International Campaign for Freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma

Kyi May Kaung's say on Sanctions - still relevant

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:00:52 PST

II. ‘SANCTIONS ARE FOR AN ETHICAL OR MORAL REASON’ As part of a new strategic dialogue, Kyi May Kaung - a Burmese dissident, artist, poet, and political analyst living in exile - replies to a crucial question asked by Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF): Which is the best way to effect change in Burma - through sanctions against the government, by engaging the leadership, or some combination of the two? Here are some excerpts [FPIF: 18.1.07] BURMA now is second only to North Korea as a rogue regime, to use the phrase first used by Noam Chomsky. With North Korea, I have heard Wendy Sherman of the Albright Group argue for more engagement, and with respect to North Korea, I agree with her. But North Korea is much more a hermit kingdom than Burma is, and we know much less about it. And so there can be an argument for the United States “engaging” with North Korea just to know what is going on and to have some leverage. In the Burmese case, however, the outside world knows a great deal already, more than enough. The United States has very little trade with Burma. As one Burmese dissident from the 1988 generation pointed out at a seminar in Washington D.C. last fall, “we don’t need to go to Burma to find out about Burma. There are thousands of refugees in Thailand and elsewhere, and we can find out everything we need to know from them.” Chiang Mai in northern Thailand is fast becoming the base for many foreign non-profits, Western and Australian expatriates, Burmese refugees, and Burma watchers. In the eye of the storm, in Rangoon itself, there is often a false calm due to the news blackout. A senior broadcaster who once worked at the Voice of America called this “Rangoonitis.” It often affects even western diplomats who unconsciously start to echo the junta’s statements. So, in terms of a token engagement in order to find out more about the system and how it operates, there is very much less of an argument in the Burmese case. … Sanctions and Burma have been an academic and policy issue for Burma watchers and foreign policy makers since at least 2001. At that time, the international sanctions movement picked up steam, with great success in divestment achieved by organizations such as The Free Burma Coalition (up to 2003) and Burma Campaign UK. Since then, the junta has sent overseas a steady stream of apologists to argue that sanctions hurt Burma. But their arguments have not been convincing at all. Alfred Oehlers has argued convincingly that sanctions in Burma are not scattershot but finely focused and have minimal “collateral damage.” There is no ban on travel to Burma or on exports, including food and medicines. To my mind, sanctions in the case of Burma are meant to send a message, to hurt but not to totally bring down a regime. When a tourism ban to Burma was first discussed in the early 1990s by one of the very first Burmese activist groups, the Canadian Friends of Burma, I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the junta will understand nothing except what hurts their pocket book; on the other, total isolation might not be the best idea. Burma-born economist Ronald Findlay, who is an international trade theorist, told me at the time that “sanctions are for an ethical or moral reason.” Later, at an Open Society Institute event in 2004, he said, “Collapse is not an economic term.” By this I think he meant that a nation can go on for decades without a regime change, hanging on at the survival level. … The anti-sanctions faction argues for removing sanctions and visa bans against officials and families of the Burmese military regime. But it is impossible to ignore the fact that human rights abuses not only still exist in Burma, they are growing more numerous, more widespread, and also more blatant. Should we listen to the testimony of one million internally displaced persons inside Burma, thousands of political prisoners, and thousands of refugees outside the country? Or should we be taken in by the “arguments” of a few individuals who support engaging with the Burmese generals. Should the free world appear to “reward” such a horrible regime? 

FBR: FBR: Forced Labor, Torture and Military Activity Still Present in Karen State

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:10:26 PST

FBR REPORT: Forced Labor, Torture and Military Activity Still Present in Karen State

Karen State, Burma

5 March, 2012

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

This report includes documents ongoing abuses since the initial January 12th agreement (one between the Karen National Union and the Burmese government which laid the foundation for future ceasefire discussion), as well as previously unreported abuses prior to that. It contains information gathered by teams working throughout Karen State and includes the following:

Torture, Human Shields, Forced Labor and Military Activity in Doo Pla Ya District
Killing, Forced Labor, Property Confiscation and Military Activities in Taw Oo (Toungoo) District
Forced Labor, Military Activity and Flooding in Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) District and Mutraw District
Forced Labor in Mergui/Tavoy District (Tenasserim Region)
Forced Labor and Fighting in Hpa-an District

Warning: This report contains graphic images.

Doo Pla Ya District -- South Eastern Karen State

On 29 January 2012, Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 346 asked villagers from Par Klaw Kee Village, Mae Ka Ti Village, Htee Yo Kee Village, Htee Mae Baw Village and Kyaw Kee Village to send 12 trailers of food to Mae Ka Ti Burma Army Camp. Each village was forced to carry 30 bags of rice. On 27 January 2012, the Burma Army increased troops in Seitkyi, Kaw T'ree Township with the addition of Military Operations Command (MOC) 19, which numbers approximately 240 soldiers. Two days later, an additional 170 soldiers arrived under MOC 19. Under Commander Myo Thant Zin, they replaced LIB 563 in the Ka Li Kee area.

On 12 December 2011, in response to clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA -- prodemocracy ethnic resistance) in the days prior, Infantry Battalion (IB) 283 (led by Myo Myint Kyaw) ordered the arrest of the Ta Ku Kee Village headman, pastor and multiple other villagers. In total, 60 villagers were taken to Ko Kgaw Klow Village. All but five villagers were released shortly afterwards. The five individuals were detained because they were falsely accused of being KNLA soldiers. In pursuit of confessions, Burma Army soldiers tied up and blindfolded the villagers and proceeded to torture them. The villagers were held for almost two months, being released on 6 February 2012. The five are listed below:

Saw Wah Nu, 30 years old, was beaten with bricks and hit in the head with a pistol.

Saw Hsaw Bush, 27 years old, was hit in the face while detained.

Saw Kyaw Pleh, 24 years old, was beaten with bricks, which broke his leg.

Saw Toh Kee Baw, 30 years old, was hit with bricks to his legs and face.

Saw Thay Chit, 18 years old, was hit in the head while detained.

On 14 December 2011 in Waw Ray Township, IB 62 (led by Ko Ko Oo) captured Noh Sho Ner villagers near Noh Sho Ner Village. The villagers captured were Saw Htin Myint, 28 years old, and Pa Do Hsaw, 45 years old. The following day, Burma Army soldiers captured 29-year-old Saw Than Htin and 45-year-old Saw Min Than. Both men were forced to carry supplies as well as serve as guides. On 16 December 2011, Saw Pa Do Hsaw and Saw Thi Myint escaped because they were no longer able to carry their loads. On 17 December 2011, Saw Min Than and Saw Than Htin were then released.

In Kaw T'ree Township on 18 December 2011, LIB 357, Column #1 and Column #2, combined to make 100 soldiers in total. On 20 December 2011, the combined LIB 357 took villagers from Kya Ka Wa Village to serve as human shields from Kya Ka Wa Village to Daw Plaw Village. The villagers that were taken are listed below.

Naw Plet -- 52 years old.
Ye Tu Htee -- 52 years old.
Eh Naw Gay -- 30 years old.
Naw Ree -- 34 years old.
Kay Mu Dah -- 29 years old.
Sa Daw Na Maw Dah -- 43 years old.
Day Naw -- 47 years old.
Naw Kho Mi -- 40 years old.
Ma Nay Tha -- 40 years old.
Na Ma Htin -- 38 years old.
Ta Poe Tu -- 29 years old.
Naw Hsaw Paw 53 old
Naw Lay Ku -- 54years old.
Naw Ker Ler -- 49 years old.
Naw Moh Loh -- 40 years old.
Naw Htoo -- 53 years old.
Naw Mu Thaw -- 50 years old.
Naw Lee Pra -- 29 years old.
Naw Lu -- 52 years old
Naw Aye Nay -- 50 years old.
Mu Tu -- 34 years old.
Naw Paw Nyee -- 36 years old.
Na Mu Naw -- 54 years old.
Naw Mu Kler -- 48 years old.
Pee Klay Nay -- 46 years old.
Mu Kya Paw -- 60 years old.
27. Naw Pet Bu -- 67 years old.
28. Naw Dah Heh -- 48 years old.

14 October 2011, Burma Army soldiers captured the Kwee Ler Shu Village headman and live stock. The same day, they also went to Taw Oo Hta Village, where they took the headman and the villagers' live stock. On 12 October 2011, three battalions under Light Infantry Division 22 (LIB 201, 203, 315) entered Ta Oo Hta Village, forcing the villagers to flee. The soldiers occupied the village for days, confiscating the villagers' rice.

On 4 September 2012, fighting broke out between KNLA Battalion 16 and LIB 543, in the area between Jauke Ku Village and Myin Tha Ya Village in Waw Ray Township. During the fighting, the Burma Army sent 13 mortars into Jauke Ku Village. After fighting, they entered Jauke Ku Village and shot at villagers' houses, damaging their homes and killing their animals. The following are people who lost property:

1. Saw Kyaw Hlaing - 63 years old. His house was damaged by Burma Army soldiers' gunfire.

2. Saw Par Nga Pan -- 32 years old. Burma Army soldiers took 1000 Bhat from his bag.

3. Father of Naing Dee - age unknown. Burma Army soldiers took his Casio watch.

4. Saw U Sein Myint - 43 years old. His house was damaged by Burma Army soldiers gunfire

5. Saw Hta Paung - 40 years old. Burma Army shot and killed his male ox and wounded two cows.

6. Naw Pa Doh - 45 years old. Her male ox was shot and killed by the Burma Army.

Two days later, LIB 566, led by Commander Tin Za Lin, arrived in A'plon Village. There they stole 3000 Baht, 300 Kyat two ducks, one mobile phone, one MP4 player, eight boxes of cigarettes, three gallons of fuel, and various medications. On 19 August 2011, LIB 346, led by Commander Zaw Min Hteh, captured and killed Par Klaw Poh, a villager from Ler Kgaw Village, Kaw T'ree Township. On 20 August 2011, LIB 549, led by Commander Kyaw Zay Ya, stole 850,000 Kyats and gold in Ka Meh Koh Village, Kaw T'ree Township. The following day, when the owner asked for his money and gold back, the soldiers only returned 350,000 kyat. On 5 June 2011, both columns of LIB 373 combined, under Commander Aye Min Soe, and forced villagers from Myine Tha Ya Village and A'plon Village, Waw Ray, to porter and serve as human shields while soldiers patrol.

Taw Oo (Toungoo) District- Northern Karen State

On 27 August 2011, LIB 540 (based in Ta Aye Hta Camp) shot and killed two villagers from Hsaw Wah Der Village in a betelnut grove while patrolling. The two villagers were Saw Ka Theh (32 years old) and Saw B Eh (23 years old). On 1 September 2011, soldiers forced 41 men and 64 women to clean the Play Hsa Lo Army Camp. The same day, soldiers shot Saw Hsar Bu, a 54-year-old civilian, because he was in the betelnut grove against instruction from the Burma Army.

In recent weeks, the Burma Army has continued to resupply camps with food and troops. On 5 February 2012, Division 66 used vehicles and forced labor in the Kler Lah Area (Klay Soe Kee Village, Kaw Soe Koh Village, Gah Mu Der Village, and Der Doh Village) to carry food supplies from Ta Aye Hta Camp to Bu Has Kee Camp. On 3 February, Division 66, commanded by Win Bo Shew, arrived in Kler Lah Camp to take the place of MOC 9. On 1 February 2012, LIB 377 (stationed at Kler Lah Camp) forced one villager from Klay Soe Kee Village and two villagers from Der Doh Village to carry food from Klay Soe Kee Camp to Koe Day Camp. On 21 January 2012, the Burma Army sent food supplies from Moe Pya to Play Hsa Lo Camp. Food supplies have also been carried from Zaya Gyi to Tha Byae Nyunt and from Tha Bya Nyunt to Moe Pya. MOC 9 also forced villagers from Play Hsa Lo Village, Yer Lo Village, Plow Baw Der Village, Hsu Lo Village, and Lay Gaw Lo Village to send 120 bamboo poles to build a new fence for Play Hsa Lo Army Camp.

Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) and Mu Traw District- Northern Karen State

On 16 February 2012 in Kler Lwee Htoo District, 15 Burma Army trucks carrying both food and army supplies arrived at Muthe Camp, afterwards going onto Paw Kay Ko Camp. The trucks carried 88 soldiers and one commander. Soldiers from Way Me Kwee Camp, Ee Tha Plaw Camp, and Thwein Boe Plaw Camp have recently cleared the brush near the car road. On 28 December 2011 in Moo Township, the Burma Army sent 36 supply trucks to Thay Pyi Nyut Camp, along with 80 soldiers and 50 mules. The following day, soldiers forced villagers from Lei Lan Ku Village, Kyauk Kyu Pauk Village, and That Pyt Nyut Village to take food to Moe Pya Camp. On 1 January 2012, LIB 599 forced villagers from Yulo and Kamulo to send food to Moe Pya and Lay Day Burma Army Camps. On 30 December 2011, LIB 590 demanded 5000 kyat from each villager using a bull lock cart to work their fields in Kyaun Pya Village, Kyun Bin Seik Village and Ng Lauk Tek Village. On 5 December 2011, 500 soldiers arrived in Kyauk Kyi and Than Bo (Infantry Battalion 60 Headquarters). On 24 September 2011, LIB 599, Commanded by Soe Tin Lin, forced 30 men from Tat Kon Village to perform sentry work in the area. On 27 October 2011, the same battalion forced villagers to clean the ground to prepare for the building of a small airport at Tay Pyu Nyunt Burma Army Camp.

The military is sending food to Burma Army Camps throughout Mu Traw District, including Muthe Camp and Paw Kay Ko Camp. On 12 February 2012, the Burma Army sent Division 7 to Ler Mu Plaw Army Camp, Lu Thaw Township. Burma Army troops have been guarding the route from Mae Pray Hkee Camp to Meh Way Camp in Dwe Lo Township (Division 44 Headquarters) in efforts to protect roads used to transport food and supplies. While patrolling in November 2011, they captured two medics and used them as guides around the Township Headquarters. They later sent both medics back to be detained at a Burma Army Camp. Burma Army soldiers also killed one civilian from Ta Hu Law Village, Dwe Lo Township, who was forced to be a guide, but was later was accused of supporting the KNLA.

