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Category: ASEAN

Lao central bank governor removed amid economic crisis

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National Assembly lawmakers on Tuesday removed the governor of Laos’ central bank at the end of its legislative session as top officials search for ways to address the country’s inflation and economic woes. The assembly approved a proposal from Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone to transfer Bounleua Sinxayvolavong, the governor of the Bank of Lao P.D.R., to a position in Luang Prabang province, according to the assembly’s vice-chairwoman, Sounthone Xayachack. Laos’ economy hasn’t recovered much from blows brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. International tourist numbers remain low, jobs are scarce and many younger workers have sought higher-paying jobs in Thailand or elsewhere in the region. Also, higher fuel prices and the steady depreciation of the Lao currency, the kip, have fueled inflation, according to a report from the Lao Statistics Bureau in May.   Laos’ economic problems are now affecting “the future of its food security and nutrition” in the country, according to the Asian Development Bank, or ADB. Inflation has had a big impact on food prices, which has reduced people’s purchasing power and has forced many households “to devise food-coping strategies, such as reducing food consumption and meal frequency to bridge their nutritional needs,” the ADB said in a report last month. The kip weakened by 31% against the dollar last year – a trend that was expected to continue this year, the World Bank has said.  Laos’ high debt service obligations have constrained the government’s ability to respond “to immediate issues of high inflation, which has placed pressure on people’s incomes and living standards, as well as long-term labor productivity issues,” the report said. Minister of Finance Santiphab Phomvihanh told lawmakers last month that the government will need at least US$10 billion this year to cover all debt-related expenses, but the central bank – had so far only brought in US$3 billion. ‘Talk and talk’ Lawmakers on Tuesday also approved a resolution that recommended the government address a teacher shortage, the increasing numbers of student drop-outs, the national debt and uncontrolled mining operations. The Assembly also passed or amended 13 different laws, including laws on property rights, investment promotion, environmental protection and anti-corruption. “Our country has two national priorities – solving economic-financial woes and cracking down on drugs,” lawmaker Sinava Souphannouvong said at a meeting last week.  “I’m urging the government to set cracking down on corruption as the third national priority,” he said, pointing out that neighboring Vietnam adopted a campaign against corruption. The reality, though, is that corruption “happens from the top,” according to a former government official in southern Laos who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely about the workings of government. “The inspection agency dares not inspect the top and other high-ranking officials,” he told Radio Free Asia. “Only low-ranking officials have been punished.” A businessman also believed that there will be no real impact from the government’s campaign against corruption. “Oh, they just talk and talk, but nothing will happen,” he told RFA . “They also have two other national priorities: solving economic-financial problems and cracking down on drugs. But they have failed to implement these two priorities. I think they’re going to fail on the third one as well.”  Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Matt Reed.

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Philippines ‘ready’ to discuss continental shelf with Vietnam

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The Philippines says it is willing to hold talks with Vietnam after it called for consultations on a Philippine submission on an extended continental shelf claim in the South China Sea. “We are ready to engage Vietnam on possible ways forward that would help achieve a mutually beneficial solution to South China Sea issues in accordance with international law, particularly the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS],” the Philippine department of foreign affairs said. The Philippines also welcomed Vietnam’s recognition of the submission, filed on June 14 with the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, or CLCS, to register the Philippines’ entitlement to an extended continental shelf in the West Palawan region of the South China Sea. On June 20, responding to Manila’s submission, Hanoi did not protest outright but instead said that while coastal states had the right to determine their outer continental shelf boundaries under UNCLOS, when submitting their claims “they must respect the legal and legitimate rights and interests of other relevant coastal nations with opposite or adjacent coasts.” A spokesperson for Vietnam said it stayed ready to hold talks with the Philippines to seek a solution that was mutually beneficial for both countries. Meanwhile, China has rejected the Philippine submission, saying it infringed upon China’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction and violated international law.  Beijing says it holds “historic rights” over most of the South China Sea but an arbitral tribunal under UNCLOS in 2016 rejected all of its claims. The Philippine submission, reinforcing the tribunal ruling, has not named China as a party for negotiations on the continental shelf. China and the Philippines have recently been involved in tense confrontations over some reefs that both claim but lie within Philippine waters in the South China Sea.  US officials on Vietnam visit warns of ‘irresponsible’ China Philippines ‘monitoring’ Vietnam’s South China Sea island building South China Sea dispatch: Excitement, fear fill Scarborough Shoal voyage Acceptable solution Nguyen Hong Thao, professor of international law at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, or DAV, noted Manila’s willingness to discuss the delimitation of maritime boundaries with the relevant countries. “Vietnam and the Philippines have been maintaining solidarity and cooperation for the common good,” he told RFA. It is unclear when the consultation is expected to begin. The CLCS said it would look at the Philippine submission in a session between January and March next year. The continental shelf can extend beyond 200nm to a maximum of 350nm from the shore, or baseline. (The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea) The extended continental shelf is the stretch of seabed that extends to a maximum of 350 nautical miles (648 km) from the shore of a coastal state, which has exclusive rights to explore it or exploit its natural resources. However, the Philippine submission may overlap with previous submissions by Vietnam and Malaysia, as well as with a Vietnam-Malaysia joint submission in 2009, against which the Philippines protested. In a recent opinion piece, DAV’s Thao argued that maritime limits, including the overlapping outer limits of the continental shelf in the South China Sea, need to be agreed upon by the countries involved. He warned of a new “battle of note verbales,” or diplomatic notes sent to the U.N. secretary-general to express concern, from neighbors of the Philippines. The CLCS cannot make a determination if another party objects, and that is why in the immediate future, “the Philippines may consider withdrawing from its objection to the Vietnam-Malaysia joint submission and negotiating with these two countries to find an acceptable solution,” the legal expert suggested. RFA contacted the Philippine foreign ministry for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication. Edited by Mike Firn.

