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Category: World

Cambodia’s Hun Sen changes birth year to align with the lucky Year of the Dragon

Editor06 mins

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is now a year younger after he changed his official birthdate to Aug. 5, 1952, instead of April 4, 1951, a switch critics attributed to his overly superstitious nature. Hun Sen’s lawyer filed a petition with the Phnom Penh court earlier this month which stated that Hun Sen had been using the wrong date of birth, a mistake owing to the fact that Cambodia was mired in a war when he officially registered it with authorities. According to the Cambodia New Vision (CNV) website, which calls itself the official newsletter of the country’s Cabinet, Hun Sen had used the April 4, 1951, date from April 4, 1977, until June 20, 2022.  The year he officially registered was a tumultuous one for Cambodia and for Hun Sen, who had been a member of the ruling Khmer Rouge. The future prime minister fled with supporters to Vietnam in 1977 to escape a brutal political purge. He returned as one of the leaders of the Vietnamese-sponsored rebel army in 1979, becoming the country’s leader in 1985. Those who are skeptical of this version of events point to the fact that the change moves his birth from the Year of the Rabbit to the Year of the Dragon, considered auspicious by those who adhere to the Chinese zodiac. Exiled political analyst Kim Sok told RFA that Hun Sen should concern himself with bigger issues. “He is supposed to serve the interests of the people and protect the country’s territorial integrity and national honor, but he prioritizes the interests of himself and his family. It hinders the national interest,” Kim Sok said. Man Nath, the chairman of the Norway-based Cambodian Monitoring Council, said in a Facebook post that the change shows Hun Sen’s excessively superstitious nature. “His belief in superstition dominates his leadership. If he is a good leader, even in death he will become a ghost and still be worshiped for decades,” Man Nath said. Phnom Penh Municipal Court President Taing Sunlay issued a decree on June 20 adjusting the date of birth as sought by Hun Sen. Judge Taing Sunlay ordered the registrar and the authorities to change the civil status data in accordance with the prime minister’s request. Sok Eysan, spokesperson for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, told RFA it was right for Hun Sen to correct his birthdate, but he declined to comment on whether it related to superstition. “It is the responsibility of the prime minister himself to make [that decision], and there is no loss of anything to the people. The people of the country do not say anything [about it],” he said. Local media reported in early May that Hun Sen had announced the change days after the death of his older brother Hun Neng. India-based Wion News reported on May 19 that Hun Sen suspected the birthdate he had been using may have led to his brother’s death because it conflicted with the Chinese zodiac. The report also said that it is common for Cambodians older than 50 to have multiple birthdays. Official records were often lost or destroyed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, creating confusion about family histories. Others may have altered their birthdates to avoid military service in the 1980s when fighting continued between the government and Khmer Rouge remnants. Hun Sen’s Aug. 5, 1952, birthdate has been known publicly for at least the past 15 years. A reference to that date appeared in 2007 on Wikipedia, which cited a report by the Cambodia Daily news outlet. Subsequent edits over the next few years acknowledged one date or the other, and sometimes both. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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UN expert: Member-states should engage with NUG to find Myanmar crisis solution

