Key developments since May 2000: Myanmar government forces and
at least eleven ethnic armed groups continue to lay antipersonnel mines in
significant numbers. The governments of Bangladesh and Thailand both protested
use of mines by Myanmar forces inside their respective countries. In a
disturbing new development, mine use is alleged to be taking place under the
direction of loggers and narcotics traffickers, as well as by government and
rebel forces.
The military government of Myanmar, the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.
After voting in favor of the 1996 UN General Assembly resolution calling on
governments to vigorously pursue an international agreement banning
antipersonnel landmines, it has since abstained from every UN General Assembly
resolution supporting the Mine Ban Treaty, including in November 2000. Myanmar
has not participated in any mine ban meetings since 1999.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling—Government
The Myanmar Defense Products Industries (Kahpasa)
produce the MM1 stake mine, the MM2 blast mine, and a directional fragmentation
(Claymore-type) mine.[2] The
directional mine is alleged by residents of Chin State to be rigged with
tripwires for victim
activation.[3] There is no
evidence that the government has exported antipersonnel mines to other
countries. Several types of antipersonnel mines from other countries
continue to be found in the field indicating past, if not current, importation.
These include Chinese, Israeli, Italian, Russian, US, and other unidentified
antipersonnel mines.[4] Neither
the SPDC, nor the Ministry of Defense, has released any statistics regarding the
size and type of mines in stockpile.
Use—Government
Government officials acknowledge that Myanmar uses
antipersonnel mines, but claim it does not do so in an indiscriminate
fashion.[5] Government forces,
both the Tatmadaw and the NaSaKa(border security force), have continued
to use antipersonnel mines extensively. Mine use has been reported in many
regions of the country, and along the borders with Bangladesh, Thailand, and
India. Bangladesh and Thailand have accused Myanmar forces of laying mines
across their borders illegally.
In November 2000, the government of
Bangladesh issued an advisory note to its citizens living in the border area
that they were in danger of mines being laid by the NaSaKa, the border security
force of Myanmar. A Bangladesh border security force (BDR) official told
Landmine Monitor that use by NaSaKa had increased since October
2000.[6] The BDR captured mines
that indicated 2000 as the year of
manufacture.[7]
Amid
heightening tension over this mine laying operation, and increasing mine
accidents in the area, a meeting between border forces on both sides was held.
Bangladesh protested the planting of mines and asked for a halt, and reiterated
its request that these mines be removed. The NaSaKa accused rebel forces of
planting mines on the border.[8]
Thailand has accused Myanmar forces of laying mines inside Thailand. A
simmering border controversy between the two nations escalated in February 2001
over a disputed piece of territory. Myanmar troops and a proxy army of the Wa
are both alleged to have planted mines in this territory in the following
months. The Thai government has lodged complaints about the mine laying by
Myanmar on several occasions.[9]
Porters taken for service by the SPDC on military operations in Karen State
report that every platoon carries six to eight landmines (there are a couple of
hundred platoons in Karen State at any given
time).[10]
Karen, Rakine, and
Shan rebels displayed hundreds of captured landmines laid by the Myanmar Army
during the year 2000, or which they had captured in stockpiles in SPDC army
bases overrun by rebels during operations during the year
2000.[11] Chin refugees have
alleged that residents of the Chin State have died in the year 2000 because of
mines laid near the India/Burma border, across from
Mizoram.[12]
A Burmese
military officer held by the insurgents told them that he had instructions to
use mines seized from the enemy for deployment near the border with Thailand, in
order to mask who laid the
landmine.[13] The officer also
said that in 1996 when the Burmese Army seized the mine stockpile of opium
warlord Khun Sa that these mines were deployed near the border with Thailand.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling—Armed Ethnic Groups
All of the armed groups are believed to be capable
of building blast mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Some groups
can also manufacture Claymore-type
mines.[14] The Chin National
Army maintains an arsenal of landmines and a production facility at their base,
which also trains a cadre of mine
layers.[15] Trade in mine
components between combatants is also occurring with one group claiming to have
enough explosives for the next 10 years’ mine production
needs.[16]
The armed ethnic
groups are not known to receive mines from foreign governments. Throughout the
1990s, surplus antipersonnel mines from the Indochinese wars were plentifully
available. As of 2001, antipersonnel mines were reported to be more difficult
to obtain on the black market, but an increased number of mines were being
