• ijrepjournalism@gmail.com
  • contact@ij-reportika.com
Ij reportika Logo

Month: January 2025

Myanmar scammers agree to stop forced labor after actor rescued

Editor08 mins

Pro-junta militia leaders in Myanmar and operators of online scam centers have agreed to stop human trafficking after the rescue of a Chinese actor this month raised international alarm about their operations and looks set to damage Thailand’s tourist industry. The ethnic Karen militia force based on Myanmar’s border with Thailand is suspected of enabling extensive internet fraud, human trafficking, forced labor and other crimes, and is being enriched by a business network that extends across Asia, a rights group said in a report last year. But the case of Chinese TV actor Wang Xing, rescued this month from the notorious KK Park scam facility in eastern Myanmar’s Myawaddy, has brought the issue to public attention across Asia like never before. The result has been pressure from both the Thai government and the Myanmar military, leading to a meeting on Wednesday between the militias and their business partners in which they agreed to stop human trafficking, said a businessman close to the ethnic Karen militia. “The current issue of the Chinese actor has brought pressure from Thailand and the junta council in Naypyidaw. That’s why the meeting was held to enforce rules,” the businessman, who declined to be identified as talking to the media, told Radio Free Asia. Leaders of Myawaddy-based Border Guard Force, or BGF, and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or DKBA, which control the border zone under the auspices of the Myanmar military, agreed on a set of five rules with the business leaders, many of them ethnic Chinese, the businessman said. The list includes no use of force, threats or torture, no child labor, no income from human trafficking and no scam operations, according to a copy of the rules that the businessman cited. Anyone found breaking the rules will lose their business and be expelled from the area. RFA tried to contact senior members of the ethnic Karen forces, Maj. Naing Maung Zaw of the BGF and Lt. Gen Saw Shwe Wa of the DKBA, but neither of them answered their telephones. Leaders of Border Guard Force and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army meet online gambling business owners in Myanmar’s Myawaddy town on Jan. 15, 2025.(AEC News) The Karen militia force in power in the eastern region emerged from a split in the 1990s in Myanmar’s oldest ethnic minority guerrilla force, the largely Christian-led Karen National Union, when Buddhist fighters broke away, formed the DKBA and sided with the military. The military let the DKBA rule in areas under its control in Kayin state, set up a Border Guard Force to help the army, and to profit from cross-border trade, and later from online gambling and scam operations. RELATED STORIES Online scam centers have proliferated in some of the more lawless parts of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Lao teen says she’s been released from Chinese scam center in Myanmar Scammers lure jobseeking Hong Kongers to Myanmar from Japan, Taiwan Tricking investors The scam centers in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have ensnared thousands of human trafficking victims from all over Asia, and as far away as Africa. Many victims say they were lured by false job offers, then forced to scam people by convincing them over the phone or online to put money into bogus investments. University of Texas researchers estimated in a report in March last year that scammers had tricked investors out of more than US$75 billion since January 2020. People forced to work at the scam centers are often tortured if they refuse to comply, victims and rights groups say. The rules announced by the militias and scam operators come after a string of high-profile kidnappings, including that of Chinese actor Wang. Hong Kong authorities have sent a task force to Thailand in a bid to rescue an estimated 12 victims in Myanmar and have imposed a yellow travel advisory for Thailand and Myanmar, warning of “signs of threat,” but without mentioning the scam parks. The Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday that Thai hotels and airlines have been getting a flood of cancellations from Chinese tour groups for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. Authorities in the region have accused Chinese gangsters of organizing the centers but Chinese nationals in Thailand said Chinese state-owned companies were behind operations in Myanmar, and behind them is the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. “Wherever you have these scam parks, you will find Chinese companies plying the biggest trade,” a realtor who only gave the surname Pan for fear of reprisals recently told RFA Mandarin. “The Myawaddy park was built by Chinese state-owned companies.” Pan said the parks were the criminal face of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s United Front outreach and influence operations. “All of the big bosses are back in China,” he said. The Justice for Myanmar human rights group has accused governments and businesses across the region of enabling the cyber scam operations by failing to take action against the profitable flows they generate. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Japan to raise South China Sea issue with new Trump administration

