According to local reports, villagers from Komile, Kyauk-Katin and Yaphu in Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division fled to Tavoy District - an area controlled under NMSP – following pressure from the local Burmese military authorities to form a militia.   

According to information collected by Nai Aua Mon from HURFOM, the exodus occurred in the first week of March that Aua Mon estimates resulted in 95 and 110 family households, with a total of 200 people, fleeing from the area.  

Running parallel to the forced militias, another major reason for the village displacement are the military activities carried out by the SPDC regiment columns, 282, 273 and 31, who are preparing operations against the armed Mon splinter groups and KNU Brigade 4. 

Initially, the villagers left for safety after the local authorities began forcing the local people into military training which they refused to do. Some villagers fled temporarily for refuge; but others have decided not to return to their homes, according Nai Aua Mon’s interviews.  

A local health worker says that Ahlae Skhan villagers were fearful when their village leader joined the local Burmese army to suppress any opposition. They have been resettled by NMSP, but their safety and food security are not assured.  

The health worker added that many who arrived in the safe area do not want to return, and they have neither the money to buy property nor space to grow food, however, the NMSP is going to build a new village for them. 

Between Ahlae Skhan and Marout Chai there are many fields – in Mon “waey-hanoot” – which have been used for resettlement, but the situation there  is not secure according to those who moved there.

The villagers from Yebyu Township had been under NMSP and KNU control, but since 1995 when the NMSP signed the ceasefire agreement with the SPDC, the areas have increasingly fallen under the Burma’s army control. HURFOM says that these villagers were often forced into working the railway and gas pipeline construction projects.