In spite of international outrage, the Burmese army continues to batter, kill and displace thousands of villagers in eastern Burma
It's hot. Brown dust sticks to sweat. Choking smoke from forest fires blurs the distant Burmese mountains. Overhead, giant hardwood trees soar 24 metres and more. Saw Naw Tu, an animist, stops walking, wipes his glasses, kneels and prays to the forest gods for their help to get us safely to where his family is hiding from the Burmese army.
To get to his home, we have a 12-kilometre walk, a 1,500-metre mountain to climb up and down and a 3km hike along a dense jungle valley wedged between mountains. A trek 67-year-old Saw Naw Tu has to do twice a month if he needs supplies or medicine.
"If we want rice we have to walk to the border and carry it back here. I can only manage about 20kg. I do that every two weeks as we need about 32kg a month for the two of us."
Life has been tough for Saw Naw Tu since 1997 when the Burmese army attacked his village, Htee Yo Khi, and drove him and his family from their home.
"I think of our old life, but I cannot do anything about it. Our farm was on flat land. It had good, deep soil and good water. We used to grow beetle nuts, coconuts, mangoes, jackfruit, pomelo and many fruit trees. We grew all the vegetables, pumpkins, potatoes, beans, chilies, tomatoes and cucumbers."
Saw Naw Tu says he and his family had to run when Burmese army divisions 22 and 44 attacked.
"They fired every type of weapon at us, big shells, small shells, rockets, bullets. They killed people, some were tortured, some where beaten to death, like our neighbour, Maw Bee. He was only in his 30s with two small kids. We had no choice but to leave."
Saw Naw Tu took refuge in Thailand but found life as a refugee wasn't for him or his family. After the Burmese army destroyed his house and farm, Saw Naw Tu built his present home in a hard-to-reach valley.
"I wanted to live in my own country. Since they destroyed our farm in 1997 we have lived in four places. We found this place two years ago."
Saw Naw Tu and his family are not the only ones hiding and running from the Burmese army. The Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) state in their latest report - Protracted Displacement and Militarization in eastern Burma - that as many as "470,000 people are currently estimated to be internally displaced in the rural areas of eastern Burma alone".
The TBBC report says 3,500 villages have been destroyed or forcibly relocated since 1996, including 120 communities between August 2008 and July 2009 - that's as many as 75,000 people. The TBBC compares it with the situation in Darfur, and says it is "recognised as the strongest single indicator of crimes against humanity in eastern Burma".
The TBBC report identifies landmines and Burmese army patrols as the major and fastest growing threat to villagers. This is not surprising as the Burmese army has a third of its troops stationed in eastern Burma, an estimated 235 battalions, at their lowest strength about 35,250 soldiers.
According to eyewitnesses who recently returned from eastern Burma, the Burmese army continues to kill, torture, landmine and force villagers from their homes.
A relief team leader from the humanitarian organisation Free Burma Rangers (FBR), who has just returned from a four-month mission deep inside Karen State, explained to Spectrum what he saw.
"The first [Burmese army] attacks started in late January 2010 and 1,000 villagers in Ler Doh and 1,000 in Hsaw Hti were displaced and three people were killed. In February, a clinic, 14 schools and 125 houses were destroyed. On Feb 19, soldiers from Military Operation Command 7 attacked a school at Ta U Plaw, Papun district, two students were wounded and another died from his wounds."
The team leader says the military regime has divided rural Burma into three zones - "white" under the control of the Burmese army; "brown", the contested areas, and "black", where villagers, men women and children are shot on sight.
FBR has 53 teams delivering emergency medical assistance to displaced communities in eastern Burma. The FBR team leader says people are in need of immediate medical care, food, shelter, clothing, blankets and pots and pans.
"The Burmese army has been relentless. They have mined farmlands and villages, taken people as forced labour and on this trip I saw a lot more child soldiers. They burn rice fields as they patrol. If they don't stop [the attacks] before the wet season, and villagers are unable to plant their rice crop, the situation will be critical."
The team leader said displaced people, unable to return to their villages for their rice stores, will not have enough food to stay healthy.
"Living on the run is tough. Malaria, dysentery, acute respiratory infections are hard enough to deal with at the best of times, but living rough, they become life threatening."
The FBR team leader's insights supported a briefing paper put out by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) that blames the food crisis in rural Karen State as a result of "the direct consequence of systematic military predation".
KHRG says "excessive military demands, the extortion and destruction of food stocks, and restrictions upon movement of food, amongst other abuses, leave villagers with insufficient food supplies and a lack of diversity in their diets".
A young Burmese officer, Ye Htet, who recently deserted, blames the lawlessness among soldiers on an order from military headquarters that instructs regional commanders that they have to "meet their supply needs locally".
