Engnews March 2015

engnews@rfanews.org

3 participants
9 discussions

RFA Breaking News: Myanmar Army Commits Rapes, Beatings, Killings of Kokang People: Refugees

by Paul Eckert

Myanmar Army Commits Rapes, Beatings, Killings of Kokang People: Refugees March 25, 2015 - Refugees in the conflict-torn Kokang region of Shan State have accused Myanmar government troops of gang rape, beatings and shootings of unarmed civilians, in a bid to terrorize the local population since fighting with rebel forces began on Feb. 9. Kokang refugee Liu Zhengxiang, who frequently returns from China's neighboring province of Yunnan to take care of animals at her home in Shiyuanzi on the Myanmar side of the border, said groups of Myanmar government soldiers are roaming around, using rape, beatings and shootings as a weapon of war against local people. "The Myanmar army...comes at night, when you can't see them, because they think that the local people are working for [rebel commander] Peng Jiasheng," Liu said. "If they see a woman, they will rape her," she said. "They tie her hands up with wire, twisted tight with pliers, so that it tears into her flesh. When they are done raping her, they let her go." Liu said the groups of soldiers are attacking civilians in the belief that they are Peng's soldiers, even if they are unarmed. "Some of Peng's troops don't wear uniform, so when the Myanmar army sees them, especially if they are young, they assume they are Peng's people." Photos obtained by RFA from the region in recent weeks have shown young women fighting in Peng's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) forces. However, the women in the photos wore green military uniforms. The MNDAA is trying to retake the Kokang self-administered zone in northeastern Myanmar's Shan that it had controlled until 2009. Raping women, beating men Liu said men were also being targeted by Myanmar government forces for violent attacks. "If they see a man, they tie them up and beat them with a wooden stick," she said. She said she had witnessed the shooting of a 70-year-old civilian by Myanmar soldiers on a recent trip home. "They shot two of his toes off as he was getting into a vehicle, but he hadn't managed to shut the door yet," Liu said. Xu Yong, a refugee who escaped to Yunnan from Yanjiaozhai village on the Myanmar side of the border, said he had witnessed an attack by government troops in the village on March 19 . "They smashed in doors and beat up anyone they saw," Xu told RFA in a recent interview. "They pointed their guns at the local people, and pushed them into a huddle in an open space in the village." "Four people were killed and 13 people were wounded, and two people are missing," he said. Massacres in Kokang Kokang high school teacher Qiu Yongbin, currently based in Yunnan's Nansan township and helping teach refugee children at the Border Marker No. 125 refugee camp, said the army is 'massacring' local people. "Wherever they go, they massacre whole villages, massacre them," Qiu said. "If you give me a sniper rifle, I'll go and join in the war." Qiu said the ethnic Chinese of Kokang aren't treated as Myanmar citizens in their own country, and carry ID cards identifying them as "not citizens of this country." Fellow Kokang refugee Liu Xiaowen said local residents who hadn't been attacked by government troops had had their homes ransacked and their belongings stolen by them. "They've been in charge of this country for several decades now, but they have never treated Kokang people as their own people," Liu Xiaowen said. "They treat us like the enemy, and they steal our stuff." Liu said hunger is becoming a widespread problem among the estimated 100,000 cilivians displaced from the border region by the conflict. "If they are hungry, they'll steal," he said. "The elderly and the children are starving, and they don't want to watch them die." "So they have to steal. The only alternative is to go and get food from Kokang, and risk getting beaten to death by the Myanmar army." Refugee Fang Yongwen, who ran a prosperous supermarket in the once-bustling regional capital Laukkai, said local people now fear for their lives on the Myanmar side of the border. "Things are tough here, but it's better to stay alive," Fang said. "Over there, there's no guarantee that you'll live." "When Peng Jiasheng was in charge, Laukkai ruled its own affairs... and excluded the Myanmar army, who act without reason." Tensions in the region are running high amid a relative lull in fighting between government and rebel forces, as a major government assault is widely expected in the next few days, sources said. A Kokang resident on the Myanmar side of the border said sporadic shelling and gunfire bursts had been heard, but that another government attack is expected soon. "The Myanmar army is going to launch an attack, but we're still only talking about surrounding and taking rebel positions," he said. "There's no way they can wage all-out war." In Nansan, China's armed police and People's Liberation Army (PLA) have stepped up patrols, a resident surnamed Zhang told RFA. "The PLA is all in position here now, an they have anti-missile missiles," Zhang said. "The guesthouse next door to our house has been totally taken over by PLA soldiers." "There are helicopters filling up the sports field at the school," Zhang said, adding: "China is prepared, and we are pretty safe here." Reported by Xin Lin and Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmar-kokang-03252015123347.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years, 9 months

