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Category: military

  • Palestinian writer Muhammad Shehada reflects on 6 months of brutal military assault of Gaza.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Myanmar guerilla group launches attack on military office

    An urban guerilla group attacked a major administrative office in Myanmar’s largest city, an official from the rebel organization told Radio Free Asia on Monday. 

    Urban Special Force, a Yangon-based group opposing the military that seized power in a 2021 coup, took responsibility for shooting long-range shock missiles. 

    The group shot at the Office of the Chief of Military Security Affairs on Saturday night because it was an important military target, the official said. 

    “Things seized from the people who participated in the Spring Revolution were kept in that office. Then the [junta] resold those objects as military’s property,” he said, declining to be named for fear of reprisals.

    An administrator from Yangon’s North Okkalapa township, south of the blast site in Mingaladon township, confirmed the attack took place near his residence. 

    “The office was attacked on the night of the sixth. The junta has tried to hide this news,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons. “From that night until the next day, all roads near the office were closed and checked.”

    RFA contacted Yangon region’s junta spokesperson Htay Aung for more information on the extent of the damage, but he did not respond by the time of publication. 

    Urban Special Forces previously attacked the junta’s air force housing in Yangon’s Insein township on March 8. 

    Since the military seized power in 2021, urban guerilla-style militia groups have proliferated in Yangon, many aligning themselves with the shadow National Unity Government. 

    Junta soldiers have tightened security in Yangon region after a series of bomb blasts in some townships since the end of March, according to residents.

    Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn. 


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Wenda challenges Indonesia’s ‘Papua never colonised’ claim as false

    By Doddy Morris of the Vanuatu Daily Post

    It has been 60 years since Indonesia has been refused humanitarian agencies and international media access to enter West Papua, says a leading West Papuan leader and advocate.

    According to Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Indonesia is “comparable to North Korea” in terms of media access.

    North Korea does not allow international media visits, and the situation in West Papua is similar.

    Speaking with the Vanuatu Daily Post on Friday in response to claims by the Indonesia ambassador Dr Siswo Pramono last Thursday, Wenda said organisations such as the Red Cross, International Peace Brigades, human rights agencies, and even the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had been banned from West Papua for 60 years.

    “Indonesia claims to be a democratic country. Then why does Indonesia refuse to allow, in line with calls from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), a visit from the United Nations (UN) Commissioner to examine the human rights situation?” he said.

    “It has been 60 years, yet Indonesia has not heeded this call, while the killings continue.

    “If Indonesia truly upholds democracy, then it should allow a visit by the UN Commissioner.

    Indonesia ‘must respect UN visit’
    “This is why we, as Melanesians and Pacific Islanders, are demanding such a visit. Even 85 countries have called for the UN Commissioner’s visit, and Indonesia must respect this as it is a member of the UN.”

    The ULMWP also issued a statement stating that more than 100,000 West Papuans were internally displaced between December 2018 and March 2022 as a result of an escalation in Indonesian militarisation.

    Indonesian Ambassador Dr Siswo Pramono's controversial and historically wrong "no colonisation" claims
    Indonesian Ambassador Dr Siswo Pramono’s controversial and historically wrong “no colonisation” claims over West Papua published in the Vanuatu Daily Post last Thursday have stirred widespread criticism. Image: VDP screenshot APR

    It was reported that as of October 2023, 76,228 Papuans had remained internally displaced, and more than 1300 Papuans were killed between 2018 and 2023.

    Also a video of Indonesian soldiers torturing a West Papuan man in Puncak has made international news.

    In response to the disturbing video footage about the incident in Papua, Indonesia stated that the 13 Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers allegedly involved had been detained.

    “The Embassy emphasised that torture is not the policy of the Government of Indonesia nor its National Armed Forces or Indonesian National Police,” the statement relayed.

    “Therefore, such actions cannot be tolerated. Indonesia reaffirms its unwavering commitment to upholding human rights, including in Papua, in accordance with international standards.”

    Indonesia lobbying Pacific
    The ULMWP said Indonesia was lobbying in Vanuatu and the Pacific, “presenting themselves as friends”, while allegedly murdering and torturing Melanesians.

    “For instance, in the Vanuatu Daily Post interview published on Thursday [last] week, the Indonesian Ambassador to Vanuatu claimed that West Papua was never colonised.

    “This claim is flatly untrue: for one thing, the Ambassador claimed that ‘West Papua has never been on the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation (C-24)’ — but in fact, West Papua was added to the list of ‘Non-Self Governing Territories’ as the Dutch decolonised in the 1960s,” the movement stated.

    “According to the 1962 New York Agreement, West Papua was transferred to Indonesia on the condition of a free and fair vote on independence.

    “However, in 1969, a handpicked group of 1022 West Papuans (of an estimated population of 800,000) was forced to vote for integration with Indonesia, under conditions of widespread coercion, military violence and intimidation.

    “Therefore, the right to self-determination in West Papua remains unfulfilled and decolonisation in West Papua is incomplete under international law. The facts could not be clearer — West Papua is a colonised territory.”

    The Vanuatu Daily Post also asked some similar questions that had been posed to Indonesia on March 28, 2024, to which Wenda responded adeptly.

    Insights into West Papua
    Additionally, he provided insightful commentary on the current geopolitical landscape:

    What do you believe Indonesia’s intention is in seeking membership in the MSG?
    Indonesia’s intention to join MSG is to prevent West Papua from becoming a full member. Their aim is to obstruct West Papua’s membership because Indonesia, being Asian, does not belong to Melanesia.