Flooding in the plains during the last wet season caused multiple difficulties for villagers. The flood water caused multiple deaths, including that of Pah Dah Pow from Kwee Lay Village, who drowned in his field and is survived by a wife and four children. In Lu Thaw Township, Naw Mu Si, 6 years old, and Saw Na Maw Htoo, 68 years old, both drowned. In Kaw Lu Der Village Tract, Lu Thaw Township, Saw Maw Eh, 70 years old, and his wife Naw Pwen, 60 years old, were also swept away by the water. The excess water will also create problems for farmers in the coming harvest. In Moo and Ler Doh Township, thousands of acres were flooded and a majority of the crops were destroyed. This may cause food shortages in the coming year.

Saw Na Mai Htoo drowned in a flooded field.

Mergui/Tavoy District (Tenasserim Region) -- Eastern Karen State

On 3 December 2011, Burma Army IB 560 demanded six porters each from Ta Ket and Nyaung Pin Village, which are both located in Tenassarim Division. If the villagers were unable to work, they had to pay 40,000 Kyat each.

Hpa-an District - Eastern Karen State

In Hpa-an District, the Border Guard Force (BGF) forcibly confiscated weapons from three Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) Camps, including Yin Pine Camp, T'kot Poe Camp and Wa Kleh Mu Camp. On 19 February 2012, fighting between the DKBA and the BGF resulted in two DKBA soldiers dead, five BGF soldiers dead, one villager dead and one villager wounded in the Myai Gyi Ngu area.

The Free Burma Rangers’ (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

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Song for President Thein Sein by Pink

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:56:48 PST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz7pjusCFxM&feature=share

[Altsean-Burma] February 2012 Burma Bulletin

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:06:04 PST

Dear Friends,

Please find attached the February 2012 issue of ALTSEAN Burma Bulletin.

The Burma Bulletin is a short month in review of events in Burma,
particularly those of interest to the democracy movement and human
rights activists.

In the February 2012 issue you will find:

* NLD by-election campaign obstructed
* 'Peace agreements' in jeopardy
* KIA-Tatmadaw conflict rages on
* Activists and monks still harassed
* Regime HRC says 'no' to human rights probe
* Uncertainty surrounds foreign investments
* Number of IDPs grows
* List of Reports
* Much more...

The February 2012 Burma Bulletin is also available online at:
http://bit.ly/AvAByq

You can also receive daily Burma updates by following us on Twitter
http://twitter.com/altsean

Yours, in solidarity,

ALTSEAN-Burma

Myitsone Dam and other Dams in N. Burma - International Rivers Report

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:02:18 PST

http://www.internationalrivers.org/node/6876

Important conversation between Aung San Suu Kyi and veteran Kachin Leader

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:20:01 PST

Daw Inhpangyar-yar (spelled phonetically) met ASSK for dinner, and in response to ASSK's 2 questions 1. on origins of KIO (Kachin Independence Organization) 2. why there is no reconciliation - related how Aung San came to Kachin first for historic Panglong Treaty and how other major ethnic groups signed because they signed - with guarantee given by Aung San that they could secede in 10 years. - however Aung San was assassinated and U Nu sold off Kachin territory to China (in 1950s) - as for 17 year ceasefire, which is not "peace" yet, it was violated by SPDC. This is an informal summary - if you need more ask your (other) Burmese speakers to translate - to read the Burmese you need Zawgyi or other Burmese font. Daw Inhpangyaryar said they spoke for two hours, and ASSK listened so intently - as if it was all new to her, that "her neck seemed to be bent to one side." Daw Inhpangyaryar said she told Daw Suu, "Well, you were very young then and so you didn't know all this, and then you went overseas with your mother --" --- Those of you in the Burmese language media etc should have this translated and should follow up on this some more. As Stiglitz said, "National Reconciliation" has to come first. Kyi May Kaung --- On Tue, 2/28/12, xxx wrote: From: Subject: [8888peoplepower] Fwd: ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုကုိ ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ(ကခ်င္အတုိင္ပင္ခံအဖြဲ ့နာယက)ေျပာခဲ့ေသာစကားမ်ား [1 Attachment] To: Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 4:43 AM [Attachment(s) from xxx included below] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Date: Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 4:36 PM Subject: Fwd: ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုကုိ ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ(ကခ်င္အတုိင္ပင္ခံအဖြဲ ့နာယက)ေျပာခဲ့ေသာစကားမ်ား To: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Date: 2012/2/28 Subject: ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုကုိ ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ(ကခ်င္အတုိင္ပင္ခံအဖြဲ ့နာယက)ေျပာခဲ့ေသာစကားမ်ား To: YPI – ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ကို ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ ေျပာခဲ့တဲ့စကားေတြ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ကို ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ ေျပာခဲ့တဲ့စကားေတြ by Yangon Press International on Saturday, 25 February 2012 at 08:25 · ျမစ္ႀကီးနား၊ ေဖေဖၚ၀ါရီ ၂၅၊ ၂၀၁၂ (YPI) (ဆိုင္းဆြတ္) ေဖေဖၚ၀ါရီလ ၂၃ ရက္ေန႔ ည ၈နာရီ ျမစ္ႀကီးနားၿမိဳ႕ မေနာကြင္း မဂ်ြယ္ခန္းမမွာ ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္သို႔ စည္းရုံးေရး ခရီးစဥ္အျဖစ္ ေရာက္ရွိေနတဲ့ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုႀကည္နဲ႔ တိုင္းရင္သား ေခါင္းေဆာင္းမ်ား၊ ဘာသာေရး ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားနဲ႔ ညစာအတူစားခဲ့ၾကပါတယ္။ ထိုစဥ္က ကခ်င္အတုိင္ပင္ခံအဖဲြ႔ နာယက ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ နဲ႔ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္တို႔ ေျပာဆိုၾကတဲ့အေၾကာင္းကို YPI သတင္းေထာက္က ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာကို ေမးျမန္းထားပါတယ္။ ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ။ ။ ည ၈နာရီ ကေန စျပီး ၁၀ နာရီ ေလာက္အထိ စကားေျပာျဖစ္ခဲ့ပါတယ္ သူက အဖြားကို ေမးခြန္း ႏွစ္ခုပဲေမးပါတယ္။ အဲဒါေတြက ၁- KIA က ဘာလို႔ျဖစ္လာတာလဲ ၂ – ဒီေန႔အထိ ဘာေႀကာင့္ ၿငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရး ေဆြးေႏြးလို႔ မရေသးတာလဲ ဆိုတာကို ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုႀကည္က ေမးခဲ့ပါတယ္။ အရမ္းအေရးႀကီးတဲ့ ေမးခြန္ေတြကို သူေမးခဲ့ပါတယ္။ ကြ်န္မ ျပန္ေျပာျပလိုက္ပါတယ္၊ အရင္ကတည္းက ကခ်င္ႏိုင္ငံဆိုျပီးရွိခဲ့တာပါ ဘယ္ဘုရင္ကမွ ဒီေနရာက ကခ်င္ေတြအတြက္ဆိုျပီး ေပးထားတာမဟုတ္ပါဘူး၊ ကခ်င္ေတြက ကိုယ္ေနရာ ကိုယ့္ႏိုင္ငံ ကိုယ့္ေဒသနဲ႔ ကိုယ္ ေနထိုင္ခဲ့ႀကတဲ့သူေတြျဖစ္တယ္၊ ကိုယ့္ႏိုင္ငံ ကိုယ့္ေနရာနဲ႔ကိုယ္အုပ္ခ်ဳပ္ျပီး ျငိမ္ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းခ်မ္း ေနထိုင္ခဲ့ ႀကတာျဖစ္တယ္၊ ကြ်န္မတို႔ ကခ်င္လူမ်ိဴးေတြဟ ျမန္မာျပည္ဘက္ကိုလည္း မသြားဘူး ျမန္မာလူမ်ိဳးေတြကလည္း ကခ်င္လူမ်ိဴးေတြကို ေတာသား လူရုိင္းေတြဆို ျပီး အရမ္းေႀကာက္ခဲ့တာ။ ျဗိတိသွ် အုပ္ခ်ဴပ္တုန္းက ကြ်န္မတို႔ ကခ်င္လူမ်ိဴးေတြဟာ စစ္ေရးစစ္ရာ တိုက္ခိုက္တဲ့ေနရာမွာ ကြ်မ္းက်င္တဲ့ လူမ်ိဴးေတြျဖစ္တယ္၊ ပထမ ကမၻာစစ္နဲ႔ ဒုတိယ ကမၻာစစ္ ဂ်ပန္ေခတ္ ေတြမွာ ကခ်င္လူမ်ိဴးေတြ ေတာ္ေတာ္မ်ားမ်ား ပါ၀င္ တိုက္ခိုက္ပါ၀င္ခဲ့ႀကတယ္၊ ဒီလိုနဲ႔ ၁၉၄၇ ခုႏွစ္မွာ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဴပ္ေအာင္ဆန္း ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္ကိုတက္လာတာျဖစ္တယ္၊ ကြ်န္မ က အဲဒီအခ်ိန္ ၁၅ ၊ ၁၆ ႏွစ္ဘဲရွိေသးတယ္၊ အဲဒီတုန္းက ကြ်န္မ ႀကိဳဆိုဧည့္ခံေရး အဖဲြ႔မွာပါ၀င္ခဲ့တယ္၊ အခုက်ြန္မ အသက္ ၈၀ ေက်ာ္ျပီေလ၊ ဗိုလ္ခ်ဴပ္ေအာင္ဆန္းက ျဗိတိသွ် ေတြဆီက လြတ္လပ္ေရးရေအာင္ဆိုျပီး တျခားလူမ်ိဳးေတြဆီ မသြားပဲ ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္ကို အရင္လာတာျဖစ္တယ္။ ကခ်င္ေခါင္းေဆာင္ေတြနဲ႔ ေတြ႔ဆံုေဆြးေႏြးခဲ့ႀကတယ္၊ အစကေတာ့ လြတ္လပ္ေရးမွာ မပါ၀င္ခ်င္ဘူး၊ ဒါေပမဲ့ ေအာင္ဆန္းက ကခ်င္တစ္က်ပ္ ဆို ျမန္မာတစ္က်ပ္ဆိုတဲ့ အခြင့္အေရးေပးမယ္ဆိုျပီး ျပည္ေထာင္စုမူ အရ ကြ်န္ေတာ္တို႔ယူႀကမွပါ ခင္ဗ်ားတို႔ မႀကိဳက္ရင္လည္း ေနာက္ ၁၀ႏွစ္ေလာက္ဆို ျပန္ခဲြထြက္လို႔ ရတယ္ဆိုလို႕ ကခ်င္ေတြ ပင္လံုစာခ်ဳပ္မွာ လက္မွတ္ေရးထိုးခဲ့ႀကတာပါ။ ကခ်င္ေတြ ပင္လံုစာခ်ဳပ္ခ်ဳပ္ဖို႔ သေဘာတူလို႔ ရွမ္းျပည္ကိုေရာက္တယ္ ရွမ္းေတြလည္း လြတ္လပ္ေရးကို မလိုခ်င္ႀကဘူး ဒါေပမဲ့ ကခ်င္ေနာင္ေတာ္ႀကီးေတြေတာင္ သေဘာတူတယ္ဆိုေတာ့ ဆိုျပီး ရွမ္းေတြလည္းသေဘာတူ လက္မွတ္ေရးထိုးခဲ့ႀကတယ္။ ျပီးေတာ့ ခ်င္းေတြ ျပန္ေရာက္လာတယ္ ခ်င္းေတြေရာ ဒီအတိုင္းဘဲ သေဘာမတူဘူး လြတ္လပ္ေရးကို မလိုခ်င္ႀကဘူး၊ ဒါေပမဲ့ ကခ်င္နဲ႔ ရွမ္းေတာင္ လက္မွတ္ေရးထိုးတယ္ဆိုျပီးသူလည္း သေဘာတူခဲ့တယ္၊ ပင္လံုမွာလက္မွတ္ေရးထိုးတာက ဗမာ ကိုယ္စား ေအာင္ဆန္း (ဖဆပလ) ေခါင္းေဆာင္ လက္မွတ္ထိုးတယ္ ကခ်င္၊ ရွမ္း၊ ခ်င္း ေလးဦး သေဘာတူျပီး ပင္လံုမွာ စာခ်ဳပ္ခ်ုဳပ္ခဲ့တာျဖစ္ပါတယ္၊ ၁၉၄၈ ဇန္န၀ါရီ ၄ မွာ လြတ္လပ္ေရး ရတာျဖစ္တယ္၊ ဒါေပမဲ့ ရွင့္အေဖ ေပးထားတဲ့ ကတိစကားကို ကြ်န္မတို႔ အရမ္းအားကိုးနားေထာင္ျပီး လက္ခံထားတာကို ေအာင္ဆန္းမရွိေတာ့လို႔ ကၽြန္မတို႔ အရမ္း၀မ္းနည္းျပီး စိတ္ပ်က္သြားတယ္၊ အဲဒီအခ်ိန္က စျပီး ကြ်န္မတို႔ ကခ်င္ေတြက ဘာ အခြင့္အေရးမွ မရေတာ့တာပါ၊ ဦးႏုက ဖဆပလ (ဥကၠ႒) တက္လာေတာ့ ကခ်င္ေတြကို ဘာမွ မဟုတ္သလို ဆက္ဆံခဲ့တာပါ၊ ဒီလိုနဲ ့ကြ်န္မတို႔ ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္ တရုတ္ျပည္နယ္စပ္က ဖီေမာ္၊ လံကိုင္ နယ္ေျမကို ဘယ္သူ႕ကိုမွ မတိုင္ပင္ဘဲ တရုတ္ေတြကို ေရာင္းစားလိုက္တာဟုတ္တယ္။ ဒါေႀကာင့္ အရမ္း၀မ္းနည္းတယ္ အခုထိလည္း ၀မ္းနည္းေနတုန္းပါဘဲ။ ၁၉၆၂ မွာ ကၽြန္မတို႕ ကခ်င္ေတြ သူပုန္ထလာတာျဖစ္တယ္၊ ဒါဘာျဖစ္လို႕လဲဆိုေတာ့ ႏိုင္ငံေတာ္ဘာသာ ဆိုတာကို ဘယ္သူ႕ကိုမွ တိုင္ပင္တာမရွိပဲ ဦးႏု သူ႕ဟာသူ စီစဥ္လုပ္ခဲ့တယ္ ႏုိင္ငံေတာ္ဘာသာမွာ ဆိုရင္ (တစ္ႏိုင္ငံလံုး ဗုဒၶဘာသာ ျဖစ္ရမယ္ဆိုတဲ့ ဦးတည္ခ်က္နဲ႔သြားရမယ္) က်န္တဲ့ ခရစ္ယာန္ ၊နတ္စား ၊ စတဲ့ ဘာသာေတြကို ႏိွမ္သလိုျဖစ္လာျပီး ဒါေႀကာင့္ KIO ေတာ္လွန္ေရးစလာတာပါ၊ ကခ်င္ေတာ္လွန္ေရးကိုစခဲ့တာ ေနာ္ဆိုင္းဟုတ္ပါတယ္ ေနာ္ဆိုင္းက ရွမ္းျပည္ကေန ကခ်င္ဖက္ကိုတက္လာေတာ့ သူ႕ကို ဘယ္သူမွ ႀကိဳဆိုေထာက္ခံမဲ့သူ မရွိလို႔ ေနာ္ဆိုင္းက တရုတ္ကြန္ျမဴနစ္ေတြနဲ႔ ေပါင္းသြားတာျဖစ္တယ္။ ကၽြန္မတို႕ ကခ်င္ေတြက ျမန္မာေတြကို သတ္မယ္ျဖတ္မယ္ဆိုတဲ့ စိတ္ဓာတ္လံုး၀ မရွိပါဘူး ဗမာကို မုန္းရေအာင္ေနာ္ဆိုတဲ့ စိတ္လည္းမရွိပါဘူး၊ ဒါေပမယ့္ ကိုယ့္ႏိုင္ငံကိုယ့္ျပည္ကို ကိုယ္ပိုင္ဆိုင္ခြင့္ အရင္က ပိုင္ဆိုင္သလို ပိုင္ဆိုင္ခြင့္ ကိုယ့္ႏိုင္ငံႀကီးပြားတိုးတက္ဖို႔ ကိုယ့္ေျခေထာက္ကိုယ္ ရပ္တည္သြားမယ္ ဆုိျပီး ေျပာႀကည့္ရင္လည္း မျဖစ္လို႔ ေတာ္လွန္ေရး KIO ဆိုတာ ျဖစ္လာတာဟုတ္တယ္၊ ဒီေန႔ အထိလည္း ဒါပါပဲ တျခားေတာ့ ဘာမွမဟုတ္ဘူး အပစ္ေခတ္ရပ္စဲေရးကို ၁၇ ႏွစ္ႀကာေအာင္ ျပန္လုပ္ခဲ့ျပီးျပီး က်ြန္မတို႔ အရမ္းေပ်ာ္ရြင္ခဲ့ပါတယ္၊ ဒီအပစ္ခတ္ရပ္စဲေရး လုပ္ျပီး ေတာ့ ေနာက္တစ္ဆင့္အေနနဲ႔ ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရး လုပ္ဖို႔ လိုအပ္လာတယ္၊ အပစ္အခတ္ရပ္စဲေရးက ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းေရးမဟုတ္ဘူး..ျငိမ္းခ်မး္ေရး ဆိုတာ ႏိုင္ငံေရးအရ စားပဲြေပၚမွာ ျပဳလုပ္ဖို႔ျဖစ္တာ ဒါကို လုပ္ခြင့္မေပးဘူး KIO အေနနဲ႔ ခဏခဏေတာင္းဆိုတယ္ မလုပ္ေပးခဲ့ဘူး “ျပည္သူ႕အစိုးရေပၚလာေတာ့မယ္ မင္းတို႔ သိပ္မေလာႀကနဲ႔ ဆိုျပီးျပန္ေျပာတယ္” ျပည္သူ႕အစိုးရ ေပၚလာျပီး အစည္းအေ၀းေတာင္ မလုပ္ေသးဘူး သူတို႔ အရင္ပစ္တယ္ ၂၀၁၂ ဇြန္ ၉ မွာ စစ္စျဖစ္တယ္။ အခု ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္မွ ျမန္မာစစ္သား ၁သိန္းေက်ာ္ျပီး သိလား.. ဒံုးက်ည္ ၂ေသာင္း ေရာက္ေနတယ္.. အေျမာက္ေတြလည္း အမ်ားႀကီးေရာက္ေနတယ္ ကခ်င္နဲ႔ခရစ္ယာန္ေတြကို အျမစ္ျပတ္သြားေအာင္ လုပ္သြားမွာျဖစ္တယ္။ ဘာျဖစ္လို႕လဲဆိုေတာ့ အျပင္က ေလာဘ စိတ္ေႀကာင့္ဟုတ္တယ္ ကြ်န္မတို႔ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္မွာ သံယဇာတေပါမ်ားတယ္ ဒါေႀကာင့္နယ္ေျမကို လုယူပိုင္ဆိုင္ခ်င္လို႔ျဖစ္တယ္ လို႕ ကြ်န္မတို႕ ကေတာ့ ဒီလိုပဲ ထင္ႀကပါတယ္။ ကခ်င္လြတ္လပ္ေရးအဖဲြ႔ ကေတာင္းဆိုထားတာကက (၁) ပင္လံုစာခ်ဳပ္ ပင္လံုစိတ္ဓာတ္ ႏိုင္ငံေရးကို ႏုိင္ငံေရးလို စားပဲြေပၚမွာ ပင္လံု အေျခခံျပီး ေဆြးေႏြးမယ္ (၂ ) ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္ ေရာက္ေနတဲ့ တပ္မေတာ္သားေတြ ကို ကိုယ့္ေနရာကိုယ္ျပန္ဆုတ္ခိုင္း ဒါဆိုရင္ အပစ္အခတ္ရပ္မယ္ စာခ်ဳပ္ခ်ဳပ္မယ္ဆိုရင္ႏိုင္ငံတကာက လူေတြကိုေခၚျပီး စာခ်ဳပ္ခ်ဳပ္မယ္ဆိုျပီးေတာင္းဆိုထားတာ အခုထိေတာ့ဘာမွ အေႀကာင္းျပန္လာတာ မရွိေသးဘူး၊ ေဒၚစုက အံႀသစြာနဲ႔ လည္ပင္းေတာင္ ေစာင္းတယ္ ကၽြန္မေျပာတာကို နားေထာင္ေနတာ သူက ဘာမွမသိတဲ့ပံုပဲ မင္းကအဲဒီတုန္းက ငယ္ေသးတယ္ေလ ျပီးေတာ့ မင္းအေမေနာက္လိုက္သြားရေတာ့ ငါတို႕ဒီက သမိုင္းေႀကာင္းကို ဘာမွ မသိလိုက္ဘူးေပါ့ လို႕ကၽြန္မေျပာခဲ့တယ္။ အထက္က ေျပာဆိုခဲ့သည္မ်ားမွာ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အား ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာက ေျပာဆိုခဲ့သည့္ စကားမ်ားကို ၎ကိုယ္တိုင္ ျပန္လည္ေျပာျပတာ ျဖစ္ပါတယ္။ ထိုေန႔ညက ရွင္းျပအၿပီး ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္အား သူေျပာခ်င္တဲ့ စကားတစ္ခြန္းျဖစ္သည့္ “ျမန္မာ့နည္းျမန္မာ့ဟန္ ဆိုရွယ္လစ္ အခုလည္း ျမန္မာ့နည္းျမန္မာ့ဟန္ ဒီမိုကေရစီ မလုပ္ရင္ေကာင္းတယ္” ဆိုတာကို မီးပ်က္သြားတာေၾကာင့္ မေျပာလိုက္ရဘူးလို႔ ေဒၚအင္ဖန္ဂ်ာရာ က YPI ကိုျပန္ေျပာျပပါတယ္။ အဲဒီ့ေနာက္ YPI သတင္းေထာက္က ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ဘာေၾကာင့္ ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္သို႔ လာသည္ထင္သလဲ ဟုေမးရာ “ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ပါတီစည္းရံုးေရး ထြက္လာတယ္ ထင္တာပဲ” လို႔ေျဖဆိုပါတယ္။ ေဒၚေအာင္ဆန္းစုၾကည္ ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္ လာတဲ့အေပၚ ဘာေမွ်ာ္လင့္ထားလဲ ဆိုတဲ့ ေမးခြန္းကိုေတာ့ “ ဘာမွ ထူးထူးျခားျခား မေမွ်ာ္လင့္ပါဘူး၊ ပါတီစည္းရံုးေရး သက္သက္ပဲ ထြက္လာတယ္၊ တကယ္လို႔ သူေရြးေကာက္ပြဲမွာ ႏိုင္လို႔ လႊတ္ေတာ္မွာ ၀င္ထိုင္ျဖစ္ရင္ေတာ့ ကခ်င္ျပည္နယ္အတြက္ ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ခ်က္ အေတာ္မ်ားမ်ား ရွိတယ္ ” လို႔ေျဖသြားပါတယ္။

