MAE SOT—Displaced villagers in Papun District in northern Karen State are facing the worst food shortage in over a decade as a result of the consistent Burmese government army presence in the area over the last four years.
According to a report titled “Starving Them Out,” released on Thursday by the Thailand-based Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), villagers in certain areas in Papun District report that they do not expect to survive for more than a few months on this year’s rice crop, which is due to be harvested this month.
In a recent report, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an umbrella group of humanitarian agencies, estimated there are currently more than 450,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in eastern Burma, with more than 100,000 IDPs in Karen State alone.
The humanitarian crisis has been exacerbated in recent years by continuous fighting in the region between the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) and a joint force of troops from the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
“This situation is so bad in the SPDC/ DKBA controlled areas that to escape the forced labor and violence, the villagers hide in the jungle,” Saw Poe Shan, the head researcher for the KHRG, told The Irrawaddy.
“Now the situation is dire for the villagers who are hiding and they are facing a serious food shortage in the coming months, but they refuse to go back to the SPDC-DKBA controlled areas. As a result, it is expected that we will see many villagers starving to death in the jungle,” he said
In November 2005, these villagers were forced into hiding when SPDC troops began trying to take control of the region and moving thousands of villagers into military-controlled areas.
Prior to 2006 the offensives were cyclical and government forces would retreat during the rainy season (June – Oct). In the past few years however, the SPDC battalions have been able to establish bases and supply routes in Karen State and remain in the jungle all year round.
The last time the villagers faced such a severe crisis was in 1997 when SPDC troops launched a major offensive, the report said, adding that the crisis is worse now as the army is not only attacking villagers but controlling more areas and patrolling near the IDPs’ makeshift camps.
As a result of the continual army presence, agricultural cycles have been severely disrupted as villagers are unable to tend to their farms during the rainy season causing them to miss crucial stages in the planting season and leave their crops vulnerable to destruction and disease.
“Many of us can’t get enough rice,” a 51-year-old villager told the KHRG. “Almost everyone has finished their store of rice. There are some who can only continue one month longer. There’s no way to get enough food for the whole year.”
Many of the villagers are scared to return to their farms because of abuse by the SPDC troops who have reportedly shot villagers on sight in the past.
“The places we stay now are not good for growing rice. We don’t dare go and look for food freely because of the SPDC. If we go somewhere and we meet with them [the SPDC], they shoot us,” a Karen villager said.
SPDC activity was reported to have decreased between December 2008 and May 2009, but villagers were said to be too afraid to return to their farms.
The situation is getting worse as the number of IDPs increases and the SPDC/ DKBA expand their control of the area, leaving less land per family and causing soil nutrients to deplete fast. On top of that, villagers report that the recent weather has been so bad it is unsuitable for paddy cultivation.
Villagers who remain in the SPDC-controlled areas are restricted to carrying around only one tin of rice each—a government-imposed measure to prevent IDPs in hiding from buying food from them.
“The Burma Army is, in other words, starving out villagers who remain in hiding,” the KHRG report claims.
The report highlights an increased vulnerability to sickness and disease as a direct result of the food shortage. In September, a flu-like illness swept through seven villages in the area, affecting children in particular.
For those who remain in the SPDC-controlled areas, abuses remain rampant.
Villagers report being placed under stringent travel restrictions and curfews, sometimes being banned from leaving their villages for weeks at a time, severely disrupting their ability to farm.
The report says that by breaking the curfew to cultivate land, villagers risk being labeled KNU supporters and punishments can be as severe as execution.
In one village, a 35-year-old man was reportedly accused of helping the KLNA (the KNU’s military wing) when he was found farming his betel nut plantation. He was shot dead by DKBA soldiers, the report says.
According to KHRG, arbitrary violence remains rampant and levels of taxing and looting are on the rise. DKBA soldiers regularly come to villages demanding food and “porter fees,” which villagers must pay to avoid being forced to work as porters.
The ongoing problem of landmines continues to worsen as DKBA soldiers are reportedly laying an increasing number of landmines in the region, especially in civilian areas. According to the report, the DKBA fail to inform the villagers where the landmines are, and as a result, civilians and animals are being killed and maimed.
Many areas in Papun District remain out of the reach of aid agencies based in Rangoon who are not permitted to travel to the region. In response to the situation, Refugee International said: “Cross-border assistance remains a vital tool in meeting the humanitarian needs of displaced Burmese who cannot safely reach Thailand.”
Over the last month, DKBA and SPDC forces have surged into the KNLA’s 5th and 6th brigades—in northern and southern Karen State respectively—reportedly in preparation for a strike in the coming dry season.
irrawaddy
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