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Month: August 2023

China pumps up narrative of happy Uyghurs in Xinjiang among Pakistanis

Editor010 mins

“Chinese Rahat Abdullah” has become a regular on Pakistani social media channels, YouTube and Facebook, wearing Atlas silk dresses, Pakistani clothing, or traditional Chinese outfits. Regarded as a Chinese internet star, she also sings in Urdu on local radio and cooks Uyghur dishes on Pakistani TV programs – though she refers to the dishes as Chinese food.  Her sudden rise in popularity has raised questions among Uyghurs living in Pakistan about Beijing’s efforts to use local Uyghurs as pro-Chinese Communist Party propaganda tools to downplay the Chinese government’s horrific treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. China has come under harsh international criticism for its severe rights abuses against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, including forced labor. The U.S. government and several Western parliaments have declared that the abuses amount to genocide or crimes against humanity. Abdullah is believed to hail from the city of Ghulja – or Yining in Chinese – in Xinjiang. Information on Pakistani social media platforms says she earned a law degree in China and arrived in Pakistan in 2010.  She has been known to teach Chinese at various universities in Pakistan and is portrayed in the videos as a messenger of friendship between China and the predominantly Muslim Pakistan. But Abdullah doesn’t mix with local Uyghurs, according to Omar Uyghur, the founder of a trust that provides assistance to Uyghur refugees in Pakistan. “She doesn’t come to the weddings or funerals,” he said. “Uyghurs don’t meet with her either. She spreads propaganda in the Pakistani media on how Uyghurs are living happily.” At a time when Uyghurs in Pakistan cannot freely return to Xinjiang and some Uyghur women married to Pakistanis are being detained by Chinese authorities in the region, Abdullah was able to visit Ghulja last June.  During her visit, she participated in a wedding and recorded Uyghur songs and dances there, later posting them on Facebook and other social media platforms to give her Pakistani followers the impression that Uyghurs live happy lives. In June 2023, Rahat Abdullah visited Ghulja in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, where she recorded Uyghur songs and dances to give her Pakistani followers the impression that Uyghurs live happy lives. Credit: Screenshot from Rahat Abdullah Facebook Television host and actress Until recently, Abdullah had about 10 social media followers, but her follower count has climbed to more than 40,000, largely due to her appearances on Pakistani TV.  She recently became a host of the “Ni Hao” program – Mandarin for “Hello” – on Pakistan’s Kay2 TV, a channel that has received investment from China. She also has portrayed a Pakistani woman married to a Chinese man in a TV series that highlights the friendship between China and Pakistan. On June 4, Abdullah sang a Pakistani folk song on an Eid al-Adha TV program in Islamabad while wearing a traditional Uyghur Atlas dress and introducing herself as “Chinese Rahat Abdullah.” Photos on her social media accounts indicate that she has had connections with the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan and other Chinese organizations there since 2017.  Abdullah, who is relatively unfamiliar to Uyghurs but is gaining popularity through local broadcasts in Pakistan, did not respond to Radio Free Asia’s requests for comment via messages sent to her social media accounts.  Other efforts with Pakistanis Abdullah’s new notoriety comes as China and Pakistan have strengthened ties across various sectors in recent years, and as Beijing has invited some influential Pakistanis on trips to Xinjiang. On July 18, Ma Xingrui, Communist Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and Xinjiang government chairman Erkin Tuniyaz welcomed a delegation of Pakistani scholars in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital.  During the meeting, Ma told his guests that they have created a free and happy living environment for the people of Xinjiang. He also criticized Western countries that have followed the lead of the United States in condemning China for human rights violations.  Alleged atrocities against the Uyghurs have included detention in “re-education” camps and prisons, torture, sexual assaults and forced labor. Qibla Ayaz, chairman of Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology and leader of the visiting delegation, affirmed the participants’ unwavering support for China and expressed admiration for the progress in Xinjiang’s development and the peaceful lives of its Muslim population. The participants also expressed hopes for creating closer connections with Xinjiang through the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor, a 3,000-kilometer Chinese infrastructure network project under the Belt and Road Initiative to secure and reduce travel time for China’s Middle East energy imports. Pakistani student Muhammad Usman Asad holds the flag of East Turkestan, Uyghurs’ preferred name for Xinjiang, in front of a billboard announcing a Dragon Boat Festival event at the National University of Sciences & Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan, June 10, 2022. Credit: Mumahhad Usman Asad An ineffective measure Some Pakistanis have expressed growing concern that their government has remained silent about the abuses in Xinjiang. Pakistani scholar Muhammad Usman Asad, who has spoken out on behalf of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, said when China invites Pakistani religious scholars to tour Xinjiang, news about their visits always appears on Chinese social media, but not in the Pakistani media.  “These so-called religious scholars are not the kind of scholars that the Muslim masses in Pakistan would listen to,” said Asad, who staged a solitary sit-in in Islamabad in June 2022 to protest China’s repressive policies against Uyghurs. “They are only pro-government and government-sponsored Islamist organizations, so their false propaganda about China will have little effect.” Nonetheless, China is extending its attempts to sanitize its image, Asad said, following heavy criticism from Western nations about the government’s brutal treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang.    “Just as China’s campaign to improve its image through the religious sphere has been ineffective, its campaign in Pakistan through English-speaking Chinese or Pakistani internet stars has been equally ineffective,” he said. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matthew Reed.