Editor08 mins

MANILA — Visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said his government hoped to impress upon incoming U.S. leader Donald Trump how important the South China Sea issue is to peace in Asia. Iwaya visited Manila on Wednesday as part of a high-profile diplomatic push by Tokyo in Southeast Asian countries that border the strategic waterway. Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia to promote deeper defense and economic ties. In Manila, Foreign Minister Iwaya met with his Filipino counterpart, Enrique Manalo. Overlapping claims in the South China Sea “is a legitimate concern for the international community because it directly links to regional peace and stability,” Iwaya told a press briefing afterward. “Southeast Asia is located at a strategic pivot in the Indo-Pacific and is a world growth center, thus partnership with Southeast Asia is vital for regional peace and stability,” Iwaya said through an interpreter. “We will approach the next U.S. administration to convey that constructive commitment of the United States in this region is important, also for the United States itself.” The South China Sea, which is potentially mineral-rich and a crucial corridor for international shipping, has become one of the most perilous geopolitical hot spots in recent years. China claims almost the entire waterway while the Philippines, as well as Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of it. Over the past few months, Manila and Beijing have faced off in high-stakes confrontations in the disputed waters. Iwaya said he was expected to attend Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, during which he would seek to build momentum on a trilateral arrangement that the Philippines and Japan forged with the outgoing Biden administration. Iwaya said Tokyo “strongly opposes any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force” in the South China Sea, where an increasingly bold China has been intruding into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. China has maintained its claim in the sea region, saying that the activities of its coast guard vessels there were lawful and “fully justified.” Manalo, the Philippines’ top diplomat, said Chinese and Philippine officials were set to discuss their dispute in their latest bilateral meeting in the Chinese city of Xiamen on Thursday. Both sides are likely to discuss recent developments in the waterway, including the presence of China’s biggest coast guard ship – and the world’s largest – at the contested Scarborough Shoal. RELATED STORIES Philippines on Chinese incursions: Not ruling out another South China Sea lawsuit South China Sea: 5 things to watch in 2025 US presidential elections: Implications for Manila-Washington alliance, South China Sea During the news briefing on Wednesday, Manalo said that Manila and Tokyo had made “significant strides” in defense and security cooperation. Japan does not have territorial claims that overlap with China’s expansive ones in the South China Sea, but Tokyo faces a separate territorial challenge from Beijing in the East China Sea. “As neighbors, we face similar challenges in our common pursuit of regional peace and stability. Thus, we are working together to improve resilience and enhance adaptive capacity in the face of the evolving geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific region,” Manalo said. Last month, the Philippine Senate ratified a so-called Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan, allowing the two allied nations to deploy troops on each other’s soil for military exercises. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (left) visits a fishing community in Tagburos village on Palawan island, a frontline territory in the Philippines’ dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, Nov. 22, 2022.(Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews) Also on Wednesday, in an exit telephone call to Marcos, outgoing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris emphasized the need for the two countries to carry on with their alliance after the presidential transfer of power and “in the face of provocations from the People’s Republic of China.” She noted that Washington “must stand with the Philippines in the face of such provocations and the enduring nature of the U.S. defense commitments to the Philippines,” her office said in a statement. Marcos and Harris had enjoyed a close working relationship and met six times during her term. In November 2022, the American vice president visited Palawan, the Philippine island on the frontline of Manila’s territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea. The U.S. and the Philippines are bound by a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty that calls on both nations to come to each other’s aid in times of aggression by a third party. The Biden administration has indicated it would help the Philippines defend itself in the event of an armed attack “anywhere in the South China Sea.” Jeoffrey Maitem in Manila contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Myanmar insurgents say they launched rocket attack on junta deputy