RFA BREAKING NEWS: Kokang Rebels Recruiting Chinese Nationals as Mercenaries in Yunnan: Sources

by Joshua Lipes

Kokang Rebels Recruiting Chinese Nationals as Mercenaries in Yunnan: Sources March 24, 2015 - Rebel forces fighting Myanmar government troops in the Kokang border region of Shan state are actively recruiting Chinese nationals as mercenaries to boost their numbers, RFA has learned. While the Myanmar government has strongly denied the involvement of Chinese mercenaries in the conflict with the rebels, military recruiter Lu Wei said he is currently offering a sign-up package to former soldiers demobilized from China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) to join rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) forces. Chinese mercenaries are being offered 30,000 yuan (U.S. $4,830) to sign up for periods of at least a month with the MNDAA and allied military groups, according to middle man Lu Wei. It was unclear which faction of MNDAA rebels was doing the recruiting-that of ageing leader Peng Jiasheng, or that of commander Bai Suocheng, who has closer ties with the Myanmar government. But Lu, who is based in Nansan township in China's southwestern province of Yunnan, said the recruitment drive didn't seem to be working. "We have been trying to hire people but nobody wants to go," he told RFA in a recent interview in Yunnan. "They have their own network, and they just leave a phone number," Lu said. "If you fight for them, they pay 1,000 yuan (U.S. $160) a day." He said some people had discovered the rate of pay by calling the number. "They will pay 30,000 yuan as a sign-up fee, and you have to get to Nansan or Mengding, and someone crosses the border to meet you," Lu said. "You can take two companions with you, and one of them takes your money away [for safe-keeping] and then you go with them," he said. "You get to go home after fighting with them for a month, and if you still want to carry on fighting, they will pay you 1,000 yuan a day," Lu said. But he said not many Chinese were taking up the offer. "They're only paying 30,000 yuan, and you're not going there on holiday; you're going to fight in a war," Lu said. "If you die, it will have been for nothing." Child soldiers Lu said Myanmar's army currently enlists boys as young as 13 to be soldiers, and never allows them to be demobilized, only on leave with the possibility of recall. "Some people don't want their kids to be soldiers, so they send them to live in China when they're about one or two years old, and they never go back," said Lu, who was himself brought to live in Yunnan at a young age by his parents after being born in Kokang. "If you never go back, you're no longer a Kokang, and they take them after six years of schooling to be soldiers in Kokang," he said. "You might have more freedom in China, but it means you can't see your parents again for the rest of your life." Asked if the MNDAA under Peng and Bai Suocheng still practices conscription, Lu said: "Yes, they are all pressed into the army." He said much of the lives of the "soldiers" is taken up with regular farming and food production, however. "It's like being a farmer over here [in China]," Lu said. "You pick sugar cane and harvest grain all day." Sympathy for Kokangs Lin Wucheng, a young man who was born in Kokang but is now living in Yunnan, said there is strong sympathy for the Kokang rebel cause among China's military and armed police forces. "Last time I went to the border, I saw [the rebel fighters] had taken off their uniforms and swapped clothes with local people ... and then they went up to talk with the [Chinese border police] and then the police gave them a route through, where they could drop down out of the mountains," Lin said. "Things were pretty tense, and everyone who passed through gave seven or eight packs of good cigarettes to the [Chinese] armed police," he said. A volunteer for a charity in the border region surnamed Luo said Kokang military vehicles had also been seen helping civilian refugees get to their destination amid the conflict. "You have no idea how close the relationship is between ordinary people [and the Kokang rebel fighters]," Luo said. "That's why I don't think the Myanmar army can win this war, because wherever they go, the population isn't on their side, so the fighting will never end," he said. "I don't know how many people are going to die; this could go on for another 50 years," he said. Rebel allies Meanwhile, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which is allied with the MNDAA but has remained in its own territory, engaged government troops in fierce fighting on Sunday and Monday, with heavy casualties on the government side, a KIA spokesman told RFA on Tuesday. "There has been fighting in our mountains yesterday and the day before," the spokesman, who gave only a surname Pai, said. "Our military commanders are holding a meeting because the government troops have come to search the mountains [for rebels], leading to clashes between the two sides," he said. "Yesterday it was in the direction of Nongdao." Pai added: "There were some casualties on their side yesterday, maybe seven dead or injured, but none on our side." "The fighting ended at around 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon," he said. Rebel commander Peng Jiasheng launched a bid to retake the rugged and mountainous region of Shan state on Feb. 9, beginning in the Kokang regional capital Laukkai. Tens of thousands of displaced civilians in northern Myanmar's conflict-riven Kokang region and across the Chinese border face worsening conditions and uncertainty over whether cease-fire talks will take place, sources have said. Refugee camps In the No. 125 Border Marker camp on the Kokang side, the majority of makeshift tents and dwellings housing refugees had leaked badly in a recent storm, as the rainy season began, aid workers said. "All of the tents had rain leaking through them so we couldn't sleep," Protestant missionary surnamed Li said on Tuesday. "We need to rebuild the housing, and we should move higher up to do it, because we are right next to a river here, and it's not safe," Li said. "We are going to need a large amount of tarpaulin if we are going to do this," he added. "We will also need to build a bigger store to keep the grain, rice and salt at the very least; the basics we need to survive." A Kokang resident surnamed Yuan, who lives between the No. 125 camp and Laukkai, said there had been a lull in the fighting around the regional capital since Monday. "We have returned to our home, which is not far from Laukkai," Yuan said. "A lot of people have come back here from the border, although some stayed behind in Border Marker No. 125 camp." Father-son split He said security was tight in Laukkai, with police on patrol on the city's streets, and the son of Myanmar army-backed Kokang leader Bai Suocheng was running it. "Bai Suocheng's son is commanding the plainclothes security operation," Yuan said. "He is pro-government." Bai, who was put in charge of the Kokang army after Peng was deposed following the 2009 Kokang fighting, left the region shortly after Peng's Feb. 9 offensive began. "The army is definitely going to make a general attack in the next few days to try to wipe out the alliance in the mountainous regions," Yuan said. "I think they have been discussing a change in their strategy for this war in the past couple of days." Reported by Xin Lin and Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/recruit-03242015121255.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