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Expanding settlement prompts rise in croc attacks in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwaddy Delta

Editor011 mins

Ko Min was making his way across a creek near his home where he regularly goes to catch crabs when he suddenly felt himself grabbed and pulled under water. “At first I thought I’d been hit by a log until I touched it and realized that it was a crocodile,” said the 20-year-old from Myanmar’s Ayeyarwaddy region. “It dragged me deep into the water and rolled me over and over, before smashing me against the riverbed.” Recounting the attack of just over a year ago, Ko Min said that while he could barely swim because he was wearing boots and clothing, he managed to fight off the crocodile and escape. “I was able to hit it with the crab hammer I had in my hands and run away up onto the shore,” he said. Ko Min was taken by fellow residents of Bogale township’s Baw Ga Wa Di village to nearby Ka Don Ka Ni Village District Hospital, where he was treated for severe wounds to his thigh and pelvis. Doctors told the young man he was lucky to survive. The incident highlights the dangers associated with settlement expansion in southwestern Myanmar, where people and wild animals are coming into increasing contact with one another in their search for food. Others have been less fortunate in attacks that residents of Bogale township say are increasingly common as endangered fresh and saltwater crocodiles of up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length spread out from their habitat in the Mein Ma Hla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary some 30 kilometers (18 miles) downstream and villagers expand their farmland. The 500-square-kilometer (190-square-mile) protected area is an mangrove-covered island that is home to diverse wildlife situated in the Ayeyarwaddy Delta, where the Bogale River empties out into the Andaman Sea. At least two people from Baw Ga Wa Di village have died in crocodile attacks in the last year alone, while others say they have had to fight for their lives to escape the encounters. Call for authorities to act Khin Pa Pa Hlaing said her husband, Ye Naung Tun, was killed by a large crocodile while removing a fishing net from the water near their village on July 27. The 29-year-old has a four-year-old daughter and became a father for a second time, just a month ago. Khin Pa Pa Hlaing told RFA that local officials have done nothing to help her family since Ye Naung Tun died, but she said she isn’t interested in financial assistance. “What I want is for them to catch and kill the crocodile that killed my husband – that will satisfy me,” she said. “I don’t want these crocodiles swimming free. I don’t want to hear of other people who met the same fate as my family, nor do I want to experience it again … I don’t want anybody to suffer like me.” A 13-year-old girl from Baw Ga Wa Di named Sapal Aye was also killed in a crocodile attack in the past year. U Myint, a member of Sapal Aye’s family, told RFA the young girl was a “good student” who was attacked while “fetching water from the river to wash her clothes and to cook.” Authorities provided Sapal Aye’s family 300,000 kyats (US$142) in compensation for her death. In the coastal villages of Bogale township, people are killed every year in crocodile attacks. In addition to the two Baw Ga Wa Di villagers in the past year, a child from the village was killed by a crocodile four years ago, prompting authorities to put up signs warning residents not to enter the water. Nonetheless, a man from Baw Ga Wa Di named Thant Zaw Oo was attacked by a crocodile in the past year, while residents of nearby Hlay Lone Kwe village have had to be hospitalized recently due to crocodile attacks. Fresh and saltwater crocodiles are protected by Myanmar’s Forestry Department, and killing them is prohibited. A wild crocodile lies on a stream bank in a village in Bogale, Myanmar, Feb. 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist Out of respect for the ban, Baw Ga Wa Di Village Chief Soe Khaing has called on officials to act. He said that while he informed local police about Ye Naung Tun’s death, they did not inform the Forestry Department about the incident. “The people are afraid that they will have to go to jail if they [take action to] defend themselves against the crocodiles,” he said. “Even though [authorities] have put up a sign warning villagers not to go into the water, the people will starve if they don’t. We use the water to earn a living. What we want is for the authorities to drive the crocodiles away.” Attempts by RFA to contact Ayeyarwady Region Social Affairs Minister Maung Maung Than for this report regarding the conservation of crocodiles in Bogale township went unanswered. Need for buffer zones, awareness A high-ranking official with the Environmental Conservation Department told RFA that incidents involving crocodiles and humans in Bogale township are on the rise because village populations are growing and inhabitants are clearing the mangrove forests and swamp land to farm. “As a consequence, crocodiles have fewer places to live and their need for food has grown as well,” said the official, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. “An undeveloped country like Myanmar cannot sufficiently create space for animals to safely coexist with people, as in developed countries, so incidents like these continue to occur.”  The official said that while the crocodiles involved in attacks were likely looking for food, “they don’t intend to eat people.” He called for an expansion of conservation areas for the crocodiles, as well as “buffer zones” that people cannot enter and an increase in awareness efforts. An expert working on wildlife conservation in Myanmar noted that because crocodiles are protected, their number will only increase, creating a need for blocking off areas from human access beyond the Mein Ma Hla Kyun Wildlife Sanctuary. “Everyone knows that…