Editor08 mins

Other United Nations member-states should follow Malaysia’s lead and engage with Myanmar’s parallel civilian National Unity Government in efforts to help resolve the post-coup crisis in that country, a U.N. expert said Thursday. Additionally, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations needs a new approach in dealing with the Burmese junta to ensure it puts Myanmar back on the democratic path like it agreed to more than a year ago, said U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Tom Andrews, at a press conference at the end of an eight-day visit to Malaysia. “The five-point consensus is meaningless if it sits on a piece of paper,” he said, referring to an agreement struck between ASEAN member states, including Myanmar, on how the junta should move towards restoring democracy.  “Its only chance to make a difference is to put it into a meaningful action with a strategy, with an action plan, with a time frame, precisely as the [Malaysian] foreign minister has called for,” Andrews said, referring to Saifuddin Abdullah. Malaysia, which has strongly criticized the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, has also been consistently calling for stronger action from the regional bloc to make the Burmese junta accountable to the consensus it had agreed to in April 2021, but then ignored. “ASEAN must go back to the drawing board and implement a more detailed roadmap to achieving the five-point consensus within an appropriate timeframe,” Saifuddin said at a Shangri-La Dialogue panel in Singapore earlier this month. The five-point agreement reached between ASEAN leaders and Burmese military chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on April 24 last year included an end to violence, the provision of humanitarian assistance, an ASEAN envoy’s appointment, all-party dialogue, and mediation by the envoy. ASEAN has not succeeded in implementing any of these points, and most analysts have said the regional bloc, which famously operates by consensus, is to blame for this. Not every country in the 10-member ASEAN is in favor of piling the pressure on its fellow member, which means the bloc cannot be very effective. ‘What Malaysia did is significant’ Last October, Malaysia’s outspoken foreign minister had said Kuala Lumpur would open talks with the NUG if the Burmese junta kept stonewalling in cooperating with ASEAN’s conflict resolution efforts. In February, he met his NUG counterpart Zin Mar Aung via video conference, following that up with an in-person meeting in Washington on May 16 after the United States-ASEAN Special Summit. During an interview in May with BenarNews, Saifuddin had said that many in ASEAN were frustrated that the Myanmar military was ignoring the five-point consensus. “I think we need to be more creative and that is why, for example, we [need to] start naming the stakeholders …the NUG, … all of them,” Saifuddin told BenarNews. The U.N.’s Andrews said he believed talking with the NUG was a correct move by an ASEAN member-state such as Malaysia – one that other nations should follow. “Let’s be clear who is legitimate here and who is not legitimate,” he said. “The National Unity Government is made up of people who were elected by the people, and also people who represent ethnic communities that are critically important to the fabric and the future of Myanmar. I highly recommend – and I am glad the [Malaysian] foreign minister here has engaged with the NUG and I [am] recommending – that all countries in the United Nations…do the same.” ASEAN’s engagement with the NUG will be a good initiative, said analyst Md. Mahbubul Haque of University Sultan Zainal Abidin. “If anyone really supports the struggle for democracy and the overall human rights situation in Myanmar, it is very necessary to engage with the NUG. Currently the NUG is representing major political forces including various ethnic minorities,” he told BenarNews. “What Malaysia did is significant because it came from an ASEAN member-state. But right now, we cannot expect that all members will follow the Malaysian stand, because of [their own] geopolitical interests.” Another analyst, Aizat Khairi of Kuala Lumpur University, said that ASEAN’s engagement with the NUG would give the Burmese junta the required push it needs. “The junta will not be happy but it will provide the pressure needed to make them be more open and ready to go to the next level of negotiation with other parties in Myanmar,” he told BenarNews. The U.N. expert said in a statement issued Thursday that Saifuddin had urged ASEAN to move from a policy of “noninterference” to one of “non-indifference.”  BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.

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Residents trapped by floods in China’s Guangdong after heavy rains batter region