    While they have their own forum called the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we, as Melanesians, have the PIF, representing our regional bloc. Indonesia’s attempt to become an associate member is not in line with our Melanesian identity.

    Melanesians span from Fiji to West Papua, and we are linguistically, geographically, and culturally distinct. We are entitled to our Melanesian identity.

    Currently, West Papua is not represented in MSG; only Indonesia is recognised. We have long been denied representation, and Indonesia’s intention to become an associate member is solely to impede West Papua’s inclusion is evident.

    Is Indonesia supporting West Papua’s efforts to become a full member of the MSG?
    I don’t think their intention is to support; rather, they seek to exert influence within Melanesia to obstruct and prevent it. This explains their significant investment over the last 10 years. Previously, they showed no interest in Melanesian affairs, so why the sudden change?

    What aid is Indonesia offering Vanuatu and for what purpose? What are Indonesia’s intentions and goals in its foreign relations with Vanuatu?
    I understand that Indonesia is an associate member of the MSG and contributes to its annual budget, which is acceptable. However, if Indonesia is investing heavily here, why aren’t they focusing on addressing the needs of their own people?

    I haven’t observed any ni-Vanuatu begging on the streets from the airport to here [Port Vila]. In contrast, in Jakarta, there are people sleeping under bridges begging for assistance.

    Why not invest in improving the lives of your own citizens? People in Jakarta endure hardships, living in slum settlements and under bridges, whereas I have never witnessed any Melanesians from West Papua to Fiji begging.

    So, why the sudden heavy investment here, and why now?

    Republished from the Vanuatu Daily Post with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • PNG’s Marape orders military-police operation in Porgera over illegal mining

    PNG Post-Courier

    Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has authorised a joint military and police operation in a decisive move to curb the escalating problem of illegal mining in the Porgera Valley.

    This action comes in response to the recent surge of unauthorised miners invading the Special Mining Lease (SML) area, posing significant risks to both the trespassers and the official mine workers.

    “This is in response to incursions by illegal miners into the SML area,” Prime Minister Marape said.

    Highlighting the gravity of the situation, he added: “This endangers both the lives of illegal miners as well as the mine workers.

    “Last week has seen an extraordinary increase of illegal miners encroaching into the mine area, and uncontrolled movement of people amid so many tribal disputes.”

    The decision for a military-police collaboration stems from Friday’s cabinet meeting, underscoring the government’s commitment to maintaining peace and order in the region.

    “Cabinet could have called for a state of emergency but decided against this,” Prime Minister Marape explained.

    ‘Synergising’ military, police
    Instead, a targeted call-out order would be issued to “synergise military and police efforts” in restoring peace and normalcy in the Porgera Valley.

    Prime Minister Marape issued a stern warning against illegal miners and individuals taking part in unlawful activities, saying, “I want to advise illegal miners and those involved in illegal activities that the long arm of the law will catch up with you.”

    In addition to immediate security measures, the Prime Minister unveiled plans for a sustainable solution to verify and manage the local population.

    National Identification cards will soon be distributed to all traditional landowners and business proprietors in the Porgera Valley, with special passes provided to other residents.

    “This is to avoid an influx of unnecessary people into the Porgera Valley,” he said.

    With the recent reopening of the New Porgera Mine, Prime Minister Marape emphasised the critical role of the local community in ensuring the venture’s success.

    “The New Porgera Mine is expected to give maximum benefits to landowners. Any illegal
    activities jeopardise the profitability of the mine.

    “Every citizen of Porgera must take it upon themselves to ensure no illegal trespassing into the mine area,” he said.

    Republished from PNG Post-Courier with permission.

    The call-out authorisation in PNG’s official National Gazette. Image: PNG Post-Courier

     

     

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • More pressure from US allies could see change to ‘untenable policy’ on Gaza, says analyst

    Asia Pacific Report

    Nour Odeh, a Palestinian political analyst, has told Al Jazeera’s Inside Story that the US is more likely to move in the “right direction” when it comes to Israel if it feels pressure from its allies, reports Al Jazeera.

    “The more Washington feels pressure from its friends, that its policy on Israel is becoming a liability, the more likely I think that we’re going to see a movement in the right direction,” Odeh, who is also the former spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority, told Al Jazeera’s Inside Story.

    Odeh noted a recent letter calling for the US to halt weapons sales to Israel, which showed more Democratic politicians, including Nancy Pelosi, are finding US policies “untenable” after a recent Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza.

    Palestinian analyst Nour Odeh
    Palestinian analyst Nour Odeh . . . “What the Americans are doing now seems like a big deal because they’ve been complicit in this war since the beginning.” Image: APR File

    “What the Americans are doing now seems like a big deal because they’ve been complicit in this war since the beginning”, she said.

    Odeh, who spoke to Al Jazeera from Ramallah, described the last six months as “soul-crushing”, but said that a lot of “solace if not hope is found in the global solidarity movement”.

    “This is not a destiny anybody can accept,” she said.

    Ngāmotu protest
    Meanwhile, a Ngāmotu (New Pymouth) rally on al-Quds Day was featured on Al Jazeera Arabic world news as thousands of people took to the streets of New Zealand over the weekend to protest against the war and the failure of Israel to abide by the US Security Council resolution last month ordering an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

    International Quds Day is an annual pro-Palestinian event held on the last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to express support for Palestinians and oppose Israel and Zionism.

    It takes its name from the Arabic name for Jerusalem — al-Quds.


    The Ngāmotu rally on Quds Day as featured on Al Jazeera Arabic.  Video: Al Jazeera

    On RNZ’s Saturday Morning programme yesterday, the author of a new book featuring the hardships and repression facing Palestinians in their daily lives living under occupation in Jerusalem gave some insights into this human story.

