The Plight of the Karen
According to Trade Mission, Inc., the Karen are tribal folk living on the jungle border between Burma and Thailand. There are around a quarter million of them, and have been engaged in the longest war for freedom in the 20th century. Since 1947 they have fought oppression in Burma, often with little more than courage and faith.
A recent article in Soldier of Fortune (Rob Krott "Long-Range Revenge," Jan. 1997, pp. 54-57, 68) underscores the plight of this largely Christian people. Although the focus of the article is an ad hoc jungle sniper training school, there are many other insights:
On 2 February 1996, Brigadier General Kyi Aung of the State Law and
Order Restoration Council (SLORC) committed war crimes against the Karen, the
largest ethnic group contesting the military junta's rule of Myanmar
(known to the rest of the world as Burma.
[Indeed, Burmese war crimes
are well-documented; visit Free
Burma.]
He ordered troops of the 2nd Company, 59th Infantry
Battalion, of his South Command, to round up a group of villagers in Taungoo
district. To properly motivate the Karens, Burmese soldiers gang-raped a
23-year-old woman in front of all the villagers, including her parents. A group
of Karen men, women, children, and elderly then was force-marched in front of
infantry to clear minefields between two other villages.
The general has a
long history of ordering executions, rapes, looting, and forced relocation of
Karen villagers; small children have been gunned down for target practice....
But he doesn't have all that long to live - if he hasn't been killed already.
An
elite group of Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) guerillas have been honing
their scouting and stalking skills and long-distance marksmanship deep in the
Burmese jungle. General Kyi Aung likely is at the top of their hit list.
Manerplaw, about 175 miles southeast of Rangoon, was headquarters of the
Christian-led KNLA for more than 21 years. [It fell, under heavy artillery
fire and a major ground assault by SLORC units, in January 1995.]
Moreover,
at that time about 500 Buddhist Karen had broken from the KNU/KNLA, formed the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization (DKBO) [These traitors (see below)
are also known as DKBA. And I thought Buddhists were always peaceful, according
to media portrayals??] The DKBO's fighters, possessing insider's knowledge
of several Karen fortresses, even acted as guides for the government's onslaught
of 20 battalions.
According to the Free Burma website, the treacherous actions of the DKBO have left it with few friends. Alleging discrimination by Christians (apparently of a fairly minor nature, even if true), their acts are far worse would be warranted in any case. Siding with SLORC (even the name sounds comically evil!), they now fight against KNLA.
The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which was founded in December, 1994, greatly assisted the SLORC in its campaign against the KNU in 1995. About 500 soldiers left the KNLA and formed the DKBA under SLORC supervision. They were disappointed with certain KNU policies and officers and enticed by SLORC offers of support and control over Karen state. Religious discrimination by Christian officers against Buddhist foot soldiers has been cited as the primary reason for the split. In particular, two officers who had treated their troops inappropriately were later promoted anyway. However, many Karen assert that the fundamental problem was the excessive gap in living standards between the officers and the foot soldiers. KNU officers have also attributed the problem to the lack of education of the people who joined the DKBA. The KNU is clearly partly responsible for this, because they have never made much of an effort to politicize the people or to explain the objectives of the movement.
And what has the DKBA, allied with SLORC, done?
In 1995 the DKBA recruited relatives and villagers from some refugee camps and areas in Kawthoolei where they were operating. The SLORC troops originally provided rations, uniforms, and some weapons. In return, the DKBA guided the SLORC troops through the back paths into Manerplaw in February and assisted in the capture of Kawmoora in March. The DKBA have also been terrorizing villages in Karen State, looting, torturing, and killing Karen villagers. In the areas where they operate, villagers often no longer dare to give food, shelter, or information to KNLA soldiers. The DKBA also staged several attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand in April and May and then again in November and December. They have looted the refugees, kidnapped KNU officials, injured and killed refugees, and burned down camps. They have also attacked a number of Thais along the border robbing and killing them. When the DKBA burned down camps earlier this year, they were supported by SLORC troops who were stationed behind them with heavy weapons and walkie talkies. Although they appear to be operating independently in their recent attacks against Thais, KNU officials have suggested that they would not dare to carry out such attacks without at least the tacit support of the SLORC.
This isn't winning them any friends, even among fellow Buddhists:
The DKBA has attempted to recruit villagers in other areas, but so far it has not been successful. In other KNU-controlled areas further away from Manerplaw there have been no conflicts between Christian and Buddhist Karen. Also, the monks and villagers in the 6th Brigade area who have been approached do not endorse the DKBA's activities.
It would appear the DKBA are "prodigal children:"
Some DKBA have deserted and returned to the KNU. They reported that the SLORC did not give them ammunition, stopped giving them rations, and raped many of their wives. Some have also been shot by the SLORC. At this point, there seem to be some DKBA groups who are operating independently and others who are still working closely with the SLORC. Some have deserted and returned to the KNU. They have not yet been reintegrated into their battalions, however, because of the fear that some may actually be SLORC spies.
