Mon villagers forced to provide wood for brick factory

Kaowao news: 19.03.2009
Residents near military run brick making factories are forced to provide wood for its operation according to a village headman from Ye, Mon State.

The commander of Burma Army Light Infantry No. 586, under Sakakha 19 (Military Operation Command 19) ordered villagers to collect two pieces of wood from every household around their village tract. Sonathar (Jomsai) Tu-Myaung (Brong), Pot-Htow, Blit, Aplaing, Krein Pok Mon villagers are located near the military owned brick factory, and have to follow military orders and provide business to the Burma Army for its self-reliance scheme.
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A Mon community leader from Ye said the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) confiscated the land five years ago for the construction of factories to make bricks for battalions. The source quoted that the Commander of Light Infantry No. 586 also forces the local people to buy the bricks to support their military business.

The brick pits are as big as soccer pitches and are about 10 to 30 meters deep. The factory takes up about two hectares of land which had been used previously for farming, but the factory will render it useless for crop production in the future, locals claim. The firewood is then hauled to the factories and dumped into huge pits for firing and shaping the clay for bricks. The villagers are sometimes forced into making the bricks, a labor intensive operation which requires villagers to work long hours in molding the clay by hand day and night.
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The residents of Khaw Zar Sub Township were also forced by the SPDC Army to provide timber for a local military brick factory.

Military Operation Command 19 confiscated several acres of land from the villagers for Burma Army’s self-reliance scheme.

The local farmers received no compensation from the Burmese junta. There have been over 10 battalions built in southern Mon State after the New Mon State Party reached a ceasefire with the Burmese government. The land is confiscated by the military not only to build military camps but also to exploit civilian property to support the military and its operations in the area.