Burma soldier and Burmese-born US Marine

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:02:43 PST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EknTt3aCDKc&feature=relmfu In Burmese - summary The first interviewee compares what little he got from the Burmese government with the disability support he gets from the US government in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

FBR: FBR: Burma Army Killing and Raping Civilians in Karenni State

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:02:13 PST

FBR REPORT: Burma Army Killing and Raping Civilians in Karenni State

Karenni State, Burma

19 February, 2012

In This Report

The following information was collected from the five FBR teams in eight townships of Karenni State.

Map showing area of report

On 15 January 2012 in Hpruso Township, after a battle between the Burma Army and the Karenni Army, Burma Army IB 54 killed a 35-year-old villager named Lu Reh in Htay Byar Nyae. In December 2011, a Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 57 soldier raped Buu Leh (name changed to protect victim), a villager from Dah Weh Village in Sha Daw Township. On 25 November 2011, six soldiers from IB 428 and IB 531 who were stationed at a training base in Hpruso Township raped three women from Law Jar Village. On 14 January 2012, Infantry Battalion (IB) 295, commanded by Aung Zey Ya, killed a village man in Karenni State.

There are currently 23 Burma Army battalions operating in Karenni State with two to three battalions located within each township. Last month, seven battalions rotated in and out of the area. From 1 January 2012 to 28 January 2012, nine battles took place between the Burma Army and the Karenni Army (KA). Three of the battles took place in Sha Daw Township, two in Maw Chi Township with one battle each occurring in Loi Kaw Township, Baw La Ke Township, Hpruso Township and Demawso Township. The KA did not suffer any casualties in these battles, but the BA suffered a total of ten casualties and ten wounded. The Burma Army units involved were IB 250, IB 135, IB 248, IB 54, LIB 72 and Military Operations Command (MOC) 55. Burma Army soldiers are also stopping civilian vehicles on Shadaw Road, Bawlake Road, and a main hwy running into Thailand and forcing them to transport food, weapons and supplies.

Development Projects in Karenni State:

1) Mining taking place in Maw Chi Township and Ho Yar Village.

2) Three dams are projected with surveys presently being conducted. A 600 Megawatt (MW) dam will be built on the Salween River with smaller dams of 110 MW on the Thabet River and a 130MW on the Pawn River. The construction of the dams has been awarded to the Datang Corporation of China. The Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the villages to be affected wrote letters to both the government of Burma and China protesting the construction of the dams. Over 200 people have already been forced to leave, with another 800-1000 people projected to be displaced by the end of construction.

3) There are two hydropower plants in Karenni State with one more projected to be built. One is located in Law Pi Ta Village.

4) A cement plant is under construction in Pa Kyaeh Village in Loi Kaw Township. Numerous villagers have already been relocated due to the construction.

5) In 2011, the Burma Army built more than 10 new Army bases in Karenni State, including a training camp in Hpruso Township.

Thank you and God Bless,

FBR Karenni Teams

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FBR: FBR: Medical school graduation at the Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:30:47 PST

FBR REPORT: Medical school graduation at the Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei

Karen State, Burma

15 February, 2012

The first class of the Free Burma Ranger medical school- Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei- graduated 20 new medics on 8 February 2012 in Karen State, Burma. We are grateful to Earth Mission, Partners, Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) and others who help make the school possible. We are also thankful for the outstanding team of doctors, nurses and medics who operate the school and clinic. They are running an outstanding program of instruction that includes class room, interactive lectures and practical experience in the care of patients in the clinic the school supports here. The students also conduct medical missions to the surrounding villages under supervision of the instructors. Most of the students are FBR team medics but the school also helps to train medics from the KDHW.

First graduating class, Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei

Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei

After 10 months of training the medics joined the rest of the FBR relief teams who had just graduated from relief team training for a month long mission. While on this mission, with the help of senior medics, the new medics helped care for over 1,350 patients. Their compassion, hard work and skill in medicine brought comfort and healing to people in need. Upon completion of the mission the medics returned to the school to finish training and take their exams.

Lab work at the clinic, Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei

When some of us returned to Tha U Wa camp this week after the final mission, we arrived as the school's doctors and medics were operating on a little girl with a severe infection. The prayer, love, team work and excellence in surgery resulted in a little girl who was healed and a family relieved. This operation is only one of many ways the clinic and school changes life for the better for the villagers in the surrounding area. The school and clinic is a place of learning, growing and healing, and most of all it is a place of love.

