Feudalism, Narcotics and an Uncertain Future for Children

FBR REPORT: Feudalism, Narcotics and an Uncertain Future for ChildrenShan FBR Mission to the Ho Mong Area of Shan State

Shan State, Burma

1 September, 2006

In This Report:

Report Summary: This report covers a relief mission to the Ho Mong area of Southeastern Shan State, Burma. August 2006. (On this mission two Partners team members accompanied the FBR teams and helped with the Good Life Club children's program as well as providing training for team counselors.)

This gate is guarded by the Burma Army (note soldier in the foreground). The sign above the gate says, ‘Ho Mong Area Development Group’. Photo: 26 Aug. 2006

Dental Care given to Shan IDPs by FBR relief teams. Photo: 26 Aug. 2006

Burma Army patrol near Ho Mong. Photo: 26 Aug. 2006

Feudalism

The area of Ho Mong is just west of the Thai border and Mae Hong Son Province. It is in a valley just inside the Shan State, Burma, and is north of Mae Hong Son town, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand. (Ho Mong: Lat/Long: N 19 45 30 E 097 59 00.)

The people of the Ho Mong area live under the oppression of both the Burma Army and their local proxy the Southern Shan State Army (SSS). The SSS are led by Maha Ja, a Wa warlord who controls 300-500 troops and who has been given partial authority over this area by the Burma Army. The SSS is also involved with the Burma Army in narcotics trafficking in the Ho Mong area.

The living situation for the people is feudal with the people able to make a bare living but under the domination of the Burma Army and SSS they have no real control over their lives. Please see excerpts of two cases of abuse, rape and murder that occurred in this area at the bottom of this report. These are from two reports we have sent out earlier. (*Note the Southern Shan State Army (SSS) is a proxy army under the control of the Burma Army while the Shan State Army (SSA) is a pro-democracy resistance organization.).

The people of Ho Mong seem to have accepted the feudal system they live under. They do not like it but they can survive and it is too dangerous to try to change it without help.

The valley is fertile and there is enough food. The Burma Army controls all commerce and forces people to grow Castor plants for oil. (This is a Burma wide program that is forced on the population.) The Burma Army and SSS tax all goods. For example, each truck is taxed B.1, 000 per year and each cow B.1, 200. The Burma Army and SSS control the roads. The main road from Ho Mong to the Thai border at Na Mong Long is useable all year. There are 5 major Burma Army camps and three SSS camps in this immediate area. Schooling is very poor with teachers charging 'extra fees' for children to attend school yet regularly not showing up to teach. As a result many children who are close enough walk across the border to attend schools.

Young people and girls at risk:

The scourge of narcotics is not only exported out of this area but the people here suffer as well. Many young people use amphetamines as they are readily available and because there is no real felt hope for a future.

Young women and girls are especially at risk and some are trafficked into Thailand to work in the sex industry. We met a young girl whose parents have both died of AIDS, with her mother dying only two months ago. She is a sad little girl with a uncertain future. (Note: the Shan FBR team is trying to help this particular child and will try to make it possible for her to go an orphanage at a Shan (SSA) base.

History:

The area of Ho Mong has seen many masters; in recent history most of them have been bad. In the Eighties the Drug lord Khun Sa of the Mong Tai Army (MTA) controlled one of the world's largest narcotics armies. In spite of an army supported by drugs, Khun Sa enjoyed some local support as he was seen as the most effective counter to the Burma Army in the Shan State. Many of the people who now live in Ho Mong fled oppression of the Burma Army elsewhere in the Shan State and moved here to live under the MTA's protection. In 1996 Khun Sa accepted amnesty from the dictators of Burma and moved to Rangoon. The MTA collapsed and the soldiers who wanted to continue the fight for freedom reformed the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA), which then became the Shan State Army (SSA) under Col. Yod Suk.

The SSA are under the political organization of the Restoration Council of the Shan State (RCSS) and are fighting for liberty, the restoration of democracy and a free Shan State. The SSA have from their inception announced a campaign against narcotic production, trafficking and use in the Shan State.

Narcotics

The Ho Mong area is still a trafficking and production area for amphetamines and heroin. According to villagers narcotics are controlled by the Burma Army and their proxies the SSS.

The narcotics are transported by road close to the Thai border and then carried in backpacks for one to three days to transfer points inside Thailand. The average column of drug traffickers numbers 30 men each (sometimes up to 60 men) each laden with a rucksack full of amphetamines. Walking from the load point in the Ho Mong area to the transfer point in Thailand takes an average of 5 days. For example, the jungle walk on secondary trails from the Ho Mong area to Nam Mo Long near the Thai border takes 1-2 days, then the border is crossed (usually at night) and the walk to Pai, Thailand takes three days. Each drug porter gets B.30,000. Each load is checked and if any drugs are missing the porter must pay for the loss immediately or is killed.

This year however, due to Thai narcotic suppression efforts, the movement of narcotics from this area has been slowed. Many drug columns have been ambushed by Thai law enforcement and military forces causing high casualties among those carrying the drugs and well as resulting in major losses of narcotics. The Burma Army and their proxies are reportedly now trying to find more secure methods of trafficking narcotics into Thailand.

In the Ho Mong area, the chief narcotics chief is called "Long Pan" (real name not known).

He is based out of Nam Sang to the north but travels regularly to the Ho Mong area to oversee narcotics operations there. He is escorted by Burma Army troops.

