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Month: July 2024

Thailand’s offer of aid to Myanmar gets mixed reaction

Editor06 mins

A Thai pledge to donate millions of baht to help alleviate a humanitarian crisis in neighboring Myanmar has met with a mixture of gratitude and skepticism from Myanmar’s pro-democracy government in exile. The kingdom will give nine million baht (US$250,000) to the humanitarian center of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa told a regional meeting in Laos on the weekend.  But Kyaw Zaw, spokesperson for the president’s office of the National Unity Government, or NUG, said that while they greatly appreciated Thailand’s gesture, coordinating with the junta alone was not enough to ensure the aid would reach those most in need. “Since most of the desperately in need internal [displaced people] are living in resistance-controlled areas, not the junta,” he told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday. “The coordination with the junta will just give them the photo opportunities and not effectively reach out to the desperately in-need people on the ground.” ASEAN has been struggling to help fellow member Myanmar resolve a bloody crisis triggered by a 2021 military coup, pressing all sides to accept a plan aimed at ending the violence and initiating talks.  But Myanmar’s military has largely ignored the plan and fighting between junta forces and various allied insurgent groups has intensified this year, with the number of internally displaced rising to more than 3 million civilians, according to the United Nations. Since forming its humanitarian corridor into eastern Myanmar in March, ASEAN’s Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management, or AHA Centre, has overseen a Thai shipment of 4,000 aid packages into Kayin state to assist civilians affected by fighting. The AHA Centre has also distributed nearly US$2 million worth of food and hygiene supplies to communities in Myanmar’s Sagaing and Magway regions, as well as southern Shan state and Mon states, ASEAN said in a statement on Saturday.  The earlier Thai aid was initially sent over the border into a part of Myanmar under the control of junta forces and was then transported deeper into the interior.  Thai officials at the time declined to be drawn into a debate on whose territory the aid ended up in but the NUG believes such donations have failed to target populations that are the most seriously affected by conflict. Political analyst Panitan Wattanayagorn shared that view. He told RFA that Thailand’s initiatives regarding Myanmar were not as clear as they were in the past, including the potential use of the humanitarian corridor, because the delivery of aid had become more complicated as the control of territories changed as the course of the war unfolded. “More and more areas are under control of groups that can deliver the support, like the Karen and others,” Panitain said. “Thailand’s participatory role is changing. It’s adopting a more maybe wait-and-see approach, unlike the previous administration.” Parts of western Myanmar have seen critical food and healthcare shortages as junta blockades as part of its effort to battle the Arakan Army insurgent force, which has captured at least nine townships in Rakhine state and one in neighboring Chin state.  RELATED STORIES Myanmar’s civil war has displaced 3 million people: UN ASEAN special envoy to meet Myanmar junta leader ASEAN should admit defeat over Myanmar  Edited by Taejun Kang.

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Food shortages reported in rebel-controlled areas of Myanmar’s Chin state

Editor04 mins

Food and medicine shortages in two townships in Myanmar’s Chin state have worsened in the six months since the Arakan Army took control, causing most residents to leave the area, aid workers and residents said. The ethnic rebel Arakan Army, or AA, drove junta forces out of Paletwa and Samee townships on Jan. 14.  A Paletwa resident, who requested not to be named for security reasons, told Radio Free Asia that people in the township’s urban area have been trading pigs and cattle for rice and other consumer goods over the last several months. “People living in the urban areas can’t travel at all,” he said. “They have no salt, cooking oil or fish paste. They are facing many difficulties in traveling and living.” The AA has been fighting the military junta as it seeks self-determination for the Buddhist ethnic Rakhine population in western Myanmar. Bags of rice are donated to Kaki Swar Refugee Camp in Palatwa township, June 19, 2024. (Paletwa IDPs and Humanitarian Supporting via Facebook) In Paletwa, ethnic Chin residents have had to seek permission from the AA to travel from their homes to their farms in the township’s rural areas, residents told RFA. That has created difficulties for residents trying to make a living, they said. RFA was unable to contact AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha for comment on the shortages.  For the last seven years, Paletwa and Samee township residents have been importing fuel and basic consumer goods from India’s Mizoram state through the Kaladan River, which flows into Myanmar. But last month, an influential Indian civil society organization – the Central Young Lai Association – called for a halt to the transport of goods from Mizoram state to AA-controlled areas in Chin state, citing the AA’s treatment of ethnic Chin people. That has caused a severe shortage of fuel and basic foodstuffs in northern Rakhine state and in some areas of Chin state, residents said. Since January, many residents have since taken refuge in Mizoram state, while others have moved through neighboring Rakhine state to Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon. Due to unstable phone lines and internet communication, the exact number of residents left in Paletwa and Samee townships was unknown. But relief workers said only one-third of residents are still living in the urban areas of the two townships. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed.