Medical Students singing at graduation

Graduation was held on 8 February and now the newly trained medics are on their way back to their FBR teams and duties in the KDHW. The new students have arrived and the Jungle School of Medicine is now starting its second year of producing medics who give help, hope and love. Thank you to all of you who support the medical school, clinic and all of us here.

May God bless you,

The Free Burma Rangers

Karen State, Burma

Medical students treat patinest at clinic

Medics caring for young girl after surgery

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FBR: FBR: Ceasefires, Continued Attacks and a Friendly Encounter Between Enemies

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:55:09 PST

FBR REPORT: Ceasefires, Continued Attacks and a Friendly Encounter Between Enemies

Karen State, Burma

3 February, 2012

In This Report

Dear friends,

As we continue relief missions in Burma we also are monitoring the situation as regards to the different stages of ceasefire negotiations and the situation the ground. This update is sent from northern Karen State and includes information sent from other FBR teams in different areas of Burma. In some areas such as Arakan State, western Burma, where there are no ceasefire negotiations, the Burma army continues it operations. In other areas such as Kachin State, although there are negotiations, the Burma army is continuing operations with over 100 infantry battalions. In Karen State, there has been a significant reduction of fighting, but the movement of supplies and Burma army troop movement into Karen State continues. In the Karen State no ceasefire has yet been signed but both the Karen National Union (Karen ethnic pro-democracy resistance) and the Government of Burma have ordered their troops not to shoot at each other. The following are the incidents of hostilities as well as one incident of a friendly encounter from January 16 to present, 1 February 2012.

16-23 January, Burma Army soldier shoots villager, Burma army force villagers support their resupply activates. From 16/1/2012 to 23/1/2012 SPDC IB 61, IB 62, LIB591 and LIB343 advanced and secured the road in the Anankwin and Thaphuzaya areas. They resupplied food and supplies. When they arrived at Anankwin village, they told villagers to make baskets for their loads. Four baskets from Htee Kler Ni, 10 from Htee LerHsaw, tenfrom Lu Shah and ten from Mae Klu villages, Win Ye Township, Dooplaya District, South- central Karen State.

Burma Army supply convoy at Muthey advancing into Karen State 22 January 2012

Burma Army troop communicates as resupply advances to Play Hsa Lo camp 22 Januray 2012

18 January, a soldier from SPDC LIB562 (battalion commander Kyaw Soe Naing) under control of MOC 5, shot a villager, Saw Pa Dah, 35 years old from Ta Pho Poh Hta village, Noh Ta Kaw township, Dooplaya District. Saw Pa Dah was wounded in the leg.

22 January. Burma Army and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)- forces fight between Lay Day Burma Army camp and Play Hsa Lo camp at 1200 hrs. Burma Army had one killed and one wounded, the KNLA no casualties. Burma army troops and KNLA troops fought on the mule trail between Lay Day Burma Army camp and Play Hsa Lo (They Pu), Burma Army camp as the Burma Army was sending supplies to Play Hsa Lo camp. Play Hsa Lo, Tantabin Township, Toungoo District, Northern Karen State.

Burma Army troops and convoy in Muthey in advance into Karen State 22 January 2012

Burma Army troops enter Play Hsa Lo village 22 January 2012

24 January, Burma Army mortars and shoots machine guns into IDP and village areas. Ler Doh (KyaukKyi township) Nyaunglebin District, Western Karen State. At 17:20 hrs on 24 January, Burma Army troops of the Southern Command, (Battalion 351 and Battalion 60 identified. One commander identified from Battalion 351- one Company Commander named They Ko) advanced on the KyaukKyi-Muthey- Hsaw Hta road, shooting mortars and machineguns into the surrounding area. Some of the mortar rounds were directed at the villagers of Khe Der village tract and in Khe der village itself the people are on alert. As the Burma Army moved they fired mortars, machineguns and small arms. Over 150 horses and mules are being used for their resupply operation now and we have a report of 60 trucks of ammunition, food and supplies but can confirm the 41 trucks we saw and videoed. We have not yet heard of any casualties however. The shelling was from Wa Me Kwee and Kler Soe camps.

24 January, Burma Army troops shoot at villagers in Kay Pu area, Luthaw Township, Muthraw (Papun) district, Northern Karen State. At 0845 hrs on 24 January, Burma army troops from MOC 9 shot at villagers near the old Kay Pu village site. The Burma Army has a camp above the old village that was abandoned when the Burma army attacked here in major offensive in 2006. The villagers were animists on the way to religious ceremony. The Burma army was patrolling down into the IDP areas near the Plo lo Klo river ( south of the junction with the Yunzalin river). When the Burma Army saw the villagers, they opened fire. The villagers ran and no one was hurt.

Burma Army troops on road before handshake with Karen soldiers 28 January 2012

28 January, Burma Army troops and KNLA troops shake hands at a road crossing. Ler Mu Plaw, Luthaw, Muthraw district, Northern Karen State. At 1145 hrs on 28 January, Burma Army troops on the Saw Mu Plaw-Baw Ga li Gyi road between Saw Mu Plaw and Ler Mu Plaw, met Karen KNLA troops on the road. The Burma Army called out, "Don't shoot, we will not shoot you". The Karen soldiers responded, "We will not shoot you". The Karen troops moved out onto the road and talked briefly with the Burma Army troops. The Burma army troops said, "You can go back to your farms and villages now." The Karen troops responded, " We cannot go back to our homes until you leave your camps and this area." The troops smiled and laughed together, shook hands and the Burma army troops continued down the road.

Karen and Burma Army troops shake hands on a road in Northern Karen State. 28 Jan 2012

Good Life Club Program with IDPs

Karen FBR medics treat a burn victim

Relief supplies and FBR on the move to help IDPS

Shan FBR medics treat Karen pateint

Karen mother using early warning radio network before movement

Included here is a report we sent out during this time.

Standing for Freedom in the Midst of Change - a Report from the Field.

(For the security of the people we met in the forced relocation sites, we have not included pictures from the plains) Here in Burma there are some good changes, yet oppression continues and in some areas such as Karen and Kachin States, shooting by the Burma Army continues.

The sun is coming up after a night movement from the mountains down to the plains of Burma. It is here that the Burma Army has feudal rule with tight control over people's lives and camps surrounding the forced relocation sites. Up in the mountains the Burma army shoots to kill, but there is room to get away and the resistance is strong enough to slow and sometimes stop Burma Army attacks. Two days ago in the mountains, we could hear the Burma Army shelling towards Karen villages as they advanced to supply their camps. In Kachin state our team is helping over 40,000 IDPs displaced in ongoing attacks.

Down in the plains the Burma Army has almost complete control. But, it is impossible to fully control people who have the conviction that all people are equal in the sight of God and that this is their home. . Here in Burma we still face giants, but we do not face them alone. We moved like mice in between the Burma Army camps and patrols to meet the people in the relocation sites. We met them in the bushes and trees that separated the miles and miles of rice fields. "The church is the greatest source of unity here", the local underground resistance leader told us. "Oppression, imprisonment and death has caused fear to grow in us and between us, breaking down our trust and unity." As we prayed about our meetings with the people here, our medic, Eliya, shared these words from Psalm 100: "Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands, serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing, know that the Lord, He is God, it is He who has made us and not we ourselves, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture, enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, be thankful to Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations." We did not make ourselves, God made us and we are His and we also belong to each other. We can live with joy and boldly, knowing we are God's children. From this relationship with God and each other, come the convictions that we live and act on.

We met Karen Christians, Burmese Buddhists and Karen Buddhists and felt close to all. Into our little hide site came a man we met on the last mission to the plains, the father of one of our team members and the leader of the underground here. He was beaming and under his thin windbreaker showed us the FBR t-shirt he dared to wear. He smiled proudly and then grabbed my arms and we began to wrestle like we did when we met last year. He was testing my strength, courage and sense of humor, and to see if we were still brothers. I call him "Big bear" as he is a very stout and strong man, built like a Mongolian warrior, with a bull neck, broad chest, powerful arms, and tree stump like legs. His smile is clear and the love of life shines through him.

Later that night we met other church leaders and for the next four days and nights moved and met many leaders from different relocation sites. We prayed together and shared experiences and listened to their thoughts, needs and convictions. An elder told us, "I had to watch every step to come here. No matter what is said about changes, the Burma Army can still kill you anytime. We are glad you came and we pray for the end of restrictions we live under." Another man from this village told us of two farmers who were shot by Burma troops two months ago, one a father of four, killed, and another one wounded.

One pastor told us, "We have been praying for the leaders to change and thank God we do see some changes. But still there is oppression, so it seems the change is only of the mind. We need a change of heart too. We pray now that God will grab Senior General Than Shwey's heart! Last week the Burma army told us, 'Now there is change in Burma, if you contact the Karen National Union (Karen pro-democracy resistance), you will be severely punished'." Another church leader said, "We have been forced to move three times. The Burma army just told some of us that we could go back home, but when we asked about proof in writing, there was none. Is it a trap? Going back to our original homes can be true vision if we pray. I know God's plans are above ours, and dreams like this can come true." A woman's group leader told us, "We need to be free. We want unity and we also need help with our schools, churches and Early Child Care Development programs."

One man had just been released from prison after serving 5 years after being accused of helping the KNU. "I was beaten badly when I was arrested and then taken to Toungoo prison. There I was fed rice and salt water. I was watched all the time and only allowed to pray in Burmese and not in my Karen language. I spent much time in solitary. I knew the Karen lady medic who was captured and saw her in prison too."

Another man in his 60's told us, "Last year, I was captured by the Burma army on the trail and had four of my teeth knocked out by the soldiers. I was beaten with sticks and clubbed with a rifle to my entire body. After six days of torture my friends were able to pay 300,000 kyats to the army and I was released."

A pastor told us, "Things have gotten a little better and we are stopped at check points less than before. After 60 years of war, hearts need to change. My message to Aug San Suu Kyi is, 'Please remember the ethnic people of Burma.' All of us should be united, and for me the church is the central pillar of unity. We want all churches to be free. We do not want to have to apply for permission as we do now. Now we have to apply for permission to hold special church events, for building projects, and for any traveling we want to do. I do want to thank you all for the gifts you gave us last time and for the bibles and hymnals. We used the gift to make a wooden library to safely store all of our bibles, hymnals and books. Now we need more bibles and hymnals. Thank you so much and may God bless all of you. " We committed to helping each community and church as much as we could and are grateful for the help of Partners and others. As we talked, I told them about the German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer stood for the Jews and other oppressed people in WWII. Bonheoffer gave up his life to stand against Hitler's Nazi oppression. Bonheoffer died in a concentration camp just before the war ended and freedom came. Even the end of WWII did not mean freedom for all. For many in Eastern Europe, China and other places, oppression under another name continued.

Last year the former Czech President Vaclav Havel died. He was one of many who stood for freedom until Eastern Europe too was free. He was a friend of FBR and here in Burma we paid tribute to him with a memorial service, prayer and song. Here in Burma, like Havel and Bonheoffer, we are directed by the conviction that God wants us to stand with and help His people be free. God's power of love brings change in each of us and helps us to move forward together to be part of His freedom, mercy and grace everywhere.

Thank you and God bless you,
Dave, family and FBR teams.
Karen State, Burma.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

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[Altsean-Burma] January 2012 Burma Bulletin

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:23:54 PST

Dear Friends,

Please find attached the January 2012 issue of ALTSEAN Burma Bulletin.

The Burma Bulletin is a short month in review of events in Burma,
particularly those of interest to the democracy movement and human
rights activists.

In the January 2012 issue you will find:

* Over 300 political prisoners released
* 'Peace agreements' with ethnic groups
* Conflict, attacks against civilians continue
* NLD prepares for by-elections
* High-level foreign officials visit Burma
* Uncertainty surrounds foreign investments
* Other Burma news
* List of Reports
* Much more...

The January 2012 Burma Bulletin is also available online at:
http://bit.ly/wg2qaF

You can also receive daily Burma updates by following us on Twitter
http://twitter.com/altsean

Yours, in solidarity,

ALTSEAN-Burma

FBR: FBR: Villager shot and beaten to death on Christmas Eve as Burma Army continues to oppress people in northern Karen State

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:28:54 PST

FBR REPORT: Villager shot and beaten to death on Christmas Eve as Burma Army continues to oppress people in northern Karen State. December 2011.

Karen State, Burma

30 January, 2012

	In This Report
	Villager shot and beaten to death on Christmas Eve as Burma Army continues to oppress people in northern Karen State Multi-ethnic team conducts relief mission in Toungoo District Burma Army and Border Guard Force shoot villagers and demand forced labor in Butho Township, Mutraw District Nyaunglebin District teams complete relief mission Teams complete relief mission in Luthaw Township, Mutraw District

Map showing area of report

Burma Army patrols kill man and demand forced labor in Toungoo District

On 24 December 2011, at 4:30pm, troops from Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 380, based at Naw Soe Camp, shot and wounded and then beat to death Saw Koh Mya, age 31, from Ku Ler Der Village, while on patrol. They then looted his body and left him half buried by the side of the trail.

On 29 December 2011, a column from LIB 375, patrolling in the Play Hsa Loh area, forced villagers to transport their food to Htee Mu Hta Camp. They used 60 oxcarts owned by villagers from Ye Shan, Sha Zee Bo, See Phyu Kone, Taw Kone and Pyin Kan villages.

On 30 December 2011, at 12pm, a Burma Army bulldozer travelling with a security column left Kler La heading toward Ler Hsa Day, which is between Klay Soh Hkee and Kler La. They forced one villager to use his truck to carry food to Naw Soe Camp.

On 7 December, LIB 378 fired 10 mortar rounds at Ko Way Village. Five of the 10 landed in the village and destroyed some houses. This was a response to a Karen pro-democracy resistance, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), attack on the battalion earlier that day. There were no KNLA troops in the village when the mortar fire occurred.