9 years, 9 months

Breaking News: Fresh Cross-Border Bombs Reported in China-Myanmar Border War

by Paul Eckert

Spam detection software, running on the system "rfanews", has identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message has been attached to this so you can view it or label similar future email. If you have any questions, see the administrator of that system for details. Content preview: Fresh Cross-Border Bombs Reported in China-Myanmar Border War March 21 - Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan are investigating a group of unexploded bombs that fell on the mountainous and rugged border with Myanmar, where fighting between government troops and Kokang rebels has intensified in the past week. [...] Content analysis details: (6.3 points, 5.0 required) pts rule name description ---- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 0.0 RCVD_IN_SORBS_DUL RBL: SORBS: sent directly from dynamic IP address [98.218.246.69 listed in dnsbl.sorbs.net] 3.6 RCVD_IN_PBL RBL: Received via a relay in Spamhaus PBL [98.218.246.69 listed in zen.spamhaus.org] 1.3 RCVD_IN_RP_RNBL RBL: Relay in RNBL, https://senderscore.org/blacklistlookup/ [98.218.246.69 listed in bl.score.senderscore.com] 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message 1.3 RDNS_NONE Delivered to internal network by a host with no rDNS 0.2 SHORT_HELO_AND_INLINE_IMAGE Short HELO string, with inline image The original message was not completely plain text, and may be unsafe to open with some email clients; in particular, it may contain a virus, or confirm that your address can receive spam. If you wish to view it, it may be safer to save it to a file and open it with an editor.

