Residents of five villages near Three Pagodas Pass are being forced to compensate the Burmese army for rations lost in a raid by Karen rebels. According to local sources, the compensation being demanded is substantially higher than the value of the goods lost by the army.
In the last week of January, Tactical Commander Saw May Oo and soldiers from Military Operations Management Command (MOMC) No. 12 moved into five villages near where the rations had been seized. Most of the villagers fled in advance of the soldiers, however, leaving Commander Saw May Oo with no one from whom to demand compensation.
According to a villager who later spoke with a resident of Three Pagodas Town, Commander Saw May Oo then issued the villages an ultimatum: provide compensation for the lost rations within five days, or see the villages burnt to the ground. The ultimatum followed a January 19th raid by soldiers from Brigade 6 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), who seized hundreds of baskets of army rations from three trucks bound for Three Pagodas Pass Town.
The MOMC No. 12 Tactical Command, which is responsible for the rations, has neglected to report the loss of the rations to higher authorities at the Southeast Command in Moulmein. Rather than risk the punishment suffered by officers who have reported goods lost to KNLA raids in the past, the Tactical Command is relying on local residents to replace the supplies.
In addition to demanding payment from the civilian drivers who were forced to drive the supply trucks, the Tactical Command is demanding payment from five villages around the area where the rations were seized. The affected villages include They Yet Thein, Khayan Thein, Raw Khadaw, Thabyu and Asin villages. The five villages are also located near two antimony mines, and provide hundreds of workers for the mining company.
Worried about the ultimatum given by Commander Saw May Oo, a resident whose name is being withheld for security sought help from U Kyaw Aye and U Myint Swe, who oversee security for Thabyu village and two nearby antimony mines. Though not a formal officer, U Kyaw Aye is also known to be close to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, another armed Karen group that has been loosely allied with the Burmese government since it split from the KNLA in 1994.
According to an IMNA source who spoke with two family members of U Kyaw Aye on separate occasions, after hearing from the villager the two men met with Commander Saw May Oo on January 24th. According to the IMNA source, both the family members said Commander Saw May Oo demanded compensation of 600,000 baht, which the IMNA source said the two men paid. Based upon current exchange rates, 600,000 baht is equivalent to $17,143 US dollars.
That night, said the IMNA source, U Kyaw Aye began suffering from hypertension. Worried, his family took him to a medical clinic on the Thai side of the nearby Three Pagodas Pass border crossing. He died at 2 pm the next day while being moved to the River Kwai Christian Hospital 25 kilometers away in Huey Malai, Thailand. U Kyaw Aye was 69, and is survived by a wife, two sons and a daughter.
IMNA could not independently confirm whether or not U Kyaw Aye and U Myint Swe paid the amount reported by family members. That large amounts of money have been demand by local villagers has been, however, confirmed by an officer in KNLA Brigade 6. According to the officer, Commander Saw May Oo demanded 300,000 baht and 200,000 kyat from the five villages [$8,762 USD].
The compensation quoted by the KNLA captain, not to mention the amount quoted by family members of U Kyaw Aye, are substantially higher that the value of the rations lost in the KNLA raid. According to KNLA Major Jaw Zaw, the rebels seized 362 baskets of rice, 43 baskets of beans, 20 baskets of sugar, and 50 containers of beef, milk, and oil. Based upon prices from traders in Three Pagodas Pass, meanwhile, the highest reasonable estimate tops no more than 280,000 baht [$8,000 USD]. This estimate is based upon prices for goods of much better quality than typically used for army rations,
The KNLA is the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), which has been fighting Burma's central governments since the country achieved independence in 1948. Once one of the strongest armed opposition groups in Burma, the KNU/KNLA has seen its power and territory dwindle in recent decades. Since the latter portions of 2008, the Burmese army has been preparing an offensive against territory held by KNLA Brigade 6.