Burma Army soldiers in Kler La Camp, Toungoo District

Father of FBR team member loses leg to landmine

Overview of Burma Army Troops in Toungoo District

Military Operations Command (MOC) 9 and Southern Command are operating in the area. There are 20 battalions between them. LIBs 380 and 374 have both sustained losses due to attacks from the KNLA and have combined to make the size of one full battalion. LIB 378, commanded by Lin Htaing Oo, is in the Thandaung area. LIB 375 is above Pa Lay Wa. LIB 379 is responsible for road and bulldozer security. The primary activity of the Burma Army here is road construction and moving supplies. There is one Burma Army bulldozer at Naw Soe Camp and one at Busakee Camp. These are hidden under camouflage to protect them from resistance attacks. Because of the effectiveness of these attacks, different Burma Army battalions are not sharing their bulldozers with each other out of fear they will be destroyed.

Multi-ethnic Team Conducts Relief Mission in Mutraw and Toungoo Districts

OVERVIEW: During the month of December, ten Free Burma Ranger teams, including team members from Arakan, Karen, Karenni, Lahu, Mon, Naga, and Pa-Oh areas of Burma, conducted a relief mission in Luthaw Township of Mutraw District, and Daw Pa Ko Township in Toungoo District. The teams visited eight villages and Internally Displaced Person (IDP) sites. They conducted Good Life Club (GLC) programs for children in each site, interviewed teachers and local village leaders, gathered information on Burma Army activity in these areas, and put on clinics for all villages in the area of each site. Altogether, the teams helped over 1,600 children, from 32 different schools, by providing clothing and school supplies; they also treated over 1,350 patients.

Arakan and Mon rangers sing for a program in northern Karen State

Children laugh with GLC team leader at program

EDUCATION: While every village has some form of school, in Toungoo District there are no high schools outside of Burma Army-controlled villages. Approximately 20% of school-aged children from villages represented at the programs cannot go to school either because their families are too poor and they must stay home to help, or because of the lack of opportunity in their village, and an inability to travel to a boarding school or refugee camp for further education. Many teachers say their greatest needs are basic supplies like text books and sports equipment. Many of these schools must go to nearby Burma Army-controlled villages to buy their own supplies.

FBR medic doing dental work at a GLC program

HEALTH: In Toungoo District, there is one clinic that serves IDPs and villages outside of Burma Army-controlled areas. This clinic is run by the Karen National Union (KNU -- pro-democracy resistance). Most villagers interviewed are at least a full day's walk from this clinic, which has no electricity. FBR teams traveling between the villages of Thay Mu Der and See Plaw were stopped by villagers and asked to come see a pregnant woman in her third trimester who had been unconscious for five hours. FBR medics worked with her for the rest of the day and through the night, and were able to stabilize her but could not provide all the help she needed (she was later diagnosed with eclampsia). The medics decided the best option was to carry her by hammock stretcher to the nearest clinic in a Burma Army-controlled village. While villagers do visit these brown-zone villages, it is dangerous and they are frequently arrested, interrogated, fined and otherwise harassed by Burma Army soldiers with impunity. The KNU worked with the underground resistance to find a way and the FBR medics carried her part of the distance, where they were met by other villagers who took her the rest of the way.

Another case FBR teams met on the mission is that of Saw See Blu Ywa. See Blu Ywa ("Thank God" in Karen language) was badly burned when he was two days old and rolled into the fire. His mother says he can still see out of both eyes but one is damaged. He has no use of his right hand but can use his arm with limited range of motion, as well as some limitations on the range of motion in his neck. FBR has committed to helping him with reconstructive surgery with the help of many others this year.

Saw Blu Ywa, burned as an infant, with GLC bracelet

POST-ELECTION: Villagers and local leaders, when asked about any changes since Burma's elections one year ago, almost uniformly responded that there have been no significant changes. However, as detailed above, there has been some decrease in Burma Army activity, partly due to fighting in other areas of Burma and partly due to KNLA activity.

Children from 11 schools came to this GLC program, northern Karen State

Burma Army and BGF shoot villagers and demand forced labor in Butho Township, Mutraw District

Burma Army and Border Guard Force (The BGF are ethnic proxy forces that work with the Burma Army) troops have been shooting villagers, demanding forced labor, and taking money and supplies from people in Butho Township, Mutraw District, Karen State.

On 27 December 2011, villagers from Pra Day Mu Village fled to hiding places because Burma Army and BGF troops demanded forced labor. There are more than 50 houses in this village. On 28 December, Burma Army Infantry Battalion (IB) 218, commanded by Htun Htun Naing, captured 14 people -- seven from Htee Gay Lo Village and seven from Mae Nyaw Village -- and forced them to serve as guides and carry wounded troops. At 5pm, also on 28 December, Burma Army troops shot and wounded one villager.

As of 3 January 2012, the Burma Army and BGF activity in Mae Nyaw and Pra Day Mu is ongoing and villagers have not been able to return to their villages. The BGF told the villagers not to go back to Pra Day Mu Village yet because of landmines they had laid in the village.

BGF Battalion 1014, led by Bo Maw Htin, have been active in Lay Wah and Saw Hpa village tracts. They have now combined with the Burma Army to form a joint camp in K'Ter Hti. As they returned with wounded troops, they burned down the villagers' rubber plantation, saying it was because the village supported the KNLA.

In Ta Ku Der Village Tract the Burma Army is trying to build up its camp. As part of this, LIB 345 has been monitoring villager activity more carefully. In the villages of Ta Ku Der, Plaw Day, Lay Pu Kha, To Kee Lo and Ler Bo they have been forcing villagers to check in with them twice a week. On 5 January 2012, at midnight, LIB 341 also forced villagers to clean their village because they said their leaders were coming.

Burma Army troops called the Mae Moi Hta Village headman to a meeting at Hpa Loe Village. They gave him a digital camera and told him to take photos of people coming and going in the village.

Troops from BGF Battalion 2013 commanded by Saw Kyaw Than forced villagers from Nya Gay Lo to cut 500 bamboo poles and send them to K'Ter Hti BGF Camp. In Mae Lah Village, people have not been able to harvest their rice because BGF and Burma Army troops are in the village. Five people from the village went to buy food but BGF troops confiscated it as they returned to the village.

On 11 November 2011, BGF troops commanded by Saw Maw Wee demanded 150,000 kyat from each of four villages: Htee Taw Kee, Mae Bree Kee, Mae Bree Pa Doh and Htee Baw Kho.

Burma Army and BGF troops continue to demand supplies, money and forced labor from villagers. LIB 434 has replaced IB 19 in the Dah Point area. They are using six trucks to resupply their camp at Papun.

Free Burma Ranger relief teams are providing relief supplies and medical treatment for people in the area.

Nyaunglebin District teams complete relief mission

Nyaunglebin District teams completed a relief mission in the areas of Mae Ka Tee, Htee Wa Bway Kee, Kauka, Blaw Ko and other places in Hsaw Hti Township, Nyaunglebin District, northwestern Karen State. The teams did Good Life Club programs, medical treatment, interviews, prayed and encouraged the people. Children from 11 schools attended the programs and over 580 patients were treated.

Health education during Good Life Club program

In this area, LIB 598 is based at Taung Chi Yein Camp (N 17 40 50.9 E 96 59 25.0), LIB 589 is based at Ler Tau Tho Camp. They are not currently patrolling. IB 2, IB 10, IB 96, LIB 207 and artillery battalions are also in the area. Most of these are under Division 44 based at Kyet Ton. There is also a Burma Army camp at the Kyeit Htee Yo Pagoda area. There have been no offensives in the area since 2010, but troops have been searching for KNLA soldiers and sending food and resupplies to their camps. This area is a mix of brown zones where there is mixed Burma Army and KNU control, and black zones controlled by the KNU where the Burma Army has a free-fire policy including civilians.

LIB 207 security tower, Nyaunglebin District

One village in the area, near the junction of Nyaunglebin, Mutraw and Thaton districts has been forced to porter by the Burma Army monthly over the past year. However, forced labor has decreased in the past year because Division 44 demands forced labor less often than Division 101, which was previously in the area. Overall, people in this area have been in a better situation than in the previous year and there have been no new displaced people.

The teams treated 581 people with health problems including common cold, anemia, worms, malaria, ARI, UTI and other problems. They also did dental treatment and gave out eye glasses. In parts of this area there are no clinics.

Most of the villages in the area have primary schools, while a few villages have middle schools. About 10 to 20% of school-age children do not attend school, often because they need to look after their younger siblings or their parents cannot afford to continue their education.

Most of the people in the area earned a living with mountain rice farming, while a few have small shops and some are day laborers.

Teams complete relief mission in Luthaw Township, Mutraw District

FBR teams have completed a mission in Luthaw Township, Mutraw District, Karen State. The teams conducted Good Life Club programs for over 500 children from six schools in eight villages. Burma Army Division 101 is in the area, patrolling along the car road and resupplying their camps with food. Wa Klai Tu, Kaw Thway Kyo and Paw Kay Ko Burma Army camps are in the area.

Wa Klai Tu Burma Army Camp, Luthaw Township

Thanks to all of you who help us do these missions.
May God bless you,

The Free Burma Rangers

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

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FBR: FBR: Standing for Freedom in the Midst of Change - a Report from the Field

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:11:28 PST

FBR REPORT: Standing for Freedom in the Midst of Change - a Report from the Field

Karen State, Burma

29 January, 2012

	KEY DEVELOPMENTS
	Here in Burma there are some good changes, yet oppression continues and in some areas such as Karen and Kachin States, shooting by the Burma Army continues.

We moved like mice in between the Burma Army camps and patrols to meet the people in the relocation sites. We met them in the bushes and trees that separated the miles and miles of rice fields. "The church is the greatest source of unity here", the local underground resistance leader told us. "Oppression, imprisonment and death has caused fear to grow in us and between us, breaking down our trust and unity." As we prayed about our meetings with the people here, our medic, Eliya, shared these words from Psalm 100: "Make a joyful shout to the Lord all you lands, serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing, know that the Lord, He is God, it is He who has made us and not we ourselves, we are His people and the sheep of His pasture, enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, be thankful to Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations."

We did not make ourselves, God made us and we are His and we also belong to each other. We can live with joy and boldly, knowing we are God's children. From this relationship with God and each other, come the convictions that we live and act on.

A woman's group leader told us, "We need to be free. We want unity and we also need help with our schools, churches and Early Child Care Development programs."

We committed to helping each community and church as much as we could and are grateful for the help of Partners and others. As we talked, I told them about the German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer stood for the Jews and other oppressed people in WWII. Bonheoffer gave up his life to stand against Hitler's Nazi oppression. Bonheoffer died in a concentration camp just before the war ended and freedom came. Even the end of WWII did not mean freedom for all. For many in Eastern Europe, China and other places, oppression under another name continued.

God's power of love brings change in each of us and helps us to move forward together to be part of His freedom, mercy and grace everywhere.

Thank you and God bless you,

Dave, family and FBR teams.

Karen State, Burma.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

To unsubscribe from this email list, please respond to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line, or send email to mailadmin@freeburmarangers.org.

FBR: FBR: Burma Army continues attacks, burns houses and kills one man and two women; over 40,000 Kachin people now displaced by attack

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:51:17 PST

FBR REPORT: Burma Army continues attacks, burns houses and kills one man and two women; over 40,000 Kachin people now displaced by attacks and more preparing to run

Kachin State, Burma

23 January, 2012

	KEY DEVELOPMENTS
	The Burma Army is currently attacking within six miles of Mai Ja Yang, a city in Kachin State that is a refuge for over 1,000 displaced people The Burma Army is firing an average of 100 mortar rounds per day into this area and is receiving reinforcements. Over 40,000 Kachin people now displaced by attacks and more are preparing to run.

WARNING: This report contains graphic images that may be disturbing to some readers.

Attack on Mai Ja Yang city and IDP site

The Burma Army is currently attacking within six miles of Mai Ja Yang, a city and a refuge for over 1,000 displaced people who fled from other areas since fighting started in June 2011. Everyone in the town has their bags packed and are ready to flee. On 13 January 2012, 60 elderly people who are unable to walk were taken by car to a new Internally Displaced Person (IDP) site. The Burma Army is firing an average of 100 mortar rounds per day and is receiving reinforcements.

Burma Army Division 88 and LIB 321, under the control of the Southern Division, have two camps close to Mai Ja Yang: Yaw Yawng and Kawng Lawt Camps. In Mai Ja Yang there are two IDP camps: Ung Lung and Gat Pa, which have accommodated displaced people since July 2011 and now house over 1,000 IDPs in total.

In the same area, on 12 January 2012, Division 88 and Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 321 shot a villager named Mi San, age 40 and a father of three, from Kawng Nan Village, Lwe Je Township. He was returning from his farm when he met the Burma Army troops. They arrested him, tied his hands, and made him walk in front of the soldiers to show the way. After one Burma Army soldier stepped on a landmine, the soldiers became angry and shot Mi San. The bullet went through his mouth and out the back. The KIA (Kachin Independence Army; pro-democracy ethnic resistance) found his body and started to burn the body, but Burma Army soldiers began shooting, forcing the KIA to leave the site. The Burma Army is telling local villagers that KIA killed Mi San.

Because of ongoing fighting in the area, 4,000 people from around Lwe Je have fled to Laying IDP Camp on the international border. This camp now contains 8,000 displaced people. Major needs are not enough toilets or plastic sheeting for roofs.

Fighting and IDPs near Mai Ja Yang

Villager Mi San shot by Burma Army

Two women killed and two men injured by Burma Army in KIA 2nd Brigade area

Burma Army Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 389 and 390 shot and killed two women between Nam Ya and Seng Hpra Villages in the KIA's 2nd Brigade area on 11 January 2012. Their names were Lgwi Ying Yawm, 17 years old, and Gawlu Lu Seng, aged 18.

As Burma Army LIB 388 passed Mung Maw Village while traveling from Ba Maw to Seng Lum, a tire exploded nearby. Apparently believing it was an attack, the Burma Army troops fired into the village injuring two ethnic Shan men: Min Min, 26, and Nyi Htwi, age 30.

