Tavoy residents prepare for flight

By IMNA:

Residents of the Tavoy District villages of Joha Plrow and Suwanabumi, located in close proximity to New Mon State Party (NMSP) headquarters, informed IMNA today that they are packing up their belongings and fleeing their homes, in order to avoid being victimized by an impending invasion by Burmese military troops.

NMSP leaders have, for the past several days, been occupied by a secret emergency meeting, that was called to discuss an ultimatum issued by State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) officers during an April 7th meeting between the two groups; reportedly, if the NMSP does not acquiesce to the SPDC’s demands that the party become a government-run “people’s militia between April 22nd and April 28th, the party can consider its 1995 ceasefire agreement with the SPDC to be ended.

Reports of Burmese battalions gathering on the NMSP’s Tavoy District border have already prompted residents of the area to flee before the release of the decision; the NMSP’s meeting has been slated to end today. Now Tavoy residents living near the NMSP’s headquarters, further inside the region, report that they plane to follow suit, to avoid being caught in a potential SPDC attack upon the site.

“Now people in our village are packing up their property to avoid the SPDC soldiers, if they come to our place. This is because we heard that the SPDC’s troops will come to this area soon. Some people have gone already to safe places, where their relatives live. If the situation gets worse, we are ready to move from here [this village],” a Joha Plrow resident reported.

A bus driver who normally earns his living driving on the Tavoy District road stretching between the village of Panapone and Ye Town, informed IMNA that he has ceased working as a bus driver and has fled to the Thai Burma border, after reportedly viewing a contingent of SPDC troops in the village of Ye Chung Pyar, a Tavoy District village under NMSP control. This source explained to IMNA that the number of buses crossing Tavoy District has dropped dramatically over the past week; 50 buses are scheduled to traverse the area each day, but this driver claims that only 5 are currently in operation.

“Now I have stopped driving my truck in that area. I dare not drive any more. I am afraid of the SPDC troops. If they [SPDC troops] see me with the truck, they may seize my truck, or maybe they will force me to bring them where they want [forced portering]. Not only I stopped driving my truck here. Many truck owner have stopped, like me”, he explained.

A bus driver from the village of Suwanabumi pointed to an incident that occurred on January 10th of this year, when SPDC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282 entered the village, located less than 10 miles from the NMSP’s central headquarters. The sources who spoke to IMNA for its January coverage reported that the battalion, which entered the village on a purported search for bandits, left the area after merely 3 hours without harassing residents. However, this bus driver explained to IMNA that Suwanabumi’s residents were alarmed by the incident, and that many are preparing to flee the area in the event that a second visit from the battalion will this time result in violence.