Editor06 mins

Pro-democracy fighters in Myanmar launched a barrage of rockets at junta facilities in the eastern town of Loikaw as the deputy of the ruling military council was visiting, a rebel group said on Wednesday. There was no confirmation from the junta of the Tuesday night attack and the anti-junta Brave Warriors for Myanmar, or BWM, militia force said it had no information about casualties. The group said its members fired five 107 mm rockets to the State Hall in Loikaw, capital of Kayah state, and two rockets at a regional military command headquarters in the town as junta deputy Lt. Gen. Soe Win was visiting for Kayah State Day on Wednesday. “We want to make sure that even the deputy leader of the junta council is worried about his life, that’s why we had to attack,” an official from the militia group told Radio Free Asia. He said his group was trying to gather information about the attack, which was organized with help from two other militia groups, the Mountain Knight Civilian Defense Forces and the Anti-Coup People’s Liberation Force. A Loikaw resident said that he heard loud explosions and the sound of shooting on Tuesday night while some pro-junta channels on the Telegram messaging service said rockets had exploded at Loikaw’s airport and nowhere else. RFA tried to telephone the junta spokesman for Kayah state, Zar Ni Maung, but could not get through. RELATED STORIES Internet freedom has plummeted under Myanmar’s junta: report Myanmar’s junta answers rebel proposal for talks with week of airstrikes 31 political prisoners died in prisons across Myanmar in 2024 Anti-junta forces have on several occasions used short-range 107 mm rockets in actual or planned attacks on junta leaders, including its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. It was not the first time that Lt. Gen. Soe Win has been in the vicinity of an insurgent attack. On April 8, 2024, anti-junta fighters used drones to attack the Southeast Regional Military headquarters in Mawlamyine town when he was visiting. There was speculation at the time that he had been hurt in the attack and he was not seen in public for about a month afterwards, fueling rumors he had been wounded. Military-controlled media on Wednesday made no mention of any rocket attack in Loikaw but newspapers did carry a Kayah State Day statement from the junta chief, in which he called for people to reject the armed opposition and blamed the democracy supporters and foreign countries for “terror acts.” “The current instability and terror acts occurring within the country are the result of individuals claiming to be promoting democracy, but instead, they have resorted to electoral fraud to unlawfully seize state power,” he said, apparently referring to Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, which won elections in 2015 and 2020. He made no mention of any attack in Loikaw. “Rather than resolving issues through lawful democratic methods, they have chosen armed terrorism approaches,” he said. The military complained of fraud in the 2020 polls, despite there being no evidence of any major cheating, organizers said, and ousted Suu Kyi’s government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021. She and many others have been locked up ever since. Min Aung Hlaing also accused foreign countries of “supporting dictatorship disguised as democracy.” “Some foreign countries, which claim to be defending democracy, are also supporting and encouraging armed terror attacks that are directly or indirectly against the democratic system,” Min Aung Hlaing said. He did not identify any countries. While Aung San Suu Kyi and her government attracted diplomatic and economic support from Western countries and some Asian neighbors, no foreign governments are known to have supported any anti-junta forces. The military gets most of its weapons from Russia and China. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Heng Sithy, Cambodian tycoon turned dissident, arrested in Russia