Attack on Prangatung Village

Burma Army Division 88, with about 300 soldiers, entered Prangatung Village on 7 December 2011 after fighting with KIA Battalion 15. They burned three houses; the owners of the houses were Jang Ma Anaw (the village headman), Jang Ma Sharoi and Maru Dau Lum. This is the second time that Jang Ma Anaw's house was burned by the Burma Army; the first time was in 1993 in Mung Hka Village.

Villagers had originally fled this village in June when fighting first began, then later returned to their homes but fled again on 17 November 2011. There are 67 houses in the village, of which almost all were plundered and household items destroyed. All the farm animals were killed. The village contained approximately 300 villagers who fled to Wa Ra Pa, Je Gau Pa, Seng Mai Pa, Bum Rim Zup, and Mai Ja Yang IDP camps.

After the Burma Army troops left Prangatung Village, they went to reinforce the second group of Division 88 in Maruyinsun Village on 9 December 2011. Burma Army troops withdrew from the village after fighting KIA troops defending the village. Before the Burma Army left they burned one house in Maruyinsun Village. Jang Ma Braung Nan, the house owner, lost 40 sacks of rice he had stored, which were either eaten or burned by the Burma Army.

The Burma Army continued to Den Woi and then on to Lwe Je. Two other groups from Mo Maw reinforced this group at Lwe Je. All these units are now involved in the attack on Mai Ja Yang.

One of three burned homes in Prangatung Village

Home ransacked by Burma Army in Prangatung Village

Jang Ma Braung Nan's burned home in Maruyinsun Village

Attack on Nam Lim Hpa Village

Note: This attack was previously documented by Partners Relief and Development and included in a previous report. The following is independent documentation from a Free Burma Ranger team that visited the village in early January 2012.

Burma Army IB 276 and Battalion 74, with a combined strength between 180 and 200 soldiers, attacked Nam Lim Hpa Village on 8 October 2011 at 11:30 am. First they shot 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds as well as small arms into the village causing the
villagers to flee. Three of the houses were damaged by mortars and four people were killed in the attack:

1. Palai Nan Naw, a 9-year-old boy, was hit in the chest by mortar shrapnel. He was killed on 8 October 2011 at 11:30 am.

2. Pausa Naw Din, age 17, was killed on 8 October 2011 at 11:00 am. He was shot by the Burma Army as they entered the village.

3. Brang Nan, age 34, was killed on 9 October 2011 at 11:00 pm. He was shot by a Burma Army patrol on the road as he was returning to the village.

4. Wa Je Myuli, age 17, was killed on 9 October 2011 at 11:00 pm; shot by a Burma Army patrol on the road as he was returning to the village.

House damaged from mortar

During the attack, the Burma Army locked 33 village women and 6 babies in the pastor's house behind the church, and locked 20 men in the church. The women were forced to cook for the Burma Army. Some of the men were beaten in the church. The hostages were freed after 11 days except for 5 men who were taken to Si U Burma Army camp. They were freed after 2 weeks.

The BA burned a house belonging to Lah Pai Sham Lum, age 61, on 8 October 2011. He began building his house again near Hka Hpraw IDP camp along with one of his daughters and one grandson. During the process of building his new house his grandson died of malaria. He buried his grandson near the new house. However the man was so saddened by his grandson's death that he couldn't stay at the new location and moved 300 meters to another location in the jungle.

Nam Lim Hpa Burned House

The village headman was not well and before the village was attacked he went to Ba Maw Town to get treatment. After the attack on the village the Burma Army knew the headman was in Ba Maw and went to see him. They told the village headman that the village was attacked because there was 50 KIA soldiers in the village. He was told that the villagers that were hurt and killed were not the fault of the Burma Army; they were just caught in the middle of the fight. Even though the attack happened on 8 October they told the headman that the fighting started on the 9th because that was when the KIA arrived in the village. They made a list of what they claimed had happened and had the headman sign it. They told him to go back to the village and collect the headmaster and other village leaders to make a proper report and then give it to the authorities so the blame wouldn't be on the Burma Army. The headman returned to the village but did not make the report after the villagers told him what had actually happened.

Before the attack there were 1,800 villagers in 286 houses in Nam Lim Hpa Village. 1,400 villagers fled to Ba Maw Town, but there are still 400 people in the jungle near the village. These 400 villagers have divided into 3 camps. The major sicknesses in the camps are malaria and diarrhea. Two villagers who are medics are caring for the people but only have a little medicine. Villagers are still able to work their farms but then return to sleep in the jungle because they are afraid the Burma Army may return.

Attack on Nam Hpu Village

Battalion 105/47 containing 220 soldiers attacked Nam Hpu Village on 16 July 2011. The villagers fled to Bhamo and IDP
camps. There are a very few families that are living in the jungle near the village. Some of the villagers returned back to the village to check on their houses and belongings. Two or three of the 20 houses had been ransacked.

Burma Army forces Maji Gung villagers to carry loads

Four men from Maji Gung Village were captured by Division 99, which has 156 soldiers. These men were used as porters to carry weapons and ammunition. Their names are:

1. Hpakawn Yaw Han aged 55. Has a family of 7 children.
2. Maran La Sam aged 21.
3. Hpakawn Tang Gun aged 19.
4. Hpauyam Da Wi aged 37.

Men forced to porter for Burma Army

Current Overall Situation of Displaced People

Since the fighting started on 9 June 2011 some 40,485 Kachin villagers have fled to Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps on the international border due to fighting. There is an unknown number of IDPs who have not made it to camps yet and are still in the jungle or have fled to major cities to live with relatives. The IDP camps along the border are as listed below:

Laiza area:12,104 displaced people
Laisen area: 1,642 displaced people
Sadaung area: 5,803 displaced people
North Division: 1,662 displaced people
Eastern Division: 16,635 displaced people
Western Division: 2,328 displaced people
Southern Division: 311 displaced people

Most of the aid for these villagers comes from the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO -- pro-democracy ethnic resistance), local Chinese and Kachin businessmen, a Kachin church-based humanitarian group called Wunpawng Ninghtoi, and Partners Relief and Development.

A large number of IDPs have fled to the cities as they are not able to get to the border camps. The Burma Army has set up a camp for these IDPs in the Nam Kham area which is in the 4th Brigade area of the KIA (Kachin Independence Army; defense wing of the KIO). It is not known how many IDPs are in this camp. Burmese President Thein Sein gave the order for these people to all return home because there is no longer any fighting. The IDPs do not believe him and are refusing to return to their villages. However, some IDPs have been taken in by church groups which is a much better situation for them.

There are more displaced people hiding in the jungle in KIA 4th Brigade area, however no one is able to reach them due to Burma Army activity.

Overview of Burma Army Activity

According to KIA records there were 161 battles between the KIA and the Burma Army during December. Since the fighting began on 9 June 2011 there have been 910 recorded battles. The Burma Army continues to reinforce their camps. There are currently 105 Burma Army battalions consisting of 12,075 soldiers in Kachin State. In addition to rifles, the Burma Army is using artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The most severe fighting is currently around Ya Krung, Chying Ling, Di Ma Mahkrai, Hu Mung and Sama Lamshe Villages, all in different parts of Kachin State. The Burma Army is building camps at Pakang, Sampai, Wuhtau, Lahpai, Talawgyi, Sinlum (a major artillery position) and Nam Lek.

God bless you,

Kachin Free Burma Ranger team

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FBR: FBR: Two women and one man killed, 70-year-old woman wounded, and four men tortured as Burma Army attacks villages in Kachin State

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:04:10 PST

FBR REPORT: Two women and one man killed, 70-year-old woman wounded, and four men tortured as Burma Army attacks villages in Kachin State

Karen State, Burma

19 January, 2012

	KEY DEVELOPMENTS
	Burma Army Infantry Battalion (IB) 105, commanded by Major Moe Kyaw, stabbed and shot three villagers to death, shot a 70-year-old woman and tortured four villagers in Mun Si Township, Kachin State.

31 December 2011 (original report date)

Attack on Hkin Buk Hra Pra Village

On 8 December 2011, over 100 men from IB 105 arrived to Hkin Buk Hka Pra Village. As the unit approached, 37 villagers fled and spent two days in hiding. On 10 December, the soldiers came again, firing into the village with machine guns and at least five mortar rounds. People in the village ran again.

Two women who each had an infant child with them were missing after the attack. On 13 December, villagers found Sum Hka Roi Tawng, age 38, who was killed by a bayonet stabbed into her left armpit that pierced through out of her right side. Her chest was bruised black. The clothes of Labya Tawng Ra, age 25, were found spread around. She remains missing. The two children were both found in the jungle without food or warm clothing, and they are now cared for by relatives in a refugee camp.

Sum Hka Mayam, age 60, is also missing since the attack on 10 December. The day after the attack her son, Wa Gye Kum Htoi, age 40, began looking for her in the area and then continued to look for her in refugee camps along the border. She is now presumed dead. Her son and grandson are now in a refugee camp.

Wa Gye Kum Htoi and his son in a refugee camp, hoping for news of their missing mother and grandmother, Sum Hka Mayam

Sum Hka Kaw, age 70, was hit by the shooting in her hip and left foot. She was afraid and ran away while wounded. After three or four hours, soldiers from the KIA (Kachin Independence Army, pro-democracy ethnic resistance) saw her, treated her injuries and cared for her. Her daughter, currently in a refugee camp, is concerned for family members who have not reached the refugee camp because the Burma Army is blocking the way.

Sum Hka Kaw's daughter Labye Hkawn, age 49, worries about missing family members not yet at the refugee camp

Pastor and farmers captured and beaten

On 12 December 2011, IB 105 captured four men: Brang Shawng of Hka Pa Village, Aung Pu of Nam San Village, Naw Hpang (age 48) and Brang Ja (age 38) both also from Nam San. Aung Pu is a pastor; the other men are farmers. The soldiers interrogated them in a church building, asking if they are KIA soldiers and where their weapons are hidden. They were beaten then released. According to the captured men, the Burma Army is interrogating and beating all Kachin men they encounter.

Brang Ja, captured and beaten by Burma Army

Naw Hpang, hit on the head by a Burma Army soldier's rifle

Woman killed in Man Morn Prang Kawng Village

Over 100 troops from IB 105 divided into 3 columns and burned villages. They took local people's belongings including rice paddy and many other goods. On 16 December 2011 about 18 troops from IB 105 came near Man Morn Prang Kawng Village. Lamung Kaw Seng and her son Mitung Brang Seng, age 12, lived in the village. Lamung Kaw Seng had mental problems. As the soldiers approached, the boy was afraid and ran away to a farm hut to wait for his mother. He waited the whole night but his mother did not come. At 10:30 the next morning he heard gunshots. He believes that the mother's knees were hit so she could not walk, then the troops shot her dead on the road, then dragged her body into the yard of the house and buried her. The boy went back to the house at 5pm and saw smoothly-leveled dirt in the yard. Her body was brought out of the hole, then on December 18, relatives and members of the church held a funeral service for Lamung Kaw Seng. Her son, Mitung Brang Seng, arrived to a refugee camp on December 20. (An initial report of this incident was previously reported in "Burma Army Kills Woman and Continues Attacks in Ba Maw District, Kachin State".)

Man Morn Prang Kawng Village, site where Lamung Kaw Seng was shot

The body of Lamung Kaw Seng

Man killed in hiding area

On 20 December 2011, 62-year-old farmer Hpalu Hkau Sau Naw, of Hka Shawng Kawng Lat Village, and his brother were in a hiding area in the jungle attempting to make radio contact to get an update on Burma Army activity. The radio signal was weak, so Hpalu Hkau Sau Naw went in search of a better signal. His brother then heard one gunshot at 1pm. He found Hpalu Hkau Sau Naw lying dead in a rice field from a gunshot to his forehead. The unit in the area was IB 105. Hpalu Hkau Sau Naw's wife and three daughters are now in a refugee camp; his three sons are KIA soldiers who continue to serve in the local area.

Hpalu Hkau Sau Naw's wife Labya Kaw Lin (front), also age 62, her daughters and grandchildren in a refugee camp after her husband was killed

God bless you,

Kachin Free Burma Rangers

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FBR: FBR: Ceasefire talks and ongoing conflict update from the field

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:43:52 PST

FBR REPORT: Ceasefire Talks and Ongoing Conflict Update from the Field

Karen State, Burma

16 January, 2012

Dear friends,

We are relaying this update out from where we are on relief missions in Karen State, Burma. In spite of positive changes in Burma; such as release of many political prisoners, easing of restrictions on the press, and beginning of ceasefire talks with Shan, Chin, and Karen groups, the Burma Army continues its attacks in some ethnic areas and resupplying in all areas.

Here in Karen State there is no ceasefire yet in spite of talks between the Burma Army and the pro-democracy Karen resistance- Karen National Union (KNU). In Northern Burma over 40,000 Kachin villagers have been displaced by ongoing attacks in an offensive by over 100 Burma Army battalions. Tonight, Karen, Karenni, Mon and Shan team members here all expressed concern that the attacks against the Kachin, while ceasefire talks were being held with other groups, was a continuation of the government's divide and rule strategy. They asked, "While the army offers talks with us and then attacks the Kachin, how can we believe they are sincere?"

Medics treat Karen burn victim.

Relief team on the move in Karen State

Burma Army Camp Toungoo District Karen State

Burned Kachin village of Nam Lin Hpa

Among the many patients we treated here recently, there were a little boy who was burned and a mother in labor whom we could provide funds for treatment, but could not fully treat in the jungle. But because of the KNU, we were able to send the mother through Burma Amy lines to a hospital and to make arrangements for the boy to be sent out later. The resistance is strong in these areas and is limiting Burma Army attacks on villages. The situation in other ethic areas varies from the ability to hold back the Burma Army and provide services, to just holding on and trying to survive. In all areas, wherever people choose to resist together, there is freedom and this freedom shines as a beacon of hope throughout Burma and to the whole world. Earlier, during Christmas here, I was giving out gifts and I asked if anyone needed anything else. We all stopped still when one of our lady medics, Hsa Kae (Shining Star), said, "I want my father and mother." When she was 16 years old, on Christmas Day, her parents were shot dead in their home by the Burma Army. I went over to her, held her hand and prayed. I told her I was sorry. She looked at me and said, "It is ok," and as I looked into her eyes, she smiled. Hsa Kae has chosen in the midst of her sadness to reach out and help others.

