Ye -- A village headman was accused of supporting a Mon splinter group and was severely beaten about the head by the Burmese troops on December 10. A column of SPDC soldiers accused him for not reporting about the activities of the small Mon guerrilla group.

The SPDC’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 31 based in southern Mon State arrested Nai Aung Tin Nyunt, the village headman of Ma-Kyi (Mang Glon in Mon), charging him for failing to report the whereabouts of the Mon guerrillas.

Ma-Kyi village, in southern Ye, is comprised of about 100 households. “Most of the village headmen in this area (black area) don’t want to be in the position of reporting about the activities of the Mon splinter group or being one of the SPDC’s stooges. They have seen what happens to their predecessors,” said a Mon political observer to Kaowao requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“The more experienced person is called on to work as the village chairmen to take care of their villagers despite facing the hazards,” the political observer added. Most of the villagers are unwilling to take part in village administration. Most of villagers in this part of southern Mon State cannot read and write Burmese, the official language of the country.

Since 1997 the on-off again civil war has created instability in this area since the New Mon State Party and SPDC reached a ceasefire agreement in 1995. The SPDC’s military unit under general Maung Bo intensified the conflict after a speech he made in 2003 promising to “root out” the splinter groups. He accused the Mon villagers as being sympathizers for the Mon guerrillas and warned them that they would suffer the consequences if they continued to support the guerrillas for he knew they couldn’t survive without their (Mon villagers) help.

Villagers in southern Ye have regularly left the villages choosing to live as internally displaced persons in the jungle while some go to the border and apply to the UNHCR for resettlement. The New Mon State Party withdrew its troops from this area according to their agreement with the SPDC which is now designated as the black area. The published report Catwalk To The Barracks highlights the sexual abuse of the SPDC’s soldiers committed against the Mon village women. The report claims that the SPDC soldiers use women as a weapon of war.