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Foreign diplomats in China treated to tour of Xinjiang and ‘happy’ Uyghurs

Editor010 mins

A Chinese government-sponsored visit to Xinjiang by 25 Beijing-based ambassadors and other diplomats from developing countries has come under fire by human rights activists for pushing an official narrative that the mostly Muslim Uyghurs in the far-western region are thriving, despite the reality of severe repression. The delegation, which included diplomats from Dominica, Myanmar, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Nicaragua and Mexico, visited the western autonomous region from July 31 to Aug. 3. Xinhua news agency and CGTN, China’s state-run international TV broadcaster, covered the diplomats as they visited Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, the cities of Aksu and Kashgar, and other significant locales to observe the region’s “economic and social progress” and affirm that “the local population in Xinjiang is living a happy life.” And the Chinese government’s efforts appear to have paid off.  “During our time in Xinjiang, we had open conversations with the local people and observed that they lead content and happy lives,” Martin Charles, the ambassador to China from the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica, told Xinhua. “We didn’t come across any instances of forced labor, and there were no indications of human rights violations,” he said. China is relying on government-organized visits for foreign officials and influential people from various professions to promote an alternative vision of Uyghur life in Xinjiang amid growing condemnation by Western nations over its maltreatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities. The U.S. government and several Western parliaments have declared that the ongoing human rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions, torture, forced sterilizations of Uyghur women, and forced labor, amount to genocide and crimes against humanity.  China has also denounced a report issued nearly a year ago by the U.N. high commissioner for human rights that documented cases of severe rights abuses in Xinjiang. The report said that the abuses could constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity. Though the groups invited to tour the region are diverse, they have one thing in common: They all support China’s “Xinjiang policy.” ‘Telling the story of Xinjiang well’ In early February, another visiting delegation of Beijing-based ambassadors and diplomats from African countries, including Senegal, Benin, Mali, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda, Lesotho and Chad, visited Xinjiang and expressed support for China’s policies there.  All the countries maintain strong economic ties with China because many have benefited from Chinese-built and financed infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. They also support China within the United Nations.  Members of the delegation of diplomats who visited in July also expressed their rejection of a previous proposal by the U.N.’s top human rights body to hold debate on alleged rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. The proposal by mostly Western nations, including the United States, was voted down in October 2022. Six days before the diplomats visited Xinjiang, the Chinese government organized a seminar in Urumqi to convey its narrative of the region. During discussions about “telling the story of Xinjiang well,” participants emphasized reaching overseas audiences by transmitting the narrative in languages other than Mandarin Chinese. Hector Dorbecker, counselor for economic-commercial and financial affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in Beijing, tries to play dutar, a long-necked two-stringed lute, in Jiayi village of Xinhe county, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 2, 2023. Credit: Zhao Chenjie/Xinhua via Getty Images In late December 2018, a delegation of diplomats from Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, and 12 other countries, all stationed in Beijing, visited Xinjiang on an agenda organized by the Chinese government, which presented “re-education” camps as voluntary vocational training centers.  The Chinese government has also sponsored foreign journalists on trips to Xinjiang. Chinese officials arranged for a group of journalists from 10 foreign media outlets to tour major cities in Xinjiang in April 2021 to defend its policies in the region and dispel reports of human rights abuses. In August 2019, Chinese Communist Party officials hosted another group of foreign journalists, most of whom worked for state broadcasters from countries along the Silk Road economic belt, putting them up in fancy hotels while they toured Xinjiang and lecturing them on China’s measures to stop terrorism and separatism in the region.  The officials took the journalists to some mosques still left standing though authorities had closed, demolished, or turned into museums many others in Xinjiang, to a “re-education” camp they said was a vocational training center, and to shows where young Uyghurs danced and sang. rights activists weigh in Henryk Szadziewski, director of research at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said the arranged visits are “a consistent tactic employed by the Chinese government to conceal their wrongdoings” during which they use others to amplify their messages. “Whether it is a western vlogger doing a travel blog or diplomats from countries that are friendly, or that rely on China in terms of its economy, or [face] threats or pressure, they put out this message that Xinjiang is now safe and prosperous as a region,” he said.  While China invites people from nations sympathetic to its perspective to visit Xinjiang, it has rejected requests by the U.S. and human rights groups that independent investigators be able to visit the region. Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said all visits to Xinjiang by foreign diplomats were designed by China to cover up rights abuses.  “If everything is fine, why not let in independent international investigators, particularly given the mountain of evidence of some of the most serious crimes under international law?” she asked. “So, it’s not clear why some people got to go and others don’t unless Beijing has something to hide,” she said. Sayragul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh who testified about the abuse she witnessed while detained in a “re-education” camp in Xinjiang, cautioned visiting diplomats against ignoring China’s rights abuses in the region and becoming accomplices to them. “They know and can see China is lying, but they are turning a blind eye,” she said. “These are the countries that rely on China, but for them, this is a rare opportunity….