Editor06 mins

WASHINGTON – Heng Sithy, a Cambodian businessman who drew headlines in recent weeks after accusing a number of senior police officials and members of the ruling family of theft, corruption and fraud, was arrested on Tuesday in Russia. The immediate reason for the arrest was unknown, but Fresh News, a government-aligned paper, published a statement Tuesday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying the tycoon’s passport had been revoked. In December, according to the statement, the Phnom Penh Court issued an arrest warrant for Heng Sithy on a charge of blackmail with aggravating circumstances. A friend of Heng Sithy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons, confirmed his arrest. The friend shared voice messages in which the tycoon made grandiose claims about his reasons for traveling to Russia, none of which could be independently verified. “Tomorrow, I am going to Moscow and on Monday I will see Putin’s cabinet regarding drones and will inspect the drones and special forces,” he said on one voice message. In another, he spoke of the need to continue unspecified plans. “We must split the work,” he told his friend. “We must convince our working groups to continue the work to establish diplomatic groups and the fighting groups, I will be in charge.” RELATED STORIES Hun Sen’s nephew trades angry statements with businessman amid lawsuit threats Report: Online cybercriminal marketplace is part of Cambodian conglomerate Cambodian Elite Park Millions in Australia Defamation allegations At 39 years old, Heng Sithy appeared to have achieved the Cambodian dream. In a country where the average income is around $1,500 a year, he was a millionaire and paid all the dues expected of millionaires in a nation defined by its patronage politics. But last month, following a reversal in his fortunes following what appears to be a business deal gone bad, it seemed something in Heng Sithy cracked. A disagreement between Heng Sithy and a Singaporean entrepreneur spilled into the courts and then onto social media. As the dispute escalated, Heng Sithy began accusing senior police officials of taking multimillion dollar bribes from the entrepreneur, who he described as running “largest online casino network in Cambodia.” All denied the allegations. The Singaporean filed a defamation suit and on Dec. 3 the Phnom Penh Court issued an arrest warrant for Heng Sithy on a charge of blackmail with aggravating circumstances. The same month, he was stripped of his oknha title — an honorific bestowed upon wealthy, charitable and well-connected tycoons. Last week, Hun To, the nephew of the former prime minister, threatened to sue Heng Sithy for alleging that he stole US$9 million from a Chinese investor who sought government approval for a mine. Prior to his trip to Russia, Heng Sithy worked with his friend to prepare an open letter to Cambodian Prime Hun Manet. “I have never done anything wrong in business instead I was set up and got robbed [of] my wealth,” he wrote, according to the text shared with RFA. Cambodia, he added in the unpublished letter, had fallen “into the trap of criminal money when we have such officers in government doing such corruption.” The open letter closed with a direct appeal to Prime Minister Hun Manet: “Cambodia needs to be in good hands, a country needs a real leader, as a leader if your heart [is]… at the right place all will be good.” Neither Heng Sithy nor National Police Spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun could be reached for comment. Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Abby Seiff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Russian PM wants closer economic cooperation with Vietnam after trade rises 24%

Editor06 mins

Updated Jan. 14, 2025, 06:55 a.m. ET. Vietnam and Russia are reaping the benefits of a free trade deal at a time when Moscow faces international sanctions, with bilateral trade rising by an annual 24% last year, Russia’s prime minister said as he began a two-day visit to Hanoi. “We are paying priority attention to increasing trade and economic cooperation,” Mikhail Mishustin said in talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday, as quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency. “Mutual trade turnover is growing steadily.” A free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union came into effect in 2016. During a June 2024 visit to Vietnam, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to boost trade. Some 11 agreements were signed after he met then-President To Lam, in areas such as nuclear power. After meeting Chinh on Tuesday, Mishustin saw the nuclear agreement bear fruit with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, and the Vietnam Electric Power Corporation, TASS said. Talks also focused on trade when Mishustin went on to meet Lam, now communist party general secretary. “My colleague and I discussed the entire list of our bilateral issues, signed a corresponding action plan for our relations until 2030, confirmed 13 roadmaps and will achieve an expansion of our trade turnover to US$15 billion by 2030,” TASS quoted the Russian prime minister as saying. Vietnam says bilateral trade was worth around US$4.6 billion last year. Russia is a long-time ally of Vietnam and they are marking the 75th year of bilateral diplomatic relations this year. Their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership puts Russia on the highest level of engagement with Vietnam alongside countries including China and the U.S. RELATED STORIES Vietnam faces Trump era with awkward trade surplus with the US Vietnam, France upgrade relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Vietnam defense minister Phan Van Giang visits US to boost ties Facing international condemnation and sweeping sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is keen to hold on to its allies in Asia. Putin has also been pursuing closer relations with North Korea, meeting leader Kim Jong Un last June just ahead of his Vietnam visit. That relationship appears to be paying off, with the U.S. claiming Kim is providing Russia with weapons and troops, while Putin has shared missile technology. Hanoi is not in a similar situation regarding the supply of arms to Moscow, given that Vietnam is heavily reliant on Russian weapons, which make up about 80% of its military might. However, there was no sign of any new Russian arms sales to Vietnam during Mishustin’s visit because of international sanctions, an analyst said. “No major arms procurement deals were signed because Western sanctions on Russia have affected international currency transactions through the SWIFT system,” said Carl Thayer, a veteran Vietnam watcher and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. “During Putin’s visit last year, the two sides discussed the possibility of a ruble-đong transfer mechanism. However, as the Vietnam-Russian Joint Statement issued at the conclusion of Putin’s visit made clear, defense-security cooperation was confined to non-traditional security issues. Vietnam wants to avoid any penalties for violating Western sanctions.” Vietnam has, however, resisted calls at the U.N. to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vietnam is also one of the biggest investors in Russia, according to Vietnamese state media. As of last November, Vietnam had 16 projects in Russia with US$1.6 billion in capital, the fourth largest of 81 countries investing there, the Vietnam News Agency said. Edited by Mike Firn. Updated to include Mishustin’s comments at a meeting with To Lam. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