lifted or captured from SPDC military operations, and then
re-deployed.[17]
Use—Ethnic Armed Groups and other Non-State Actors
At least eleven ethnic armed groups are believed
to use antipersonnel mines. All of those groups documented to be using
antipersonnel landmines in their rebel activity during 2000 are believed to have
continued to do so in 2001, including: the Karen National Liberation Army
(KNLA); the Karenni Army (KA); the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF);
Peoples Defense Forces (PDF); Myiek-Dawei United Front (MDUF); Rohingya
Solidarity Organization (RSO); Shan State Army (SSA); Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army; God’s Army; and the Chin National Army
(CNA).[18]
In addition, the
United Wa State Army is using mines. A bounding mine allegedly laid by the
United Wa State Army killed six refugees from Shan State seeking asylum in
Thailand.[19] The Chin National
Army claims to use only command-detonated mines. It has laid mines near its
bases in Chin State.[20] The
KNLA does not map or mark its minefields. Landmines laid by the KNLA and DKBA
in Karen State continue to endanger the lives of villagers, internal refugees
and porters.[21] The KNLA is
mining the areas around internally displaced settlements in Karen State. In the
Tenasserim Division, the Karen National Liberation Army and the Myeik-Dawie
United Front rebels use landmines bought from Thai smugglers. They maintain a
mine stockpile of US-made M14, M16, and M18 mines, captured Myanmar MM1, MM2 and
directional mines, and homemade
mines.[22]
In a disturbing
new development, mine use is alleged to be taking place under the direction of
loggers and narcotics
traffickers.[23] Timber
concessions opened in the border areas of Karen State south of the Thai town of
Mae Sot. These concessions are believed to be held by high military and
political authorities in Thailand. Local people, who initially received
instruction on mine fabrication under the KNLA, have allegedly been hired by
logging sub-contractors to mine the edges of their concessions to prevent
encroachment by competitors and access by the public. Allegedly the loggers
also supply the explosives and detonators for the construction of these mines.
Several people in the employ of these sub-contractors and local residents have
become mine victims. Narcotics traffickers in the same area are reportedly
securing their routes for the movement of their goods with landmines. Use of
mines to protect manufacturing facilities for the illegal production of
meta-amphetemine in both Karen and Karenni State has also been alleged.
Landmine Problem
Nine out of fourteen states and divisions in Burma
are mine-affected, with a heavy concentration in eastern
Burma.[24] See Landmine
Monitor Report 2000 for a description of mine-affected areas.
Mines have
been laid between all military camps along a cross-state route in upper Karen
State from Kyankkyi in the west to Hsawhta on the Salaween River at the Thai
border in an attempt to cut passage by insurgents. Refugee passage is now also
blocked by this action.
There are no reliable estimates of the number of
mines planted in Burma, or the amount of land affected. A November 2000 report
indicates that 25 to 30 different types of antipersonnel mines have been used in
Burma.[25]
Mine Clearance and Mine Awareness
There are no humanitarian mine clearance
operations in Burma. Some ethnic armed groups, and some villagers, have lifted
mines in their areas. Rebels in Rakine State have captured mine detection
equipment for use in their
operations.[26] Villagers in
Nyaung Lay Bin district of Karen State returned to their homes after fleeing an
offensive to find it mined. They removed over 100 mines themselves, then
re-laid the mines close to a military
base.[27]
Atrocity Demining
Tatmadaw units operating in theaters of conflict
near Myanmar's border with Thailand have repeatedly been accused of forcing
non-Burman ethnic local people to walk in front of Tatmadaw soldiers in areas
suspected of mine contamination (see Landmine Monitor Reports 1999
and 2000). In January 2001, villagers from twelve settlements near
the Thai/Burma border crossed into Thailand seeking refuge, after having been
ordered by a Burmese military commander to clear a jungle area for a bulldozer
to make a road. The area was believed to have been heavily mined by the
KNLA.[28] During 2000, the
Karen Human Rights Group repeatedly documented incidents of atrocity
demining.[29] In response to a
US Labor Department report on forced labor, the SPDC replied, “The
allegation that children are used as human minesweepers and shields is too
absurd and ridiculous to dignify a
response.”[30]
Landmine Casualties
The number of landmine victims in Burma remains
unknown. There is currently no centralized agency collecting statistics on
landmine incidents or survivors within Burma. Relying on disparate data,
Landmine Monitor Report 2000 estimated that conflict in Burma produced
approximately 1,500 mine victims in 1999 alone, including perhaps nearly one
civilian landmine amputee per day in Karen State alone. This is, however, only
an estimate. There is no reliable way to trace the number of people killed by
landmines.