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Junta airstrike kills 4 civilians in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

Editor03 mins

Four civilians, including an eight-month-old child, were killed and at least 10 injured when a junta jet bombed a township in Myanmar’s Sagaing region on Friday morning, residents told RFA. The jet bombed a monastery in Sagaing township’s Ta Laing village, where displaced people were sheltering, according to a local who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “At around four in the morning, the jet hovered and dropped a bomb as a junta column entered Ta Laing village, hitting the monastery gate and causing casualties,” said the local. “Junta troops raided the village in the early morning and civilians were also arrested but there was no fighting.” The local said around 80 troops entered the village after the airstrike and detained around 20 villagers, who were still being held as of Friday afternoon local time. A local People’s Defense Force member, who requested anonymity, told RFA that troops fired rocket-propelled grenades at the monastery when they withdrew on Friday afternoon. “On the way out of Ta Laing village, the junta troops opened fire with two shots with shoulder-fired weapons toward the monastery,” he said, adding that a battle with his anti-junta militia was almost certain to happen. Locals said more than 6,000 civilians from villages in Sagaing township fled their homes ahead of the junta raid. Calls to the junta’s spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, went unanswered. Junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said on July 31 that the junta is staking out territory and declaring martial law in parts of the country in order to restore peace and stability. The junta has extended the state of emergency for another six months, further pushing back plans to hold national elections to replace the military regime that has run Myanmar since a February 2021 coup.. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Myanmar’s Karen National Union says nationwide cease-fire agreement is dead