China bans monks, aid workers from visiting quake-hit areas of Tibet

Editor06 mins

Chinese authorities in Tibet have forbidden aid workers and Buddhist monks from entering areas of the region struck by deadly earthquakes last week, three residents of the region and a Tibetan in exile told Radio Free Asia. On Jan. 7, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Dingri county, near the border of Nepal. Chinese state media says it killed 126 people, but Tibetan sources said the toll was likely higher given that at least 100 people were killed in the town of Dramtso alone. State media also said the disaster injured 337 people and displaced more than 60,000 people. Starting Monday, authorities blocked off access, preventing monks, relief volunteers and aid providers from entering the affected area under the pretext of “cleanup,” and “security work,” the residents said under condition of anonymity for safety reasons. The blocking of monks was painful for survivors because in Buddhist tradition, prayers and rituals are conducted at the end of each week for the first seven weeks after a person’s death. Tibetans in other areas of Tibet, as well as those abroad or in exile in India, Nepal, Bhutan and elsewhere, gathered Monday to offer prayers. Aftershocks Since last week’s quake, more than 1,200 aftershocks have been reported by Chinese authorities. On Monday evening, two strong aftershocks — with magnitudes of 5.1 and 4.6 — struck Dingri County’s Tsogo township (Cuoguoxiang in Chinese) and Tashizong township (Zhaxizongxiang), respectively, according to the United States Geological Survey. RELATED STORIES At least 100 dead in one Tibetan township in wake of deadly earthquake Dalai Lama says no reason to be angry at China over Tibet quake Death toll from Tibet quake rises to 126, expected to climb According to a Dingri county official quoted by Chinese state media on Monday, “no casualties have been reported so far” in the latest aftershocks. The official added that “further investigation is underway.” Information censorship The Chinese government has also been deleting photos and videos about the impact of the earthquake from social media, residents said. “Chinese state media has been focusing on propaganda activities such as having Tibetan children wave Chinese flags. They are forcing affected residents to express their gratitude to the Chinese government, and they display (Chinese President) Xi Jinping’s photos in the temporary shelters provided,” another resident said. On Sunday, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the democratically elected leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, the government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India, issued a statement in which he called on Beijing to “…ensure transparency and accountability in relief efforts by granting unrestricted and immediate access to international aid organizations and media delegations.” Rescue workers conduct search and rescue for survivors in the aftermath of an earthquake in Changsuo Township of Dingri in Xigaze, southwestern China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, Jan. 7, 2025.(Jigme Dorje/Xinhua News Agency/AP) “Strict information censorship by the PRC government continues to pose significant challenges in verifying the accuracy of casualty reports and assessing the adequacy of relief operations,” Tsering said. He also called on the Chinese government to “provide adequate assistance in rebuilding efforts that takes into account the traditional Tibetan needs and fundamental rights of the Tibetan people.” A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, in a press briefing on Monday, responded to a query raised on Tsering’s statement, saying, “The disaster response and relief work is generally proceeding smoothly. We are confident in winning this tough battle of quake response and returning work and life to normal in the affected areas as soon as possible.” Translated by Tenzin Pema. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Dozens missing in mudslide at Myanmar jade mine