The landmine casualty rate may be increasing. Statistics of
landmine victims transported for surgery by Medicins Sans Frontières
(recipient of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize) show a modest increase during the year
2000 over the previous two
years.[31] The Mae Tao clinic
in Mae Sot, Thailand states that it is seeing an increase in mine victims
arriving from the Dooplaya district of Karen
State.[32]
A preliminary
report on a Level One Impact Survey in Thailand contained the following
information on the border region: “The majority of the mine threat is
across the border in Myanmar where a considerable number of mine accidents are
taking place. In the Camps for Displaced persons alone 83 mine victims are
recorded and many more are evident from hospital records. 150 accidents have
been reported in the last 2 years of a total of 541 victims including previous
years. 213 reported danger areas however are recorded on the Thai side of the
border.”[33]
At a
meeting of the border security forces of Myanmar and Bangladesh in November
2000, both sides admitted that at least seven people from the two countries were
killed in the previous two weeks in landmine
explosions.[34]
A Karen
military officer noted that the areas most heavily mined by the Tatmadaw are not
producing many civilian casualties now, because people have fled those areas;
when the refugees return home, casualties will
increase.[35]
Despite the
fact that military mine victims can be seen in border areas of the country, the
Ministry of Defense maintains that there are no military victims of
landmines.[36] Mine casualty
rates among people taken to porter for the military and among the soldiers
themselves due to landmines seem to be
equal.[37]
Elephants
continue to be victimized by landmines laid in Burma, with new fatalities
recorded in both 2000 and 2001. A 32-year-old elephant stepped on a landmine in
late April in Burma across from Tak Province of Thailand; it died of its wounds
in June.[38] A total of 26
elephants are now known to have perished in Bangladesh where no veterinary help
for them is available.[39] The
most recent casualty was a baby elephant in February
2001.[40] It has been noted
that elephants near the heavily mined Bangladesh border have now changed their
migration route as a result of the casualties in their herds and are now
entering agricultural areas they previously avoided, where they are attacked by
farmers.[41] Mines in Burma
have also killed buffalo, tigers, wild pigs, and dogs.
Survivor Assistance
Survivor assistance continues to be minimal due to
the neglect of the medical system within Myanmar. The World Health Organization
significantly downgraded its assessment of the viability of the health care
system in Myanmar, ranking the country 190 out of a total of 191 member
states in the World Health Report 2000.
Medical practitioners in public
hospitals receive a monthly salary of
$5.[42] Unless a victim can pay
for care at public or private health facilities, no care is available. Access
to first aid and surgical care is dependent on the victim's physical distance
from health care facilities and the prevailing security situation in the area at
the time of the accident. Medical care received prior to surgery is primitive
and depends on whether a trained medic and equipment is on
hand.[43]
The provision of
prosthetic devices through the National Rehabilitation Center (NRC) is
completely dependent on the support of the International Committee of the Red
Cross. The NRC receives no funding from the government for outreach to the
nation. All patients must reach the Center on their own. There has been no
systematic distribution of information through Myanmar's health care system
about the existence of the NRC, and the former Director conceded many health
practitioners in the country may not even be aware of the Center and its
services. The NRC has two branches, one in Rangoon, and a second in Mandalay,
each with a maximum capacity of about thirty in-patients per month. The two NRC
facilities, and the Ministry of Defense hospital in Mingaladon near Rangoon, are
the only facilities in the country currently providing artificial legs. An
additional ICRC constructed facility in the Maymyo military hospital is
currently not functional. All mine victims who arrive at the NRC to be fitted
with a prosthetic are located and transported by a joint ICRC-Myanmar Red Cross
program, through periodical missions to Shan, Karen and Karenni States and the
Bago Division.
The ICRC reports that amputees were transported from border
areas to the prosthetic/orthotic workshops in Mandalay and Yangon. The Ministry
of Health with ICRC support runs the
workshops.[44] During the year
the number of patients increased, and production more than doubled from 1999.
Prosthetic/orthotic appliances were provided for 907 amputees, 55% of whom were
mine victims.[45]
The NRC
provides limited statistics on its patients. Between 1990-1998 it fitted almost
1,400 patients with artificial limbs, of which more than 70% were victims of
landmines.[46] Between
April-September 1999, the NRC provided services for 157 landmine
victims.[47]
No information
is available on victim assistance provided by Defense Ministry hospitals, but
ICRC statistics indicate military hospitals may be providing more than twice as
many prosthetics as the civilian
system.[48]
There is one
vocational rehabilitation center in Rangoon run by the Ministry of Health. A
second facility for the vocational rehabilitation of amputees is being
constructed in Rangoon by an international NGO.
