Toungoo and Muthraw Update

FBR REPORT: Toungoo and Muthraw Update

Karen State, Burma

22 April, 2006

In This Report: .

This family, from Mon Township is standing in front of its hiding place in the jungle.

 This entire family is living in the small hut behind them. April 21, 2006

Relief team medic providing dental care

This is a relief team medic providing dental care to IDPs at their hiding place in Mon Township, western Karen State. Apr. 21, 2006.

Relief team nurse with patients. April 21, 2006.

Relief team nurse at IDP hide site, April 21, 2006

Toungoo District:

Burma Army forces villagers to leave their homes and move to relocationsites. Most villagers flee rather than comply. The Burma Army is nowconducting search and destroy missions against these people and their hidingplaces. These same troops have entered the abandoned villages and looted allthe belongings. This is occurring now in Toungoo District, North WesternKaren State. April 24, 2006.

CONTEXT

"The SPDC uses force to clear areas they would like to occupy, driving civilian villagers from their land and fields. It is very difficult for them to survive. Therefore, all the villagers have a very difficult time. All of their possessions have been taken or destroyed by the SPDC; the SPDC now come and build their camps over their land. The IDP cannot return. Their life in hiding sites is so difficult that many are now trying to cross the border to the refugee camps in Thailand. Others, despite their difficulties, choose to stay in the jungle and not leave their country. So we need to help them. We fear for the future of the IDP in Taungoo district; however we entrust our life to God and we struggle to live." - quote from an ethnic Karen relief team leader

The Burma Army has extended its operations in Western and Northern Karen State resulting on over 9,000 people having to flee their homes. * 4,000 people are displaced in Mon Township, 2,000 in Shwey Gyin and Kyauk Kyi townships*, over 2,000 in Toungoo District, plus 1,000 more who have already fled all the way to the Salween River (earlier in March and the first week of April).  Over 8,000 now in hiding, and over 1,100 already gone to the border.

REPORT

The Burma Army gave orders that they would shoot on sight any villager they found in their old villages after the April 25th deadline to relocate.

April 22

Major Aung Yan Tun, commander of LIB 168 called a meeting for the villagers from Ye Lo, Ta Pa Kee, and Plo Baw Der.  He told each family to send one family member to Play Htsa Lo/They Pu.  He told these villagers that by the 25th they had to move to Play Htsa Lo.  If they didn't move and they were seen, they would be killed.

Earlier this week his battalion was involved in the following activities:

April 16: LIB 168, 522, which are both under the command of MOC 16, combined and left Play Htsa Lo/They Pu camp.  On the afternoon of the 16th they arrived at Plo Baw Der and spent the night there.  They stole property that the villagers could not carry with them as they fled.  The following is a partial list of those things and the villagers they were stolen from:

Saw Ma Hen Sein - 2 baskets of rice, and 1 duck

Saw Maw Heh Pwey - ∏ tin of rice, and 3 ducks

Saw Pey Key Lay - π tin of rice, and 1 pig (worth 35,500 Kyat)

Saw Gay Lay - 8 Vises of cooking oil

Saw Ma Nu Sein - ∏ vise of tobacco, 2 big pots, 2 blankets, and ∏ tin of rice

Naw Hser Paw - 3 chickens

Naw Ma Thu - 4 vises of dried fish

These troops also burned 30 baskets of rice that belonged to Maw Kwey Po

The next day they went to Ta Pa Kee and spent the next two nights there. They stole belongings and ate animals.  Villagers from Ta Pa Kee had already left the village to hide in the jungle after the Burma Army ordered them to relocate their village by April 21st.  Villagers did not want to move to a forced relocation site, so they gathered up all belongings they could not carry and fled to the jungle.  Burma Army troops have also been searching in the jungle for these hide sites.

On the 19th they went to Kwey Der and spent the night there.  On the 20th they went to Po Mu Der and spent the night nearby.  On the 21st, instead of going into the village, they turned and went to Hu Mu Der.  They are now in Hu Mu Der, and they have destroyed homes and stolen belongings.  They have also eaten animals in the village that villagers left behind when they fled.

Other villages that were told to relocate by the 21st are:

Mui Lo

Kaw Po Lo

Baw Pa

Lay O Lo.

Villages that were ordered to relocate by the 25th

Yeh Loh

Plo Baw Der

Ler Kla Der

Hu Mu Der

Kwe Der

Kaw Po Lo

These villages were ordered to move to Klaw Mee Der/Yetagun, Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District, Karen State, Burma.

Muthraw District

Two villagers killed and one wounded by patrolling Burma Army troops inMuthraw (Papun) District, Northern Karen State.

One 17-year-old farmer was shot dead in his rice field and another wounded as Burma Army soldiers attack villagers from Paw Mu Der Village.  Earlier, on 15 April a villager, Saw Wey Htoo, 31 yrs old was shot dead in his fields near Plako by a different patrol.

 Update of Burma Army activity in Muthraw District, Northern Karen State, April 24, 2006.

On 20 April, 2006 Burma Army LIB 366 from Plako army camp, under the command of Tun Tun Win, patrolled the area of Paw Mu Der village and shot two of the villagers from that village.  Saw Hsa Rae Sae, 17, was shot and killed, and his friend, Saw Kyay Nu Wah, 18, was shot and wounded in his right leg. On 15 April, another Karen farmer , Saw Wey Htoo age 31, was shot dead ion his fields near Plako, Muthraw, by a Burma Army patrol.  Villagers all fled the village, fearing a direct attack. The Burma Army troops never entered the village and returned to their camp the same day.  Villagers have now been able to return, and have already performed the funeral service for Hsa Rae Sae.

ENDS