Editor07 mins

Residents of Guangdong’s Yingde city have been taking refuge from widespread flooding on upper floors and roofs, amid an ongoing shortage of relief supplies after heavy rainstorms battered the region. Photos posted to social media showed parts of Yingde under water up to the second floor of buildings, amid unconfirmed reports of deaths and building collapses. Government departments in Yingde, Guangdong province, were ordered on Thursday to maintain high vigilance against geological and natural disasters after the flood crest of the Beijiang River passed the city. “The flood crest of the Beijiang has passed the city, but it remains at a high level and the flow is still large, threatening the lives and property of local residents,” the Yingde government said in a statement reported by the English-language China Daily newspaper. Water in the Beijiang, a tributary of the Pearl River, began receding slowly after the flood crest passed at 2.00 p.m. local time on Wednesday, it said. The river, which runs through the city’s downtown area, was measured at nearly 10 meters above the danger line at its peak, the statement said. City authorities warned of possible landslides, mountain torrents, reservoir and river dike failures and building collapses as waters recede, the paper said. The floods came as parts of southern China faced the heaviest rainfall in more than 60 years, with large swathes of flooded areas suffering power outages, contaminated water supplies and relief supplies, with some people posted pleas for help on social media. Trapped by high water A resident of Yingde’s Xiniu township told RFA that they are currently trapped inside a two-story building with a roof dwelling alongside five other people. “The floodwaters are retreating now, but very slowly,” the person said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to last out until tomorrow now … when the waters should have gone down.” A resident of Yingde’s Wangbu township said she is currently trapped in a building with more than a dozen people, all elderly, women and children. “It’s been three or four days now, and nobody came yesterday,” the resident said. “They delivered a small piece of bread and bottle of water for residents this afternoon, and not until after 4.00 p.m.” “That was the only thing they delivered, so I didn’t eat anything until then, and only one meal isn’t enough,” she said. “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.” While waters had begun to recede, she still couldn’t get out as they remained high. “I can’t go out now; I’ve been flooded all the way up to the second floor,” she said. “I can’t talk any more because my phone is nearly out of battery.” Repeated calls to helplines and contact numbers provided by the Yingde authorities went unconnected on Wednesday. Fears for the elderly Some people posted on social media saying that they had lost contact with elderly grandparents, while a 90-year-old man was stranded at home in need of oxygen. The flooding of Yingde came after authorities in upstream Shaoguan opened local floodgates on June 20, after days of heavy flooding there, inundated Yingde and other downstream areas. Shaoguan, one of the worst-hit cities in the current round of flooding, has seen record rainfall since late May. A video clip uploaded to social media showed a firetruck being washed away by a flash flood, although they were later rescued around one kilometer from where the video was shot. China’s ministry of water resources said that 99 rivers in the middle lower reaches of the Xi river in the Pearl river basin had water levels above the danger level between 12.00 noon on June 21 and noon on June 22. The Guangdong provincial flood control headquarters raised the emergency response level to the highest level on the evening of June 21, while authorities have evacuated more than 227,000 people within the province, with floods affecting nearly half a million people and causing economic losses of around 1.7 billion yuan. Flooding has also been reported in the southwestern region of Guangxi, Guizhou and other provinces, with five people killed and buildings destroyed by flash floods in Guangxi’s Liuzhou city on June 18. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Shanghai restaurants offer secret dining, ‘hire’ customers for the night