"The villagers have little, but the army demands rice, vegetables, pigs, chickens and cigarettes. If the villages don't give to us we just take. It depends on the attitude of the commander, but soldiers know they can't be punished so they just take what they want."
Ye Htet explained how the Burmese army reports on villagers killed.
"It's routine, in our reports, the dead are described as 'insurgents' or 'spies', never villagers. If the army wants to destroy a village they 'accuse' them of being opposition soldiers. This lets the army attack. Villages not on our maps are considered enemies - all villagers, men, women and children, are treated the same, they are killed."
The attacks on civilians are constant. In June 2009, 1,300 government troops attacked the internally displaced village of Ler Per Her on the Burmese side of the River Moei. Thai authorities said more than 4,000 villagers living in the area and surrounding hills took refuge in Thailand.
The Burmese soldiers, before leaving Ler Per Her, booby-trapped walkways, gardens, rice stores, schoolyards and homes, making it impossible for refuges to return safely. Between 2006 and 2007 in northern Karen State a Burmese military operation known as "Clean Sweep" destroyed villages, forcing more than 76,000 people from their homes into makeshift jungle hideouts.
As many as 5,000 made the arduous journey to the Thai/Burma border and set up camp at Ei Tu Hta on the Burmese side of the Salween River. But getting to the border is no guarantee of safety. The Burmese army has been known to fire mortars at refugees on the Thai side. On Feb 15 a Karen villager, Saw Law Ray Htoo, was shot dead by Burmese soldiers while travelling on a Salween river boat north of Ei Tu Hta camp.
The Burmese army is not only intent at shooting and killing unarmed civilians, it also forces villagers to carry supplies and ammunition. People are forced to march and walk in front of patrols to explode landmines and to deter Karen soldiers from attacking.
Saw Naw Tu says his jungle skills have attracted the attention of the Burmese army, who see him as the best guide to take them through the forests communities.
''They have tried to arrest me many times. My grandparents taught me how to read the land, where to find water and plants for food and medicine. I love the trees. It's why I don't get sick. The air is fresh, we like the sound of the river and the birds. The river is good to drink, it's sweet to taste, always cold, fast flowing and straight off the mountain.''
Outside his eight-metre by five-metre bamboo house, a pristine river splashes against rocks the size of a small garden shed. Saw Naw Tu says wildlife is abundant. He says signs of wild pigs, wild goats, deer, elephant, tiger, different species of monkey, birds, fish and snakes are all around. But he explains how the Burmese army disrupts the tranquility and any chance of stability he has.
''The Burmese army advance and then retreat. Each time we hear they are coming we move closer to the [Thai] border. For the moment it's safe, but it's not secure, since last year we had to run three times. The last time was last month. We had to flee at night. We could only take what we could carry _ most times you can't take anything.''
Saw Naw Tu's home and kitchen is testimony to his and his wife Waw Lu's ability to live off the land. Herbs dry on rafters above an open fire.
They are a good combination.
Saw Naw Tu is a wealth of knowledge about what plants to eat, trees to use, water to drink, animals to catch and rear, while Waw Lu knows how they should be prepared and cooked. Dinner is turtle soup with wild herbs and mushrooms, breakfast is frogs and young tamarind leaves and lunch roast civet. Saw Naw Tu says given the opportunity to grow food without interference he could build homes in his secret valley for 60 households _ about 300 people.
''When we left our old village we had our cows, buffaloes, pigs and chickens. The soldiers killed them. My old farm was good, good soil, good water. We grew rice. I harvested 400 baskets a year, now I'm lucky to grow seven baskets in a small hideaway plot on the hills out of sight of the army.''
Waw Lu says proudly that they have six children and 11 grandchildren.
''In our old village all our kids went to school. There's no school here. If kids want to study they have to move to the border.''
The FBR team leader is full of admiration for the displaced villagers resilience and ability to get back on their feet.
''The people's response is to rebuild. If the Burma army stop the attacks and leave the villagers alone they can manage to grow more than enough food, build clinics and schools.''
Night bruises the last of the daylight and Saw Naw Tu takes a small tube of bamboo, fills it with tree resin and lights it, explaining that it will burn bright for most of the night.
The reality of Saw Naw Tu's daily life reflects the findings in the numerous reports by human rights groups about the harsh life internally displaced people face. In spite of his picturesque surroundings, Saw Naw Tu says his life is insecure, rice is in short supply and he fears the Burmese army. He says the rough terrain and the coming wet season deluge offers some protection for now.
''If we have stability we can build wooden houses, put in irrigation channels and establish orchards and farms. We are capable of looking after ourselves. We can build a village here. The question is how do you stop the Burmese army?''
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