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Floods in Myanmar force 10,000 from their homes, many trapped

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Rivers in northern Myanmar swollen by torrential rain have burst their banks, forcing about 10,000 people, including many displaced by war, to flee, while many others have been trapped on their roofs by the rising waters, relief workers told Radio Free Asia on Monday.  Heavy rain in Kachin state has led to floods in four townships along the banks of the Irrawaddy and N’mai rivers, forcing residents to seek shelter in monasteries and elsewhere on higher ground. “Every neighborhood is flooded. It could be worse than the record set in 2004,” said one relief worker in the state capital, Myitkyina, referring to the last severe flooding in Myanmar’s northernmost state 20 years ago. “There are lots of people affected,” said the aid worker, who declined to be identified in fear of reprisals by the military authorities for speaking to the media. RFA called Kachin state’s junta spokesperson, Moe Min Thein, for information on rescue efforts but calls went unanswered. A junta-backed newspaper, The Global New Light of Myanmar, reported that relief operations were underway and nine evacuation facilities had opened in Kachin state since Sunday. Overflowing rivers forced residents from their homes in Tanai, Waimaw, Chipwi townships, and parts of Myitkyina, which is on the west bank of the Irrawaddy. Collapse at notorious Myanmar rare earth mine kills 15 people At Myanmar camp for displaced hundreds struggle as rainy season looms Five dead, 20 missing in Myanmar landslide Camps for people displaced by weeks of fighting between the autonomy-seeking Kachin Independence Army insurgent group and junta forces in Waingmaw, Chipwi and Myitkyina townships were also flooded, with their inhabitants forced to find higher ground, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of deaths in the latest flooding but landslides, partly triggered by the heavy rain, have recently killed at least 35 people in rare earth mines in Chipwi township.  By 9:30 a.m. on Monday, the Irrawaddy river had risen four feet (1.2 meters) above its critical level, and was still rising by about three inches every hour, Naing Linn Htwe, chief of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, said in a statement. Some residents of Myitkyina have taken refuge from the swirling, murky waters on the roofs of their homes. “We’re trapped,” one resident stuck on a roof told RFA. “The water is almost as deep as the height of a man.” “In my household, there are three kids and two elderly people and rescue hasn’t come yet, but they said they would. They said they’d run into some difficulties on the way.” To the south, residents in river-side communities in the Sagaing, Magway and Ayeyarwady regions, which are also on the Irrawaddy, are fretting that the inundation will soon reach them. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.

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Workers say some 60 Cambodian rescued maids still in Saudi Arabia

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Some 60 Cambodian maids who complained publicly about abuse and labor rights violations remain stranded in Saudi Arabia, several workers told Radio Free Asia, several months after pleading with diplomats and others for help. The women, who went to the Middle Eastern country for jobs, said they have been physically abused by their employers and denied food and sleep. Some said they hadn’t been paid or were told they would be required to work for longer than their contracts stipulated. The maids and other workers in Saudi Arabia first sought Cambodian government intervention and assistance in March.  In April, Cambodia’s Labor Ministry said 78 migrant workers who had been misled into working in Saudi Arabia had been placed in hotel rooms under the care of Cambodian diplomats.  Two dozen women returned home in May. Another 48 women have since been flown back to Cambodia, according to Em Bopha, one of the workers who is still in Saudi Arabia.  A total of 133 Cambodian workers have been removed from their abusive employment situations. The 60 workers still in Saudi Arabia have been staying at several different facilities while diplomats arrange for their return, she said. Cambodian company Fatina Manpower Co. Ltd. helped arrange the contracts between the workers and their Saudi employers, and is now working on their return.  The remaining workers suspect the delay in sending them back to Cambodia is rooted in Fatina Manpower’s inability to pay compensation to partner companies in Saudi Arabia, Em Bopha said.  The owner of Fatina Manpower, Man Teramizy, is a senior official at Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor. Radio Free Asia was unable to reach the ministry’s spokesperson, Katta Orn, for comment on June 24. Cambodia’s ambassador to Egypt, Uk Sarun, said a group of about a dozen maids who left one of the holding facilities for a day on June 20 has complicated diplomatic efforts to coordinate their return.  The workers have been frustrated by the delays and uncertainty, Em Bopha said. But fleeing from the facility was “insulting,” Uk Sarun told RFA. “We have tried very hard,” he said. “We are still waiting for responses [from the company]. But now it’s a little more difficult. I asked them for understanding and I told them to return to the company’s facility.”  Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Matt Reed.

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North Korea draws navigable group in round 3 of FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers

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The road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the North Korean team will go through three Middle Eastern countries and two former Soviet republics, the Asian Football Confederation decided in a  drawing for the third round of qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur Thursday. North Korea was drawn into Group A along with  Iran, Qatar, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Kyrgyzstan. Though the team, known by supporters as the Chollima, have the lowest world ranking among the six teams, Group A offers a chance for qualification, with only Iran ranked among the world’s top 30 teams.  In drawing Group A, North Korea avoids an inter-Korean showdown, with South Korea heavily favored to dominate Group B, full of Middle Eastern minnows Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine and Kuwait. Group C, meanwhile, is the “Group of Death,” with powerhouses Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia drawn together, and Bahrain, China and Indonesia rounding out the group. In the second round, North Korea finished second in its group behind Japan and ahead of Syria and Myanmar. They crushed Myanmar 6-1 in Yangon and 4-1 in a home match played in Vientiane, Laos. The campaign also featured a strong showing against 17th-ranked Japan in Tokyo, where they lost 1-0. But North Korea forfeited the home match because they refused to host. North Korea fans in the stands before the match against Japan, March 21, 2024 in Tokyo. (Issei Kato/Reuters) North Korea hasn’t hosted a home match since the last World Cup cycle, playing South Korea to a 0-0 draw in Pyongyang in 2019. The third round will kick off on Sep. 5, with North Korea set to face Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Should the Chollima finish in second place or higher after playing each member of Group A home and away, the team would advance to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico. Finishing the group in third or fourth place would advance North Korea to a fourth round of qualifying, where six teams would vye for two more spots in 2026 or a berth in the inter-confederation playoffs. Questions remain as to whether North Korea will host its own home matches or continue to coordinate them with third countries. Although the country has reopened its borders that had been shuttered since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020, it may not be ready to welcome teams from other countries and their fans. The Chollima are very popular among fans in their home country, but the team also has fans from outside its borders. Should the team advance to the finals and play on U.S. soil, Paul Han, a North Korean escapee who lives in Indianapolis, would cheer for the North Korean players, he told RFA Korean. “I cheer for North Korea especially when they play against South Korea, the United States, or Japan,” he said. “It’s a matter of the fate of those players, because they can be sent to a place where the sun and moon cannot be seen (if they lose).” Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.

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China trying to ‘normalize’ incursions in Taiwan Strait, Taipei says

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China is attempting to normalize its increased incursions into the waters around the outlying Kinmen islands in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo has warned. Koo told a hearing at the Taiwanese legislature on Wednesday that by stepping up its activities in the prohibited and restricted waters around Kinmen, China is trying to establish a new normal. Kinmen is less than 10 km (6.2 miles) from China’s Fujian province. “Prohibited” and “restricted” waters are the tacit boundaries between Taiwan’s outer islands and China’s mainland that both sides have been adhering to.   “Prohibited waters” refer to the territorial waters around Kinmen that extend about halfway to the Chinese coast, or roughly 4 km (2.2 nautical miles) to the north and northwest, and about 8 km (4.3 nautical miles) to the south. “Restricted waters” extend a little further to the south, about 24 nautical miles from Taiwan’s main island. Taiwan Coast guard boats seen at a port in Kinmen, Taiwan, Feb. 20, 2024. (Ann Wang/Reuters) On Tuesday, Chinese and Taiwanese coast guards had a tense two-hour standoff after four coastguard ships from mainland China were seen patrolling in Kinmen’s restricted waters. Such incursions have become regular, according to the Taiwanese coast guard, which reported in May a record number of 11 Chinese vessels intruding into Kinmen’s waters. “The Chinese coast guard has organized a new fleet of cutters to establish a new enforcement model around Kinmen in an attempt to demonstrate their sovereignty over Taiwan,” said Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiwan’s state-run Institute for National Defense and Security Research, or INDSR. “This can be seen as an expansion of the gray zone tactic, that is the use of the coast guard fleet to expand China’s maritime control, not only against Taiwan, but also against the Philippines in the South China Sea, and against Japan in the Senkaku islands,” Su told Radio Free Asia. Gray zone activities are not explicit acts of war but harmful to a nation’s security as they are aimed at achieving security objectives without resort to direct use of force. RELATED STORIES Taiwan’s Kinmen Island: On the front lines of tension with China Rudd says China using ‘gray zone’ tactics against Taiwan Cross-Strait tensions at risk of rising after Kinmen incident New model of law enforcement China’s Global Times reported that the Chinese coast guard has adopted a new model of conducting law enforcement near Kinmen, by expanding its scope and intensity, as well as making it “all-weather enforcement.” According to the news outlet, since June the Fujian coast guard has organized a fleet of warships to conduct extensive patrols and further strengthen China’s control over the area. The newspaper quoted a Chinese Taiwan expert, Liu Kuangyu, as saying that this new maritime enforcement method can serve as an example for promoting a “one country, two systems” formula, providing an optional solution for resolving the Taiwan question. The Taiwanese government has repeatedly said that China’s incursions are harmful to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Beside activities at sea, Beijing has also flown military aircraft over the median line in the Strait into Taiwan’s air defense zone on a daily basis. This month, Taiwan has tracked 389 flyovers by Chinese military aircraft, including 141 over the past week, according to the defense ministry in Taipei. To respond to China’s gray zone activities “it requires the alertness and joint efforts of the Indo-Pacific countries and the ASEAN, because the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea are connected,” said INDSR’s Su Tzu-yun. “Regional sea lanes bear a great importance on the world’s economic development as well as serve the common interests of neighboring countries,” the analyst said, adding that China needs to be prevented from monopolizing and controlling them. Edited by Mike Firn.

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China’s Communist Party expels ex-defense chief, predecessor in graft probe

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China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday expelled ex-Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor over corruption charges, state media said, in the latest move in a purge that has toppled more than a dozen senior military officers and defense industry figures. Li’s removal from the party came 10 months after he disappeared from public view, and was reported to be under investigation in connection with the procurement of military equipment. He was sacked without a replacement in October, amid a series of sudden firings and disappearances. “Li seriously violated political and organizational discipline,” the official Xinhua news agency reported. China’s Defense Minister Li Shangfu delivers a speech at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore on June 4, 2023. (Roslan Rahman/AFP) “He sought improper benefits in personnel arrangements for himself and others, took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others, and accepted a huge amount of money and valuables in return,” the agency said in a report also carried by state broadcaster CCTV. “Li’s violations are extremely serious in nature, with a highly detrimental impact and tremendous harm, according to the investigation findings,” the Xinhua report added. The official agency used almost identical language for the case of Wei  Fenghe, Li’s predecessor as defense minister from 2018 to 2023. “Wei lost his faith and loyalty,” it said.  Wei’s alleged misdeeds “severely contaminated the political environment of the military, bringing enormous damage to the Party’s cause, the development of national defense and the armed forces, as well as the image of senior officials,” the agency added. The two generals were stripped of their military ranks, and their cases have been handed to the military procuratorate for prosecution, Xinhua said. The expulsion of Li and Wei came almost a year after Communist Party chief Xi Jinping fired two top generals of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, which controls the country’s nuclear missiles. Xi also heads the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC). China’s President Xi Jinping walks past China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, left, after the opening session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on March 5, 2023. (Noel Celis/AFP) In the dozen years since Xi Jinping came to power, his wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign has targeted party, state and PLA officials. Nine senior officers and at least four defense industry executives have been sacked. In 2014, Xu Caihou, a former CMC vice chairman, was expelled from the party and the PLA for corruption. A month later, another vice chairman of the Commission, Guo Boxiong, was ousted from the party, and later given a life prison sentence. “The signal sent to other PLA leaders is very obvious.” said Ye Yaoyuan, a professor of international studies at the University of St. Thomas. “For Xi Jinping, he hopes to set a more authoritative example before the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party Central Committee,” he told Radio Free Asia, referring to a key party meeting in mid-July. China’s President Xi Jinping meets with senior officers of troops stationed in China’s Yunnan province, in Kunming, Jan. 20, 2020. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty) “That is, ‘if something happens to the PLA leaders, I am really willing to take action, and my means of handling it are definitely not a simple transfer or other simple ways to end it.’” Ye said. Thursday’s report, the first official confirmation that graft was the reason for the sudden and secretive removal of Li and Wei, made no mention of another mystery high-level purge: that of former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Qin has been absent from public view since he met with the foreign ministers of Sri Lanka and Vietnam in Beijing on June 25, 2023. His disappearance came amid widespread and unconfirmed rumors that he was under investigation for having an affair, and possibly a child, with Phoenix TV reporter Fu Xiaotian. Edited by Paul Eckert.

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UN rights envoy urges action to stop Myanmar’s access to weapons, funds

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Financial institutions must do more to stop the Myanmar junta acquiring weapons, a U.N. human rights rapporteur said, singling out Thailand as the new main source of military supplies that Myanmar was getting through the international banking system. Thailand said it was studying the report from the special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, adding that its banking and financial institutions follow the banking protocols of any major financial hub. Many Western governments have imposed sanctions on the Myanmar junta that seized power in a 2021 coup and Andrews said international community efforts to stop the flow of weapons have had some success. The junta’s procurement of weapons, dual-use technologies manufacturing equipment and material through the international banking system was down by a third from US$377 million in the 2022 financial year to US$253 million in 2023, he said. But the junta had taken opportunities to skirt restrictions and its “forces continue to systematically assault Myanmar civilians using powerful weapons of war obtained from abroad,” Andrews said in his report. The junta, known as the State Administration Council, or SAC, had altered its sources of weapons and military supplies and exploited gaps in sanctions regimes, changed financial institutions and taken advantage of the lack of political will on the part of governments to coordinate and enforce action, he added.  “The SAC has identified and is aggressively seizing opportunities to circumvent sanctions and other measures taken by the international community,” said the rapporteur. Andrews contrasted the response to Myanmar’s bloody crisis from two of its neighbors: Singapore and Thailand. Singapore, long a major supplier of military equipment with close commercial ties with Myanmar, had “articulated a clear policy opposing the transfer of weapons”, in line with a U.N. General Assembly resolution that passed overwhelmingly after the coup. Following an investigation by the Singapore government, exports to Myanmar of weapons and related materials from Singapore-registered entities using the formal banking system dropped from almost US$120 million in FY2022 to just over US$10 million in FY2023, according to Andrews. ‘Leading source’ Thailand, on the other hand, does not have an explicit public policy position opposing the transfer of weapons to Myanmar, Andrews said, adding that exports from Thailand-registered entities more than doubled over the same period, from just over US$60 million to nearly US$130 million. “Many SAC purchases previously made from Singapore-based entities, including parts for Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters used to conduct airstrikes on civilian targets, are now being sourced from Thailand,” he said. “Thailand has now become the SAC’s leading source of military supplies purchased through the international banking system,” he added. Andrews noted that, as with Singapore, he found no evidence that the Thai government was involved in or aware of the transfers but noted that if it were to respond in the same way the Singapore government had, “the SAC’s capacity to attack the people of Myanmar would be significantly reduced.”    Thailand’s foreign ministry said in a statement it had seen Andrews’ report and was looking into it. “Many countries have been named and certainly these are countries where the majority of financial transactions in the region would pass through,” the ministry said. “Our banking and financial institutions follow banking protocols as any major financial hub. So we will have to first establish the facts before considering any further steps.” Andrews called on states that support human rights in Myanmar to halt the sale of weapons to it by their companies and for financial institutions to freeze relations with Myanmar’s state-owned banks. The rapporteur said the findings in his report covered purchases via the formal international banking system and not military procurement pathways such as in-kind trade or purchases with hard currency. While Singapore’s military exports to Myanmar had dropped dramatically, and those from Russia and China also declined, Indian exports remained constant, according to Andrews, while acknowledging some of Myanmar’s military procurement from those countries may have moved to informal channels.  Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn. 

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Drug runners in Laos shoot at police, abandon vehicles packed with meth and heroin

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Alleged drug runners in northwest Laos shot at police and fled on foot into dense jungle leaving behind two vans packed with meth and heroin, a police social media post said. At about 9 p.m. on June 21, officers noticed that the two vehicles did not have license plates and ordered them to pull over for inspection. The occupants of the vehicles allegedly shot at the police and abandoned the vehicles, fleeing into the forest, the Bokeo province police department said on its Facebook page. After inspecting the vehicles, they found around 5.8 million meth pills and 225 kilograms (almost 500 pounds) of heroin. It’s the latest incident in Laos’ struggle to eradicate drugs from proliferating inside the country. Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone reported on June 10 to the Lao National Assembly that cracking down on drugs remains a national priority and in the first half of this year, the government was able to arrest 2,616 drug suspects.  “Most of the drugs are from either Myanmar or China because they can’t be produced here in our country,” an officer of the Bokeo Police Department, who like all unnamed sources in this report requested anonymity for security reasons, told RFA Lao. He said that part of Laos is prone to drug smuggling, and that by law, samples of the seized drugs would be sent to a lab to verify that they are indeed meth and heroin. The rest will be destroyed. The officer explained that they did not pursue the suspects because they were armed and it was very dark in the forest, so they didn’t want to take unnecessary risk. Related Stories Lao police seize 14 million meth pills, arrest two suspects Despite eradication efforts, opium poppy cultivation persists among Hmong in northern Laos Police raid karaoke bar in northern Laos area known for drugs, trafficking A resident who lives near where the incident occurred told RFA he heard gunshots at around 9 a.m. “It was at night and nobody at my house had gone to bed yet,” he said, “The next morning, I found out that there was a clash between police and drug smugglers.” He said he and his neighbors were disappointed that the suspects were not apprehended. Another resident said that he wished the police would have brought the suspects in because it is likely they are smuggling drugs in from other countries. There is a large market for drugs in Laos, particularly among younger people, an employee of a rehab center in the province said. “Many Laotians, especially youths aged 15 or 16 have become addicted to drugs and are admitted to the rehab center. Sometimes, the center has up to 30 of them,” she said.  “Drugs, particularly meth, are available anywhere in our village and region,” she said. “Drugs destroy people’s lives. If the government can’t stop this, many more people will be affected.” Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

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‘Neither hospitals nor doctors’ for 10,000 displaced in Myanmar

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About 10,000 people in Myanmar, most of them members of the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority displaced by fighting, are in urgent need of food and medical aid, residents told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.  Fighting between junta forces and autonomy-seeking Arakan Army insurgents has intensified in recent weeks in Maungdaw township in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, compounding hardships for the population after junta troops shut down hospitals, prohibited travel and forcibly conscripted villagers into the army. The fighting has forced residents from four neighborhoods in the outskirts of Maungdaw town to take shelter in schools for the past two months.  Food and medical resources are now running out as the fighting in the area intensifies, said one resident, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.    “We can hear heavy artillery all the time. People have been killed and wounded as a result of shells landing on their houses. There are no hospitals, no doctors, that’s why people are so worried,” he said.  Fighting between insurgent armies and the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup has intensified since late last year in several parts of the country, including Rakhine state, where Arakan Army fighters occupy nine townships and have captured nearly all junta outposts, including those on the Bangladesh border.  While civilians have been suffering throughout the country, the Rohingya people have faced particular hardship with human rights groups saying both sides in the conflict have abused their rights, accusing them of helping their rivals and press-ganging them into their armies. Rohingya have for decades faced persecution in mostly Buddhist Myanmar with more than 700,000 fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 from a military crackdown following Rohingya insurgent attacks on police. The Maungdaw resident said this time, junta roadblocks imposed as part of their anti-insurgent operations meant fleeing to Bangladesh was not an option and no aid groups were able to provide food and medical care. Residents reported casualties from the shelling but could not confirm the number or details. Access to the internet and telecommunications has been cut. Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson Hla Thein did not respond to calls from RFA requesting comment on the situation. According to the junta-controlled Myanma Alin newspaper, junta officials provided more than 2,000 households in Maungdaw’s affected neighborhoods with a bag of rice each on Saturday. The World Food Programme said on Tuesday its warehouse in Maungdaw township was burned down on Saturday. The U.N. food agency has not been allowed to travel in Maungdaw township since last month.  The Arakan Army warned residents to evacuate on June 16, saying in a statement its fighters would attack Maungdaw town.  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.     

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