Editor07 mins

Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed group said Thursday that a nationwide cease-fire agreement it signed with the national army eight years ago is now null and void because of violations of terms by the ruling military junta. The Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army that represents ethnic Karen people in eastern Myanmar’s Kayin state, was one of the eight original ethnic army signatories of the accord in October 2015, aimed at ending the country’s long-running armed conflicts.  Two other rebel groups signed the agreement in 2018, bringing the number 10. The KNU and other ethnic armed organizations want a national military that cannot participate in politics and the formation of a federal democratic union in Myanmar. The peace process was killed off when the Myanmar military seized power from the elected civilian-led government in a February 2021 coup, sparking new waves of violence with ethnic armies joining forces with anti-junta resistance fighters and engaging in insurgency and heavy clashes across the country.   Through fighting, the junta forces have violated terms of the nationwide cease-fire agreement, or NCA, so that it no longer exists, said KNU General Secretary Pado Saw Tado Muh during an online press conference on Thursday to mark the 100th day after the KNU’s 17th Congress.  “There is no more reason to follow the NCA because the military has trampled on Chapter 1 of the agreement, which is the heart of the whole NCA,” he said, referring to the part of the pact on basic principles to which the signatories agreed.  Key areas of the accord cover military codes of conduct, the protection of civilians, the provision of humanitarian assistance, a political roadmap, interim arrangements, the establishment of a Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, and the adoption of a Framework for Political Dialogue for peacefully resolving differeences.   The KNU said on July 9 that it had engaged in nearly 2,500 armed clashes with junta troops during the first half of the year in KNU-controlled territory in Kayin and Mon states and in Tanintharyi and Bago regions. Civilians fleeing fighting between the Myanmar military and the Karen National Union cross a river in eastern Myanmar’s Kayin state, along the Thai-Myanmar border, Dec. 25, 2021. Credit: AFP Junta leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said Tuesday that the NCA should not be ignored and that the military is working hard to adhere to its terms. His comments came days after Min Aung Hlaing extended emergency rule in Myanmar for another six months on July 31, thereby delaying the date by which elections must be held according to the country’s constitution. The junta previously pledged to hold elections in August. Pado Saw Tado Muh said he would not accept any elections based on the 2008 constitution, drafted by a previous military junta that ruled Myanmar. “We will not accept the junta’s election, [and] we should not hold any new election based on the 2008 constitution as it will lead to more harm than good and will make it more difficult to solve the political problems of Myanmar,” he said. “Therefore, we would like to tell you not to support any movement based on the election that will perpetuate the military dictatorship.” After the coup, the KNU and its armed wing — one of Myanmar’s largest ethnic armies —  took a more aggressive stance to the military and offered sanctuary to lawmakers, protesters, striking workers and others who faced abuse and attacks by the junta. KNLA forces have conducted deadly ambushes, captured military bases, and trained resistance fighters, including members of the anti-regime People’s Defense Forces, as junta forces ramped up attacks on KNU-controlled territory. KNLA commander Brigadier General Saw Tar Malar Thaw said the junta is now on the defensive. “Tactically, they cannot open offensive attacks, but instead have to use only heavy artillery and airplanes,” he said. “In many cases, such attacks target civilians.” RFA could not reach Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta’s spokesman, for comment on the KNU’s statements. Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Floods force evacuation of almost 30,000 people from 4 Myanmar regions

Editor06 mins

Nearly 30,000 people from Kayin, Mon and Rakhine states and Bago region in Myanmar have been evacuated due to heavy rain and floods since the beginning of August, relief workers told RFA Thursday. Flooding forced over 8,600 people in Kayin state and over 2,000 people in Mon state to evacuate their homes. Also having to leave their homes were over 12,500 citizens of a single township in the Bago region and more than 4,100 civilians in the Rakhine state,  aid workers said. Separately, the junta’s local administration office said nearly 3,000 households in Bago township have been affected by flooding.  A relief worker in the township’s Myo Thit neighborhood told RFA that temporary camps for flood victims have been opened in the monasteries of every neighborhood in Bago since Wednesday. “Now it is raining, so the water will rise again. There will be more flood victims,” said the worker, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons. “Currently, there are more than 500 flood victims in the monasteries in Myo Thit neighborhood.” In Kayin state six townships – Hpa-An, Hlaingbwe, Kawkareik, Kyainseikgyi ,Hpapun and Myawaddy – have been evacuated due to flooding. Local residents in Myawaddy township are still being evacuated due to the flood, an official from the aid group Mon Myat Phyu Sin Social Assistance Association told RFA. “There are still some evacuees in religious buildings, also in other places and at our office,” said the official, who also requested anonymity. “There are 52 households at our office and we are taking responsibility for their food and drink.” Saw Khin Maung, a junta council spokesperson for Kayin state, told RFA that Myawaddy and Hlaingbwe townships are at particular risk from flash floods. “Water is rushing down the mountains in Myawaddy and Hlaingbwe. The floods are heavy,” he said. “There is water rushing at high speed from Dawna Range when the rains are heavy on that side [of the range].” He said there have been no casualties but some houses were damaged by falling trees in the town of Thandaung. The Kayin state spokesperson said more than 8,600 flood victims have been moved to 36 relief camps. He said they are receiving free medical treatment and the junta is providing each household with 2,500 kyat (U.S.$1.20) per day to buy rice and cooking oil. Heavy rains and flooding have cut off all roads leading from Kawkareik to Myawaddy, including the Asean Highway, an important route for trade with Thailand. In Mon state, floods have been reported in Bilin, Kyaikmaraw and Kyaikto townships. People wade through a flooded drinking water pond in Done Gyi village, Minbya township, Rakhine state on August 8, 2023. Credit: Ann Thar Gyi In Rakhine state, residents of Minbya, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships were evacuated on August 4, residents told RFA. Rakhine state is still recovering from Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall on May 14 with sustained winds reaching over 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph). Mocha killed more than 400 people in low lying areas of Myanmar near the Bay of Bengal and left a trail of destruction. Aid workers said more than 90% of buildings in northern Rakhine were damaged by the storm. The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently announced that it has received only U.S.$24.3 million out of the estimated U.S.$333 million needed for relief and rehabilitation projects in cyclone-hit areas.  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Military reshuffling aims to keep Myanmar’s ruling junta in place for the long term