An independent, ethnic-based,
mobile medical organization named the Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT)
operates in ethnic resistance areas of Mon, Karen, Karenni and Shan States.
These medics offer a variety of primary and emergency services.
Medicins
Sans Frontières and AMI, two humanitarian NGOs with operations in refugee
camps on the Burma-Thai border, transport mine victims to hospitals in Thailand,
where surgery and post operative care costs roughly 20,000 baht (US$455) per
person. The Mae Tao clinic also transports to the hospital mine victims who are
unable to reach refugee camps, but are proximate to Mae Sot. The clinic can
only provide 5000 baht toward surgical expenses, leaving 15,000 still to be
found by the victim and their families. They are seeking to develop a special
fund to cover more of the cost for mine
victims.[49]
[1]
The military junta now controlling the government of the country changed the
name from Burma to Myanmar. Many ethnic groups within the country still prefer
to use the name Burma. In this report, Myanmar is used when referring to the
policies and practices of the State Peace and Development Council, and Burma is
used otherwise.
[2] Interview
with David McCracken, Technical Advisor for Mine Action, Thai Mine Action
Center, October 1999. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 469 for
additional details.
[3]
Interview with Chin refugees and CNF mine-layer in New Delhi, October 2000. Also
photographic evidence, “Photo Set 2000-B Independent Report by Karen Human
Rights Group,” 18 October
2000.
[4] Moser-Puangsuwan
& Selth, “Myanmar's Forgotten Minefields,” Jane's
Intelligence Review, Vol. 12, No. 10, October 2000. Also Andrew Selth,
“Landmines in Burma: The Military Dimension,” Working Paper No.352,
Australian National University Strategic & Defense Studies Center, Canberra,
November 2000.
[5] Letter
from Ambassador Tin Winn, Embassy of the Union of Myanmar, Washington DC, 16
July 1999; Interview with Ye Minn Thein, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yangon,
April 2000; Discussion with personnel from the Myanmar Mission to the UN, New
York, 23 March 2001.
[6]
Landmine Monitor/Bangladesh interview with Major Mazaharul Islam, Naikongchari,
Bandarban, 18 December
2000.
[7] Landmine
Monitor/Bangladesh saw such antipersonnel mines and took a photograph, BDR
station, Naikongchari, Banderban, 18 December
2000.
[8]The Daily
Star, 16, 27, and 30 November 2000; Mizzima News Group, Dhaka, 22 October
2000.
[9] Interviews with
officials at the Thai Foreign Ministry; Wassana Nanuam, “Wa took hill to
protect drug plants,” Bangkok Post, 12 May
2001.
[10] Interview with
Committee for Internally Displaced Karen Peoples, Mae Sot, Thailand, 15 April
2001.
[11] Photographic
evidence submitted to the Landmine Monitor during 2000. Also report by the Karen
Human Rights Group with photographs of captured mines of Burmese manufacture in
Karen State.
[12]
Interview with Chin National Front members in Delhi, India, October
2000.
[13] Interrogation
report from ethnic armed group from January 2000 given to Landmine Monitor in
mid-2000.
[14] For more
details on production, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 448, and
Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p.
472.
[15] Interview with Chin
leader, Delhi, October
2000.
[16] Interview with
indigenous military commander, April 2001. He claims to have purchased high
explosive for 300 baht (US$7) per kilogram from another combatant commander and
states that it costs him roughly $1 to build a
landmine.
[17] Interview with
Signals Intelligence officer for the Karen National Liberation Army, 8 January
2001; also interview with ethnic military commander, Mae Hong Son, Thailand, 12
April 2001.
[18] Based on
numerous interviews with ethnic militias, military officers, refugees, aid
workers, governmental authorities and other
observers.
[19] Verbal report
on the situation of the Shan provided by the Burmese Relief Center of Chiang Mai
at the Coordinating Committee Serving Displaced Persons in Thailand monthly
meeting in Bangkok 10 August 2000, follow-up details provided by email between
the BRC and Landmine
Monitor.
[20] Interview with
Chin National Front members in Delhi, India, October
2000.
[21] “Karen IDPs
Report: The plight of internally displaced Karen in Mu Traw District of
Burma,” Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People, December 2000 pp9
and 17; ‘Landmines’ Photo Set 2000-B, KHRG paragraph 2, October
2000.