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Philippines to get US$500M in defense infusion from Washington

Editor09 mins

The United States on Tuesday announced an “unprecedented” $500 million infusion to help the Philippines defend its shores amid increasing territorial threats from China, as the American and Filipino defense and diplomatic chiefs met in Manila. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the announcement after meeting with their Filipino counterparts, Gilbert Teodoro and Enrique Manalo, at a so-called “2+2” meeting in the Philippine capital. It was the first time the meeting was held in the Southeast Asian country, a key U.S. ally in the region that has opened nine military bases to American troops. “[W]e are taking bold steps to strengthen our alliance,” Austin told a press briefing after nearly four hours of closed-door talks. “We are poised to deliver a once-in-a-generation investment to help modernize the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard. We are working with the U.S. Congress to allocate 500 million dollars in foreign military financing into the Philippines,” he said. The Pentagon chief described this level of funding as “unprecedented,” saying “it sends a clear message of support for the Philippines from the Biden administration, the U.S. Congress and the American people.” Separately, the U.S. was looking to double its investment in Philippine military sites where American troops have access to under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Austin said. “President Biden’s budget request this year includes more than 128 million dollars to fund important EDCA infrastructure projects and U.S. government investment in these locations,” he said. “During our meeting we also reaffirmed that the Mutual Defense Treaty remains the bedrock of our alliance,” Austin said. “And let me be clear: the Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks on either of our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels anywhere in the South China Sea.” Signed in 1951, the treaty calls on the allies to come to each other’s aid in times of foreign aggression. The Philippines maintains an old, rusting World War II-era ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, in Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal, to serve as its military outpost in the disputed South China Sea reef. Marcos meets with Austin, Blinken President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. set the tone for Tuesday’s 2+2 meeting when he met Austin and Blinken at the Malacañang presidential palace earlier in the day. He said he was pleasantly surprised that both secretaries had taken time out to visit Manila despite the political transition in the U.S. “And I am always happy that these communication lines remain very open – all the things we are doing together in terms of alliance, in terms of the specific context of our situation here in the West Philippine Sea … are constantly examined and re-examined so we are agile in terms of our responses,” Marcos said, referring to South China Sea waters within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Blinken said the meeting was evidence of a “steady drumbeat of very high-level engagements” between the longtime allies. Austin underscored that both nations were “more than allies” and practically family.  “We have common interests, common values,” he told Marcos, according to transcripts released by the presidential palace. “And so I think we’ve done a lot over the last three and a half years to continue to strengthen our alliance, and we look forward to continuing to work with you and your team to move even further.” (From left) U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro pose for the cameras after holding foreign and defense ministerial meetings at Camp Aguinaldo in Manila, July 30, 2024. (Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews) Last week, the Philippines and China agreed on an arrangement on Filipino missions to Ayungin to “de-escalate” tensions in the sea region after an incident last month during which a Filipino serviceman lost a thumb during a violent encounter with Chinese coast guard and navy forces. Following the agreement, the Philippines last Saturday transported a fresh batch of Filipino forces to the BRP Sierra Madre. It went ahead without any incident, but the Chinese subsequently said it allowed the mission to go through after confirming on the scene that the Filipino vessel only carried “humanitarian living necessities.” The details of the arrangement have not been made public, but the Philippines disagreed with China’s version of events. Geopolitical analyst Julio Amador IIII said China was playing up to an international audience that the Philippines had “acquiesced” to its demand but that in truth, “it was purely a diplomatic spin.” “Beijing cannot help itself in this regard because it has to show that it did not bend to a weaker competitor,” Amador told RFA affiliate BenarNews, stressing that Manila was right in responding quickly to any Chinese claims. He said the “2+2” meeting indicated how serious the U.S. was in addressing what it sees as a security threat posed by China. “The 2+2 is the ministerial level alliance management mechanism that provides direction to both countries in working together as security and defense allies,” he said, adding that the U.S. $500 million funding would likely go towards supporting the Philippine military’s modernization program. “This is the single biggest support that the Philippines will receive from the U.S. in FMF [foreign military financing]. It will address previous comments from Manila that non-U.S. allies actually get more support than actual allies.” BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

