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More Karen civilians raped and slaughtered by Burmese soldiers

From the Jubilee Campaign
12 August 1999

Jubilee Campaign has just received reports from Karen sources concerning further massacres carried out by soldiers of the Burmese military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). On 31st July this year, a group of 43 soldiers led by company commander Mo Kyaw and his assistant, Ka Htay, from 4th Company, Infantry Battalion 101 went to Ta Hpo Hkee, a village close to Kawei and Hpway Plaw villages in Mergui District, where Burmese troops from the same battalion massacred at least 22 Karen villagers on 27th July.

The soldiers captured a group of 7 Karen civilians, including a 9 year old girl and a pregnant woman and killed them. The victims were

1. Naw Te Mo (5 months pregnant, 30 year old daughter of Saw Twe)

2. Saw Kwaw Hko (50 years old)

3. Naw Dah (50 years old, wife of Saw Kwaw Hko)

4. Saw Dah Pway (22 years old son of Saw Kwaw Hko)

5. Naw Hpo Pree (23 years old, single woman)

6. Naw Purt Say (16 years old, single woman)

7. Naw Thu (9 year old girl)

Both single women and the 9 year old girl were gang raped by the soldiers before they were slaughtered. The pregnant woman was killed by a shot to the abdominal region. Earlier, on July 24th, SPDC soldiers from Infantry Battalion 101 had burnt and destroyed the villagers' properties, including food stores and crops at Ta Hpo Kee village.

Since March 1998, Jubilee Campaign has been calling on the international community to recognise the genocide taking place against ethnic minorities in Burma such as the Karen and to try the Burmese military regime and their subordinates for genocide and other crimes against humanity.

For further information, you can contact Wilfred Wong on 0171 219 5129.

Enquiries:

Rachel Bader Tel: ++ (0) 1483 894 787 Fax: ++ (0) 1483 894 797
E-mail: rachel@jubileecampaign.demon.co.uk

Jubilee Campaign is an interdenominational Christian human rights pressure group, which has worked with over 150 British Parliamentarians since it was set up in 1986. Jubilee has campaigned on human rights issues in countries as diverse as: Sudan, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Guatemala, China, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and the former Soviet Union.