Editor09 mins

A recent reshuffling of top military personnel by the leader of Myanmar’s junta is part of an effort to gain control of the entire governing apparatus and remain in power for years to come, analysts and observers said. Among the top generals reassigned on Aug. 3 were the heads of the defense and home affairs ministries – the first changes since Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing seized power from the elected civilian-led government in a February 2021 coup. The two ministries are responsible for tackling armed anti-junta resistance fighters across the country. Former Transport and Communications Minister Gen. Tin Aung San was appointed as defense minister, making him a member of the National Defense and Security Council, and former Defense Minister Gen. Mya Tun Oo was made transport and communications minister. Both will continue serving as deputy prime ministers. Lt. Gen. Yar Pyae, the former Union Government Office 1 minister, replaced Lt. Gen. Soe Htut as head of the Home Affairs Ministry. Yar Pyae held on to his position on the State Administration Council – the junta’s governing body – and his roles of national security adviser to Min Aung Hlaing and leader of the junta’s peace negotiation team. The move came days after Min Aung Hlaing extended emergency rule in Myanmar for another six months on July 31, thereby delaying the date by which elections must be held according to the country’s constitution. The junta previously pledged to hold elections in August. It also occurred as Myanmar, already hit hard by economic sanctions, faces intense international criticism over the military’s attacks on civilian communities and execution of detained combatants in areas that are hotbeds of resistance to the regime. An annual report released publicly on Tuesday by the U.N.’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar cited strong evidence that the military and its affiliate militias have committed “increasingly frequent and brazen war crimes.”  New assignments at lower levels A leader of the nonviolent anti-junta civil disobedience movement, or CDM, said Min Aung Hlaing reassigned generals he trusts to important ministries to prepare for what he may face during the next state of emergency period. “The Defense Ministry is just like a correspondence office under the commander-in-chief,” the person said. “That’s why he transferred Gen. Mya Tun Oo, who is one of his major players, to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which he will heavily use in the future to tackle the issues of airplanes and cyber communication.” Min Aung Hlaing appointed capable Yar Pyae as home affairs minister in place of Soe Htut, who is in poor health, to strengthen the operations of the State Administration Council over the next six months, he added. The CDM leader, who served in the military for 21 years and held the rank of a captain, moved to the civilian administration where he worked for nearly a decade until he was promoted to a director position. Following the 2021 coup, he left his job and joined other professionals who walked off the job to peacefully protest against the regime. Reassignments have also taken place among lower-ranking military officers. From January to the end of June, the junta transferred 40 lieutenant colonels, majors and captains to civil ministries to work as chief executive officers, or deputy and assistant directors, according to the junta’s weekly national reports. Among them were one lieutenant colonel, nine majors and 30 captains sent to work at the Myanmar Economic Bank, Election Commission, Union Civil Service Board, ministries of construction, industry and commerce, sports and youth affairs, hotels and tourism, and the Yangon and Naypyidaw City Development Committees.  The largest number of military officers were transferred to the Myanmar Economic Bank with five majors as managers and 16 captains as assistant managers.  The transfers indicate that the junta is trying to control the operation of civil departments as well, said former Captain Kaung Thu Win, a member of the CDM.  “The junta aims to replace its people in senior positions in the civil departments such as directors to be able to control the head of the departments so that they will follow its instructions more faithfully,” he told RFA. “It transferred junior officers to the civil departments so that they can provide the military with the necessary information inside each department.” RFA could not reach junta spokesman Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the personnel changes. ‘It’s called militarization’ Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military Thayninga Institute of Strategic Studies, said the new appointments would strengthen the military administration. “The bureaucratic mechanism makes the administration of a country run smoothly and easily,” he said. “In order for that mechanism including national security projects to operate, it is important for all the people involved to be able to work effectively. That’s why we need really capable people who can focus on their tasks.” More reliable replacements were made because many of the current government departments have experienced security breaches, he added.  The appointment of military officers to both top and middle-level civilian positions is the junta’s attempt to dominate the entire government apparatus, political and military analyst Than Soe Naing said. “It’s called militarization,” he said. “It is a military’s attempt to dominate and control all departments.” Given the country’s current situation with anti-junta People’s Defense Forces, led by the shadow National Unity Government, and ethnic armed groups fighting junta forces, it is important for the military regime to have reliable people to back it, Than Soe Naing said.  “They only work with their service members who they can trust, so that they feel safer,” he said.    Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Myanmar junta troops and police try to evict villagers near Chinese copper project