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Authorities in Xinjiang rearrest son of prominent Uyghur businessman

Editor05 mins

Authorities in Xinjiang rearrested the son of a prominent Uyghur businessman two days after he was released from “re-education” in March and days before before his wedding, two relatives with knowledge of the situation told Radio Free Asia. Abuzer Abdughapar, 24, who worked at a car dealership in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, was rearrested on March 25 by public security authorities, said his uncle Abdusattar Abdurusul, citing information from other relatives in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He was supposed to get married on May 11, an event to which his relatives in Almaty had been invited, Abdusattar said. The reason for Abuzer’s arrest is unknown, and authorities have not informed Abuzer’s family about his whereabouts. Abuzer was first arrested and detained in 2017 in his hometown of Ghulja – or Yining in Chinese – after spending a year studying Turkey. He was sent to a “re-education” camp and released nearly a year later.   His rearrest is an example of how authorities are apprehending Uyghur detainees, who have already served time in “re-education” camps or prisons, under various pretexts to eliminate what Chinese authorities deem “threats to national security.”  Among those rearrested are entrepreneurs and philanthropists, and Uyghurs who have traveled abroad, especially to Muslim countries. Abdughapar Abdurusul in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Abdusattar Abdurusul) “I heard there [was] a 100-day clearance going on which entailed the rearrest of people who were arrested and released before,” Abdusattar said. “The Chinese government is trying to erase us.”   Mutallib, the Almaty-based older brother of Abuzer’s grandmother, confirmed the young Uyghur’s rearrest. “We heard he was arrested on March 25 and that he has not been released,” he said. “The wedding was paused as well. Up to now, we don’t know his whereabouts or the reason for his arrest.” Chinese police officers at the Public Security Bureau in Urumqi refused to answer questions about Abuzer’s rearrest when contacted by RFA. Father arrested in 2018 His father tried to bribe authorities in Urumqi to release Abuzer, but they lied to him and disappeared after receiving the money, Abdusattar said. In 2018, authorities also arrested Abuzer’s father, Abdughapar Abdurusul, a prominent philanthropist and owner of a multimillion-dollar import-export company in Ghulja that does business with Kazakhstan, for taking an unsanctioned Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and “tax evasion,” Abdusattar said. They also detained Abuzer’s mother, Merhaba. The family’s fixed assets, companies and houses worth more than several hundred million dollars were confiscated, he said. Merhaba later died in a “re-education” camp. Abdughapar had been sentenced to death, but was released in 2020, said his older brother Abdusattar, a businessman who lives in Europe. Abdusattar said he believes that Abuzer and Abdughapar were released after he went public about their detentions via Western media, including RFA. Authorities re-arrested Abdughapar a second time in summer 2021, but released him a few months later, his brother said. The cause of his arrest is unknown. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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Floods force 20,000 people from homes in Myanmar’s Bago

