{"id":67978,"date":"2014-05-02T15:09:44","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T15:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/?p=59913"},"modified":"2014-05-17T01:18:30","modified_gmt":"2014-05-17T01:18:30","slug":"shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/","title":{"rendered":"Shan Free Burma Rangers Conducts Relief Missions in Areas of Narcotic Production Controlled by Local Burma Army Militia."},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Shan Free Burma Rangers Conducts Relief Missions in areas of Narcotic Production Controlled by Local Burma Army Militia<\/h1>\n<address>2 May 2014<\/address>\n<address>Shan State, Burma<\/address>\n<h2>In this report:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>Shan relief teams go on three-month relief mission through southern Shan State<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4>Opium and Methamphetamines Continue to be Grown Locally<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h4>Military Activities in the Area<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/4-28-01\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-59914\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-59914  \" title=\"Areas highlighted in red show the townships in Southern Shan State that FBR teams served in during their 2013 mission.\" src=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/4-28-01-1024x723.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"645\" height=\"455\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Shan relief teams go on three-month relief mission through southern Shan State<\/h2>\n<p>Starting at the end of May 2013, nine teams set out on a three-month mission through the mountainous regions in Southern Shan State.\u00a0 This mission was conducted during the rainy season, a time when it is particularly difficult to transport supplies to many villages due to floods and washed out roads.\u00a0 Despite such obstacles, the rangers treated 1296 people in 16 different villages.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_59920\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 633px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/shan-mission-diagnoses-graphic1-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-59920\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-59920  \" title=\"Breakdown of Patient Diagnoses During Shan Mission\" src=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Shan-Mission-Diagnoses-Graphic1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"633\" height=\"518\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\"><em>Breakdown of Patient Diagnoses During Shan Mission<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the villages that rangers visited, they treated many patients, performed Good Life Club (GLC) programs (a children&#8217;s educational program), interviewed local residents to learn about issues in the area, and provided encouragement for the people they visited.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_59923\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 500px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/ho-lom-villagers\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-59923\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59923\" title=\"Residents in Ho Lom Village participate in a Good Life Club program. \" src=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/HO-lom-villagers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\"><em>Residents in Ho Lom Village participate in a Good Life Club program.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In addition to regular mission duties, rangers assisted with agricultural projects, such as tending to rice paddies, and a variety of construction and sanitation projects, including the repair and maintenance of schools which had fallen into disrepair.\u00a0 Overall, the general state of both education and healthcare facilities is poor.<\/p>\n<p>One out of every three villages had no educational opportunities and those with schools did not teach above the primary level.\u00a0 The villages of Pork Jong, Nam Dee, Ho Thart, Bang Bao, and Wan Mon all lack schools.<\/p>\n<p>Access to food and water continues to be an issue in some villages.\u00a0 Both Pork Jong and Nam Dee Villages report food scarcity, with foraging in the area necessary for survival.\u00a0 Water scarcity also exists in Pork Jong and Won Mon.<\/p>\n<p>As of the 3 April 2014, Shan rangers have confirmed a report that a clinic has just opened in Na Hla Village.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 16 villages visited by the rangers, only Na Hla now has a clinic.\u00a0 In Nam Dee, lack of medical care has contributed to a very high infant mortality rate.\u00a0 Villagers currently rely upon traditional medicine created from resources found in the jungle.<\/p>\n<h2>Opium and Methamphetamines Continue to be Produced Locally<\/h2>\n<p>Rangers have reported that the production of opium and methamphetamines (locally known as Ya Ba) remain a problem. \u00a0In Nawng Loung Village, opium sales are controlled by the BA with opium being grown in large quantities.\u00a0 In Long Ma O up to 95% of residents are users, which includes entire families.\u00a0 Mark Loun Village remains a hub for transportation of drugs, with an incident of murder by the PMF as reported above.<\/p>\n<p>Pork Jong Village is also reported as growing opium, with little personal usage by local villagers.<\/p>\n<p>Muang Lum villagers do not use opium, but Ya Ba is used and sold in the village.<\/p>\n<h2>Military Activities in the Area<\/h2>\n<p>One and a half hours from Nar Yong Village is a People\u2019s Militia Force (PMF \u2013 a National Defense and Security Council-approved force that gathers intelligence and collects taxes for the Burma government)\u00a0 camp which runs patrols through Nar Yong.\u00a0 The 50 men based at a local PMF camp use the villagers as forced labor, unless the villagers pay a bribe.\u00a0 The PMF also prohibits the villagers from receiving FBR teams and demand a 350,000 Kyat fine if villagers violate this order.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_59922\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 640px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/date-18-09-13-spdc\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-59922\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-59922 \" title=\"Burma Army soldiers patrolling the villages that FBR teams performed relief missions in\" src=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/date-18.09.13-SPDC.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\"><em>Burma Army soldiers patrolling the villages that FBR teams performed relief missions in.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In Mark Loun Village, extortion of a similar nature of that in Nar Yong takes place.\u00a0 However, in January 2013 the PMF killed a villager in Mark Loun Village for reporting to the SSA about methamphetamines transported through the village.<\/p>\n<p>During the mission in Long Ma O Village, local contacts reported incidents of extortion by the Burma Army, which patrols through the village and demands food from the villagers.\u00a0 Locals also fear travel to Loi Tai Leng as the Burma Army will punish them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_59927\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 500px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/villagers-move-to-home\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-59927\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59927\" title=\"Villagers fleeing their village as Burma Army soldiers came near. \" src=\"http:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/villagers-move-to-home.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\"><em>Villagers fleeing their village as Burma Army soldiers came near.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In Nam Dot Village the Burma Army also takes chickens and pigs, paying 30% of the value.<\/p>\n<p>In Wan Mon Village the PMF Battalion 758 has reportedly conscripted men into the PMF from the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S).\u00a0 The village is forced to pay if they wish to exempt their people from serving.<\/p>\n<p>Lahu PMF from Muang Lum have been causing problems for villagers at Nong Dao Village by forcing locals to produce lists of Shan State Army (SSA) movements and activities in the local area.<\/p>\n<h2>\u00a0Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Our relief teams in Shan State look forward to continuing to serve on relief missions this year, provide encouragement and to continue to share the news from villages they visit.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>May God bless you,<\/p>\n<p>Shan Free Burma Rangers<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\nvar post=eval({\"id\":67978,\"title\":\"Shan Free Burma Rangers Conducts Relief Missions in Areas of Narcotic Production Controlled by Local Burma Army Militia.\",\"subject\":\"FBR: Shan Free Burma Rangers Conducts Relief Missions in Areas of Narcotic Production Controlled by Local Burma Army Militia.\",\"admin_email\":\"info@freeburmarangers.org\",\"admin_name\":\"FBR\"});\n<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shan Free Burma Rangers Conducts Relief Missions in areas of Narcotic Production Controlled by Local Burma Army Militia 2 May 2014 Shan State, Burma In this report: Shan relief teams go on three-month relief mission through southern Shan State Opium &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2014\/05\/02\/shan-free-burma-rangers-conducts-relief-missions-in-areas-of-narcotic-production-controlled-by-local-burma-army-militia\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-reports"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.7.8","language":"my","enabled_languages":["en","my"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"my":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67978"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68002,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67978\/revisions\/68002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}