    Jerusalem-based American journalist and author Nathan Thrall’s book is named on 10 best books of the year lists, including The New Yorker, The Economist and The Financial Times.

    A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: A Palestine Story is a portrait of life in Israel and Palestine, giving an understanding of what it is like to live there and the oppression and complexities of the pass system, based on the real events of one tragic day, where Jewish and Palestinian characters’ lives and pasts unexpectedly converge.

    Thrall has spent a decade with the International Crisis Group, where he was director of the Arab-Israeli Project. His first book, published in 2017 is The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine.

    The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa wrote about Thrall’s original article that led to the book:

    I pray that Thrall’s article will remind President Joe Biden of the courageous stance he took against apartheid in South Africa as a senator.

    I hope that it will provide a mirror which shows that the very same type of laws that he opposed in South Africa are now instrumental in oppressing Palestinians, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Let in UN human rights mission to West Papua – stop Indonesian impunity, says PANG

    PNG Post-Courier

    The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) has declared its solidarity with civil society groups and student protesters demonstrating against the torture of a Papuan man, Defianus Kogoya, by Indonesian troops in West Papua last February.

    The torture was revealed in a video that went viral across the world last month.

    PANG said in a statement that peaceful demonstrations came after the video was circulated showing Defianus Kogoya bound in a water-filled barrel, being beaten and cut with knives by Indonesian soldiers.

    Indonesian authorities have since admitted and apologised for the torture, and announced the arrest of 13 soldiers.

    In the same video incident, two other Papuan men, Warinus Murib and Alianus Murib, were also arrested and allegedly tortured. Warinus Murib died of his injuries.

    Reports state that 62 protesting students have been arrested and interrogated before they were released, while two people were seriously injured by Indonesian security forces.

    In an earlier protest, 15 people were arrested for giving out pamphlets. Protesters demand all military operations must cease in West Papua.

    “We condemn the excessive military presence in West Papua and the associated human rights violation against Papuans,” said the PANG statement.

    “We also condemn the use of heavy-handed tactics by the Indonesian police to violently assault and detain students who should have the right and freedom to express their views.

    “This demonstrates yet again the ongoing oppression by Indonesian authorities in West Papua despite decades of official denial and media censorship.”

    United Nations experts have expressed serious concerns about the deteriorating human rights situation in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua, citing shocking abuses against indigenous Papuans, including child killings, disappearances, torture and mass displacement of people.


    Thirteen arrests over the Papuan torture video.    Video: Al Jazeera

    Media censorship
    In its concluding observations of Indonesia’s second periodic report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on 26 March 2024, the Human Rights Committee expressed deep concern over:

    • patterns of extrajudicial killings,
    • enforced disappearances, torture, and
    • other forms of cruel and degrading treatment, particularly of or against indigenous Papuans and the failure to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.

    The committee also highlighted continuing reports of media censorship and suppression of the freedom of expression.

    “We call on the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) and the people and the governments of all Pacific Island countries to demand that Indonesia allow for the implementation of the decision of the PIF Leaders in August 2019 for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a mission to West Papua,” the PANG statement said.

    “We call on the special envoys of the PIF on West Papua to expedite their mandate to facilitate dialogue with Indonesia, and particularly to pave the way for an urgent UN visit.

    “We echo the calls made from the 62 students that were arrested for the Indonesian government to cease all military operations in West Papua and allow the United Nations to do its job.

    “Our Pacific governments should expect nothing less from Indonesia, particularly given its privileged position as an associate member of the MSG and as a PIF Dialogue Partner,” PANG said.

    Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • US needs to share military secrets, Australian diplomat says

    The United States can no longer go it alone on defense technology innovation and the production of military hardware, with foes like China and Russia already “outpacing” U.S. capabilities in some key areas, an Australian diplomat said in Washington on Friday.

    The comments came as a deadline looms within weeks for U.S. President Joe Biden to sign-off on a deal approved by Congress last year for Australia and the United Kingdom to be able to import sensitive American military technology without requiring a license.

    The controversial deal is central to “Pillar 2” of the AUKUS security pact between the three allies, which envisions a “seamless” defense industry across the countries to allow them to jointly develop new defense technologies and produce more military hardware.

    Pillar 2 was opposed by some American lawmakers, who said it could make it easier for Chinese spies to obtain U.S. defense secrets, and was even stymied by the U.S. State Department, which argued existing licensing arrangements provided adequate access to allies.

    However, Paul Myler, the soon-to-depart deputy head of the Australian Embassy in Washington, told an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that such bureaucracy was a relic of the past.

    ENG_PAC_AUKUS_04052024.3.jpg
    Paul Myler, the soon-to-depart deputy head of the Australian Embassy in Washington, speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies April 5, 2024 in Washington. (Image from CSIS video)

    Myler said the United States had long resisted sharing defense technology secrets with allies, because it was “operating off a legacy playbook” from the Cold War that aimed to defeat the Soviet Union by preserving America’s global superiority in military innovation.

    “This superiority was protected by a complex export-control regime that allowed for exports to U.S. allies and partners, but kept know-how and manufacturing capability strictly in U.S. hands,” he said. “That strategy worked while the U.S. maintained its technological superiority.”

    But three decades after the Cold War, Myler said, America’s defense industrial base was often struggling to produce hardware like nuclear submarines, while its foes were increasingly matching its capabilities.

    “Almost all of those Cold War-era technologies have now proliferated,” he said of the once closely-guarded innovations. “In some instances, Russia and China are outpacing U.S. and allied capabilities.”

