to send their quota of recruits to the DKBA forces.
6. In early June, thousands of villagers, who did not want to serve as DKBA soldiers, came fleeing for refuge to Lerber Herr IDP Camp, which had had a population of 1,300.
7. On June 3, when thousands of combined DKBA and SPDC troops approached Lerber Herr IDP Camp, clashes broke with the KNLA troops and over 3,000 Karen villagers had to cross into Thai territory for refuge.
8. Keeping the DKBA troops in front and carrying out military attacks by the SPDC against the Karen people like enemies, as it is, amounts to rejecting the necessity for national reconciliation and resolving, by peaceful means, the problem of civil war.
9. For that reason, we request, the international NGOs, the Karen people at home and abroad, and human rights protection organizations to provide, without delay, emergency assistance necessary for more than 3,000 Lerber Herr IDPs.
10. We, the KNU, earnestly urge the United Nations, the international communities, the regional and neighboring countries to concertedly pressure the SPDC for immediate acceptance of tri-partite dialogue process, for resolving the political and military conflicts in the country.

Central Executive Committee
Karen National Union

For further information contact:

• VP – Mobile: (66) 087 207 9296
• GS – Mobile: (66) 086 215 0367

ENDS

Ler Per Her abandoned when SPDC, DKBA bombard village

Free Burma Rangers

Karen State, Burma

June 6, 2009

Some 3,295 people have fled Ler Per Her camp as Burma Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army soldiers started the bombardment of the camp at 11.30am on June 6.

Hundreds of soldiers surrounded the camp which is on the Thai-Burma border, north of Mae Sot, and refugees are crossing the border into Tha Song Yang district in Tak province, Thailand, to escape the attack.

Those in the camp had already fled attacks from the Burma Army in eastern Karen State numerous times and had established homes there, which now have to be abandoned.

Since October 2008 over 60 families have arrived in Ler Per Her, 40 of those from within the last week from Htee Per village. They fled because of Burma Army/DKBA activity and because the Burma Army was looking to recruit over 800 soldiers from the area.

Soldiers have already arrested and forced villagers from Pa-an District and Myawaddi Township to porter supplies for this campaign.

The attack is being led by Light Infantry Battalions 81, 201, 202 and 205, supported by some 300 soldiers from DKBA 999.

Those who have fled across the border are in Mae U Su, Noh Bo and Mae Salik and are in urgent need of shelter, medical assistance, food and clothing. An FBR team in association with Partners Relief and Development are bringing desperately needed supplies.

So far PRAD has delivered 30 pots, 25 large tarps, mosquito repellant, food, rolls of plastic sheeting, two trucks of clothing and medicines for 200 cases of each of the following illnesses: malaria, diarrheal diseases, respiratory illnesses, wound care and painkillers.

The leader of the camp confirmed that women and children had left the camp by June 5 leaving the older people and men. He asked for prayer for his people.

 

The Free Burma Ranger’s (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

ENDS

Between KNLA and SPDC army troops

April 1 to 30, 2009

KNLA areas	No. of clashes	Enemy		KNLA		Remarks
		Dead	Wounded	Dead	Wounded
Bde-1	-	-	18	-	-	One DKBA surrendered with 1 AK-47 rifle
Bde-2	20	2	-	-	-	There was one Capt. among enemy dead. Two enemy bull dozers & 1 heavy weapon were destroyed
Bde-3	4	9	-	-	-	Our side captured 2 MA-2 rifles. Among enemy dead were 1 Capt., 1 Lt. & 1 2nd Lt. One enemy D-4 bull dozers was destroyed.
Bde-4	28	28	41	-	-	Among enemy dead were 1 Capt., 1 Lt. & 2 2nd Lt. Among enemy wounded were 1 Maj. & 1 Lt.
Bde-5	27	19	44	-	-	Among enemy dead was 1 Coy. Commander & among wounded was one Coy. 2 IC.
Bde-6	5	4	8	-	-	Among enemy dead was 1 Coy. Commander & among wounded was 1 Coy. Commander. In 3 clashes with DKBA, 2 DKBA soldiers were killed and 4 wounded
Bde-7	-	-	-	-	-	Three DKBA soldiers surrendered with 2 M-16 rifles, 1 T-ceiver & 1 mobile phone.
GHQ	19	5	36	2	5	Our side destroyed one enemy truck. DKBA clashed with Thai border troops. Two Thai soldiers and 5 DKBA soldiers were wounded.
Total	103	67	147	2	5

Dead ratio, KNLA to SPDC troops — 1: 33.5

Wounded ratio, KNLA to SPDC troops — 1: 29.4

Note:

Abbreviations:
Bde = Brigade; GHQ = General Headquarters; MA-1, MA-2, MA-3, K-3 etc. = Myanmar Army assault rifles, designed by China and manufactured by SPDC; T-ceiver =Radio transceiver; M-79 = 40 mm grenade launcher of US origin; LM G = Light Machine Gun; AK = Assault rifle of Russian origin; RPG=Rocket-propelled Grenade Launcher; M-16 = Assault rifle of US origin; Bn = Battalion; Coy =Company; 2 IC = Second in Command; Maj. = Major; Capt.= Captain; Lt. = Lieutenant; 2nd Lt. = Second lieutenant

Locations of KNLA Bdes:
Bde-1, Thaton District
Bde-2, Toungoo District
Bde-3, Nyaunglaybin District
Bde-4, Mergue-Tavoy District
Bde-5, Papun district
Bde-6, Kawkareik district
Bde-7, Pa-an District
GHQ Battalions, Kawkareik and Pa-an Districts.

ENDS

Daniel Pedersen

Mae Sot, Thailand

May 6, 2009

Pictures of the camp

The Karen National Liberation Army’s Wah Lay Kee base camp, home to its Sixth Brigade 201st Battalion has fallen.

Since 1988 the camp had been held against repeated attacks by soldiers of the Burma Army and later the breakaway Karen militia allied with Burma’s military junta the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

Hundreds of lives have been lost around the camp, and hundreds maimed by landmines and booby traps.

Last year the KNLA lost it then won it back right at the beginning of the wet season proper.

This year, it seems, the rain has come early, and Wah Lay Kee has been abandoned.

The final push by the ruling Burmese junta, the State Peace and Development Council, and the DKBA began on April 12.

In late afternoon of April 28, the KNLA pulled out, leaving the camp surrounded by landmines and the camp itself loaded with booby traps and tripwires.

These images tell the story of the continuing brutality of the Burma Army and their allied militias.

They were captured by medics and soldiers during the hectic final days of Wah Lay Kee.

ENDS

KNLA and SPDC army troops

March 1 to 31, 2009

SPDC losses

KNLA areas	No. of clashes	Enemy		Enemy items captured by KNLA
		Dead	Wounded	MA LMG	Assault rifles	RPG-7 rounds	Mag/Ammo clips	Claymore mines	M-14 Landmines
Bde-1	4	8	9	-	2	-	2	-	-
Bde-2	50	13	55	-	3	-	-	-	-
Bde-3	4	13	2	1	10	5	35	2	4
Bde-4	4	8	9	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-5	39	33	44	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-6	5	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
GHQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	107	77	120	1	15	5	37	2	4

KNLA Losses

KNLA areas	KNLA losses	KNLA items lost
	Dead	Wounded	Assault rifles	M-79	Carbine	M-79 rounds	T-ceiver
Bde-1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-2	-	-	5	1	1	-	-
Bde-3	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-4	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bde-6	1	1	1	1	-	25	1
Bde-7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
GHQ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1	5	6	2	1	25	1

Dead ratio, KNLA to SPDC troops — 1: 77

Wounded ratio, KNLA to SPDC troops — 1:24

Note:

In Bde-1, among dead there were one SPDC Army Coy commander, one sergeant, & one corporal, and among wounded there were one column commander, one 2nd Lt. & 2 sergeants. One SPDC soldier surrendered.

In Bde-2, one enemy bulldozer was destroyed;
In Bde-4, among dead there were one SPDC Army Coy commander and one sergeant, and among wounded there was one Bn commander;
In Bde-5, among dead there was one SPDC camp commander;
In Bde-6, one DKBA soldier surrendered;
In Bde-7, one peace group (so-called KNU/KNLA Peace Council) soldier surrendered.

Abbreviations: Bde = Brigade; GHQ = General Headquarters; MA-1, MA-2, MA-3, K-3 etc. = Myanmar Army assault rifles, designed by China and manufactured by SPDC; T-ceiver =Radio transceiver; M-79 = 40 mm grenade launcher of US origin; LM G = Light Machine Gun; AK = Assault rifle of Russian origin; RPG=Rocket-propelled Grenade Launcher; M-16 = Assault rifle of US origin; Bn = Battalion; Coy =Company; 2 IC = Second in Command

Locations of KNLA Bdes : Bde-1, Thaton District; Bde-2, Toungoo District; Bde-3, Nyaunglaybin District; Bde-4, Mergue-Tavoy District; Bde-5, Papun district; Bde-6, Kawkareik district; Bde-7, Pa-an District; and GHQ Battalions, Kawkareik and Pa-an Districts.

ENDS