Villagers threatened following desertions from the army

IMNA
February 20, 2006

The local army unit has been threatening villagers in Mi-Htaw-Hlar Kyi village, southern Ye Township Mon state after two deserters escaped from near their village.

Troops from Infantry Battalion No.31 based in Kawzar sub-town have forced six villagers on a rotational basis to patrol the village everyday.

The two deserters escaped to join the Mon rebel group on January 8 and took away three MA (Myanmar Army) guns and one artillery M-79 gun with them. When the two deserters reached the village periphery, they fired one round into the village with the M-79. No one was hurt.

The two deserters also took two men from the village as hostage and to show them the way. Next day the two hostages were released. But the hostages were arrested by the army for investigation.

“Our villagers are being used as porters to track down the deserters. At least two or three men were used and they had to carry supplies for the soldiers. Sometimes we were used for four days,” a villager explained.

The Burmese Army troops regularly lunches operations in the area in search of their men and had a fight with a deserter in mid of January and got back a gun.

Troops also bar villagers from going to the farms and plantation during the operation. Following the desertions Col. Saw Than Thit and his officers in the battalion are under pressure and are being investigated.