Editor05 mins

Flooding triggered by torrential downpours has forced about 20,000 people from their homes in the Myanmar city of Bago and they now face a dire shortage of water and food with more rain expected, aid workers and residents said on Monday. A child was swept away and drowned near Bago, which is famous for its Buddhist temples, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the former capital of Yangon, after days of relentless rain, residents said. The flooding has compounded misery for many people struggling to get by in an economic crisis in the wake of a 2021 military coup that plunged the country into bloody turmoil. “The flood hasn’t subsided. I don’t know how to express the hardships, the flooding amidst the political crisis. We’re facing shortages of food and medicine,” a Bago resident, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals for talking to the media, told Radio Free Asia. Floods in Bago in Myanmar on July 29, 2024. (RFA) Aid groups said 20,000 people have been forced from their homes since Friday, with residents of the Ah Htet Zaing Ga Naing Gyi, Kyun Tharyar, Kyauk Gyi Su and Pon Nar Su neighborhoods particularly hard hit. “Those neighborhoods are flooded up to the height of bamboo,” said an official with a Bago-based social aid group, who also declined to be identified. “There’s an urgent need for clean drinking water and food for the evacuees,” said the official, adding that some people who had sought shelter in a relief camp were forced to move again when the waters kept rising. The junta that seized power in 2021 said in a notice in the state-owned Myanmar Alin newspaper that 27 flood relief camps had been opened and military authorities in Bago had helped 18,210 people evacuate and were providing assistance to them. A child from a family already displaced by fighting was killed in the town of Mone, to the north of Bago, when fast-flowing flood waters washed away a river bank, residents said. “They were fleeing the war and were sheltering in the forest when the child was washed away. The body was found near Kyaung Su village,” said the first Bago resident. Meteorological officials said early on Monday that the flood waters in Bago could rise by another six inches over the next day and would remain above the danger level for some time.  Floods in Bago on July 29, 2024. (RFA) To the east of Bago, the Sittaung River, one of the main rivers flowing south through central Myanmar to the ocean, had overflowed and flooded communities along its banks, residents of the area said. Even further to the east, flooding in Myawaddy township on the border with Thailand killed three people – a child and two men – on Saturday when a border river burst its banks, residents said. Flooding in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state displaced thousands of people early this month. The military council’s Meteorological Department and the Hydrological Directorate announced on Sunday that 12 cities across Myanmar faced flooding.  Editing by RFA staff.

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Laos, Thailand mark first direct passenger train between Bangkok, Vientiane

Editor03 mins

The first direct passenger train between Bangkok and Vientiane arrived earlier this month.  Previously, passengers could ride from Bangkok to the Thai city of Nongkhai on the border with Laos. But now they can travel straight into Vientiane – and also have the option of transferring to the high-speed rail line that travels north to Kunming in southwest China.  The first State Railway of Thailand train began servicing the route on July 19. A return train on July 20 left Vientiane at about 6:25 p.m. and arrived in Bangkok at about 7:35 a.m. the next day.  Prices ranged from between 158,000 kip (US$7) to 560 million (US$24) kip. It was so popular that officials added an additional carriage after passengers bought most of the available tickets. “I always commuted by train when I was studying,” one Lao passenger told Radio Free Asia. “I wanted my kids to take this train, so they could experience it.” Eventually, passengers could travel from Bangkok and Vientiane on a high-speed rail line. Earlier this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Thailand’s prime minister that he hopes to speed up construction of a high-speed rail line in Thailand that would connect with Laos’ high speed line, which China built in 2021 as part of its Belt & Road Initiative. China has said that it plans to construct and connect a 3,000-kms (1,864-miles) pan-Asian railway network, in which Chinese rail lines would extend all the way to the tip of the Malay Peninsula, linking Beijing to Singapore. Edited by Matt Reed.

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Another day, another fraud case in Vietnam