According to one local source, "Long Pan never walks anywhere. He always drives and there is one Burma Army truck in front of his truck and one Burma Army truck behind his truck. Long Pan travels in a white 4-door 4wheel drive truck that has a covered back.

He still comes here to do his drug work even though it is now more difficult. Also now there have not been any businessmen from Thailand coming to this area this year- maybe because of the crackdown".

* From interview below; " The Shan resistance now is the Shan State Army (SSA). They are good because they do not do drugs. And in the areas they control they do not allow it to be grown. So in those areas there are now less users and less production. Also they are good because they are really fighting for freedom".

Relief Team Activities: Medical and Good Life

During the brief time in this area we treated 421 patients in the first two days (561 total patients including other areas; 516 medical and 45 dental-extractions and fillings)

The main problems encountered were respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, dysentery, skin diseases and peptic ulcers. Of interest was the low prevalence of Malaria compared to most IDP areas in Karen and Karenni State, where malaria is usually one of the most common diseases diagnosed. Here in this part of Shan State there were 80 patients out of 516 total who were diagnosed with malaria.

In general the people seemed healthy and are in better shape health-wise than the IDPS we meet in other areas. A person can eat enough and survive in the Ho Mong area as long as the dictators' armies are obeyed.

The team also distributed good life packs and the FBR good life club counselors helped with the children. The Good Life Club program has been expanded with the help of a Partners GLC team that worked on this mission in a joint effort to reach out especially to children at risk.

Interview:

25 August 2006 Ho Mong area, Shan State, Burma:

The team interviewed many of the people here and below is one representative interview with a local Shan man. (Name and age changed for the person's protection)

Sai Hoo, age 66, farmer, Shan ethnic.

Reports of Rape and Murder

Below are two stories of rape and murder that occurred in the Ho Mong area. They were sent in earlier FBR reports. (Name of rape victim has been changed.)

*1) Five-year-old Shan girl, Nang Sap, taken by the Burma Army, missing for 7 years and reported dead. Mother grieving.

This story was originally sent out by a Shan FBR team who helped the mother and father of this girl escape the Ho Mong area of Southern Shan State. We had also helped one of the children with an operation to re-route his intestines in 2002. We knew of the story of the missing 5-year-old girl then and reported on it, but just this week we met the mother again. When we talked to her she suddenly broke down in uncontrollable tears and crying. At one point she collapsed and went into shock. The loss of her daughter is a wound in her soul and we felt sorrow as we tried to comfort her. So we decided to tell her story hoping that it might so some good.

We are with an IDP community and have two Partners relief team members with us and trying to help these people is a joint effort.

Date of interview: 10 August 2006Name of interviewee: The mother of the kidnapped girl, Nang KhiName of lost daughter: Nang Sap, 5 years old, from Nam Khat village, Ho Mong area, Southern Shan State, Burma.Date that Nang Sap was kidnapped by Burma Army: 5 October 1999.

The mother was obviously distressed in recalling this and said, "What can I say, I am very sad."

While some of the details remain unconfirmed the facts remain: on a mountain in Shan State is a mother who is grieving and barely able to hold on and whose daughter has been missing for 7 years.

God bless you,A relief team leaderFBR

*2) Rape of 9-year-old Shan girl by the Burma Army.( Name of girl, mother and brother changed).

This young Shan girl was raped by a soldier of the Burma Army. She was 9 years old at the time and is still traumatized by the violent rape. Her family fled to this site after the rape. The rape occurred in Ho Mong, South Eastern Shan State. Ho Mong is the old base of the drug lord, Khun Sa, and is now occupied by the Burma Army as well as a proxy force- the Southern Shan State Army (SSS) who are commanded by Maha Ja, a Wa ethnic who is allied with the Burma Army. Ho Mong is close to the Thai border and is North West of Mae Hong Son. This is an area populated by ethnic Shan and is under the complete domination of the Burma Army and the SSS. (*Note the Shan State Army (SSA) is a pro-democracy resistance organization, while the Southern Shan State Army (SSS) is a proxy army under the control of the Burma Army.)

We had received a report from the Shan FBR team who had helped this girl and her family escape last year. She is 10 years old now, and to meet her face to face and see the mental pain she is still in, is terrible.

We felt compassion for her, and disgust and anger for the Burma Army soldier who raped her. How could anyone rape a little girl like her?

We talked with her briefly and prayed with and for her. Later we interviewed her mother.

Her story is below.

Name of interviewee: Pa Ma, mother of 10 year old girl who was raped last year when she was 9 years old.Name of girl who was raped: Nang See, 10 year old now, 9 years old at time of rape.Place of birth (and the place she was raped): Ho Mong, South Eastern Shan State, Burma.Brothers and sisters: 2 brothers and 1 sister.Date of rape by the Burma Army: 10/2004 (exact date in October not clear.)

The rape of 9 year old Shan girl, Nang See as told to the team by her mother in IDP site.

The mother then told the team;

This story is tragic and is only one of the many evil results of the dictator's rule over Burma. What can we do? For the young Shan girl, Nang See, we can help her medically and we hope emotionally. We will do our best and are grateful to the Shan FBR team who helped her arrive here. We are grateful too for your prayers and for your love and how you help stand with these people.

God bless you,

A relief team leader

FBR

ENDS