Burned boy and GLC bracelet

Kachin family in hiding from Lung Jung village

FBR relief teams with Karen IDPs in Karen State

All of us can reach out and help respond to the current changes with prayer, openness, unity and confidence in the truths we stand on: that people were made to be free, that love is the greatest power of all, that justice must be done and that reconciliation is the only way to real peace. We have sent the letter below to the government of the Union of Myanmar (Burma).

Dear leaders of the Union of Myanmar, We pray for you and encourage you to reconcile with all the people of Burma and if there is any constructive way we can help you in this please let us know.

Thank you and may God bless you,

Free Burma Rangers.

Our 59 relief teams from 11 different ethnic groups - Karen, Karenni, Kayan, Pa-Oh, Naga, Kachin, Chin, Lahu, Arakan, Mon, and Shan - continue to bring help, hope and love to people under attack, to shine a light on the situation, and to build up young leaders for freedom, justice and reconciliation in Burma. As one of our new Rangers said about the uprising in 1988, "Now I realize that we made a mistake in 1988 by not showing the Burma Army generals love. The students called for punishment and the generals reacted by cracking down until today. The next time, we must show love and forgiveness to the generals. Then we will win." We have been praying for change in Burma based on this kind of love and are supporting the process of dialogue, understanding, and, we hope, an end to the conflict. But it has not ended and we will keep giving help, hope and love to those in need and doing our best to shine a light.

Thank you and God bless you,

Dave, family and teams

Dental care in Northern Karen State

Karen children enjoy the program

Lahu Good life Club leader with Karen children

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[Altsean-Burma] December 2011 Burma Bulletin

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:21:40 PST

Dear Friends,

Please find attached the December 2011 issue of ALTSEAN
Burma Bulletin. The Burma Bulletin is a short month in
review of events in Burma, particularly those of interest to
the democracy movement and human rights activists.

In the December 2011 issue you will find:

* Fighting in Kachin State and Northern Shan State
* Ceasefire meetings
* Opium production up
* Karen leader sentenced
* UNGA Burma resolution
* Clinton visits Burma
* Other Burma news
* List of Reports
* Much more...

The December 2011 Burma Bulletin is also available online
at:
http://bit.ly/tUUC2a

You can also receive daily Burma updates by following us on
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/altsean

Yours, in solidarity,
ALTSEAN-Burma

FBR: FBR: Burma Army mortars villages in Paan District, Karen State

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:45:21 PST

FBR REPORT: Burma Army mortars villages in Pa'an District, Karen State

Karen State, Burma

1 January, 2012

	KEY DEVELOPMENTS
	Shelling by Burma Army continues against civilian villages in Karen State, Burma

This report initially submitted on 16 December, 2011.

The following pictures were taken on 15 December 2010, one month after Burma's controversial democratic elections. On 5 December 2010, the Burma Army mortared civilian villages in Lu Pler Township, Pa'an District. The attack affected nine villages and displaced a total of 773 people. At the time of the attack, there were ten battalions in the area under Military Operation Command (MOC) 19 and Division 22. Infantry Battalion (IB) 106, stationed at Jeh Pya Kone Camp, was responsible for the attack.

A likely reason for the attack was to clear out resistance to a project to repair a road used to transport military supplies. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA, pro-democracy ethnic resistance) was positioned near the road, blocking movement into the area. Driving the villagers out of the area by mortar attacks would prevent those people from aiding the KNLA and weaken the KNLA presence.

These Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are from four villages in the Meh Pru Village tract (Jay Baw Klo, Noh Day, Wah Bway Tu and Meh Pru) and were forced to flee after their villages were mortared by the Burma Army. They fled their homes and left their belongings for a safer area in a nearby border area.

A young Karen girl standing at the river bank looking back in the direction of her now abandoned village.

A group of fleeing children waiting to be picked up by a boat.

A mother and her child waiting for the boat after fleeing their mortared village.

A group of IDPs fleeing to a safer area.

Thank you and God Bless,

FBR Karen Team

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FBR: FBR: Burma Army Kills Woman and Continues Attacks in Ba Maw District, Kachin State

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:03:01 PST

FBR REPORT: Burma Army Kills Woman and Continues Attacks in Ba Maw District, Kachin State

Kachin State, Burma

27 December, 2011

The Burma Army continues to attack people in three townships of Ba Maw District, Kachin State: Mun Si Township, Shwegu Township and Ba Maw Township. On 16 December 2011, Burma Army soldiers killed a woman from Prang Kawng Village. The woman, 30-year-old Lamung Kaw Seng, suffered from a mental disability. As Burma Army troops approached the village, all the villagers fled except for Lamung Kaw Seng. When the soldiers found her, they killed her and threw her into a toilet pit.

Displaced Kachin children, 15 December 2011

Map showing area of report

Local people have left their homes and moved to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps near the international border because of the fighting, which continues to happen every day in this area. There are 6 IDPs camp along the border:

Yang Lu Camp
Law Hpai Camp
Hka Dawng Pa Camp
Nga Nawng Pa Camp
Na Kawng Kawng Camp
Lung Kawk Camp

Displaced people at Yang Lu IDP Camp, 17 December 2011

Law Hpai IDP Camp, 17 December 2011

Na Kawng Kawng IDP Camp, 16 December 2011

There are 3,998 people in those 6 IDPs camps. They arrived at the border area between 27 and 28 November.

There are 2,442 displaced people in 3 IDPs camps in Mun Si Township of Ba Maw District.

1) La Na Zup Camp

2) Dung Bung Camp

3) Manwing Camp

Displaced family at La Na Zup IDP Camp, 15 December 2011

]

Dung Bung IDP Camp, 16 December 2011

There are 7,058 IDPs from 123 villages that left their homes in Ba Maw, Shwegu and Mun Si Townships. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA, pro-democracy ethnic resistance) and WPN, a local Kachin humanitarian aid group, are taking care of these people by supplying food, medicine, warm clothes, and blankets, though the supplies are not enough to meet the needs. The most common illness for children under 5 years old is the common cold, and diarrhea is the most common illness for children above 5. Adults above 40 years old are especially suffering from high blood pressure. WPN is currently treating them. The children are not able to go to school.

The Burma Army started their offensive in this area by entering from northern Shan State in October with 500 troops from Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 504 and 506 under Division 66. Later on the Burma Army sent reinforcements from Divisions 33, 77 and 99, totaling 2,000 troops at present. Burma Army troops are torturing and killing villagers, burning houses and rice barns, and destroying or stealing villagers' belongings. The Burma Army has divided into 4 or 5 columns and is attacking the KIA using 60mm, 82mm and 120 mm mortars; M79 guns; 0.5-caliber machine guns and other small arms, and using helicopters for food supplies. Specifically in these townships, the Burma Army is not building new camps, but is occupying the KIA's Battalion 27 Camp after taking it over. Currently there is not heavy fighting but small clashes continue every day. A total of over 30,000 Kachin people have been displaced.

CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS REPORT: In the recent report "Burma Army Continues Attacks in Kachin State as of 14 December 2011", the information in the first three paragraphs and the photo of the Burma Army mortar were collected by FBR teams on the ground in Kachin State. All information beginning with "On 8 October 2011," until the end is courtesy of Partners Relief and Development, compiled first-hand by Partners investigators. In the report only the photos had been credited to Partners.

God bless you,

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

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FBR: FBR: Christmas in Burma

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:44:36 PST

FBR REPORT: Christmas in Burma

Karen State, Burma

24 December, 2011

Christmas 2011

Dear friends,

We are relaying this out from Karen State and want you to know how grateful we are for each of you and to join you in gratitude for the gift of Christmas this year. Here in Burma as is true all over the world there is plenty of bad news but evil is not the only power in the world. The power of good is also here and is the stronger.

We were just in Tha Dah Der village that was burned by the Burma Army in July 2010. It was the fifth time the village had been overrun by the Burma Army since 1958 and the third time it had been burned. Even their large teak church had been burned to the ground. In spite of these attacks the people have chosen to stay and rebuild and now a beautiful new church stands on the grounds of the burned one, a testimony to the power of hope and faith. The dedication of the church is on this Christmas Day.

At the rebuilt village we all joined together for a Good Life Club Program (thanks to Partners for all your help in this), a Run for Relief and an outdoor medical/dental clinic. The sounds of children laughing and people singing lifted our souls. As the sun began to set, we finished with a meal served on long bamboo tables in the rice fields.

We are now further north in Karen State, continuing the Good Life Club and medical programs in an area we haven't been to before. Our 59 multi-ethnic FBR teams representing different faiths and serving in 11 ethnic areas are united with us in love and service, as we are with you this Christmas.

As I was working on this message I went to give out some gifts. I asked if anyone needed anything else. We all stopped still when Hsa Kae (Living Star), one of our lady medics, said, "I want my father and mother." When she was 16 years old, on Christmas Day, her parents were shot dead in their home by the Burma Army. I went over to her, held her hand and prayed. I told her I was sorry. She looked at me and said, "It is ok," and as I looked her into her eyes, she smiled. Hsa Kae has chosen in the midst of her sadness to reach out and help others. It reminded me of what one of my teachers taught me, "You can live well with sorrow but you cannot live well with shame." Christmas reminds me that God has sent Jesus to help us in our sadness, to free us from any shame and to help us live well.

This year I have also been reminded to take God at His word and to believe He will help us do what He has led us to do. God wants a close relationship with each of us and we can expect Him to answer when we call, lead when we are willing to follow and bring good from anything we offer to Him. I have also been reminded that the story we live is not so much what are we doing for God but it is about God's dealing with us. I want our story to be something like: "The story of God's dealings with the Free Burma Rangers, for the glory of God and l hope, for the good of others." I want to say, "Look what God is doing." No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can trust Him and when do we are free.

Thank you,

God bless you and merry Christmas from Dave, family and teams

Hsa Kae treating patients

Rebuilt church after burning by Burma Army

Mon FBR team sings for Karen villagers during Good Life Club

Run for Relief in Tha Dah Der Village

Burma Vision

Rebuilt homes next to homes burned by Burma Army

Dinner in the rice fields

Burma Army troops in their camp near Tha Dah Der Village

Kids at GLC program, Hti Mu Kee

Relief supplies on the way

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FBR: FBR: Burma Army Shoots Villager in Paan District and Continues Construction on Toh Boh Dam in Toungoo District, Karen State

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:34:42 PST

FBR REPORT: Burma Army Shoots Villager in Pa'an District and Continues Construction on Toh Boh Dam in Toungoo District, Karen State

Karen State, Burma

22 December, 2011

Pa'an District,
Central Karen State

On the morning of 29 October 2011, Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 230, Column #1 commanded by Than Thait Soe, left Kler Day Burma Army Camp and arrived in Htee Ma Kyu Village. There they shot into a hut multiple times and killed 36-year-old Saw Pah Kok, with three bullets entering his leg, torso, and head. After killing Saw Pah Kok, soldiers confiscated items from his home including six pairs of earrings, one finger ring and 10,000 Baht. Htee Ma Kyu Village is in Kler Day Village Tract, Lu Pleh Township, Pa'an District.

Saw Pah Kok's Family; he is survived by a wife and four children.

Saw Pah Kok's House which was shot multiple times by the Burma Army

After their departure, LIB 230 was ambushed by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA - pro-democracy ethnic resistance) near Klay Mo Kee Village, Wa Mi Klar Village Tract, Ta Kreh Township; two Burma Army soldiers were killed and six wounded. In response to the casualties, LIB 230 shelled Klay Mo Kee Village with two 60 mm mortars. Soldiers then entered the village, beat four women and forced 32 villagers to travel with them to serve as human shields, porters and guides all the way to the Klay Mo Hta Border Guard Force (BGF) camp. They were held for one night before they were released.

Before leaving Klay Mo Kee, soldiers forcibly took the following items from villagers:

Naw Mu Pree - 70 years old - 5,000 Baht and 1 large tin of rice.
Naw Pi Eh - 52 years old - 2,000 Baht, 20 cans of sardines, 1 box of Ma Ma noodles, 1 kg dried fish, 30 bottles of lemon juice, 1 flashlight.
Saw Tin Ler - 41 years old - 1 knife, 1 flashlight.
Naw Mu Htoo - 38 years old - 2 blankets.
Ma Khin Shwe - 40 years old - 100 Baht, 1 phone.
Naw Ma Ywa - 38 years old - 200 Baht.
Naw Tu Tu - 40 years old - 2 chickens, 1 bottle of cooking oil, 0.5 kg of chili, 1 kg of onions.
Naw Heh La - 40 years old - 1 Karen bag, 20 small tins of rice.
Saw Htu Heh - 36 years old - 200 Baht, 1 big tin of rice, 1 chicken and eggs.
Pah Noh - 35 years old - 1 large tin of rice, 1 hammock.
Naw Mu Au - 28 years old - 1 blanket, 2 packs of AJINOMOTO,
Naw Paw Ku - 29 years old - 1 blanket, 1 Karen shirt, 1 Karen bag.
Saw Pweh Poe - 40 years old - 1 chicken, 1 bottle of honey.
Naw Mya Paw - 35 years old - 16 small tins of rice.
Naw Mu Ku - 60 years old - 100 Baht.
Pah Dah Poe - 26 years old - 16 small tins of rice.