Editor04 mins

Junta troops and police have told the residents of a village near a Chinese-run copper project in Myanmar’s Sagaing region they will be forcibly evicted if they don’t leave, locals told RFA on Wednesday. China’s state-owned Wanbao Company runs the Letpadaung Copper Project in Salingyi township in a joint venture with a company owned by Myanmar’s military. It fenced off Wet Hmay village on August 6, on the pretext that the village is in the mine’s project area, and told all 35 households to move out of the village permanently. On Tuesday, Wanbao officials summoned six villagers and told them to inform all residents that they needed to leave as soon as possible, according to a local who did not want to be named for security reasons. “They [village representatives] said that Wanbao asked them to clear out the village, asking villagers to respond to [the company] the following day,” he said, adding that company officials told the representatives if they didn’t get an immediate response they would take no responsibility for the actions of the troops and police. The village representatives told the company they would inform Wet Hmay residents and discuss their plans. Residents said junta troops have already occupied many parts of Wet Hmay and have been threatening locals and telling them to leave. Wanbao has repeatedly attempted to enclose the village with a fence, but villagers have objected, delaying the project. Locals claim that this time is different because soldiers and police have been dispatched to clear out the village and fence it off. RFA contacted the junta spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, seeking comment on the forced evictions, but he did not answer the phone.  RFA also called Wanbao but nobody answered. Workers for China’s Wanbao Company fence of Moe Gyoe Pyin village, Letpadaung Taung, Sagaing region December, 2014. Credit: RFA Other villages were emptied out when the Letpadaung copper project started in Salingyi township in 2011. Following the February 2021 coup many people working on the project joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, effectively shutting down operations at Letpadaung. Locals say the company is now planning to resume operations, prompting an August 7 statement by 17 local anti-regime militias ordering Wanbao and Yangtze Copper, which are both working on projects in Salingyi township, to stop cooperating with the junta or face the consequences. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Burmese mark anniversary of 8888 uprising with protests against military junta

