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January
U.N. rights envoy urges halt to attacks on Myanmar town as residents trapped
Written by Nur Yasmin
Myanmar's military must halt attacks on the town of Loikaw and lift a blockade on those trying to flee, a U.N. human rights investigator said on Monday, as a shaken resident described constant shelling and air strikes in the area.
Loikaw is the capital of eastern Myanmar's Kayah State, which borders Thailand that has often seen intense fighting between the army and rebel groups opposed to last year's coup.
Since last week, the military had launched air strikes and fired artillery in the town, forcing several thousand residents to flee, according to a resident and media reports.
In a message on Twitter, Thomas Andrews, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said military ruler Min Aung Hlaing "must immediately halt the air and ground attacks that junta forces have unleashed on Loikaw".
A blockade preventing people fleeing from the area should also be lifted and humanitarian aid let in, he said.
A spokesman for the military junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
A resident in Loikaw said fighting on the outskirts of the town meant it was very difficult to flee.
"I have just prepared mentally that I might die," said the resident, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.
The resident said some people with vehicles or motorbikes had managed to get out, but many others including the elderly or sick had not been able to leave.
A staff member at Shwe Loikaw, an aid group in the area, estimated two thirds of the population were trying to flee.
The Myanmar Now news portal at the weekend cited rebel groups as saying four civilians had been killed in the town.
In a statement, the Karenni National Defence Force (KNDF), one of the main opposition forces in the area, said its members had shot down an army helicopter and killed about 30 soldiers in Loikaw. It later said another 8 troops had been killed in nearby Demoso town.
Reuters could not independently confirm the claims.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi last February, sparking months of protests and a bloody crackdown.
Since the coup, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 11,000 arrested in efforts by the security forces to stifle protests, according to a tally by the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners rights group.
The military disputes the group's death toll.
No group has issued a reliable estimate of the number of people killed in fighting between insurgent groups and the military. (reuters)
January
Putin, after Kazakh unrest, says Russian-led bloc will stymie any coups
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday blamed Kazakhstan's violent unrest on destructive internal and external forces, and said the Russian-led CSTO military alliance would not allow its member governments to be toppled in ex-Soviet "colour revolutions".
He told an online meeting of the leaders of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation by video link that the deployment of CSTO troops had prevented armed groups from undermining the basis of power in Kazakhstan.
"Of course, we understand the events in Kazakhstan are not the first and far from the last attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of our states from the outside," Putin said.
Thousands of people were detained and some public buildings were torched during mass anti-government protests last week.
"The measures taken by the CSTO have clearly shown we will not allow the situation to be rocked at home and will not allow so-called 'colour revolutions' to take place," he said, referring to several popular ex-Soviet uprisings in the last two decades.
He said the CSTO contingent would be withdrawn once its mission was complete and when Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev thought they were no longer needed.
Putin made the comments after a speech by Tokayev, whose bravery he praised. The Kazakh leader said order had been restored but that the hunt for "terrorists" was ongoing. read more
Demonstrations started against a fuel price rise before erupting into a wider protest against Tokayev's government and the man he replaced as president, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev.
"The threat to Kazakhstan's statehood arose not because of spontaneous protests and rallies concerning fuel prices. It is because destructive internal and external forces took advantage of the situation," Putin said. (reuters)
January
After COVID infections, Hong Kong's first 2022 legislature meeting may be online
Written by Nur Yasmin
Hong Kong's first legislature meeting of 2022 may have to be held online, its council president said on Monday, after over 30 officials and lawmakers were quarantined following COVID infections at a birthday party of a delegate to China's legislature.
Andrew Leung, the city's Legislative Council president, said four legislators remained in quarantine ahead of Wednesday's meeting, while sixteen others need to be tested again.
"If we cannot hold a physical meeting, then we will switch everything to zoom mode," he told a media briefing.
Leung's comments come after 11 government officials and 16 lawmakers were released from quarantine on Saturday after authorities said they were less likely to have been exposed to infected guests at a party last week.
The party for the 53rd birthday of Witman Hung, a delegate to the national legislature, took place on Jan. 3 with close to 200 people, before leader Carrie Lam imposed new restrictions on social life on Jan 7. Lam appealed to the public to avoid large gatherings.
Lam has ordered an inquiry into the behaviour of 13 senior government officials to see if any laws were broken. read more
The released officials are required to isolate at home using their own vacation leave, according to a government statement.