Editor012 mins

The week that Vietnam was in an official state of mourning for Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, whose tenure was centered on a “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption campaign that toppled dozens of top officials, another big corporate fraud trial began in a Hanoi court.  While its scale and scope pale in comparison to the Van Thinh Phat scandal orchestrated by businesswoman Truong My Lan, who was convicted and sentenced to death in April 2024, the FLC (Finance, Land, and Commerce) scandal is garnering significant media attention.  Trinh Van Quyet, was a young, brash, high-flying tycoon, and briefly in 2021, the country’s wealthiest person.  Established in 2010, his property company, FLC, quickly grew into a sprawling conglomerate with some 17 subsidiaries and affiliated companies in real estate, resorts and golf courses, as well as Bamboo Airways, once the second largest privately-owned airline in the country.   Quyet, 49, was arrested in March 2022 along with his two sisters for stock market manipulation, appropriation of property, and fraud. Authorities arrested 47 other people, including FLC executives and several regulators. In all, 15 relatives are on trial. At least one other FLC executive is at large. FLC Group CEO Trinh Van Quyet holds a model of a Boeing Dreamliner passenger jet at his office in Hanoi, July 30, 2018. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP) Perhaps more importantly, police arrested the former chairman of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, Tran Dac Sinh, its director, Le Hai Tra, and two other bourse executives. The four were charged with “abusing positions and powers while performing official duties.” Quyet is accused of running $156 million “pump and dump” stock fraud between May 2017 and January 2022. He had his two sisters and 43 other family members establish some 500 different brokerage accounts.  False documents Quyet and his family members traded FLC stock amongst themselves at a frenzied pace, creating the perception of demand and causing the price to soar. On many occasions, his sister would cancel a stock purchase at the last minute, having already created the impression that the shares were in demand. In another scheme, from 2014-2016, Quyet had family members and employees at another subsidiary, FLC Faros Construction, falsify documents to make it look as though they were making investments and increasing the firm’s charter capital from VNĐ1.5 billion ($59,000) to VND4.3 trillion ($169 million).  Thus when the once loss-making private company was publicly listed, which was only possible because of the intervention of corrupt bourse officials, it appeared to be worth significantly more than it was.  Police escort FLC Group CEO Trinh Van Quyet to court on July 22, 2024, for his trial on fraud charges in Hanoi. (Anh Tuc/AFP) Quyet and other defendants quickly sold the 391 million of 430 million shares that they controlled, netting $142 million, and collapsing the stock price for other investors. All in all, the various schemes resulted in the six listed FLC companies seeing the value of their shares rise between 70% and 1,700%.   In addition to the fraud, Quyet sold large shareholdings without notifying financial regulators, a requirement for corporate executives. In January 2022, he sold nearly 75 million shares of FLC stock, collapsing share prices, and prompting the Ministry of Public Security to open an investigation.  RELATED STORIES Mendicant monk Thích Minh Tuệ offers an embarrassing contrast to Vietnam elites Breaking the laws of the land: Vietnam’s real estate scandals Ouster of parliament chief bares Vietnam corruption, power struggle Cleaning house in the Communist Party of Vietnam ahead of Tet Meet To Lam, Vietnam’s Communist Party chief and successor to Nguyen Phu Trong  Regulatory shortfalls The FLC case matters for three reasons. First, it was only possible because the regulators were in on the fraud. As was the case in Truong My Lan’s massive fraud case at Saigon Commercial Bank, the scheme was abetted by poorly paid regulators.  This once again raises the question “who regulates the regulators?” If Vietnam cannot get a baseline financial regulatory system running, it will negatively impact its domestic capital markets, corporate governance, and deter foreign investment.   While the Ministry of Public Security did a good job in investigating the fraud, as they did with Lan’s Van Thinh Phat (VTP) and Saigon Commercial Bank, it never would have gotten to this point if there was proper regulatory oversight. Second, while Vietnam’s stock market is not that large, it stands as one of the few opportunities for Vietnamese citizens to invest their money.  With a lack of confidence in their currency, Vietnamese tend to buy gold. In fact, in the past half year, the price of gold in Vietnam was trading well above international prices. The government had to auction off some of its gold reserves just to cool the market.  A woman displays gold at a shop in Hanoi, Oct. 11, 2009. (Kham/Reuters) Vietnamese also buy real estate, but that’s not always a safe investment. The domestic real estate market in Vietnam resembles China’s in many ways. Many property firms are saddled with debt and have defaulted, especially on dollar-denominated bonds.  A domestic credit crunch caused by the VTP scandal in late 2022 led to even more defaults and stalled real estate projects. Many Vietnamese were left paying mortgages on unfinished real estate that they could neither inhabit, nor rent.  The third place Vietnamese park their savings is in the stock market. The majority of shares in the Vietnam stock market are owned by individual, not institutional, investors. So when there is widespread fraud, it really hurts the burgeoning middle-class.   Quyet’s fraud was fairly simple, but the effects were widespread: There were nearly 100,000 victims. Although Quyet has paid some $8.3 million in restitution, it’s a drop in the bucket.  Cost to taxpayers Third, the FLC fraud trial has an impact on the larger economy.  The company – which is one of the largest private companies in the country – is still in operation, but barely.  The Ho Chi Minh Stock exchange delisted the company due to the fraud. Trading…