Editor08 mins

Civilians across Myanmar on Tuesday commemorated the 35th anniversary of a significant uprising as they held protests against the ruling military junta dictatorship amid heightened security measures imposed by the regime, activists said. They gathered in Yangon, Sagaing, Mandalay, and Tanintharyi regions holding red umbrellas, putting up posters with anti-regime slogans, and burning mock-ups of the newly issued 20,000-kyat note to mark the anniversary of “8888.”  The number signifies the wave of popular protests that began in Yangon on Aug. 8, 1988, and was met with a violent crackdown by a previous military junta that resulted in numerous casualties. An activist who led a peaceful umbrella protest by Yangon People’s Strike in the commercial hub said the umbrellas displayed slogans such as “8888 never ends. We will keep fighting with the people” or “8th August 88.” The military junta increased security by posting authorities dressed in civilian clothes to crowded places like bus stops or markets to arrest protesters. The protests occurred amid ongoing political instability and armed conflict across Myanmar between anti-regime resistance forces and the current military junta that seized power from the elected government in a February 2021 coup. A pro-democracy activist from Yangon People’s Strike commemorates the 35th anniversary of the 8888 uprising in Myanmar, Aug. 8, 2023. Credit: Yangon People’s Strike/Facebook Min Lwin Oo, leading member of the Dawei District Democracy Movement Strike Committee in Tanintharyi region, said his group staged a protest on the outskirts of the town of Launglon to avoid the tight security, including a navy vessel patrolling in a nearby river. In Mandalay, a member of the city’s boycott forces, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said residents released balloons attached to banners to commemorate the 8888 uprising. “We have released a statement vowing to keep fighting for revolution and a video depicting the history [of 8888],” he said. “We also want to remind [people] that we are still not free from military dictatorship, although the 8888 revolution has turned into the 2021 Spring Revolution,” he said, referring to the nationwide wave of popular resistance to the Myanmar military following the 2021 coup. Members of the Burmese diaspora also staged protests in various forms to commemorate the uprising’s anniversary. ‘All of these shall end’ In 1988, under the rule of strongman General Ne Win, an anti-dictatorship movement boiled into a nationwide uprising following the regime’s announcement banning 25-, 35- and 75-kyat bills from circulation and later the killing of a university student by police. The nationwide uprising, which peaked on Aug. 8 of that year, became a historic milestone that united Myanmar’s various ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and other communities against the ruling junta.   Nan Linn, a member of the University Students’ Unions Alumni Forces, said the Spring Revolution would end the string of successive military regimes that have suppressed popular uprisings and prevented Myanmar’s development, keeping it isolated and impoverished. “We are now very determined that all of these shall end with the Spring Revolution,” he said. “This time, in this revolution, they shall be punished for everything they have done to the people and the country.” The military junta has escalated the arrest, killing and sentencing of anti-regime activists.   Users of pro-military Telegram channels have posted threats against those who share any comments, photos or videos of the anniversary protests, saying they will be arrested and prosecuted under Myanmar’s Counter-terrorism Law. Junta forces have arrested more than 24,200 civilians and activists across the country since the 2021 coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group. Burmese farmers in in Khin-U township, Sagaing region, commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 8888 uprising in Myanmar, Aug. 8, 2023. Credit: Ko Lu Chaw The protests came the same day as the public release of an annual report by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, citing strong evidence that the military and its affiliate militias “are committing increasingly frequent and brazen war crimes.”  Among the war crimes are indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on civilians from aerial bombings, a rise in the number of mass executions of civilians and detained combatants, and the large-scale intentional burnings of civilian homes and buildings, the report said. “Our evidence points to a dramatic increase in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country, with widespread and systematic attacks against civilians, and we are building case files that can be used by courts to hold individual perpetrators responsible,” mechanism head Nicholas Koumjian said in a statement issued Tuesday. The mechanism was set up by the United Nations Human Rights Council in September 2018 to collect and analyze evidence of serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in the country since 2011. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Rohingya boat sinks off Myanmar’s Rakhine state, 45 missing

Editor03 mins

A boat carrying Rohingya people, reportedly heading for Malaysia, sank in the Bay of Bengal near Rakhine state’s capital city Sittwe, a village administrator told RFA Tuesday. He said all but 10 of the 55 people on board are missing.  Eight men were found alive on a beach near the city’s Basara village on Monday night, hours after the vessel went down, along with the bodies of two women, said village administrator Soe Myint. He told RFA that authorities are still searching for the missing people. “The boat sank after taking on water due to heavy rains and high waves in the sea,” he said. “The boat reappeared yesterday. Two dead bodies were found and eight people were recovered [alive]. The rest of the missing are likely to die. Now we are looking for the bodies on the beach.” He said 10 women and 35 men were unaccounted for, adding that eight people survived by holding onto plastic containers when the boat sank. Residents said the survivors are being cared for in Basara village. The junta-run Rakhine Daily News reported August 7 that the Rohingya had left Rathedaung township heading to Malaysia by boat. More than 740,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine following a military crackdown on the ethnic group that started more than five years ago, and now live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Of the more than 600,000 that remained in Rakhine, around 125,000 are living in displaced people’s camps in the state. Many Rohingya living in Rakhine state often leave by boat across the Bay of Bengal to Malaysia due to economic hardships and discrimination. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0