Villagers instructed to vouch for official claim Rapes

Villagers instructed to vouch for official claim
Rapes 

Villagers in Kengtung, 160 km across the border from Maesai, had been directed by representatives from Burma's official women organization to support the military government's position that no sexual abuses had been committed against women of Shan State, according to a Shan woman currently on a visit to Thailand. 

"They were in Kengtung for 4-days, 13-16 October," she said. "In August, they had Daw Khin Win Shwe (wife of Gen Khin Nyunt) leading them, but she was not with them this time. They said foreigners were expected to visit Kengtung to make inquiries and urged us to say there were no violations." 

During their stay, the women representatives toured Kardtao, Loilong and Yangkham, village tracts surrounding Kengtung, according to her. At every meeting, local members of the government established Union Solidarity and Development Association took front seats to speak for the respective villages. 

"Whatever they say, the situation has yet to change for the better in terms of rapes," she continued. 

She recounted how a woman was assaulted and her husband murdered at Namwok village, Mongkhark Township, 40 miles north of Kengtung, on 28 September; and how two women at Mong-ngen village, also of Mongkhark Township, were not only raped but also beaten. "In both cases, the culprits were junior officers from Infantry Battalion 227," she charged. 

"The worse case happened on 18 October when two soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 314 raped a 26-year old woman from Tae-hsai village while she was washing clothes on the bank of Namlarp (near Kengtung)," she said. "They also beat her and thinking she was dead pushed her into the river. It was only through luck that she survived, but there was no one who dared to take issue with the soldiers." 

A local police officer concurred. "If we were permitted to take action, at least ten cases could have been unearthed each month," a resident of Kengtung quoted him as saying. 

"We used to have a single battalion in Kengtung, the 4th Chin Rifles," another source added. "And we didn't have many problems. It seems problems are increasing in proportion to the number of units in Shan State. For us, it simply means more units, more rapers." 

According to a list provided by the All Burma Students Democratic Front, the Burma Army has grown from 438 battalions in 2000 to 533 in 2001 and 695 at present. 

UN special rapporteur, Paulo Sergio Pinherio, currently in Burma, was invited by Rangoon to visit the Shan State to look into the allegations made by the Shan Human Rights foundation and Shan Women's Action Network in their recent report, Licence to Rape , but cancelled the trip because he was not allowed to visit locations proposed by him, reported the Democratic Voice of Burma on 21 October. 

Updated

25 October 2002 

Nang Sway Zing, 14, daughter of Krisna and Nang Lieng was raped at the bank of Namlarp on 26 August, the month that Gen Khin Nyunt's better half visited. The culprits were soldiers from # 641 Ordnance Battalion. One of them was identified as Pvt Ye Ko Htat. The victim's father is an ethnic Karen, working at government construction office at Kiang-inn quarter, Kengtung, where the family also live. The girl was also thrown into the river but somehow stayed alive. The parents were given K 50,000 and 1 bag of rice in compensation and were asked to hush up the whole affair. The offenders, according to the military authorities concerned, were sentenced to jail. 

"Daw Khin Win Shwe may come and Daw Khin Win Shwe may go, but the rapes go on forever", quips a longtime resident of Kengtung.