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North Korea to sell gambling rights at vacant 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang

Editor06 mins

A North Korean hotel which has been under construction for 37 years has plans to sell the rights to operate a casino on the premises if the operator promises to complete construction of the building’s interiors, a resident of the capital Pyongyang told Radio Free Asia. The 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel began construction in 1987 and at 330 meters (1,080 feet), it is the tallest building in North Korea and the most iconic structure in Pyongyang’s skyline. Though it was supposed to open in 1992, the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the steady stream of aid from Moscow, and the North Korean economy entered a period of crisis that culminated in the 1994-1998 famine, so finishing the hotel became less of a priority. External construction was completed in 2011 and the Ryugyong was supposed to open partially in 2013, but those plans fell through. Though it remains vacant, LEDs have been installed on one side of the building’s facade, converting it into one of the world’s largest displays. It’s currently used to show propaganda signage, visible from much of the city at nighttime. Gamblers play a slot machine in Pyongyang, April 12, 2012. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP) “A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed,” a resident of the capital told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “The plan is to try to attract foreign investment.” The review happened after the country’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered that the government take practical measures to promote tourism, according to the resident.  “The authority to determine the location of the casino to be installed at the hotel and the right to operate the casino will be granted to a foreign entrepreneur who invests in the cost of internal construction,” he said.   “This project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.” The Yanggakdo is North Korea’s first luxury hotel, opened in 1996. It is perhaps most well known as the site of the 2016 Otto Warmbier banner-stealing incident that led to the U.S. citizen’s detention and eventual conviction and 15-year prison term. Warmbier was repatriated in a vegetative state in June 2017 and died shortly afterward. Authorities hope to capture the success of the foreigners-only casino at the Yanggakdo in the Ryugyong. Light designer Kim Yong Il smiles during an interview with the Associated Press as his creation, the light show displaying propaganda messages on the facade of the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel, is seen in the background in Pyongyang, North Korea, Dec. 20, 2018. (Dita Alangkara/AP) Casinos in North Korea are very profitable for the government, as they siphon away foreign currency from international tourists,  a resident from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.  Currently the country has two such casinos, at the Yanggakdo in Pyongyang and the Bipa Hotel in the Rason Special Economic Zone in the northeast near the border with China and Russia. The 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, the highest building under construction in North Korea, is seen lit up ahead of 70th anniversary of country’s foundation in Pyongyang, September 6, 2018. (Danish Siddiqui/Reuters) “When the casino is built at the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang and the hotel’s accommodations, restaurants, swimming pool, and billiards room are finally completed … tourism in Pyongyang is expected to be revitalized,” the North Pyongan resident said. “This is why overseas investment is desperately needed.”. He said trade representatives would advertise the investment opportunity at a Chinese government-sponsored product exhibition event involving North Korea, China, Russia and Mongolia scheduled to start on Saturday in the Chinese city of Dandong, which lies across the Yalu River from North Korea’s Sinuiju. Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.