Editor08 mins

Restaurants in Shanghai are offering secret lights-out dining and fake recruitment drives in a bid to get around the city’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions, RFA has learned. Residents of the city told RFA that despite the official lifting of a citywide lockdown on June 1, the municipal authorities have yet to lift a ban on in-house dining. “They’re still not allowing people to eat in,” a Huangpu district resident surnamed Yang said. “I can only eat secretly in the upstairs area, as dining in isn’t generally allowed, only takeout.” “My brother did the same — a friend invited him out to eat, and they went upstairs to an area of the restaurant you couldn’t see,” he said. Photos and video uploaded to social media showed people sitting at restaurant tables filled with food, but eating the light of their mobile phones, to avoid alerting any enforcement personnel to their presence. Other posts said some restaurants had made diners fill out application forms to work there, claiming them as employees, who are allowed to eat together in restaurants. When their meal was over, the diners resigned from the payroll, the reports said, likening the process to an underground party. “Many restaurants have closed down because they haven’t been able to survive [lockdown], which has lasted for more than three months,” Yang said. “If you rent premises … it’s going to cost tens of thousands of yuan a month, so they haven’t been able to keep up with it.” Community volunteers stand at an entrance in a residential area under a Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai’s Huangpu district, June 22, 2022. Credit: AFP Testing burden Shanghai’s 26 million people are still being required to take a COVID-19 test several times a week, to be allowed to move around in public, residents said. “If you need to go out, to leave your residential compound to see the doctor, go to the supermarket, take the bus, etc., you need a negative PCR test result from the last 48 hours,” a Jing’an district resident surnamed Dai told RFA. Authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen announced similar requirements for anyone using public transportation in the city, including taxi or ride-sharing hires. Beijing-based current affairs commentator Hua Po said the impact of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy on the Chinese economy has been huge. “Beijing is carrying out mass PCR testing for all employees, and there is a lot of money involved,” Hua said. “The Beijing municipal government is in a very strong financial position, and it has that money to spend.” “But the situation is very different in other places,” he said. “Some local governments are very poor, and the people there are being forced to pay for the tests themselves.” Hua said the policy is more about political performance and official rankings than public health. “If officials fail to prevent or control COVID-19, they are severely punished, so party and government leaders are implementing these policies while trying to help out local governments and take on double the economic burden,” he said. Abuse of health code app A resident of the central province of Hubei who gave only the surname Lu said PCR testing is still mandatory in the provincial capital, Wuhan. “Things can’t go on like this … the economy is really bad and can’t take much more of this,” Lu told RFA. “Many companies, logistics and supply chains can’t carry on.” “Such frequent PCR testing is totally ridiculous … it would be better not to have any testing at all,” he said. Meanwhile, a resident of the central province of Henan said they are suing the government for using the “health code” COVID-19 app to restrict their movements during protests by depositors unable to withdraw their money from the Agricultural Bank. Xie Yanling, a resident of Dingzhuang village in Henan’s provincial capital Zhengzhou, told Caixin.com that she is suing the authorities for allegedly turning her traffic-light style health code amber despite her having submitted a negative PCR test result, on the day she was due to attend a court hearing relating to the demolition of her home. “It’s inexplicable,” a person familiar with the case told RFA. “The code had been green.” “I wish they would carry out the relevant policies in a normal manner, legally, and in the plain light of day,” the person said. Cai Fan, a retired associate professor of law at Wenzhou City University in Zhejiang, said health codes are being used for “stability maintenance” purposes in China. “This forced demolition involves the vested interests of the village committee and local government,” Cai said. “If they turn your health code amber for the hearing, you won’t be able to get in.” “Then, after a period of time, the government will level the land, put new buildings there, and you won’t be able to do anything about it,” Cai said. “It will be a fait accompli.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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‘After the Apple Daily shut down, I couldn’t write another word’

Editor06 mins

One year after the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper was forced to close amid an investigation by national security police, its former journalists are struggling to come to terms with the loss of the paper, an often sensationalist, sometimes hard-hitting daily founded by jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai. The paper’s closure came after hundreds of national security police descended on the headquarters of Next Digital in Tseung Kwan O on June 17, 2021, confiscating computers and journalistic materials police said were “evidence” of collusion with foreign forces under the national security law. Five executives were arrested, and the paper’s assets totaling around H.K.$18 million were frozen by the authorities. Chief editor Ryan Law and Next Digital CEO Cheung Kim-hung have since been charged with “collusion with foreign powers,” while three other executives have been released on bail without being charged. A former journalist who gave only the surname Leung said she still remembers the crowd of well-wishers who gathered outside the paper’s headquarters on the night that it closed, cheering and shouting encouragement. “The editors in charge came out to boost morale, with a strong sense that they were going to be martyrs,” Leung told RFA. “Everyone knew even then that the senior editors were in danger [of arrest and prosecution].” “I was hoping, as their employee, that they would leave Hong Kong that same night and go to a safe place, we also knew they were mentally prepared [for arrest],” she said. “As employees, we were sad that it had to end, but we felt it was an honorable defeat,” Leung said. Leung, a veteran newspaper reporter of 20 years’ experience who had only worked at the paper for a year when it closed, said she suffered insomnia and suffered emotionally due to the arrests of her bosses, friends and colleagues. “Some places contacted me with jobs after Apple Daily closed on June 23, but I looked at the materials for a long time, and couldn’t write a word,” she said. “My heart had died along with the Apple Daily.” Leung gave up on journalism after the paper’s demise, and moved to the democratic island of Taiwan with her family, where she was able to disconnect and heal for a while, slowly recovering from the pain of the paper’s demise. But while she longs to write to her former colleagues and friends back in Hong Kong, she hasn’t contacted them for fear that doing so would render them vulnerable to further charges from the authorities. “I have always wanted to write to them, and I want to tell them that a lot of people are still flying the flag, and I would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to work at Apple Daily,” Leung said. “But I fear that they could have fresh charges imposed on them like collusion, if they receive [letters] with Taiwan stamps on them,” she said. A draconian national security law imposed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020 has sparked a crackdown on pro-democracy media organizations. After Lai’s Next Digital media empire was forced to close, the crackdown has also led to the closure of Stand News and Citizen News, as well as the “rectification” of iCable news and government broadcaster RTHK to bring them closer to Beijing’s official line. Hong Kong recently plummeted from 80th to 148th in the 2022 Reporters Without Border (RSF) press freedom index, with the closures of Apple Daily and Stand News cited as one of the main factors. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Former police captain sentenced to three years in prison

