Residents of at least eight villages in Karen state are being forced to provide food for soldiers from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), as well work as porters, guides and human minesweepers.
Beginning in February, residents report that each village has been required to provide 20 baskets of rice and cooking materials to DKBA Battalions No. 901, 906, 907 and “special force.” Affected villages include Kyait Kwin, Maw Hto Ka Lay, Kawk Sign, Pine Ka Lar Don, Ason, Thaung Oot, Tawbawbo and Larm Pharn villages.
The DKBA is an ethnic Karen armed group that has been loosely allied with Burma’s military government since splitting from the Karen National Union (KNU) in 1994. Beginning with the end of the 2008 rainy season, the DKBA and Burmese army have been launching a joint offensive against the KNU, Burma’s longest-fighting active insurgent group.
Though DKBA patrols have passed through the affected villages in the past, local sources say they are now attempting to build a more sustained presence in the area. Sources based near Thaung Oot village, for instance, say that they have had to work as unpaid forced laborers supplying construction materials and building military barracks. Villagers have been required to supply bamboo, wood, nails and thatched roofing.
In attempt to mark a permanent presence in the area, local sources say that they have been forced to build a Buddhist pagoda near the primarily Christian Maw Hto Ka Lay village. Beginning on February 10th, the sources said that Commander Hna-Khan-Hmwe ordered residents in Thaung Oot and Tawbawbo to work as laborers on the project.
“We are Christian, but the commander forced us to build up the pagoda in our village,” said a woman, 58, from the area. “We have to work on building the pagoda every day until it is finished.”
Villagers in Thaung Oot and Tawbawbo had also been required to act as guides and human minesweepers. According to local sources, they are made to walk in front of DKBA military columns so that the civilians trigger mines rather than the soldiers.
The increased DKBA presence and attendant abuses have caused at least four households to flee the area. “In our village, many people wanted to escape because of the DKBA and Burmese soldiers,” said a resident of Thaung Oot. “Villagers have to provide food and to work as force laborers every day.”
“Villagers were ordered to walk in front of the DKBA soldiers when they travel to the KNU camp,” explained one of the residents who subsequently fled. “We had to escape from our village.”
