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Mon rebels detain, ransom more villagers in Ye Township
Mon 02 Feb 2009,
Arka
Nearly 30 villagers in Ye Township have been released after Mon rebels held them ransom for over a week, say local sources.
In the early morning of January 23rd, rebels from a group lead by Nai Chan Dein detained 40 villagers from two villages as they traveled to their rubber plantations. Some of the villagers were quickly released, but 28 of the plantation owners were held and ordered to pay 500,000 kyat. The names of the villages are being withheld for the safety of their residents.
It took a week, however, for family members to secure the release of the plantation owners, said a source that spoke with the family of a ransomed plantation owner. “We don’t know where Nai Chan Dein is based,” the source quoted the family member. “We are afraid to try and find Chan Dein’s location to pay him the money, because the Burmese army will accuse us of supporting Nai Chan Dein. That’s why it took time for us to pay the ransom.”
In the same time period as the arrests and ransoms, Infantry Battalion No. 61 and Light Infantry Battalion No. 343, based in Ye Town and Khaw-zar Sub-township, moved to the area and are now actively patrolling.
The Nai Chan Dein rebel group is active in southern Ye Township in Mon State as well as in nearby northern Yebyu in Tenasserim Division. According to a New Mon State Party official cited in a recent report by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), Nai Chan Dein currently only commands 20 to 30 soldiers.
The Nai Chan Dein group has nonetheless actively been taxing local residents. In November, another 102 plantation owners and workers in Ye Township were kidnapped and ransomed for 30,000 to 200,000 kyat. In northern Yebyu, meanwhile, at least 5 villages have each been ordered to pay Nai Chan Dein 5 to 7 million kyat.
Burmese army battalions, meanwhile, have consistently been committing serious human rights violations as they attempt to eliminate Nai Chan Dein’s small group. Most recently, according to another report by HURFOM, 60 households in Amae village, Ye Township, were forcibly relocated after being accused of supporting Nai Chain Dein. During the relocation, one boy was seriously assaulted and a 17-year-old girl raped, while two months later 3 former residents were shot and killed for returning to the village.
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