AI fears for the safety of a number of people recently rounded up by the Myanmar army to serve as porters during the on-going military offensive in the Shan state against the Mong Tai Army (MTA). Six men were taken as porters from the Akha village of Ban Gor Tai on 12 March 1995. A further four girls and one man are still missing. The other residents have fled. On 21 March, the Tatmadaw rounded up porters from the town of Tachilek. Up to 500 hundred porters are being used in the fighting around Tachilek and another 500 have been detained to act as porters around Mong Hsat.