Editor03 mins

A mudslide at a Myanmar jade mine swept over a village on Monday and eight people were confirmed killed with dozens missing, residents of the area in Kachin state said, the latest disaster in the unregulated sector in which scores of people are killed every year. The mud swept through Sa Paut village in Hpakant township before dawn on Monday, after a pond full of jade-mining slurry overflowed, residents said. The bodies of three children, two women and three men, had been found by late morning but dozens were missing, residents said. “The damage was worse as it happened at night when everyone was sleeping,” a Hpakant resident told Radio Free Asia. “There were eight bodies found by 11:30 this morning … but there may be more dead.” Residents said about 50 homes were engulfed by mud and many villagers had joined a rescue effort. KIA-controlled gold mine in Myanmar’s Tanai township, Kachin state, after bombing by the military’s air force on Jan 11, 2024.(Kachin News Group) In Kachin state’s Tanai township, 15 people were killed in an air raid on a gold mine on Saturday, residents in the area said. RFA tried to telephone the military’s spokesman for Kachin state, Moe Min Thein, for information on the situation but he did not answer. Edited by Mike Firn RELATED STORIES China undermines its interests by boosting support for Myanmar’s faltering junta Myanmar junta chief urges peace after troops suffer setbacks Myanmar’s economy to contract by 1% this year on conflict, floods: World Bank We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Unexploded WWII bombs plague Palau amid US military build-up

Editor010 mins

Read this story at BenarNews PELELIU, Palau — Palauan Sharla Paules surveys the contaminated ground of her lush tropical home island of Peleliu, still littered with WWII munitions 80 years after its liberation from the Japanese. She recalls as a child her grandmother warning the land was poisoned by unexploded bombs, disrupting almost every aspect of traditional life on the island. “They said after the war the soil was so contaminated they couldn’t even plant food,” said Paules, 49, who is part of a team clearing the island for the mine action group Norwegian People’s Aid. “They couldn’t plant bananas, taro, tapioca or soursop. You still can’t plant tapioca and eat it here, it’s really bad.” Roger Hess, right, and a member of the Norwegian People’s Aid clearance team inspect an abandoned WWII munition on Umurbrogal Mountain in Peleliu, Palau, Nov. 26, 2024.(Harry Pearl/BenarNews) Hess is the Palau operations manager for Norwegian People’s Aid and is preparing a clearance operation in the upper reaches of Umurbrogal Mountain, a series of jagged, jungle-covered coral ridges that was one of the main battlegrounds on Peleliu. The Type 91 grenade held by Hess is not an unusual find in Palau. “The fuse may not function, but if you put it in a fire it will blow,” he said. MORE STORIES FROM PALAU Teenagers fight US militarization of Palau with UN complaint over rights violations Patriot missile plan stirs debate in Palau ‘Respect our sovereignty’: Palau tells China The Micronesian nation is one of nine Pacific island countries contaminated by an unknown quantity of explosive weapons left behind by Japanese and Allied forces after WWII. Although international awareness about the issue in the Pacific is lower than in landmine and cluster munitions hotspots like Cambodia or Africa’s Sahel region, experts say potentially lethal munitions are scattered across the region’s lagoons, beaches and jungles. U.S. Marines move up to the front lines over terrain denuded by the bombardment of Peleliu to mop-up Japanese forces, Oct. 12, 1944.(AP) At the time of their deaths, Raziv Hilly and Charles Noda were part of a group cooking over a backyard fire pit without realising the WWII-era projectile was buried beneath the ground. While media reports occasionally highlight the deadly threat, there are no formal systems in place to track accidents or gather comprehensive data on the extent of contamination in Pacific island nations, according to nongovernmental organizations. In 2012, the Pacific Island Forum, PIF, endorsed a regional UXO strategy that aimed to mobilize and coordinate efforts to tackle the problem. But according to people familiar with the plan, after an initial burst of energy, including two regional conferences in Palau and the Australian city of Brisbane, little progress has been made in recent years. The PIF did not immediately respond to BenarNews requests for an update on the strategy. Palauan Sharla Paules is part of NPA’s survey and clearance team in Peleliu, pictured on Nov. 26, 2024. (Harry Pearl/BenarNews) In 2023, the Pacific region saw an increase in funding for clearance of ERW. The U.S., Australia and Japan raised financial support for Solomon Islands and Palau, and made new investments in Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, according to the 2024 report produced by the Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor. Eliseussen said geopolitical “tension with China” partly explained the renewed attention and additional resources for the problem in the Pacific. Last year on Peleliu, U.S. Marines completed a $400 million rehabilitation of a WWII-era Japanese airfield, including removing UXOs at the site. It will allow fixed-wing aircraft to operate to enhance the U.S. military’s strategic capabilities in response to China’s ambitions in the South China Sea and Pacific region. Between 2021 and 23, the U.S. Department of State provided Solomon Islands with $4.5 million for clearance, $1.5 million for Palau and smaller amounts for Marshall Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. John Rodsted, a researcher at SafeGround, said international donors like the U.S., Australia and Japan needed to step up assistance to rid the Pacific of UXOs and take a long-term approach to funding. He added that the Japanese in particular “should put their hands in their pockets and actually help clear this stuff up.” Contaminated soil Since NPA began survey and clearance in Palau in 2016, it has found 10,844 ERW scattered across the country, according to its records. Hess could not say if Peleliu – with a population of about 500 people – would ever be free of ERW, but based on the ferocity of fighting there were “probably still around 100 suspected hazardous areas.” A member of the clearance team from the mine action group Norwegian People’s Aid peers into an American tank abandoned after WWII in Peleliu, Palau, Nov. 26, 2024. (Harry Pearl/BenarNews) On a recent survey of Umurbrogal Mountain, the detritus of war was obvious to see – mortars, rockets and shells dotted the ground. Weeks earlier, NPA staff found the remnants of a suspected landmine outside a cave while accompanying Japanese personnel searching for soldiers’ remains, Hess said. “The biggest threat to public safety are white phosphorus munitions that were fired from 81 mm mortars,” he said, referring to the incendiary weapons that ignite on contact with oxygen. Not everything discovered is hazardous, but such items are marked with yellow-tipped stakes and white spray paint and their GPS coordinates recorded for retrieval later that day. After the munitions are collected, they are moved to a makeshift storage facility near the Peleliu’s trash heap, then transported to a disposal site on the nearby state of Koror, where they are cut open and burned out. The work is slow going – and decades late – but according to locals like Paules, it’s starting to make a difference. “When I was little, we saw a lot of [munitions] on the side of the street. Nowadays we don’t see so much,” she said. BenarNews is an online news outlet affiliated with Radio Free Asia. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys…