9 years, 9 months

Breaking News: More Than 100 Myanmar Soldiers Dead in Assault on Rebel Position

by Paul Eckert

More Than 100 Myanmar Soldiers Dead in Assault on Rebel Position March 19 - Intense fighting between Myanmar government troops and rebel forces in the northern Shan State region of Kokang in recent days has left at least 100 people dead, the majority of them on the government side, local sources told RFA on Thursday. Fighting intensified on three fronts around the Kokang regional capital Laukkai, currently held by the army, since Sunday, local residents said. "I heard the shelling start up this morning after breakfast, and it hasn't stopped since," a Kokang resident, who declined to be named, told RFA. "Every five or 10 minutes, a shell sounds, continually now, in the direction of Dongshantou," the resident said. Online reports said the government has been using heavy artillery in the Koutangshan district of Kokang, in the fiercest assault on the rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) since it launched its bid on Feb. 9 to retake the Kokang self-administered zone that it had controlled until 2009. The assault has also cost the Myanmar army heavily in terms of casualties as they try to assault rebel positions in the rugged and mountainous region close to the Chinese border. "More than 70 Myanmar government soldiers died when the Myanmar army attacked the rebel forces," a second local resident told RFA. "It was from an attack the army launched on a rebel position that was easy to defend and hard to storm," he said, adding: "I had friends there, and they told me about it." "The people who live in Gunlong city saw it with their own eyes." Separately, allied forces clearing up after a battle at Koutangshan said they had counted some 40 bodies of government soldiers. Photos of the scene obtained by RFA showed dead bodies in military uniform, some with missing limbs, or in parts. The casualties came after a battle between some 1,250 government troops massed at five locations near Koutangshan. The rebel stronghold was manned by around 440 fighters, none of whom have access to heavy weaponry or air cover. According to the official Global New Light of Myanmar , government troops on Wednesday drove away six groups of Kokang rebels that had attempted to attack Laukkai. The report said the military, supported by air strikes, captured five hilltops along the Kokang rebel defense line on Wednesday, "forcing the insurgents to withdraw to the east of the region." During the operation, government troops seized a variety of drugs, as well as the bodies of three rebels and small arms, it said, adding that a total of 13 military officers and other ranks were killed in the fighting and 28 others were injured. MNDAA spokesman Tun Myat Linn confirmed to RFA's Myanmar Service that fighting occurred "throughout the day" on Wednesday, with the military deploying four fighter jets and two helicopters for support. "What we have heard is that many homes and buildings were destroyed by bombs dropped by government planes," he said. Border build-up The first Kokang resident said China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) was maintaining its show of force along the border between Kokang and its southwestern province of Yunnan following the deaths of five Chinese citizens in a bombing incursion into Chinese territory last week. "There are Chinese helicopters patrolling the area," he said, in a reference to frequent PLA sorties following the cross-border attack on March 14 that prompted a military build-up in Yunnan and stern warnings from Beijing. Myanmar's government has offered to pay 70,000 yuan (U.S. $11,300) for each victim of the bombing, compared with just 20,000 yuan (U.S. $3,230) a head paid to similar accidental victims inside its own borders, local sources said. The offer sparked a furious backlash among China's Internet users, who amid a climate of anti-Myanmar feeling, slammed the offer as far too low. One of the victims' relatives, who asked to remain anonymous, said they wouldn't accept the offer. "People don't agree with this; we spoke to the family, and they said definitely not," the relative said. "We hope the government will help us to get justice, and better treatment, so that they can address the issue of their future livelihoods," he said. A social media commentator nicknamed Wang Ye said they were surprised to hear about the compensation offer, given that Myanmar had refused to admit that it dropped the bombs. "Don't tell me the Myanmar government intends this as a friendly gesture, to pick up the bill for the rebel alliance," the user wrote. Meanwhile, social media user Feng Hua said the amount was too low. "Can 70,000 yuan pay for a human life? It should be at least two million yuan (U.S. $322,800) per person." But Kokang residents said 70,000 yuan seemed like an enormous sum from their side of the border. "It's not bad, actually," a third Kokang resident told RFA. "We wouldn't get that amount of compensation here in Kokang." "In Myanmar, if you get killed, you get killed." Myanmar president’s office spokesman Ye Htut said he was unable to comment on the source of the bombs that fell on the Chinese side of the border without seeing the sites himself. “Weapon experts from our military went there and took bomb fragments from the fighting area, but the examination is still ongoing,” he said. Ye Htut denied that Myanmar had offered compensation to the families of Chinese citizens killed in the bombing. “I asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [on Wednesday] about the news of compensation being offered for killed Chinese citizens and the ministry said they hadn’t made any agreement about it,” he said. “Myanmar doesn’t intend to wage a war of aggression against China or any other country … China and Myanmar are working together to determine what happened, as our relationship remains very good.” He said the government was working to return refugees who have fled the clashes to their homes as soon as stability returns to the region. Refugees Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced or made homeless by the fighting in Kokang, with many of the ethnic Chinese minority fleeing across the border, when permitted to do so by Chinese border guards. At their peak, the number of refugees streaming into China was estimated at 100,000, although many appear to have returned to Myanmar after being pressured to do so by dwindling supplies and border restrictions. China has on occasion closed sections of the border and refugees without their own financial resources now find it hard to enter Chinese territory. "There are more than 2,000 people here right now," a volunteer aid worker surnamed Zhao at a refugee camp on the Myanmar side near the No. 125 border post told RFA on Thursday. "Those who have the money have all gone to Nansan, in China." He said an eight-year-old Kokang girl seriously injured in a shell blast in a crowded marketplace earlier this month is now on the road to recovery at a hospital in Nansan, after losing two brothers in the blast. "She has woken up from her coma and is able to play now," Zhao said. "But she still needs further surgery to her head, because there is shrapnel inside." "It has cost more than 20,000 yuan [for her treatment] so far." Supplies and medical treatment for refugees is largely being financed in China by the Chinese Red Cross, but services on the Myanmar side are dependent on donations. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Pyone Moh Moh Zin and Khin Khin Ei for the Myanmar Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie and Khet Mar. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie and Joshua Lipes. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/assault-03192015113203.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years, 10 months

Breaking news: Chinese Police Shoot Seven Uyghurs Dead Following Fatal Xinjiang Knife Attack

by Paul Eckert

Chinese Police Shoot Seven Uyghurs Dead Following Fatal Xinjiang Knife Attack March 18 - Authorities in northwestern China’s restive Xinjiang region have shot dead seven ethnic Uyghurs who hacked a local armed forces commander and two members of his family to death, as well as a security guard who came to their aid, near the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to local sources. Police in Kashgar's Yarkand (in Chinese, Shache) county are investigating the March 8 attack in the county seat which killed Tagharchi township People's Armed Police department head Fang Kezheng, 40, his wife and her uncle, and Uyghur security guard Batur Memet, 33, sources said. Turap Emet, police chief of Yarkand’s Igerchi township, told RFA's Uyghur Service he had received confirmation of the attack from county authorities. “That evening, Fan Kezheng, his wife, his daughter and his wife’s uncle were returning to their home from a restaurant in the Yarkand county township bazaar and as they walked towards their car, parked in front of the former armed forces department, they were suddenly attacked on the road,” he said. According to Emet, the attackers surprised Fang, who was wearing a uniform, and he did not have time to react or draw his gun. “Four of the seven attackers slashed Fang, killing him, while the other three chased after his wife and her uncle, and hacked them to death,” he said. “For some reason, they spared Fang’s daughter ... but they killed Batur Memet, who had run towards the scene of the attack [to assist Fang’s family].” Emet said police arrived at the scene around 10 minutes after the attack and quickly engaged the assailants, killing them in a hail of bullets. A nurse from the Yarkand County People’s Hospital, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity, said one Uyghur and three Han Chinese bystanders were shot by police in the confrontation and were brought by authorities to her facility for medical treatment. “All of them were injured by bullets,” she said, without specifying what condition the four were in. “It appeared as if the police were shooting indiscriminately in order to secure the situation quickly, so four people in the area were wounded.” Rahman Obul, the social stability chairman of the local Yarkand county township government, told RFA that all of the attackers were from Yarkand’s Beshkent township, where he said a Uyghur woman had been shot and killed by police in an incident days before the attack on Fang and his family. “Fang Kezheng was among the police [involved in the Beshkent shooting],” he said, without providing details of the incident. “Was Fang Kezheng targeted because he played an active role in that campaign? … We cannot know, because all of the attackers [in the March 8 incident] were killed by police.” He noted that Fang’s nine-year-old daughter had been spared in the attack, and called the case “strange,” adding that it was currently under investigation by local authorities. Information clampdown China's ruling Communist Party, which is running a region-wide anti-terror crackdown in Xinjiang, has so far made no official comment on the incident. Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) told RFA's Mandarin Service that the incident, which took place during a politically sensitive parliamentary session in Beijing last week, had been kept out of China's tightly controlled media. He said local sources told the WUC that “some of the injured” were being treated at the Yarkand County People’s Hospital, but “the actual figures of deaths and injuries are unclear.” “It is my understanding that the injured all had some direct connection to the police force,” he said, without elaborating. Repeated calls to local government offices, a high school and local businesses in Fang’s home township of Tagharchi were immediately cut off after being contacted for comment or confirmation. Local residents said all of Yarkand county had been offline since the death of two Uyghur officials during a riot in late July last year, but that police patrols and identity checks had been increased in the county's town center in recent weeks. “We can't get online in Yarkand county, and there are roadside checks on people's identity,” an employee at a guesthouse in the town center said. Kashgar attack Earlier this week, police shot dead four ethnic minority Uyghurs who carried out a knife attack on a group of Han Chinese outside the popular Chess Room casino in western Xinjiang's Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) city, local sources told RFA's Uyghur Service Monday. The reports of the March 12 attack, in which police wounded another two Uyghurs, emerged in spite of a tight media clampdown on the region during the annual meeting of China's National People's Congress (NPC). "The government doesn't report what's going on over in Kashgar," a resident of the Xinjiang capital Urumqi told RFA on Tuesday. "There is often very little unofficial information to come out of there, either." "People who witness incidents in Xinjiang won't dare to talk about them if the government hasn't reported them," the resident said. He said the authorities immediately seal off areas affected by such incidents, preventing travel in and out of the security cordon. 'Anti-terror' campaign Beijing last year intensified its targeting of Uyghurs with an "anti-terror" campaign in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang, Amnesty International said in its annual global human rights report. The campaign prompted further restrictions on Uyghurs' practice of Islam, on top of existing widespread discrimination in employment, education, housing and curtailed religious freedom, as well as political marginalization, the group said. As many as 700 people are believed to have been killed in political violence that rocked northwestern China's Xinjiang region from 2013-2014, with ethnic Uyghurs three times as likely as Han Chinese to have lost their lives in clashes, the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) reported earlier this month. Chinese state-controlled media reported less than a third of the clashes that took place in the reporting period, and described more than two-thirds of the 37 incidents it did report on as "terrorist" events, UHRP said. Many Uyghurs living in China and in exile refer to Xinjiang as East Turkestan, as the region came under final control by China only following two short-lived East Turkestan republics in the 1930s and 1940s. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service, by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service, and by Wei Ling for the Cantonese Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie and Joshua Lipes. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/attack-03182015121024.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years, 10 months

Breaking News: Chinese Police Shoot Four Uyghurs Dead After Casino Knife Attack

by Paul Eckert

Chinese Police Shoot Four Uyghurs Dead After Casino Knife Attack March 16 - Authorities in northwestern China’s restive Xinjiang region have shot dead four ethnic minority Uyghurs who carried out a knife attack on a group of Han Chinese outside a popular casino, according to a police officer and local doctors. The incident, in which police wounded another two Uyghurs, took place on March 12 at the Chess Room casino in western Xinjiang’s Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) city, the sources told RFA’s Uyghur Service Monday, confirming the attack despite a media clampdown on the region during the annual meeting of China's annual parliamentary session. “The group tried to attack people inside casino, but they failed to enter because the security guards immediately closed the door, so the group attacked bystanders in front of the establishment,” said a police officer from Kashgar’s Shamalbagh police station, which has jurisdiction over the area. “The place was populated by Han Chinese and eight people were injured,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The group also set fire to two motorcycles and two cars belonging to Han Chinese before authorities arrived and confronted them, he said. “Within 10 minutes, our police reached the area, shooting and killing four of the six attackers,” the officer said. “The eight injured [victims] were transferred to the Kashgar No. 1 Hospital.” Physicians at the hospital confirmed that eight injured Han Chinese had been admitted for medical treatment following the attack. Li Zhuren, head of the emergency department at Kashgar No. 1, said at least two of the victims were in critical condition. “Four of the eight victims were seriously injured in the attack and two of them are currently in critical condition,” he said. “Only two of the four who received less serious wounds have fully recovered and left the hospital, while the other six are still being treated.” Qasimjan Tursun, another doctor at Kashgar No. 1, confirmed that the eight victims had been admitted on March 12, but said he was unclear what had happened to the attackers. “I heard that the two attackers who were captured by police were also wounded in the shooting, but I haven’t seen them among the injured,” he said. “It may be that they were taken to other hospitals. We can’t ask too many questions about such sensitive incidents, but witnesses said one of the two [captured] suspects was seriously injured.” Reports of the attack initially circulated on Chinese social media last week, becoming the fifth incident known to have occurred in the region during the March 3-15 National People’s Congress in Beijing to be revealed that way. Recent attack Last week, officials told RFA that police in Xinjiang’s Hotan (Hetian) prefecture shot and killed as many as seven ethnic Uyghurs who had been “acting suspiciously” while they gathered at a restaurant on March 9, prompting a security clampdown. They said the incident was sparked when members of a county-level state security unit demanded to search the men, prompting one of them to pull a knife and kill a police officer. The incident drew immediate condemnation from the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) exile group, which expressed concern that authorities had restricted access to information about the killings. The WUC called on the international community to undertake an independent investigation into the shootings in Hotan, noting that residents in the area had been warned by authorities to remain silent about the incident and to ensure that they don’t disclose any details to the media. China has in recent years launched a series of “strike hard” campaigns in Xinjiang in the name of the fight against separatism, religious extremism and terrorism. The targets of these campaigns, the minority Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uyghurs, complain of pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression by China’s communist government. Uyghurs say they chafe under strict police scrutiny and controls on their movements and violent clashes with authorities are not uncommon in the region. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/shooting-03162015173628.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years, 10 months

Breaking News: Two Children Die in Shell Blast At Crowded Kokang Market

by Paul Eckert

Two Children Die in Shell Blast At Crowded Kokang Market March 10 - Two children died, another was left critically ill, and more than 10 other people were injured after a shell exploded at a crowded market in the conflict-torn Kokang region of northern Myanmar on Tuesday , witnesses said. The shell, believed to have been fired by government forces amid intense fighting with ethnic Kokang rebels, hit the New Agricultural and Trading Goods Market in Laukkai on Tuesday morning as it was thronged with civilians and young families, according to medical staff who saw the aftermath. Two brothers were killed outright, while their eight-year-old sister was taken to the neighboring Chinese province of Yunnan for emergency treatment, an aid worker told RFA. "The injured child has already been taken to the county hospital in Nansan," an aid worker surnamed Zhao at the No. 125 Border Post refugee camp said. "No expense will be spared to send her on to the Lincang City Hospital, and if they can't treat her, direct to [the provincial capital] Kunming." He added: "She was about seven or eight. The injuries were to her head." Zhao said the girl's two brothers had been killed outright in the blast. "I was just at the scene, and we took their bodies and cremated them," he said, adding: "It was a terrible scene; I could barely look. I was in tears. This is so inhumane." Photos from the scene seen by RFA showed the dead bodies of the two boys and the girl, apparently unconsciously, being held by her mother. At least 10 injured Zhao said at least 10 people had been sent for medical treatment in China for injuries connected to the shelling. He said he didn't know which side in the conflict, which began in Laukkai on Feb. 9, fired the shell. "All I know is that it was an artillery shell," he said. Local sources told RFA the shell was likely fired by government troops, who have engaged Kokang rebel alliance fighters in intense fighting in an area known in Chinese as Nantianmen Mountain. Heavy shelling resumed on Monday following a temporary cease-fire that lasted less than 24 hours. But according to local residents, the Kokang rebels have no artillery emplacements around Laukkai. They said the shell had likely come from government artillery located in an area outside Laukkai known in Chinese as Mixiangou, and had likely been aimed at rebel forces and gone astray. Fighting began on Feb. 9 in Laukkai between Myanmar government troops and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) rebel forces. The MNDAA under ethnic Chinese commander Peng Jiasheng is trying to retake the Kokang self-administered zone, which it had controlled until 2009, forcing an estimated 100,000 refugees away from the conflict zone and across the border into China. New refugee facility An aid worker surnamed Li at a refugee camp in Maidihe, which straddles the border, said the authorities in Yunnan appeared to have relented and allowed some 1,000 refugees to re-enter a new facility on the Chinese side after forcing thousands of refugees back to the Myanmar side of the border last week. "We have some 4,000 people on this side, and another 1,000 elsewhere," Li said. "Some 1,000 people have already moved into a refugee camp on the Chinese side." "Some of those who didn't want to go to China have returned to their homes." He said the new camp is called Dayuntang. "They opened up a refugee camp there three days ago," Li said. "It's probably because the fighting has intensified, and because of international pressure," he said. Beijing has been at pains to distance itself from involvement in the Kokang conflict following tensions with Myanmar's ruling military junta over the role played by its citizens in supporting the ethnically Chinese Kokang side. Peng's dangerous gamble Li said many older refugees had refused to go to China because they weren't allowed to take their livestock with them, and there was no-one to care for them in Kokang. The MNDAA is allied with three other ethnic minority armies: the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and part of the Shan State Army (SSA), although the KIA has remained in the region it controls, rather than fighting alongside MNDAA troops. Further south, in the Shan town of Lashio, Chinese-speaking ethnic Kokang residents said Peng may have miscalculated in taking on the army, which has superior fire power and holds the region. A Lashio resident surnamed Li said much of the online debate over the conflict was being framed as a bid for greater autonomy by Myanmar's ethnic Chinese, making Peng's battle for hearts and minds even trickier. "This allows the Myanmar government to claim the higher moral ground of maintaining order," Li said. "It's hard to say that Peng Jiasheng is in the wrong, but he is in the last stage of his life, and he wants to take Laukkai [before he dies]," he said. "He was gambling on other armed ethnic groups taking their cue from him, creating an opportunity in the midst of chaos." "But this time, he has miscalculated, and the gamble hasn't paid off," Li said. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Lee Tung for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/kokang-shell-03102015132437.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years, 10 months

Breaking News: Businessman Tied to Kokang Rebel Leader Dies in Custody of Myanmar Authorities

by Paul Eckert

Businessman Tied to Kokang Rebel Leader Dies in Custody of Myanmar Authorities March 9 - A prominent ethnic Chinese businessman with family ties to the leader of a rebel group fighting government troops in northern Myanmar’s Shan state has died while in custody of local authorities, prompting speculation he was tortured to death, sources said Monday. Yangon-based Li Guoquan, 60, was secretly arrested by Myanmar’s military intelligence agency on Feb. 23, sources in the city told RFA’s Mandarin Service on the condition of anonymity, adding that it was unclear why he had been taken into custody. Li died after being admitted to the Yangon Military Hospital on March 5 and was buried by his family at a nearby cemetery a day later, they said. Miandian Zaixian (Myanmar Online), a Chinese language news website, claims to have obtained the deceased businessman’s autopsy report, which it said indicated Li’s death was caused by “internal injuries” and “serious damage to internal organs.” Witnesses who were in the hospital with Li also told Myanmar Online that the right side of his face and stomach exhibited severe wounds at the time of his death, prompting the website to question whether he had been tortured to death by intelligence agents while in custody. Sources said Li’s death may have been linked to his ties to ethnic Chinese brother-in-law Peng Deren—the military commander in charge of operations for the rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which is fighting to retake the Kokang self-administered zone of Shan state it had controlled until 2009. Shan State shares a long rugged border with China’s Yunnan province and a significant segment of people in Kokang are ethnic Chinese. Peng Deren’s father, Peng Jiasheng, leads the MNDAA, but the younger Peng is in charge of the group’s combat operations. The conflict in Kokang flared up on Feb. 9 and has killed more than 100 people and displaced tens of thousands of people. The military may also have suspected Li, who was born in the Kokang region, of financing the Kokang rebels with the wealth he accumulated as a successful businessman, the sources said. The death of the former vice president of both the Yangon Kokang Ethnic Culture Association and the Chinese Business Chamber of Myanmar, has shocked the country’s Chinese community, sources told RFA, adding that the belief that he had been killed was widespread. A source that was close to Li called him a “gentle” person with moderate political views, despite his personal connections to the Peng family. Other sources said that if Li had committed any acts of treason he should have been given a fair and public trial, while his death in custody had conjured up images of life under Myanmar’s former military regime—a contradiction to democratic reforms introduced by President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian since taking power in 2011. A large number of Myanmar's ethnic Chinese and residents of Kokang disagree with Peng Jiasheng, they said, and would prefer to integrate as citizens of the country. But Li’s death had lent legitimacy to the rebel cause, they added, prompting moderate ethnic Chinese to call their loyalty to the country into question. Recent fighting Li’s death came to light as fighting in Kokang intensified over the weekend, with the military employing air and artillery strikes against rebels, a resident of Kokang told RFA Monday. “The battle raged all day [Sunday] with military aircraft bombing the area intensively,” he said, adding that he was unclear about the number of casualties from the day’s fighting. “When the military airplanes dropped bombs, it looked as if the whole mountain caught fire. Government troops also used artillery [Sunday] but it has been quiet today.” The source said residents of Kokang were required to show their identification to cross the border into China’s Yunnan province and that refugees were being told to use the checkpoint at the Chinese town of Nansan to enter the country. “It is reported that China’s armed police will seal off the border area in two or three days as more and more refugees cross on daily basis,” he said, adding that there are now more than 4,000 refugees living in Nansan. Refugees and aid workers have said Chinese authorities previously offered reliable humanitarian aid to some 100,000 Kokang refugees who fled to Yunnan, but have begun forcing thousands back across the border into Myanmar since last week. Also on Monday, Kokang residents reported that Myanmar’s military aircraft had mistakenly dropped four bombs into Chinese territory during Sunday’s battle. Pictures provided by the residents show individuals dressed like Chinese officials investigating the bomb sites, though China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not made any public comments about the alleged incident. Bilateral meetings were held over the weekend in both China and Myanmar with the aim of reducing tensions over the Kokang conflict, the officials Global New Light of Myanmar reported Monday. Officials from the foreign ministries of both nations met in the Shan State border town of Muse on Sunday, while a delegation of the Myanmar-China Friendship Association traveled to Beijing to meet with Liu Zhenmin, the Chinese vice-minister for foreign affairs, along with other officials from March 3-8. Reported by Li Tong and Qian Long for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Translated by Ping Chen and Feng Xiaoming. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/businessman-03092015181419.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

9 years, 10 months

RFA Launches New Edition of Asian Women's e-Book // *** DC Event at at 12:15 PM (US ET) TODAY ***

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2, 2015 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org RFA Launches New Edition of Asian Women's e-Book * <http://www.newamerica.org/breadwinning-caregiving/asias-unsung-female-leade rs/> Today at 12:15 ET (US) in Washington, DC, Book Event with Burmese political activist Zin Mar Aung at New America Foundation* WASHINGTON - Ahead of International Women's Day, <http://www.rfa.org/english/> Radio Free Asia (RFA) today launched the second edition of an e-book <http://www.rfa.org/english/bookshelf> profiling women from Asian countries and regions under authoritarian rule taking up the fight for human rights on their families' and communities' behalf. 'It's not OK' collects and presents additional portraits of these remarkable individuals, whose often untold stories demonstrate courage under fire, in China, Southeast Asia, and North Korea. The book is available for free on the iTunes Store <https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/itsnotok-2ndedition/id972140033?mt=11> and Google Play <https://play.google.com/store> . "For women living in Asian countries under strict authoritarian rule, the challenges of fighting for human rights can be immense," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "These fearless individuals must contend with rigid social norms, little representation in government, and few legal protections, at great cost to themselves and their families. "That is why it is especially important to know and share their stories. Awareness and attention can help protect them, improve their situation, and advance their cause." Portraits selected by RFA's nine language services are based on RFA reporting and interviews over the years, in addition to other sources. The e-book also features multimedia content, including video interviews, graphics, and illustrations, the latter of which were created by the Broadcasting Board of Governor's <http://www.innovation-series.com/tag/oddi/> Office of Digital & Design Innovation (ODDI). The new portraits in this edition are: women's advocate and poverty activist Susanna Hla Hla Soe (Myanmar); jailed mother Nurungul Tohti (China's Uyghur region); UK born Tibetan advocate Dechen Pema; jailed veteran journalist Gao Yu (China); anti-human trafficking activist Tran Thi Nga (Vietnam); land grab activist Sivanxai Phommalath (Laos); and Park Sun-young (South Korea), an advocate of North Korean defectors. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

9 years, 10 months

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Engnews March 2015