Toungoo District,
Northern Karen State

Construction of the Toh Boh Dam in Toungoo District, Karen State, has displaced one village and will affect 12 villages by its completion in 2012. Asia World Company began building this hydropower dam in 2004 along the Day Loh River (Burmese: Thauk Yay Ka Chaung) near Toh Boh Village (Burmese: Tun Boh), causing all the people in the village to move away. When the project is completed, flooding will affect people in 12 additional villages: Pa Leh Wa, Lay Mine, Mine Na Seh, Swa Lo, Naw Ka Maw, Ngway Taung, Toe Thaw, Tha Hpan Chaung, Tha Ye Ba, Joh Pin Seit, Kyaute Pa Sar and Theh Pyu. Mine Na She, Swa Lo and Toh Boh will likely flood, and people's livelihoods in the other ten villages will be heavily affected. In this area people use this river as their primary transportation route. Local community leaders estimate that over 5000 acres of land will be flooded, including lemon, paddy rice, banana and betelnut fields. Three Burma Army camps -- Chay Soe, Pa Na Wah Soe and Yaw Mu Kee -- surround the dam. Soldiers from Infantry Battalion (IB) 39, under Southern Command, are in each camp.

Asia World Company has also been involved in the construction of the Myitsone Dam in Kachin State, a project that Burmese President Thein Sein declared suspended in September. The company is owned by Steven Law, also known as Tun Myint Naing. Law's father, Lo Hsing Han, started Asia World Company in 1992, which is involved in construction and energy projects across Burma, as well as alleged drug operations. Both men are under targeted sanctions from the United States Treasury, declaring that says Lo Hsing Han "has been one of the world's key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s".

Construction of Toh Boh Dam -- 17 June 2011

Close-up of Toh Boh Dam -- 17 June 2011

One of three Burma Army camps defending the dam -- 16 June 2011

The picture below shows a communication tower at a Burma Army camp outside Kler La (Burmese: Bawgali Gyi) in Htaw Ta Htu Township. This camp is headquarters for Military Operation Command (MOC) 9, Tactical Operation Command (TOC) 1.

Kler La Camp with Signal Tower

Close-up of Signal Tower

On 23 October 2011, the Burma Army sent one new bulldozer to Htaw Ta Htu Township to work on the Bu Hsa Hkee car road. This makes three total bulldozers in the area, including one in Bu Hsa Hkee Camp and one in Naw Soe Camp that remain since last year. Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 374 and LIB 379 under MOC 9 protect the road.

According to local Karen National Union leaders (KNU -- pro-democracy ethnic resistance), Burma Army LIB 603 and IB 92 came to Hkaw Thaw Hkaw and Htee Tha Saw Villages, in Daw Pa Koh Township, and burned churches and houses on 12 October 2011.

God bless you,
Free Burma Ranger Karen State Teams

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

To unsubscribe from this email list, please respond to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line, or send email to mailadmin@freeburmarangers.org.

FBR: FBR: Burma Army Continues Attacks in Kachin State as of 14 December 2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:09:27 PST

FBR REPORT: Burma Army Continues Attacks in Kachin State as of 14 December 2011

Kachin State, Burma

16 December, 2011

	KEY DEVELOPMENTS
	The Burma Army continued attacks against the Kachin people and every day there is shelling from attacking Burma Army units. There has been no ceasefire by the Burma Army troops in this area. There are over 30,000 displaced Kachin villagers now in hiding.

Report by Kachin FBR team

The Burma Army continued attacks against the Kachin people and every day there is shelling from attacking Burma Army units. There has been no ceasefire by the Burma Army troops in our area and they keep attacking. There are over 30,000 displaced Kachin villagers in hiding now. On 13 December 2011 at 4:20pm, 3 Burma Army helicopters sent food supplies to Burma Army camps at Loi Yain and Mo Bwan in Kachin State. These helicopters came from Momauk Township, Ba Maw District according to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO -- pro-democracy ethnic resistance). As the helicopters flew, Burma Army soldiers from Loi Yain and Zin Lon Ka Ba Camps fired mortars and machine guns toward the surrounding area to provide cover fire for the helicopters, which dropped four large loads. Mo Bwan Camp is located at N 24°° 18' 42.6", E 97° 39' 48.7" and Zin Lon Ka Ba Camp is at N 24° 16' 30.1", E 097° 30' 40.2".

There are at least 2000 Burma Army troops in Momauk Township, and they have been attacking, patrolling, burning villages and building new camps. Between 18 November and 27 November, Burma Army Divisions 33 and 88 were building camps at the villages of Hpaw Kawn, Hkrawng Kawng, Man Da, Pang Mu, Law Mon and Kung Pi, and in the Bum Kapaw Bum area between Hpaw Kawn Village and Hkrawng Kawng Village.

In late November, these units were actively patrolling and using 81mm and 120mm mortars every day. One mortar round dropped into Hkrawng Kawng Village destroying one family's kitchen. People from this village fled to a nearby village. On 25 November 2011, 200 soldiers dropped from helicopters to join in attacks. On 30 November, the Burma Army was shooting from their new camp at Pang Mu toward Zin Lum Village. There are 1600 to 2000 recently displaced people from 18 villages in Momauk Township, Baw Maw District. The displaced people are in need of medicine, plastic tarps, warm clothes, blankets and food.

Remains of a Burma Army Mortar

On 8 October 2011, Burma Army Battalions 601, 74 and 276 totaling approximately 200 soldiers entered and attacked Nam Lim Pa Village, Kachin State. Soldiers fired six mortars and small arm fire forcing 297 households, 1573 people, from their homes. In addition to property destruction, soldiers looted over 250 houses and took ten porters to carry the confiscated property. Five people were killed and seven people were injured in the attack. All those killed were civilians and included two adult men and three children.

Labang Brang Nan, 34 years old, was killed by Burma Army soldiers because he had been providing food for Kachin Independence Army (KIA- pro-democracy ethnic resistance), though was not himself a KIA soldier. He was found half-buried in this shallow grave, wearing a KIA uniform and showing visible signs of torture. His 9-year-old son was found buried beside him; his tongue had been cut out and he had been shot multiple times in the upper body.

The remains of 17-year-old Naw Din were burned here days after he had been shot in the head by Burma Army soldiers.

8-year-old Palai Nan Naw was killed by a mortar blast, along with 60-year-old Lahpai Laba Tu.

[picture not available]

Soldiers took 33 women and children hostage in the Roman Catholic Church pictured below. They were held for three days while the Burma Army looted over 250 households. KIA soldiers claim they were unable to shoot into the bunkers because BA soldiers were keeping children present to serve as human shields. None of the hostages were harmed, though upon their release, all hostages returned to looted and destroyed homes.

Soldiers also captured and held male villagers during the looting. The picture below is a burned house belonging to 73-year-old farmer Labang Tu. After being held for three days, he was allowed to return to his home where he found it in ashes. He is now displaced in the jungle with his daughter.

Since the attack, 1,573 people have been displaced into the jungle with very little access to food, shelter and medicine.

The family pictured below has had to flee their home twice in the past 3 months, leaving them now to live in this small hut with no walls. They have little food and only the clothing on their back. At the time the picture was taken, all three had malaria.

On 20 August 2011, the Burma Army mortared Nam Gau Village in 3rd brigade, Shwigu District. Of the 5 mortars fired, one went through the roof of a girl's school dormitory, injuring 4 girls under the age of 13 and killing an 8-year-old girl.

Hpaw La Htu Mai, 8 years old, was killed immediately when a mortar came through the roof of her dormitory.

Hpaw La Htu Mai, 8 years old, was killed immediately when a mortar came through the roof of her dormitory. (© Partners Relief and Development)

Thank you and God Bless,

Free Burma Ranger Kachin Teams

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

To unsubscribe from this email list, please respond to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line, or send email to mailadmin@freeburmarangers.org.

N Korea - only a little more totalitarian than Burma -

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:15:48 PST

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c1#/video/bestoftv/2011/12/20/natpkg-vice-inside-north-korea.cnn

Lady, Lady

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:30 PST

A song celebrating Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese democracy movement.

--
Music & Lyrics by Sara Gamon
Arranged by Galen Willet

Lead Vocal: Tiffany Wilson
Ensemble: Shilpa Ananth, A.A. Enriquez, Joanne Jett Galindo, Yun Huang, James Miring'u Kamwati, Reggy, Minako Yabe

Congas: Enø & Judith Soberanos
Drumset: Andrés Marín
Bass: Galen Willett
Guitar: Nat Svecha Sarambala
Taiko Drums: Isaku Kageyama
Auxiliary Percussion: Yuki Kanesaka, Andrés Marín, Sean Peters, Galen Willett,

Produced by Sara Gamon
Mixed by Takuto Kaneko
Mastered by Takuto Kaneko

Video by Paulette Waltz

---

Thank you to Berklee College of Music.

And a special thank you to Galen Willet and Takuto Kaneko. Without their patience and creativity this song would never have been completed or become what it has today.

Sara Gamon, 12-10-11

Thai Burma Border Health Initiative - End of Year Appeal

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:00:55 PST

As the holidays fast approach you are busy with a million things, but I want to beg a minute of your time to let you to know what we – TBBHI with your help - are doing to improve the lives of people living on the Thai-Burma border.

We monitor and manage patients with chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB.

We support teachers and children in preschools inside Burma.

We hold mobile clinics along both sides of the border.

We run mobile prenatal programs, ensuring proper screening, immunizations and treatments, delivery, and post-natal care for mother and baby.

We teach health education, targeting villagers, teachers, patients, families, medics, traditional birth attendants, students, and any other group that needs information.

We help people living on the Burma side of the border receive emergency medical care at local hospitals in Thailand.

All this, and much more . . .

Recently there has been a lot of publicity about Secretary Clinton’s trip to Myanmar. In time this may lead to changes for the better, but now much remains to be done before Burma becomes a safe and healthy place to live. Unfortunately, reports of violence and abuse continue to come from the border areas.

I will be in Thailand in January and February 2012, andBruce Tempest, our treasurer, will be with me for the first two weeks. We will teach, provide patient care, review records, and supervise our local staff as we work together on plans for the coming year.

TBBHI has received grants and support over the past year for special projects from several organizations, includingAmicus, and the Slingshot Development Fund.

But we still need to raise over $25,000 each year for day-to-day costs, which include medical supplies and medications, teaching materials, and local staff and teachers’ salaries. It costs $70 to buy medicine for one month for an AIDS patient, and $10 to hold a health education session in a border village – so every dollar helps!

All donations to TBBHI are tax deductible as allowed by law, and all the money we receive - 100% - is spent in the field supporting our work. We have no overhead for US-based staff expenses. We pay for travel out of our own pockets, so you can be sure your ENTIRE donation goes to help those in need.

To donate by credit card simply click here.

Or, mail a check to TBBHI at 1117 Boggio Dr, Gallup NM 87301

Please visit our website at www.tbbhi.org

And don’t forget to use our “ Links to Merchants” page for your online shopping – we get a small percentage of all purchases at no cost to you.

I hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Larry

Larry Crook,

President

514 E Green St | Gallup, NM 87301 US

International Campaign for Freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma

Kyi May Kaung's say on Sanctions - still relevant

FBR: FBR: Forced Labor, Torture and Military Activity Still Present in Karen State

Doo Pla Ya District -- South Eastern Karen State

Taw Oo (Toungoo) District- Northern Karen State

Kler Lwee Htoo (Nyaunglebin) and Mu Traw District- Northern Karen State

Mergui/Tavoy District (Tenasserim Region) -- Eastern Karen State

Hpa-an District - Eastern Karen State

Song for President Thein Sein by Pink

[Altsean-Burma] February 2012 Burma Bulletin

Myitsone Dam and other Dams in N. Burma - International Rivers Report

Important conversation between Aung San Suu Kyi and veteran Kachin Leader

Burma soldier and Burmese-born US Marine

FBR: FBR: Burma Army Killing and Raping Civilians in Karenni State

Development Projects in Karenni State:

FBR: FBR: Medical school graduation at the Jungle School of Medicine Kawthoolei

FBR: FBR: Ceasefires, Continued Attacks and a Friendly Encounter Between Enemies

Standing for Freedom in the Midst of Change - a Report from the Field.

[Altsean-Burma] January 2012 Burma Bulletin

FBR: FBR: Villager shot and beaten to death on Christmas Eve as Burma Army continues to oppress people in northern Karen State

Burma Army patrols kill man and demand forced labor in Toungoo District

Overview of Burma Army Troops in Toungoo District

Multi-ethnic Team Conducts Relief Mission in Mutraw and Toungoo Districts

Burma Army and BGF shoot villagers and demand forced labor in Butho Township, Mutraw District

Nyaunglebin District teams complete relief mission

Teams complete relief mission in Luthaw Township, Mutraw District

FBR: FBR: Standing for Freedom in the Midst of Change - a Report from the Field

FBR: FBR: Burma Army continues attacks, burns houses and kills one man and two women; over 40,000 Kachin people now displaced by attack

WARNING: This report contains graphic images that may be disturbing to some readers.

Attack on Mai Ja Yang city and IDP site

Two women killed and two men injured by Burma Army in KIA 2nd Brigade area

Attack on Prangatung Village

Attack on Nam Lim Hpa Village

Attack on Nam Hpu Village

Current Overall Situation of Displaced People

Overview of Burma Army Activity

FBR: FBR: Two women and one man killed, 70-year-old woman wounded, and four men tortured as Burma Army attacks villages in Kachin State

Attack on Hkin Buk Hra Pra Village

Pastor and farmers captured and beaten

Woman killed in Man Morn Prang Kawng Village

Man killed in hiding area

FBR: FBR: Ceasefire talks and ongoing conflict update from the field

[Altsean-Burma] December 2011 Burma Bulletin

FBR: FBR: Burma Army mortars villages in Paan District, Karen State

FBR: FBR: Burma Army Kills Woman and Continues Attacks in Ba Maw District, Kachin State

FBR: FBR: Christmas in Burma

Christmas 2011

FBR: FBR: Burma Army Shoots Villager in Paan District and Continues Construction on Toh Boh Dam in Toungoo District, Karen State

Pa'an District, Central Karen State

Toungoo District, Northern Karen State

FBR: FBR: Burma Army Continues Attacks in Kachin State as of 14 December 2011

Report by Kachin FBR team

N Korea - only a little more totalitarian than Burma -

Lady, Lady

Thai Burma Border Health Initiative - End of Year Appeal

Pa'an District,
Central Karen State

Toungoo District,
Northern Karen State