Escape from arrest as porters while village is under flood
Independent Mon News Agency
August 3, 2004
The villagers in a village in Southern Ye Township are escaping from the soldiers’ arrest for the conscription of porters while their village is under flood according to the villagers.
“The villager are hiding and escaping. The soldiers are trying to arrest the men to use them as porters in the military operations against the Mon splinter groups. Many times, the men are loud their voice “Karoute” Karoute (in Mon language) in Hangan to escape from the arrest even while the village is under water of three feet in depth,” said a monk come from the Hangan village.
“Because of the splinter group led by Nai San Shay is moving around the villages in the recent days and in order to attack the group, the Burmese Army under the command of Colonel Nyi Nyi tried to arrest the villagers for porters”, added the monk.
According to the villagers, the flood has increased since July 31 and the people have to travel by boat from one place to another.
In southern Ye Township some villagers are used as porters on a rotation by the soldiers, according to the villager from the area who fled into Thailand in the third week of July.
“Every week the Burmese Army’s soldiers used 15 villagers as porters in Magyi village and villages nearby,” said Nai Lwi Mon a villager from Magyi village.
“Many villagers were beaten, fed with insufficient food and they had to carry heavy ammunitions,” Mr. Nai Lwi Mon added.
The Burmese Army has not stopped its military operation against the Mon splinter group and they still restrict the villagers to not go to workplaces in the farm and plantations, which the villagers are relying as main livelihood for survival, according to the villagers come from there and Hangan villagers.
Because of the military operation, human rights violations are continuously committed and the villager are becoming jobless as they cannot go to work freely, according to Mr. Nai Win, a community leader from the area.
For further information, please contact to Independent Mon News Agency
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