    Looser U.S. export controls protected by better Australian and British security was the only fix, he said, so each AUKUS country can “take advantage of the innovative and productive capacities” of the others without fears that military secrets will fall into the wrong hands.

    Pillar 2

    Biden must decide by mid-April whether to approve the Congress-passed measure to authorize Australia and the United Kingdom for exemptions from the strict export controls.

    A top State Department official said earlier this year that the two countries were on their way to convincing American officials that safeguards had been put in place to protect sensitive military technology.

    “They are doing what they need and we’re doing what we need to put in place all the steps that have to happen so that we can certify,” Bonnie Jenkins, the under secretary of state for arms control, told a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Feb. 14. 

    “I feel very confident that we will certify,” she said.

    A “seamless” AUKUS defense industrial base also looks set for some further expansion, with Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell indicating on Wednesday there could be news after next week’s visit to Washington by the leaders of Japan and the Philippines.

    ENG_PAC_AUKUS_04052024.1.JPG
    Then-U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell speaks during a press conference at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea, July 18, 2023. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

    “It’s true that there are other countries that have expressed an interest to participate, under the right circumstances,” Campbell said.

    “I think it was always believed when AUKUS was launched that, at some point, we would welcome new countries to participate, in particular, in Pillar 2,” the No. 2 American diplomat said. “I think you’ll hear that we have something to say about that next week.” 

    The beans may have been spilled by the U.S. ambassador to Japan in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published the same day, though.

    “Biden has injected new energy into the Quad and launched the Aukus defense pact with the U.K. and Australia,” Rahm Emanuel wrote, “with Japan about to become the first additional Pillar II partner.”

    Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Alex Willemyns for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Three NZ Arab doctors joining Kia Ora Gaza humanitarian aid mission

    Asia Pacific Report

    Three New Zealand doctors — two Palestinian and one Iraq-born — are planning to join the charity Kia Ora Gaza in its mission this month to provide humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave, reports 1News.

    But reporter Simon Mercep says “they’re not completely sure whether they’ll reach the Gaza coast and step on dry land”.

    Mercep asked Gaza-born Dr Wasfi Shahin how hopeful was he?

    “He paused before smiling as he told 1News tonight: ‘Fifty percent. Not more’.

    But Mercep said he remained determined.

    Dr Shain said: “I hope I can reach there to see what I left 50 years ago.”

    1News asked Faiez Idais, a Jordan-trained doctor, how dangerous he expected the mission to be.

    ‘We’ll be in danger’
    “If they [the people of Gaza] are in danger, we’ll be in danger. It’s not a problem for us,” he said.

    “They don’t have even water to drink. They don’t have food to eat.”

    “I am a physician,” he added. “I can’t do anything from here.”

    Dr Idais was born in Jerusalem and has never been to the Gaza Strip.

    The third doctor, Iraqi-born Dr Adnan Al-Kenani, took a pragmatic approach, reports Mercep.

    The three doctors off to Gaza
    The three doctors off to Gaza . . . Dr Faiez Idais (from left), Dr Adnan Al-Kenani and Gaza-born Dr Wasfi Shahin (seated) . . . “If we get an opportunity, if we land there, we can do service.” Image: 1News screenshot APR

    “If we get an opportunity, if we land there, we can do service on land,” he said. “It depends on the circumstances there. But we are purely a health organisation.”

    The doctors will fly out of Auckland next week to join the Freedom Flotilla Coalition international humanitarian effort, which is assembling ships at the port of Istanbul in Turkiye.

    A container vessel and one ship for volunteers is already there, and a third is expected to join soon.

    Seven aid workers killed
    Since the doctors were interviewed for the report last weekend, seven international charity workers were killed in a drone attack by Israeli forces in Gaza — six foreigners and a Palestinian.

    This took the death toll of aid workers to at least 203 aid workers in Israel’s deadly six-month war on Gaza, according to the Aid Worker Security Database.

    The killing has caused outrage around the world and the founder of the charity World Central Kitchen that employed the aid workers, Spanish American celebrity chef Jose Andres,  said they were “targeted systematically”.

    This took the death toll of aid workers to 195 in Israel’s deadly six-month war on Gaza.

    Dr Adnan Ali, a GP and surgeon from Auckland, and Kia Ora Gaza coordinator Roger Fowler
    Dr Adnan Al-Kenani , a GP and surgeon from Auckland, and Kia Ora Gaza coordinator
    Roger Fowler speaking at a Palestine solidarity rally in Aotea Square last Sunday. Image: David Robie/APR

    ‘Catastrophic hunger’
    Meanwhile, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition reports that it will be sailing in mid-April with several vessels carrying 5500 tons of humanitarian aid and hundreds of international human rights observers to challenge the ongoing illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

    “This is an emergency mission as the situation in Gaza is dire, with famine setting in in northern Gaza, and catastrophic hunger present throughout the Gaza Strip as the result of a deliberate policy by the Israeli government to starve the Palestinian people,” the coalition said in a statement.

    “Time is critical as experts predict that hunger and disease could claim more lives than have been killed in the bombing.

    “Getting humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza is urgent, but it is not sufficient. We must end Israel’s unlawful, deadly blockade as well as Israel’s overall control of Gaza.”

    The statement added that “allowing Israel to control what and how much humanitarian aid can get to Palestinians in Gaza is like letting the fox manage the henhouse.”

    Asia Pacific Report with 1News and Freedom Flotilla Coalition reporting.