Getting back to the Soldier of Fortune article:
The Karen field highly disciplined units. Because the KNLA is
Christian-led, the camps are "dry." As a people the Karen have high
moral standards; many of the young, unmarried troops who die in combat go to
their graves as virgins.
[T]he scout-snipers are self-sufficient. They have
to be; the KNLA is virtually bankrupt. Things were good when the Karen had the
tax revenues on trade at the border crossings. With the successful Burmese
offensives, the Karen no longer profit from taxing smugglers. Most of the
KNLA's soldiers are in refugee camps across the border, and the Thais
confiscated many weapons.
The scout-snipers scrounge weapons, equipment -
almost everything. Troops are issued one uniform a year, anything from black
BDU's to captured Burmese fatigues of brown khaki (with the bullet holes
mended)... Many Karen fighters simply go barefoot.
The article closes with this tribute:
I came away from Burma believing the Karen to be beautiful, friendly people who just want to be left alone and free in their jungle communities. They would be content to eke out a living through subsistence farming while raising their children according to their centuries-old, tribal lifeways. But SLORC and world-class bastards like Gen. Kyi Aung have other plans.
The Karen are just one of a number of tribal groups fighting for freedom from the Burmese SLORC government. The Free Burma website above also mentions the Chin, noting:
Lt. Col. Thomas Thang No took over as acting Chairman of the Chin National Front, which is continuing to fight an armed struggle against the SLORC in the Chin hills. Some Christian children have been taken to Rangoon with the promise of a free education. Once they arrive in Rangoon they are forced to become novice [Buddhist?] monks and nuns, and officials attempt to Burmanize them. In the Chin hills, like elsewhere in the border regions of Burma, people are tortured, arrested, and jailed for suspected rebel allegiances, property is looted by SLORC troops, villagers are taken as porters and slave laborers, and the ethnic minorities are treated with great condescension by SLORC officers. (Emphasis mine)
Western Oil Companies To Use Slave Labor?
Total and Unocal continued work determining and clearing the pipeline
route despite the killings of 5 Total workers in March and a campaign against
Unocal in the United States. In March, a group of armed Karen villagers from the
pipeline area ambushed a group of Total workers and killed five. Total insists
that the 5 killed were all Burmese, but the KNU has stated that some were
Westerners.
Although Total denied that any work had begun on the pipeline
route, villagers from the coast who were interviewed in May reported that their
land had been confiscated to make way for the pipeline.
On December 2nd,
angry Karen villagers attacked pipeline workers in Kanbauk village. A senior KNU
official indicated that one foreigner was either killed or wounded, but Total
has denied the claim. Kanbauk is supposed to serve as the main headquarters for
the pipeline operation.
A company spokesman said in December that the laying
of the pipeline had not yet started but some civil engineering work had begun in
October, including the construction of a landing strip and a wharf to
accommodate ships delivering equipment needed for pipeline construction.
There have been no reports of forced labor on the project so far, but
according to the Karen Human Rights Group, local officials have used the threat
of labor on the pipeline to extort money from villagers on a regular basis.
Families who do not pay the "pipeline fees" are threatened with having
to do 3 days forced labor on the pipeline. It is likely that local officials are
acting independently in making such demands, but the villagers are reported to
be scared enough that they are sending family members into Thailand to work in
order to get money to pay the fees.
Another Burma news site reports on "a series of border incursions by the Rangoon-backed DKBA". Apparently they've been attacking Karen refugee camps in Thailand in an effort to force the Karen there to return and submit to SLORC rule.
[An Army spokesman's] comments came as Thai helicopter gunships deterred
renegade Karen fighters from crossing into Thailand despite the rebels' vow to
continue raiding refugee camps until all 70,000 Karen refugees return to Burma.
Thai
military sources in Mae Hong Son Province, who requested anonymity, said their
officers saw about 120 troops of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army perched on
the opposite bank of the Salween River yesterday morning.
"They stayed
on the other side, probably because they saw our helicopters flying nearby,"
a Thai army officer said, quoted by Associated Press.
How Can You Help?
Soldier of Fortune is helping sponsor a relief to the Karen and other refugee groups with Refugee Relief International Inc.. They write: "The Karens, after a 40-year struggle against successive tyrannies in Burma, are now refugees in dire straits in Thailand." If you would like to help, send letters and checks to:
Refugee Relief International
P.O. Box 693
Boulder, CO 80306
To send medical supplies or other helpful physical donations via UPS:
Refugee Relief International
c/o Soldier of Fortune Warehouse
5735
Arapahoe Ave.
Boulder, CO 80303
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