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Thousands flee junta raids in central Myanmar

Editor04 mins

Myanmar junta forces raided a string of villages in central Myanmar killing three civilians and sending some 10,000 fleeing from their homes after anti-junta insurgents attacked a nearby military base, residents told Radio Free Asia on Friday.  The Sagaing region has been regularly battered by airstrikes and artillery bombardments as junta forces crack down on insurgent groups that have stepped up attacks in the past nine months. On Thursday, about 150 junta soldiers in a convoy of vehicles raided at least nine villages in Kanbalu township, residents said, following an attack on an army camp by members of an anti-junta People’s Defense Force allied with the shadow National Unity Government, which was formed by civilians after the military seized power in a 2021 coup. “After the Kyi Kone Bridge camp was attacked, the army launched an offensive on the villages,” said one resident who declined to be identified in fear of his safety. “The junta troops stationed at Tha Yet Khaung village are burning houses this morning. Revolutionary groups are monitoring the situation,” he said, referring to anti-junta fighters.” Three civilians in Tha Yet Khaung and Tha Pyay Thar villages were killed in junta artillery and drone attacks. Kanbalu district and Ye-U township-based People’s Defense Forces said  they killed 16 soldiers and seized weapons in their attack on the army camp. RFA has not been able to independently verify the claim.  RFA called Nyunt Win Aung, the junta spokesman for the Sagaing region, to request comment on the incident, but he did not answer the phone. RELATED STORIES Junta deploys first round of military recruits to Myanmar’s frontlinesSome 13,700 schools in Myanmar are closed due to civil warMyanmar airstrike on monastery where villagers were sheltering kills 17 activists Sagaing, for years a peaceful heartland region of central Myanmar, inhabited mostly by members of the majority Burman community, has seen unprecedented opposition to the military since the 2021 coup dashed hopes for reform.  In the months that followed, the junta crushed protests against military rule and many activists then took up arms, some linking up with ethnic minority insurgents who have battled for self-determination from remote border lands for decades.  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 

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Lao Christian pastor shot dead in home by masked men

Editor05 mins

A Christian pastor was shot and killed Tuesday evening in his home in northwestern Laos by two men dressed in black suits, according to a relative and provincial police.  Thongkham Philavanh, in his 40s, was a Khmu, an ethnic group in Southeast Asia, the majority of whom live in northern Laos. As a religious leader, he often participated in Christian church activities in Oudomxay province. The pair fired twice at Thongkham at his home in Vanghay village in the province’s Xai district, according to a statement his wife gave to police. She took him to the provincial hospital, but he died upon arrival.  Police said they are investigating the incident and could not provide further details. Assaults and legal action against Christians in the one-party communist state with a mostly Buddhist population are not uncommon, despite a national law protecting the free exercise of their faith. Those who practice Christianity are objects of suspicion by authorities and subject to persecution. RELATED STORIES Lao house church reopens after being attacked     Burned Bibles and broken homes Officials tell Lao Christians to remove videos of attack by authorities, villagers       Lao Christians fearful after police report no progress in pastor’s suspected homicide Christians attacked, driven from their home in southern Laos      Christian communities in Oudomxay province and other parts of Laos told Radio Free Asia on Thursday they were mourning Thongkham’s loss.  “Last night, our community was shattered by the tragic loss of our beloved pastor, who was senselessly taken from us in an act of violence,” some of them wrote in English on Facebook. “His profound wisdom, unwavering faith, and boundless compassion touched the lives of so many.” A relative of the pastor, who didn’t want to be identified for safety reasons, said the two men wore face masks and rode motorcycles, though she didn’t know where they came from. “I am not sure why they killed him, but I believe that it must be because he serves Jesus Christ,” she said. “One thing that I am sure of is that there are some groups of people who dislike what Thongkham does as Christian pastor.” Thongkham’s funeral will be held on July 27 at the village cemetery, his family said. Lao Christian pastor Thongkham Philavanh is seen in photos in a July 23, 2024, Facebook post. (Bong Vip via Facebook) One Christian believer told RFA that it appears as though Thongkham was killed because he was a Christian pastor and religious leader, and that some people may not have liked that. Another believer who knew Thongkham some years ago said he was unhappy to learn about the pastor’s passing via social media. Other Christian communities in Laos expressed concern about the safety of their pastors and members, fearing they too may be killed.  A member of the Lao Evangelical Church said anti-Christian groups in the country seek opportunities to harm Christians. In October 2022, Christian pastor Sy Sengmany was found dead near a forest in Khammouane province after two men visited his house earlier in the day, and village authorities warned him to stop his religious activities. The case remains unsolved. Translated by Phouvong for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

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