    The Majestic, one of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ships
    The Majestic, one of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition ships bound for Gaza. Image: 1News screenshot APR

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Israel’s Al Jazeera ban ‘alarms’ media watchdog on free press stranglehold

    Pacific Media Watch

    The New York-based media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists says the announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his intention to ban Al Jazeera follows a similar pattern of media interference, including the killing of media workers.

    “We’ve seen this kind of language before from Netanyahu and Israeli officials in which they try to paint journalists as ‘terrorists’, as ‘criminals’. This is nothing new,” Jodie Ginsberg told Al Jazeera.

    “It’s another example of the tightening of the free press and the stranglehold the Israeli government would like to exercise. It’s an incredibly worrying move by the government.”

    Netanyahu wrote on X on Monday that “Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers.

    “The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity.’

    The Qatar-based network rejected what it described as “slanderous accusations” and accused Netanyahu of “incitement”.

    “Al Jazeera holds the Israeli Prime Minister responsible for the safety of its staff and network premises around the world, following his incitement and this false accusation in a disgraceful manner,” it said in a statement.

    ‘Slanderous accusations’
    “Al Jazeera reiterates that such slanderous accusations will not deter us from continuing our bold and professional coverage, and reserves the right to pursue every legal step.”

    Netanyahu has long sought to shut down broadcasts from Al Jazeera, alleging anti-Israel bias, the network reports on its website.

    The law, which passed in a 71-10 vote in the Knesset, gives the prime minister and communications minister the authority to order the closure of foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if it is believed they pose “harm to the state’s security”.

    White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that an Israeli move to shut down Al Jazeera would be “concerning”.

    “The United States supports the critically important work of journalists around the world and that includes those who are reporting in the conflict in Gaza,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.

    “So we believe that work is important. The freedom of the press is important. And if those reports are true, it is concerning to us.”

    The legislation’s passage comes nearly five months after Israel said it would block Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen. It refrained from shutting Al Jazeera at the same time.

    Move with closure
    After the vote on Monday, Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said he intended to move forward with the closure. He said Al Jazeera had been acting as a “propaganda arm of Hamas” by “encouraging armed struggle against Israel”.

    “It is impossible to tolerate a media outlet, with press credentials from the Government Press Office and offices in Israel, acting from within against us, certainly during wartime,” he said.

    According to news agencies, his office said the order would seek to block the channel’s broadcasts in Israel and prevent it from operating in the country. The order would not apply to the occupied West Bank or Gaza.

    Israel has often lashed out at Al Jazeera, which has offices in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

    In May 2022, Israeli forces shot dead senior Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin.

    A UN-commissioned report concluded that Israeli forces used “lethal force without justification” in the killing, violating her “right to life”.

    During the war in Gaza, several of the channel’s journalists and their family members have been killed by Israeli bombardments.

    On October 25, an air raid killed the family of Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, including his wife, son, daughter, grandson and at least eight other relatives.

    Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 32,782 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.

    Pacific Media Watch and news agencies.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 1, 2024 Israeli and US officials hold a virtual meeting over planned Rafah military operation.

    Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

    The post The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays – April 1, 2024 Israeli and US officials hold a virtual meeting over planned Rafah military operation. appeared first on KPFA.


    This content originally appeared on KPFA – The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • From Gaza to West Papua, the long struggle for justice and freedom

    ANALYSIS: By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report

    On my office wall hangs a framed portrait of Shireen Abu Akleh, the inspiring and celebrated American-Palestinian journalist known across the Middle East to watchers of Al Jazeera Arabic, who was assassinated by an Israeli military sniper with impunity.

    State murder.

    She was gunned down in full blue “press” kit almost two years ago while reporting on a raid in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp, clearly targeted for her influence as a media witness to Israeli atrocities.

    As in the case of all 22 journalists who had been killed by Israeli military until that day, 11 May 2022, nobody was charged.

    Now, six months into the catastrophic and genocidal Israeli War on Gaza, some 137 Palestinian journalists have been killed — murdered – by Israeli snipers, or targeted bombs demolishing their homes, and even their families.

    Also in my office is pasted a red poster with a bird-of-paradise shaped pen in chains and the legend “Open access for journalists – Free press in West Papua.”

    The poster was from a 2017 World Media Freedom Day conference in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, which I attended as a speaker and wrote about. Until this day, there is still no open door for international journalists

    Harassed, beaten
    Although only one killing of a Papuan journalist is recorded, there have been many instances when local news reporters have been harassed, beaten and threatened – beyond the reach of international media.

    Ardiansyah Matra was savagely beaten and his body dumped in the Maro River, Merauke. A spokesperson for the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Victor Mambor, said at the time: “‘It’s highly likely that his murder is connected with the terror situation for journalists which was occurring at the time of Ardiansyah’s death.”

    Dr David Robie . . . author and advocate.
    Dr David Robie . . . author and advocate. Image: Café Pacific

    Frequently harassed himself, Mambor, founder and publisher of Jubi Media, was apparently the target of a suspected bomb attack, or warning, on 23 January 2023, when Jayapura police investigated a blast outside his home in Angkasapura Village.

    At first glance, it may seem strange that comparisons are being made between the War on Gaza in the Middle East and the long-smouldering West Papuan human rights crisis in the Asia-Pacific region almost 11,000 km away. But there are several factors at play.

    Melanesian and Pacific activists frequently mention both the Palestinian and West Papuan struggles in the same breath. A figure of up to 500,000 deaths among Papuans is often cited as the toll from 1969 when Indonesia annexed the formerly Dutch colony in controversial circumstances under the flawed Act of Free Choice, characterised by critics as the Act of “No” Choice.