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Former Vietnamese policeman turned self-styled corruption buster Le Chi Thanh has been sentenced to three years in prison for defaming an unnamed deputy minister of public security This was the second sentence for the former captain, who was an officer at Ham Tan prison camp. The People’s Court of Ham Tan district in Binh Thuan province opened the trial on Wednesday, sentencing Thanh the same day. The defendant was charged under the crime of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals,” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code. Thanh was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. According to lawyer Dang Dinh Manh, who defended Thanh, the prosecution relied on videos posted by the accused on Facebook as evidence against him: “The prosecution agency relied on clips allegedly made by Le Chi Thanh himself, and posted on the social network Facebook with content that was ‘distorted and untrue’ infringing on state agencies such as courts, the police, a deputy minister of public security and an individual who is his former supervisor.” Mr. Thanh’s former supervisor is Col. Le Ba Thuy, chief of Ham Tan prison, who was accused of corruption by Thanh. According to the online news site VnExpress, Thanh claimed that Col. Thuy, the superintendent of Z30D Prison, had land and properties worth tens of billions of dong which he had received from an unknown source. Thanh reportedly asked the Central Party Committee of Public Security and Government’s Inspectorate to investigate his claims of corruption and confiscate the assets. The police said that Col. Thuy and his wife only had a house in Tan Duc commune, Ham Tan district and that his family bought property in An Phu ward, Thu Duc city in 2014 with money accumulated from wages, livestock farming, and grocery trading. The trial panel also said that a video posted on Facebook by Thanh, in which he claimed a deputy minister of public security abused his power to discipline Thanh, was misleading and untrue. Thanh was disciplined by the Prison Management Department (Ministry of Public Security) for the allegation and expelled from the police force in July 2020. After being sacked Thanh became active on social media, making live broadcasts monitoring the activities of the traffic police. On April 14, 2021, he was arrested under the charge of “resisting on-duty state officials” and later sentenced to two years in prison by the Thu Duc city court in January 2022. With the new sentence, Le Chi Thanh will serve two sentences at the same time with a total of five years in prison. Commenting on the outcome of the trial, lawyer Dang Dinh Manh said, although the sentence was lighter than could have been handed down under Article 331, his view was that using articles such as 331 or 117 in the Criminal Code was unjust: “because I think it goes against the freedom of speech that Article 25 of the Constitution provides.” “In the case of [the accused making] statements that unjustly affect the reputation, honor and dignity of agencies, organizations and individuals, they have the right to initiate civil lawsuits to request compensation for damage and that is enough. This is also consistent with the treatment given in many countries in the region and around the world,” he said. Thanh’s mother, Le Thi Phu, said he would not file an appeal. Instead she plans to continue lobbying high-level officials in the police agency to reduce her son’s prison term.