Read More

Thailand lets autocratic neighbors hunt down opponents on its soil

Editor07 mins

Even by Cambodian standards, it was a brazen attack on an opposition figure. , a 56-year-old Thai-based Lao democracy activist who had received UNHCR refugee status, was gunned down in bordering Ubon Ratchathani province. These incidents may represent a quid pro quo between Bangkok and Vientiane. Following the Thai military’s May 2014 seizure of power, a number of democracy activists fled to Laos. During an April 2018 visit to Bangkok, Lt. Gen. Souvone Leuangbounmy, the chief-of-staff of the Lao People’s Armed Forces, pledged assistance to Gen.Prayuth Chanocha in tracking down Thai activists. Disappearing activists That help was already ongoing. In June 2016, the Thai anti-monarchy activists Ittapon Sukpaen disappeared; in 2017, . Helping Hanoi No country has benefitted more from Thai cooperation or a blind eye in recent years than Vietnam. In January 2019, Thai authorities detained Radio Free Asia blogger Truong Duy Nhat, who was in the process of applying for refugee status, and turned him over to Vietnamese police, who spirited him across the border to Laos and then Vietnam. Thai authorities have denied involvement. In March 2020, a Vietnamese court sentenced Nhat to 10 years for fraud, dating back to a nearly two-decade old investigation into the purchase of land for the newspaper’s office when he was editor at Dai Doan Ket, a state-owned paper in Danang. Nhat had fled to Thailand in 2016 after serving a two-year prison term for “abusing democratic freedoms,” after writing blog posts that were critical of the Communist Party. In April 2023, Vietnamese security forces allegedly abducted an exiled journalist, Duong Van Thai, 41, from outside of his house in northern Bangkok. Security cameras captured his shrieks. Thai had fled to Thailand in 2019 fearing persecution, and like Nhat, was in the process of applying for refugee status. Thailand’s ostensible democracy While Vietnamese authorities may be chastened about trying more snatch-and-grabs from the streets of Germany, they clearly feel they can act with impunity or tacit approval in Southeast Asia. Vietnamese authorities have also pursued legal extraditions. In mid-2024, Thailand returned an ethnic minority Montagnard activist to Vietnam. Y Quynh Bdap, 32, had been living in Thailand since 2018 and had received UN refugee status. Last October, a Thai court authorized his extradition, despite the fact that he faced a 10-year sentence after being tried and convicted in absentia of “terrorism” charges. Trinh Xuan Thanh, a former Vietnamese state oil executive, is led to court in Hanoi on Jan. 22, 2018. Thanh was kidnapped from Germany.(VIETNAM NEWS AGENCY, Lillian Suwanrumpha/Vietnam News Agency via AFP) Even more alarming, last March, a group of police from the Central Highland provinces of Dan Lak and Gia Lai were in Thailand conducting interviews in Montagnard refugee communities, trying to learn of Bdap’s whereabouts and to pressure the asylum seekers to return to Vietnam. It is unlikely that Vietnamese police could have operated so overtly without the approval and support of Thai security forces. In January 2024, nearly 100 Montagnard suspects were put on trial and convicted for riots that killed nine people, including four policemen, and resulted in the burning of commune offices. Some 53 of them were convicted on charges of “terrorism against the people’s government.” While we should not be surprised by the actions of Lao, Cambodian or Vietnamese security forces, Thailand is ostensibly a democracy. Since the 2014 military coup in Bangkok, however, Thai authorities have either been complicit or turned a blind eye to the actions of the security forces of neighboring authoritarian countries. The elected Thai government of Paetongtarn Shinawatra is already on its back feet after the courts ousted her predecessor Srettha Thavsin. Under military pressure, no Thai government can afford to be seen as anti-monarchy in any way. To ensure access to exiled Thai anti-monarchists, Thailand has chosen to remain at the center of this informal compact to target neighboring dissidents. Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or Radio Free Asia. RELATED STORIES Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