    The death toll in Gaza after the six-month war on the besieged enclave by Israel is already almost 33,000 (in reality far higher if the unknown number of casualties buried under the rubble is added). Most of the deaths are women and children.

    At least 27 children have died of malnutrition so far with numbers expected to rise sharply.

    The Palestinian and West Papuan flags flying high
    The Palestinian and West Papuan flags flying high at a New Zealand protest against the Gaza genocide in central Auckland. Image: David Robie/APR

    Ethnic cleansing
    But there are mounting fears that Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Gazans has no end in sight and the lives of 2.3 million people are at stake.

    Both Palestinians and West Papuans see themselves as the victims of violent settler colonial projects that have been stealing their land and destroying their culture under the world’s noses — in the case of Palestine since the Nakba of 1948, and in West Papua since Indonesian paratroopers landed in a botched invasion in 1963.

    They see themselves as both confronting genocidal leaders; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose popularity at home sinks by the day with growing protests, and Indonesia’s new President-elect Prabowo Subianto who has an atrocious human rights reputation in both Timor-Leste and West Papua.

    And both peoples feel betrayed by a world that has stood by as genocides have been taking place — in the case of Palestine in real time on social media and television screens, and in the case of West Papua slowly over six decades.

    Last November, outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo confronted US President Joe Biden on his policies over Gaza, and appealed for Washington to do more to prevent atrocities in Palestine.

    Indonesian politicians such as Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi have been quick to condemn Israel, including at the International Court of Justice, but Papuan independence leaders find this hypocritical.

    “We have full sympathy for the struggle for justice in Palestine and call for the restoration of peace,” said United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) president Benny Wenda.

    Pacific protesters for Palestine
    Pacific protesters for a Free Palestine in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. Image: David Robie/APR

    ‘Where’s Indonesian outrage?’
    “But what about West Papua? Where was Indonesia’s outrage after Bloody Paniai [2014], or the Wamena massacre in February?

    “Indonesia is claiming to oppose genocide in Gaza while committing their own genocide in West Papua.”

    “Over 60 years of genocidal colonial rule, over 500,000 West Papuans have been killed by Indonesian forces.”

    Wenda said genocide in West Papua was implemented slowly and steadily through a series of massacres, assassinations and policies, such as the killings of the chair of the Papuan Council Theys Eluay in 2001; Mako Tabuni (2012); and cultural curator and artist Arnold Ap (1984).

    He cited many independent international and legal expert reports for his “considered position”, such as Yale University Law School, University of Wollongong, and the Asian Human Rights Commission – The Neglected Genocide.

    In the South Pacific, Indonesia is widely seen among civil society, university and community groups as a ruthless aggressor with little or no respect for the Papuan culture.

    Jakarta is engaged in an intensive diplomacy campaign in an attempt to counter this perception.


    Unarmed Palestinians killed in Gaza – revealing Israel’s “kill zones”.  Video: Al Jazeera

    Israel’s ‘rogue’ status
    But if Indonesia is unpopular in the Pacific over its brutal colonial policies, it is nothing compared to the global “rogue” status of Israel.

    In the past few weeks, as atrocity after atrocity pile up and the country’s disregard for international law and United Nations resolutions increasingly shock, supporters appear to be shrinking to its long-term ally the United States and its Five Eyes partners with New Zealand’s coalition government failing to condemn Israel’s war crimes.

    On Good Friday — Day 174 of the war – Israel bombed Gaza, Syria and Lebanon on the same day, killing civilians in all three countries.

    In the past week, the Israeli military racheted up its attacks on the Gaza Strip in defiance of the UN Security Council’s order for an immediate ceasefire, expanded its savage attacks on neighbouring states, and finally withdrew from Al-Shifa Hospital after a bloody two-week siege, leaving it totally destroyed with at least 350 patients, staff and displaced people dead.

    Fourteen votes against the lone US abstention after Washington had earlier vetoed three previous resolutions produced the decisive ceasefire vote, but the Israeli objective is clearly to raze Gaza and make it uninhabitable.

    As The Guardian described the vote, “When Gilad Erdan, the Israeli envoy to the UN, sat before the Security Council to rail against the ceasefire resolution it had just passed, he cut a lonelier figure than ever in the cavernous chamber.”

    The newspaper added that the message was clear.

    ‘Time was up’
    “Time was up on the Israeli offensive, and the Biden administration was no longer prepared to let the US’s credibility on the world stage bleed away by defending an Israeli government which paid little, if any, heed to its appeals to stop the bombing of civilian areas and open the gates to substantial food deliveries.”

    Al Jazeera interviewed Norwegian physician Dr Mads Gilbert, who has spent long periods working in Gaza, including at al-Shifa Hospital. He was visibly distressed in his reaction, lamenting that the Israeli attack had “destroyed” the 78-year legacy of the Strip’s largest and flagship hospital.

    Speaking from Tromso, Norway, he said: “This is such a sad day, I’ve been weeping all morning.”

    Dr Gilbert said he did not know the fate of the 107 critical patients who had been moved two days earlier to an older building in the complex.

    “The maggots that are creeping out of the corpses in al-Shifa Hospital now,” he said, “are really maggots coming out of the eyes of President Biden and the European Union leaders doing nothing to stop this horrible, horrible genocide.”

    Australia-based Antony Loewenstein, the author of The Palestine Laboratory, who has been reporting on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories for two decades, described Israel’s attack on the hospital as the “actions of a rogue state”.

    Gaza health officials said Israel was targeting all the hospitals and systematically destroying the medical infrastructure. Only five out of a total of 37 hospitals still had some limited services operating.