[22] Interview with
rebel officer, June 2000; Interview with Karenni officer, Mae Hong Son, 12 April
2001.
[23] These new and
disturbing allegations were received from three different sources during
interviews in 2001 along the Thai/Burma border. For reasons of safety, the
sources must remain
anonymous.
[24] The Sagaing
Division, previously believed to have a mine problem, has been removed from last
year’s list of mine-affected
areas.
[25] Andrew Selth,
“Landmines in Burma: The Military Dimension,” Working Paper No.352,
Australian National University Strategic & Defense Studies Centre, Canberra,
November 2000, pp. 26-34. Also Moser-Puangsuwan & Selth, “Myanmar's
Forgotten Minefields,” Jane's Intelligence Review, Vol. 12, No. 10,
October 2000, pp. 38-42.
[26]
Photographic evidence submitted to the Landmine Monitor during 2000. Also report
by the Karen Human Rights Group with photographs of captured mines of Burmese
manufacture in Karen State.
[27] Email from a human
rights worker to Landmine Monitor, 22 February
2001.
[28] Verbal report by
international humanitarian aid worker at monthly refugee assistance coordination
meeting, Bangkok, 15 February 2001. Also report “Forced Labor and forced
mine clearance by SPDC army in Hlaing Bwe Township, Karen State,” Free
Trade Union of Burma, 29 January
2001.
[29] In April 2000,
porters were being used to “sweep” for mines by Burmese Army units,
Karen Human Rights Group, “Detention, Torture, Shooting and
Killings,” 25 April 2000; also use of women and children not strong enough
to carry loads as minesweepers in Karen Human Rights Group, “Starving Them
Out,” 31 March
2000.
[30] “Rangoon
Castigates US over report,” Bangkok Post, 15 March
2000.
[31] Statistics of war
injuries transported for surgery by MSF in Tak Province of Thailand between
1998-2000, prepared on request of UNHCR Field
Officer.
[32] Interview with
Dr. Cynthia Maung of the Mae Tao clinic, Mae Sot, Thailand, 16 April
2001.
[33] NPA/TMAC Impact
Survey Final Presentation, Supporting Notes: Guy Rhodes, PhD, Program Manager,
NPA, Slide 33. Presentation made 31 May
2001.
[34] “Myanmar to
remove mines planted on border COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh,” Daily
Star, 30 November
2000.
[35] Interview with
Signals Intelligence officer for the Karen National Liberation Army, 8 January
2001.
[36] Interview with
health workers, Rangoon, 25 April
2000.
[37] Landmine Monitor
does not have access to military records, nor consistent reports of casualties
in the field. However, for those events in which Landmine Monitor has managed to
obtain casualty figures for both the number of killed and wounded among porters
and soldiers for reason of landmine injury there is a striking similarity in the
figures. Also “Interview Annex to Convict Porters,” KHRG, 20
December 2000.
[38]
“Elephant succumbs to landmine injuries,” Bangkok Post, 6
June 2000.
[39]
“Landmines exploded in Bangladesh-Durma border,” Mizzima News
Group, 22 October
2000.
[40] “Elephant
injured by landmine mourns sudden death of calf,” Bangkok Post, 5
February 2001.
[41] Email
from Bangladesh Landmine Monitor
researcher.
[42] Interview
with WHO official in Yangon, January 2000. Also, “Human Development in
Myanmar,” United Nations Working Group, July 1998,
p.14.
[43]Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, pp.
453-454.
[44] ICRC Annual
Report 2000, p. 119.
[45]
ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Unit Health and Relief Division, Annual Report
2000, p. 11.
[46] National
Rehabilitation Center statistics and interview with Dr. Ye Hliang, Director,
NRC, August 1999.
[47]
National Rehabilitation Center statistics provided to the Association for Aid
and Relief-Japan, December
1999.
[48] The ICRC was
providing components for prosthetics to hospitals under the Ministry of Defense
in Rangoon and Maymyo. ICRC, “Tables and Graphs 1979-1998”, 8 June
1999. Currently they are awaiting a new proposal to undertake support for the
Ministry of Defense hospitals. If figures provided by the ICRC and the NRC are
compared, then Ministry of Defense hospitals are providing 2.5 times the
prosthetics distributed through the civilian
system.
[49] Interview with
Dr. Cynthia Maung of the Mae Tao clinic, Mae Sot, Thailand, 16 April 2001.