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Interview: Nury Turkel to ‘call China out’ for atrocities against Uyghurs, others

Editor05 mins

Uyghur-American lawyer Nury Turkel was unanimously elected chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan and independent federal government body. In a long career in advocacy, Turkel, who also serves as chairman of the board for the Uyghur Human Rights Project in Washington, he has played a major role in raising global awareness of the plight of the 12 million Uyghurs in the Chinese-controlled Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). China’s targeting of Uyghurs in XUAR in a crackdown on the minority group and its language, religion, and culture that intensified in 2017, has been declared a genocide by the United States and other western governments. The 50-year-old Turkel, who was born in Kashgar in a detention camp during China’s Cultural Revolution and in 2020 became the first Uyghur-American appointed to the USCIRF, was welcomed as “a tremendous asset to both USCIRF and the mission of protecting religious freedom,” in a statement by Campaign for Uyghurs Executive Director Rushan Abbas.  He spoke with RFA Uyghur Director Alim Seytoff about his goals as 2022-23 USCIRF chair. RFA: As a Uyghur American who’s elected as the USCIRF Chair, what does this position mean to you? Turkel: It’s simply humbling to be elected by my fellow commissioners to lead the US government agency.  But, on the other hand, I feel incredibly proud and privileged to be a citizen of this wonderful country that has given me so much– freedom and now a leadership role that is both substantive and symbolic.  It is one of the great American stories for someone with my background—an immigrant and indirect victim of the Uyghur genocide.  RFA: What are USCIRF plans to address China’s destruction of Uyghur Islam and genocide against Uyghurs? Turkel: As part of our legislative mandate, we will continue to monitor China’s atrocities against the Uyghurs and other vulnerable ethnic and religious groups, making sure that our government continues to call China out for the ongoing Uyghur genocide and advocate for a strong policy response to stop the atrocities committed against the Uyghurs and others in communist China.  RFA: Will the USCIRF work with its counterparts in other democracies to address the Uyghur Genocide? Turkel:  USCIRF has advocated for multilateral and bilateral responses to the Uyghur crisis in light of its complex and global nature. As a result, the U.S. has led the efforts to raise awareness and press China to end persecution, shut down the camps, and end the enslavement of the Uyghurs.  RFA: Will the USCIRF reach out to the Muslim countries and ask them to raise China’s genocide against Uyghur Muslims? Turkel: We have [worked with] our State Department counterparts to engage with Muslim majority countries to speak out against China’s atrocities and join the US-led efforts to end the Uyghur genocide.

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Myanmar civilian death toll surpasses 2,000 since coup-NGO

Editor06 mins

The toll of civilians who died at the hands of Myanmar’s military junta since it overthrew the country’s elected government 16 months ago reached 2,000 this week and is rising, according to a Thai-based activist group that has closely tracked deaths The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said the milestone of 2,000 deaths since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup was reached June 20 and that recent deaths in anti-junta hotbeds Sagaing and Magway regions had pushed the figure to 2007. “This is the number verified by AAPP. The actual number of fatalities is likely much higher,” the AAPP said in a statement. The 2,000 deaths were memorialized by the U.S. and EU diplomatic missions in Yangon, with Brussels’ office posting a black cover on its social media page to express its condolences and Washington calling for accountability. “The inhumane atrocities committed by the military against the people of Burma across the country are a result of the lack of accountability among responsible persons on the part of the military. It highlights the urgent need for accountability,” the U.S. Embassy said. The AAPP report came five weeks after Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP Myanmar), a local think tank, said in a report that it had documented at least 5,646 civilian deaths between the Feb. 1, 2021, coup and May 10. The ISP figure included people killed by security forces during anti-junta protests, in clashes between the military and pro-democracy paramilitaries or ethnic armies, while held in detention, and in revenge attacks, including against informers for the regime. At least 1,831 civilians were killed in shooting deaths, the largest number of which occurred in war-torn Sagaing region, where junta troops have faced some of the toughest resistance to military rule in clashes with People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries that have displaced tens of thousands of residents since the coup, the ISP report said. Former political prisoner Tun Kyi said the AAPP’s list does not capture the full death toll. “People are seen as criminals and arrested illegally. People are tortured and killed. Whole villages are set on fire,” he told RFA Burmese. “The current AAPP list shows 2,000 deaths. In fact, there are more than that.” The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said the milestone of 2,000 deaths since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup was reached June 20. Arbitrary detentions and torture The military has disputed or rejected the figures released by NGOS. Junta-controlled newspapers said last month that 2,796 non-combatants had been killed between the coup and May 15.  The military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party said 3,107 people have been killed after being accused of being military informants, 690 people died in armed clashes and 18 were slain by the pro-junta militia Thway Thauk, or Blood Comrades. Coup opponents in Yangon told RFA they were still committed to resisting the military regime. “The military made arbitrary arrests and detentions and tortured and killed peaceful protesters,” said a member of a Yangon-based protest committee who used the name Jewel for security reasons. “As a result, this revolution has been going on for more than a year, with the conviction that the military dictatorship must be uprooted,” she said. “No matter how much the people have lost, we see that this is the last game and I will continue to fight with this in mind,” added Jewel. Kyar Gyi, a spokesman for the Htee Chaing Township PDF, said the army would continue to arrest and kill anyone who opposed the junta. “It is routine for them to arrest or kill anyone who opposes them. They are still doing it. Homes are being set on fire and people killed,” he told RFA. “We will continue the fight as long as it takes for the military dictatorship to fall.” Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written by Paul Eckert.

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North Korea ends COVID-19 travel restrictions as ‘fever cases’ subside

Editor07 mins

North Korea has lifted COVID-19 travel restrictions nationwide, a sign the government may soon claim victory over the coronavirus pandemic, RFA has learned. After two years of denying the virus had penetrated its closed borders, North Korea in May acknowledged COVID had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade the previous month and declared a “maximum emergency” to fight the disease. As part of its response, the government restricted movement between provinces and prohibited large gatherings. But now, after a partial lifting of the travel ban in late May, North Korea ended the limitations completely on June 12, a source from the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Residents are able to travel to other provinces and even to the capital city, Pyongyang,” the source said. “The new order from the National Emergency Quarantine Command was given to residents of each neighborhood in Pohang district.” Each neighborhood watch unit held meetings to explain the policy change to residents, the source said. “They have been unable to travel outside the provincial borders with only the partial lifting of restrictions, so they welcome the news,” he said. “It is especially great news for merchants who rely on long-distance travel between provinces for their businesses. “But even if the restrictions are completely ended, there is still a separate procedure that requires travelers to carry a COVID-19 test certificate issued by the quarantine command. We can get a travel pass only if we have the test certificate,” he said. North Korea requires passes for travel between provinces even under normal circumstances. Residents with mobile phones can access test certificates through a smartphone app, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA. Others must travel to receive a paper copy. “In rural areas such as Pakchon county, you have to visit the town quarantine center, which is miles away, to get a COVID-19 test certificate,” the second source said. “If a resident who wants to get a test certificate does not have a mobile phone, it is inconvenient.” But she agreed that most residents are happy the restrictions are ending. “Now they hope that the residents will have their livelihoods restored as soon as possible, but also by lifting the blockade of the border with China,” she said. After briefly restarting rail freight shipments from China earlier this year, new outbreaks in China forced Beijing and Pyongyang to suspend trade again. Aside from the short respite, trade has been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020, with disastrous effects on the North Korean economy.  The first source said that not all residents were overjoyed at the lifted restrictions, believing that the government had an underlying and unsaid motive.   “There are speculations that restrictions were lifted in order to mobilize the residents,” the first source said, referring to the government practice of forcing residents to provide free labor for construction, farming and other government projects. “The COVID-19 lockdown restricted mobilizations on national construction projects and on rice planting duties,” he said. Nevertheless, the government has been saying that it is the leadership of Kim Jong Un that has eradicated the coronavirus, the second source said. Sources told RFA that North Korean traders and their Chinese counterparts are preparing to resume trade quickly once the Sino-Korean border reopens. They anticipate that cross-border trade will resume once coronavirus case numbers subside. German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported Monday, citing North Korea experts and South Korean government sources, that North Korean authorities were preparing to declare victory over COVID-19 and give the credit to Kim Jong Un. The North Korean government has only reported a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases, but it has been tracking fever symptoms since the beginning of the maximum emergency. According to data published by the state-run Korea Central News Agency, more than 4.67 million people have come down with fever, at least 99.4 percent of whom have made full recoveries. Translated by Claire Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Myanmar junta forces kill 2 militiamen, torch villages near copper mine

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Myanmar junta soldiers killed two local militia members and torched over 20 villages near the Chinese-owned Letpadaung copper mine in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region on Tuesday, forcing more than 10,000 civilians to flee, residents said. About 100 soldiers guarding the Chinese company Wanbao’s mining site fired heavy artillery shells and raided Moe Gyo Pyin village in Salingyi township and set ablaze between 300 and 400 houses, locals said. Sagaing has seen some of the fiercest armed resistance to junta rule since the military seized power from the country’s elected government in a February 2021 coup. As fighting between the military and the PDFs has intensified there in recent months, junta forces have conducted an arson campaign targeting rural villages, killing civilians and burning hundreds of homes, leaving thousands displaced. The junta stepped up raids of villages near the mine site after 16 local People Defense Force (PDF) militias opposed to the military regime issued a statement on April 21 calling for a halt to the controversial Letpadaung copper project, locals said. A Moe Gyo Pyin resident who lost his home said he had watched from a distance as the soldiers set fire to the village. “I could see my village being burned from a distance,” he said. “We were all men, not cowards, but we couldn’t do anything except just watch with clenched fists and grit our teeth, looking at each other with tears in our eyes. There was nothing we could do about it.” The exact number of houses that were burned down is unknown, but about two-thirds of the raided villages are gone, said another resident, adding that the troops left a monastery near the village untouched. “We heard they’d be coming yesterday morning and left two guys as sentries,” said the resident who did not want to be named for security reasons. “They shelled the village from afar before the raid. Some houses in the village were burned down in the morning and later, the whole village was set on fire in the afternoon. The two men we left behind as sentries were arrested and killed.” Soldiers cut off the arms of one of the guards — members of a local PDF — and stabbed the other in the abdomen, he said. After the soldiers left Moe Gyo Pyin during the night, residents returned to the village and found the bodies of the two dead PDF members and cremated them on Wednesday, the villager said. Villagers march along a road during a protest against a Chinese-backed copper mining company in Salingyi township, northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, Dec. 30, 2019. Credit: Tint Aung Soe Another village raid Military troops detained about 60 people inside the monastery the same day after they entered the old village of Se-de, about two miles from Moe Gyoe Pyin, a resident there said. Others in the village fled. “We ran from the village straightaway and did not even dare to look back,” the resident said. “Some people carried some of their belongings as much as they could, but others did not. We were so afraid of them. Those who could not run got arrested.” RFA could not reach junta spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, for comment. He said on May 29 that governments have a responsibility to protect foreign investments in Myanmar. In retaliation for the military’s use of force against the villages, local PDFs said they fired 100 mortars at a power distribution site and the acid tanks inside the mine project site on Tuesday, though the extent of the damage is unknown. Zwe Htet, a member of Salingyi Revolutionary Army, a local militia group, pledged to attack the Chinese copper mine project daily if the regime’s forces continued burning down area villages. “Long-range shooting is our main strategy now,” he said. “We used 60 mm, 80 mm and 120 mm shells. The main attack was on the acid tank and the power plant. I saw some fires inside.” “The main purpose of the revolution is to overthrow the military regime,” he said. “They are now setting fire to villages in Letpadaung. Soon, the military situation will be tense.” Those who lost homes are moving to places near the monastery and other nearby villages, though Letpadaung area residents said their phone lines and internet service were still down. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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