    Indonesian soldiers gag journalists in West Papua
    Indonesian soldiers gag journalists in West Papua – the cartoon could easily be referring to Gaza where attacks on Palestinian journalists have been systemic with 137 killed so far, by far the biggest journalist death toll in any conflict. Image: David Robie/APR

    Strike on journalists’ tent
    Yesterday, four people were killed and journalists were wounded in an Israeli air strike on a tent in the courtyard of al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

    The Israeli military claimed the strike was aimed at a “command centre” operated by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group, but footage screened by Al Jazeera reporter Hind Khoudary clearly showed it was a tent where displaced people were sheltering and journalists and photographers were working.

    The Israeli military have killed another photojournalist and editor, Abdel Wahab Awni, when they bombed his home in the Maghazi refugee camp. This took the number of journalists killed since the start of the war to 137, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

    Al Jazeera has revealed that Israel was using “kill zones” for certain combat areas in Gaza. Anybody crossing the “invisible” lines into these zones was shot on sight as a “terrorist”, even if they were unarmed civilians.

    The chilling practice was exposed when footage was screened of two unarmed civilians carrying white flags being apparently gunned down and then buried by bulldozer under rubble. A US-based civil rights group described the killings as a “heinous crime”.

    The kill zones were confirmed at the weekend by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which said the military had claimed to have killed 9000 “terrorists”, but officials admitted that many of the dead were often civilians who had “crossed the line” of fire.

    Call for sanctions
    The Israeli peace advocacy group Gush Shalom sent an open letter to all the embassies credited to Israel calling for immediate sanctions against the Israeli government, saying Netanyahu was “flagrantly refusing” to comply with the ceasefire resolution.

    “We, citizens of Israel,” said the letter, “are calling on your government to initiate a further meeting of the Security Council, aiming to pass a resolution which would set effective sanctions on Israel — in order to bring about an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip until the end of Ramadan and beyond it.”

    A Palestinian-American professor of law Dr Noura Erakat, of Rutgers University, recently told a BBC interviewer that Israel had made its end game very clear from the beginning of the war.

    “Israel has made its intent clear. Its war cabinet had made its intent clear. From the very beginning, in the first week of October 7, it told us its goal was to depopulate Gaza.

    “They have equated the decimation of Hamas, which they cannot achieve militarily, with the depopulation of the entire Gaza strip.”

    A parallel with Indonesia’s fundamentally flawed policies in West Papua. Failing violent settler colonialism.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Open letter: AWPA calls on Wong to protest to Jakarta over brutal torture

    OPEN LETTER: To Australia’s Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong

    Dear Foreign Minister,

    I am writing to you on behalf of the Australia West Papua Association in Sydney concerning the brutal torture of a West Papuan man, Defianus Kogoya by Indonesian troops in West Papua in early February.

    Anybody watching the video footage of the Papuan man being tortured by the Indonesian security forces cannot help but be horrified and outraged at the brutality of those involved in the torture.

    A video of the torture is circulating on social media and in numerous articles in the main stream media.

    Flashback to Asia Pacific Report's report on the Indonesian torture on 23 March 2024
    Flashback to Asia Pacific Report’s report on the Indonesian torture on 23 March 2024 . . . global condemnation and protests quickly followed. Image: APR screenshot

    The video shows the man placed in a drum filled with water, with both his hands tied. The victim is repeatedly punched and kicked by several soldiers.

    His back is also slashed with a knife. One can only imagine the fear and terror the Papuan man must feel at this brutal torture being inflicted on him.

    At first the military denied the claim. However, they eventually admitted it was true and arrested 13 soldiers involved in the incident.

    I’m sure we will hear statements from Jakarta that this was an isolated incident, that they were “rogue” soldiers and that 13 soldiers have been arrested over the torture. However, if the video had not gone viral would anybody have been held to account?

    Tragically this is not an isolated incident. We will not go into all the details of the human rights abuses committed against West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces as we are sure you are aware of the numerous reports documenting these incidents.

    However, there are regular clashes between the Indonesian security forces and the TPNPB (Free Papua Movement) who are fighting for their independence. As a result of these clashes the military respond with what they call sweeps of the area.

    It’s not unusual for houses and food gardens to be destroyed during these operations, including the arrest and torture of Papuans. Local people usually flee in fear from the military to the forest or other regions creating internally displaced people (IDP).

    Human rights reports indicate there are more than 60,000 IDP in West Papua. Many suffer from malnutrition and their children are missing out on their education.

    Amnesty International Indonesia, church and civil society groups in West Papua and around the world have condemned the torture and are calling for a thorough investigation into the torture case.

    AWPA is urging you to also add your voice, condemning this brutal torture incident by the Indonesian military .

    The West Papuan people are calling on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua to investigate the human rights situation in the territory. We urge you to use you good offices with the Indonesian government, urging Jakarta to allow such a visit to take place.

    Yours sincerely

    Joe Collins
    Australia West Papua Association (    AWPA)
    Sydney

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Kia Ora Gaza reveals more on Freedom Flotilla plans to break Gaza siege

    Asia Pacific Report

    A New Zealand charity providing humanitarian aid for Gaza today revealed more details of the international Freedom Flotilla’s bid to break the Israeli siege of the enclave as mass starvation looms closer.

    Latest reports say 27 children have died from malnutrition so far and the death toll is expected to rise in the coming days from Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

    About 1000 protesters in an Auckland’s Aotea Square rally today waved empty dinner plates, some with messages such as “Gaza is being starved”, “Free Palestine” and “Starve Israeli weapons”.