The timing comes as residents are increasingly weary of new restrictions. The city saw a three-month streak of no community transmission broken on Dec. 31, with the confirmation of the city's first local infection with the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
Several more cases have been detected since and hundreds of close contacts have been sent into government quarantine facilities for up to 21 days.
Since the pandemic began in 2020, more than 200 people have died in Hong Kong from coronavirus with over 12,800 infected, far fewer than in most of the world's big cities.
Around 4.7 million people, or just under 70% of the eligible population has received two shots of either the BioNTech or the Sinovac vaccines, much lower than in other developed cities. (Reuters)
January
President of Kazakhstan says he has weathered attempted coup d'etat
Written by Nur Yasmin
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Monday that his country had weathered an attempted coup d'etat coordinated by what he called "a single centre" after the most violent unrest since the Soviet collapse.
In a speech to an online meeting of the Russian-led CSTO military alliance by video link, Tokayev said that order had now been restored in Kazakhstan, but that the hunt for "terrorists" was ongoing.
"Under the guise of spontaneous protests, a wave of unrest broke out... It became clear that the main goal was to undermine the constitutional order and to seize power. We are talking about an attempted coup d'etat," he said.
Demonstrations against a fuel price rise began just over a week ago before erupting into a wider protest against Tokayev's government and the man he replaced as president, 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev.
"The main blow was directed against (the city of) Almaty. The fall of this city would have paved the way for a takeover of the densely populated south and then the whole country," he said. "Then they planned to seize the capital."
Tokayev said that a large-scale "counter-terrorism" operation would soon end along with a CSTO mission that he said numbered 2,030 troops and 250 pieces of military hardware.
Tokayev defended his decision to invite Russian-led troops into the country and said that doubts over the legitimacy of that mission stemmed from a lack of information.
Kazakhstan would soon provide proof to the international community about what had happened, he said.Sixteen members of the security forces were killed, while the number of civilian casualties is still being checked, he said. (reuters)
January
China offers Kazakhstan security support, opposes 'external forces'
Written by Nur Yasmin
China is willing to increase "law enforcement and security" cooperation with neighbouring Kazakhstan and help oppose interference by "external forces", China's foreign minister said on Monday, after violent protests in the Central Asian country.
Wang Yi, who is also a state councillor, made the comments in a call to Kazakhstan's foreign minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
"Recent turmoil in Kazakhstan shows that the situation in Central Asia is still facing severe challenges, and it once again proves that some external forces do not want peace and tranquillity in our region," the ministry quoted Wang telling Tileuberdi.
Government buildings in Kazakhstan were briefly captured or torched in several cities last week as initially peaceful protests against fuel price increases turned violent. Troops were ordered to shoot to kill to put down a countrywide uprising.
Authorities have blamed the violence on "extremists", including foreign-trained Islamist militants, for the violence.
Authorities also asked a Russian-led military bloc to send in troops, who the government says have been deployed to guard strategic sites, a move questioned by United States.
Experts say China worries instability in its neighbour could threaten energy imports and Belt-and-Road projects there, and security in its western Xinjiang region, which shares a 1,770-km (1,110-mile) border with Kazakhstan.
China was willing to "jointly oppose the interference and infiltration of any external forces", said Wang.
China's President Xi Jinping on Friday told Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that China resolutely opposed any foreign force that destabilises Kazakhstan and engineers a "colour revolution", Chinese state television said.
China and Russia believe "colour revolutions" are uprisings instigated by the United States and other Western powers to achieve regime change.
"China does not want to see an expansion of U.S. influence in Kazakhstan and Central Asia as a result of this unrest," said Li Mingjiang, associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
"If a colour revolution in a nearby country leads to political democratisation, it could encourage the liberal-leaning intellectual elite in China to try something similar," he said.
Since the Vietnam War in the 1960s, China traditionally does not send troops to other countries, citing its policy of non-interference, except under the United Nations Peacekeeping banner.
Last month it sent six police officers to the Solomon Islands to help train the police force and quell the riots sparked by the country's 2019 switch of diplomatic relations to Beijing from Taiwan. (reuters)
January
Ex-security chief arrested as Kazakhstan presses crackdown on unrest
Written by Nur Yasmin
Kazakhstan's former intelligence chief has been arrested on suspicion of treason, the state security agency said on Saturday, as the former Soviet republic cracks down on a wave of unrest and starts to assign blame.
The detention of Karim Massimov was announced by the National Security Committee which he headed until he was fired by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday after violent protests swept across the Central Asian nation.
Tokayev's office said he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the situation was stabilising.
"At the same time, hotbeds of terrorist attacks persist. Therefore, the fight against terrorism will continue with full determination," it quoted him as saying.
The Kremlin said Putin backed Tokayev's idea to convene a video call of leaders from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), under whose umbrella Russia and four other former Soviet republics have sent troops into Kazakhstan to help restore order. It was not clear when this would take place.
Dozens of people have been killed, thousands have been detained and public buildings across Kazakhstan have been torched over the past week in the worst violence experienced in the oil and uranium producer since it became independent in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed.
Tokayev has ordered his troops to shoot to kill to end what he has called attacks by bandits and terrorists.
He said on Friday the state had "slept through" instigators' preparations to launch attacks on the biggest city, Almaty, and across the country. Massimov's arrest indicated moves were under way against those deemed responsible.
Apart from heading the intelligence agency that replaced the Soviet-era KGB, Massimov was twice prime minister and worked closely with former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country's ruler for three decades until he turned over the presidency to Tokayev in 2019.
There were no details of the treason allegations. The security service said other officials were also detained, but did not name them.
On Friday, a pro-government politician said on television he had information that the security forces had been ordered to abandon Almaty airport so protesters could take it over. He said they had left a security building in the city undefended, enabling people to seize weapons.
It was not immediately possible to verify this account. The airport remains closed but is now under the control of Kazakh security personnel and Russian troops, according to Russia's defence ministry.
SPORADIC GUNSHOTS
The demonstrations began as a response to a fuel price hike but swelled into a broad movement against Tokayev's Russian-backed government and 81-year-old Nazarbayev.
Tokayev removed Nazarbayev on Wednesday as head of the country's Security Council, a role in which he had continued to wield significant influence. Interfax news agency reported on Saturday that the council's deputy head had also been fired.
In Almaty, where security forces have reclaimed control of the streets since Friday, a Reuters reporter said occasional gunshots were heard on Saturday.
Some businesses began to reopen in the city as people ventured out to buy supplies, and queues formed at petrol stations.
Security forces patrolled the streets and set up checkpoints. The deputy mayor was quoted by Russia's RIA news agency as saying operations to purge the city of "terrorists and bandit groups" were still under way and citizens were advised to stay at home.
Zhumadin Patov, the deputy head of a public market in Almaty, said the checkpoints and petrol station closures had complicated food distribution in the city of about 2 million people.
"There is enough food in warehouses, but it cannot be delivered because of the checkpoints and lack of fuel," he said.
In the capital Nur-Sultan, Reuters filmed police stopping drivers at a checkpoint with armed soldiers nearby.
The interior ministry said more than 4,400 people had been detained since the start of the unrest. Tokayev announced a national day of mourning for Monday to commemorate those killed.
Access to the internet, which was been largely shut down in Kazakhstan for days, was still heavily disrupted on Saturday.
The deployment of the Russia-led CSTO military alliance at Tokayev's invitation comes at a time of high tension in East-West relations as Russia and the United States prepare for talks next week on the Ukraine crisis.
Moscow has deployed large numbers of troops near its border with Ukraine but denies U.S. suggestions it is planning an invasion, saying it wants guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion.
Washington has challenged the justification for sending Russian troops to Kazakhstan and questioned whether what has been billed as a mission of days or weeks could turn into a much longer presence.
"One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
Russia's foreign ministry called the remark offensive and said Blinken should reflect on the U.S. track record of military interventions in countries such as Vietnam and Iraq. (Reuters)
January
Fire tears through Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh
Written by Nur Yasmin
A fire swept through a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday, destroying hundreds of homes, according to officials and witnesses, though there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The blaze hit Camp 16 in Cox's Bazar, a border district where than a million Rohingya refugees live, with most having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017.
Mohammed Shamsud Douza, a Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said emergency workers had brought the fire under control. The cause of the blaze has not been established, he added.
"Everything is gone. Many are without homes," said Abu Taher, a Rohingya refugee.
Another blaze tore through a COVID-19 treatment centre for refugees in another refugee camp in the district last Sunday, causing no casualties.
A devastating fire last March swept through the world’s biggest refugee settlement in Cox's Bazar, killing at least 15 refugees and burned down more than 10,000 shanties. (reuters)
January
Sri Lanka's president asks China to restructure debt repayments
Written by Nur Yasmin
Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked China to help restructure debt repayments as part of efforts to help the South Asian country weather a worsening financial crisis, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
Rajapaksa made the request during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Colombo on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has benefited from billions of dollars in soft loans from China but the island nation is currently in the midst of a foreign exchange crisis placing it on the verge of default, according to analysts.
"The president pointed out that it would be a great relief to the country if attention could be paid on restructuring the debt repayments as a solution to the economic crisis that has arisen in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic," Rajapaksa's office said in the statement.
China is Sri Lanka's fourth biggest lender, behind international financial markets, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan.
Over the last decade China has lent Sri Lanka over $5 billion for highways, ports, an airport and a coal power plant. But critics charge the funds were used for white elephant projects with low returns, which China has denied.
Rajapaksa also requested China to provide "concessional terms" for its exports to Sri Lanka, which amounted to about $3.5 billion in 2020, the statement said, but did not give more details. Rajapaksa also proposed allowing Chinese tourists to return to Sri Lanka provided they adhere to strict COVID restrictions, including only staying at pre-approved hotels and visiting only certain tourist attractions.
Before the pandemic China was Sri Lanka's main source of tourists and the island imports more goods from China than from any other country.
Sri Lanka is a key part of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a long-term plan to fund and build infrastructure linking China to the rest of the world, but which others including the United States have labelled a "debt trap" for smaller nations.
Sri Lanka has to repay about $4.5 billion in debt this year starting with a $500 million International Sovereign Bond (ISB)maturing on Jan. 18.
A $1.5 billion yuan swap from China helped the island boost its reserves to $3.1 billion at the end of December.
Debt repayment to China in 2022 is likely to be smaller than its ISB commitments of $1.54 billion, at about $400 million-$500 million, a Sri Lankan finance ministry source told Reuters.
Sri Lanka's central bank has repeatedly assured all debt repayments will be met and said funds for the January ISB has already been allocated. (reuters)
January
Pope calls for dialogue, justice to end unrest in Kazakhstan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Pope Francis called on Sunday for dialogue and justice to put an end to violent unrest in Kazakhstan, adding he was saddened by news about deaths occurred in the country.
"I have learned with sorrow that there have been victims during the protests that have broken out in recent days in Kazakhstan," the pope told hundreds of people in St. Peter's Square for his noon blessing and address.
"I pray for them and for their families, and I hope that social harmony will be restored as soon as possible through the search for dialogue, justice and the common good," the pope said.
Kazakhstan authorities said on Sunday they had stabilised the situation across the country after the deadliest outbreak of violence in 30 years of independence, and troops from a Russian-led military alliance were guarding "strategic facilities". read more
Russia's Sputnik news agency cited Kazakhstan's Health Ministry as saying a total of 164 people, including two children, were killed in Kazakhstan over the last week.
Demonstrations began a week ago against a fuel price rise before exploding into a wider protest against the government. (reuters)
January
Australia's New South Wales marks its highest COVID-19 death count
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths on Saturday as the Omicron variant sweeps the country and lawmakers face pressure to close widening supply chain gaps.
The home to Sydney and a third of Australia's 25 million people reported 16 deaths from the coronavirus in the previous day. New South Wales reported 30,062 new infections, near record levels.
The second-largest state, Victoria, which hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament this month, reported 44,155 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths.
The country reported just under 100,000 cases overall, down from a record 116,025 the previous day, but still surpassing most previous peaks. Total deaths for the day were 36.
With the surge bringing a rush for government-funded pop-up testing clinics, the authorities have shifted their messaging and urged people to instead take rapid antigen tests at home, then report positive results to their doctor, who enters it into a database.
Authorities are calling for calm amid reports of bare supermarket shelves as people stay home to avoid infection and delivery personnel self-isolate due to virus exposure.
"We have seen very low rates of significant illness," federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters. "It is the workforce furloughing which remains the principal challenge at this point in time."
The government and its health advisers have cut mandatory isolation times for close contacts and narrowed the definition of close contacts but were still reviewing the rules for furloughing workers, Hunt said.
Australia meanwhile plans to start vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 on Monday. Most states said they would begin the new school year as scheduled at the end of January but Queensland, the third most populous state, said it would postpone the return to school by two weeks to give children time to be vaccinated.
Despite the outbreak, political leaders have cited Australia's high vaccination rate - more than 90% of people over 16 are fully vaccinated - to justify a reopening plan. But several states in recent days have postponed non-urgent elective surgery to clear hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and reintroduced mask mandates.
New South Wales, which emerged from more than 100 days of lockdown late last year, has reinstated a ban on dancing and drinking while standing up in bars. (reuters)