Man wanted in Lim Kimya murder is Cambodian official’s brother, records show

Editor05 mins

A Cambodian man who is wanted by Thai police in connection to the murder of a former opposition lawmaker is the brother of Pich Sros, a politician who initiated proceedings against the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, that led to its 2017 dissolution, and holds a minor government position. On Tuesday, Lim Kimya, a former CNRP member of parliament, was gunned down in central Bangkok. One suspect in the murder — Ekalak Paenoi, a former Thai marine — was arrested on Wednesday in Cambodia’s Battambang province and as of this writing is still in the country pending extradition to Thailand. But a second man, believed to be the so-called “spotter” in the murder who followed Lim Kimya on a bus from Cambodia to Thailand, remains at large. Pich Sros, founder of the Cambodian Youth Party.(Fresh News) Pich Sros is also a member of the Supreme Consultative Council, an ad hoc body created by then-Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2018 to include smaller political parties who did not have any seats but were included in the new body to advise the government. Though the party failed to win any seats in 2018 or 2023, CYP joined the council with the lead representative, in this case Pich Sros, given a rank equal to a cabinet minister. Cambodians in the country and abroad expressed anger with both the murder and what they see as the government’s seeming disinterest in investigating the case. Thit Kimhun, a CNRP official, told RFA the opposition party would hold ceremonies for the slain politician in Long Beach, California, and Lowell, Massachusetts, on Jan. 19, while others would be hosted in France, Japan and South Korea. “We won’t allow this injustice to happen in Cambodia and now in Thailand,” she said. “We will continue to investigate and demand justice for Lim Kimya and his family.” In Springvale, Australia, a seven-day memorial ceremony will begin Jan. 12 with the local Cambodian community urging the Thai and Australian governments to investigate, said Chea Yohorn, president of the Khmer Association of Victoria. “The suspect is not an unknown guy,” Seng Sary, a political analyst based in Australia, told RFA. “He is a brother of Pich Sros. Giving justice to Lim Kimya will restore Cambodia’s reputation. We shouldn’t let him escape.” Calls to Pich Sros went unanswered Friday but earlier in the day he posted a photo to Facebook showing journalists packed tightly around an unseen figure, cameras and microphones shoved toward his face. The image depicts then-U.S. Ambassador Patrick Murphy speaking with reporters outside the trial of Kem Sokha. Above the photo, Pich Sros wrote a pithy note: “journalists have the right to ask questions/ but don’t have right to force people for answers/ journalists have the rights to ask/ but don’t have the right to demand for answers according to what they want.” We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Read More

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