    They then marched in a silent vigil around central Auckland streets.

    Among the speakers was Kia Ora Gaza coordinator Roger Fowler, who introduced one of the doctors that will be joining the charity’s medical team on the siege-breaking humanitarian voyage.


    Twenty seven Gazan children die from malnutrition.  Video: Al Jazeera

    “We’ve got a fundraising campaign, obviously we’ll be sending a flotilla of ships to Gaza,” he said.

    Fowler introduced Dr Adnan Ali, an Auckland GP and surgeon who is a member of Medics International.

    “We hope another doctor we are talking with will be able to join him,” Fowler told Asia Pacific Report.

    Kia Ora Gaza's Roger Fowler with Lyn Doherty
    Kia Ora Gaza’s Roger Fowler at today’s Palestine rally. His wife Lyn Doherty is on the left. Image: David Robie/APR

    Israel defies ceasefire order
    Israel has defied a near unanimous UN Security Council — the US abstained — demand last week for an immediate Ramadan ceasefire with just 10 days left of the Muslim religious fasting period.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also so far ignored further orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which is investigating Israel over South Africa’s allegations of genocide.

    The court ruled on Thursday that “in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation”, Israel must take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.

    The measures outlined includes food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care.

    Israel was also ordered to open more of the seven land crossings into Gaza.

    On Friday, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, told the UN Human Rights Council that Israel was committing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

    She said that countries should impose an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel.

    Kia Ora Gaza's Roger Fowler introduces Dr Adnan Ali
    Kia Ora Gaza’s Roger Fowler introduces Dr Adnan Ali (centre) of Medics International at today’s Palestine rally. Image: David Robie/APR

    Luxon government condemned
    Speakers at today’s Aotea Square rally — including Labour’s List MP Shanan Halbert and the Greens’ Ricardo Menéndez March — criticised Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his coalition government for refusing to condemn Israel’s atrocities against and failing to make any “meaningful” humanitarian response to the war.

    During his speech about Kia Ora Gaza and the Freedom Flotilla, Roger Fowler reminded the crowd about Israel’s brutal response to the 2010 flotilla.

    The flotilla, led by the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara was intercepted by the Israeli navy, and commandos shot nine Turkish and one Turkish-American pro-Palestinian activists. A 10th who was in a coma died six years later.

    This attack led to a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel.

    Israeli forces have destroyed the memorial memorial erected in Gaza to honour those killed during the current war.

    "Gaza is being made to starve"
    “Gaza is being made to starve” . . . empty plates at the Palestinian rally in Aotea Square today. Image: David Robie/APR

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘Empty plate’ protesters call on NZ govt to demand Gaza ceasefire

    Hundreds of people holding empty plates gathered in central Auckland today demanding the New Zealand government call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    Protesters at Aotea Square said the empty dinner-plates were to raise awareness for those going hungry within the warzone.

    A dozen police officers watched over the protest on Saturday afternoon, to ensure it was peaceful.

    Families, children and iwi attended the protest, with tamariki leading the chant asking for a ceasefire.

    As war continues in Gaza, The UN Security Council has called for an immediate ceasefire and international agencies have called on Israel to do more to prevent serious food shortages affecting the population within Gaza.

    The Israel-Gaza war began following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on southern Israeli killing 1139 civilians, soldiers and police last October 7, with Israel responding with six months of air strikes and ground forces.

    The conflict has displaced most of the 2.3 million population of Gaza within its boundaries.

    New Zealanders who have tried to send food aid into Gaza say it has been a struggle to get it to its destination.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Green Left fights another Facebook ban without warning over Gaza

    EDITORIAL: By Pip Hinman and Susan Price

    Meta, the giant social media corporation, has “unpublished” Green Left’s longstanding Facebook page, which had tens of thousands of followers.

    We had been regularly posting stories, videos and photographs on the page from our consistent reporting of the news and views that seldom get into the mainstream media.

    But our recent interviews with veteran Palestinian freedom fighter Leila Khaled have resulted in what appears to be a 10-year ban, imposed without warning, nor an avenue of appeal.

    Green Left's Facebook page today
    Green Left’s Facebook page today . . . https://www.facebook.com/GreenLeftOnline/. Image: FB screenshot APR

    Khaled, 79, is a member of the Palestinian Council (Palestine’s parliament) and a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. She lives in political exile in Jordan.

    She is recognised as the Che Guevara of Palestine; she has enormous respect from Palestinians and millions of progressive people around the world.

    The Facebook banning came shortly after Zionist organisations combined with right-wing media (SkyNews and the Murdoch media) to pressure Labor to say it would prevent Khaled from addressing Ecosocialism 2024 — a conference GL is co-hosting in Boorloo/Perth in June — by not only denying her a visa, but even banning her from speaking by video link.

    Multiple visits
    As GL reported, the excuse for such political censorship is, as the Executive Council of Australian Jewry alleged in its letter to Labor, that allowing Khaled to speak “would be likely to have the effect of inciting, promoting or advocating terrorism”.

    This is nonsense.

    Khaled has visited Britain on multiple occasions over the past few years. Israel issued her a visa to visit the West Bank in 1996.

    She has visited Sweden and South Africa and, on one of her multiple visits, met Nelson Mandela (once also labelled a “terrorist” by the West), who warmly welcomed her.

    A growing number of human rights activists, academics, journalists and community leaders have protested against this blatant political censorship. Their statements are here and we urge you to join in by sending us a short statement.

    Palestinian freedom fighter Leila Khaled
    Palestinian freedom fighter Leila Khaled . . . “Kurds have a national identity just as we have our identity as Palestinians.” