Villagers in Thaton and Pa-an Townships Struggle After DKBA invasion

September 28, 2009

HURFOM: Villagers in Thaton and Pa-an townships are encountering difficulties after fleeing their home villages in favor of the area’s larger township tracts. Many villagers in Pa-an township chose to relocate following the invasion of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in August.

A resident originally from Kyauk Hnu, a small village in Thaton township, told a HURFOM field reporter that villagers living in township tracts are now struggling to find jobs, incomes, and food following the increase in the settlements’ populations. New arrivals are unwilling to return to their home villages due to the abuses they suffered at the hands of the DKBA troops who have invaded Pa-an township’s rural areas.

According to a 40-year-old resident of Bwar Dee village, after the arrival of DKBA soldiers in his village in the first week of September, villagers suffered a variety of human rights abuses. This Bwar Dee resident reported instances of DKBA soldiers demanding money from villagers, torturing villagers, and preventing villagers from working in their farms and plantations. Family members of Karen National Union (KNU) soldiers and their supporters have been particularly oppressed.

In August, DKBA soldiers led by captain Hpa ne dee entered Htee dee village and reportedly fired on a group of villagers, killing a 45-year-old resident named Saw Htoo Kee. The DKBA soldiers responsible for the violence claimed to have mistaken the villagers for KNU soldiers.

Such incidents are forcing many Thanton township villagers to seek refuge in area’s larger township tracts, but they face a new host of problems in their adopted homes.

A 34 year old villager, who currently living in the Bwar Dee village tract told reported to HURFOM field reporter that since the start of 2009, the population of his village tract has increased to about 500 households, and food is becoming scarce.

This source also claimed that HURFOM field reporter that Bwar Dee residents are not even able to combat the increasing food shortage with supplemental stores foraged from the nearby forest, as villagers are concerned about DKBA-planted landmines hidden in the area. Bwar Dee residents also worry that staying too far from the village will lead them into the hands of DKBA troops hiding in the forest; villagers fear being mistaken for KNU soldiers and shot, being forced into portering service, or tortured.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News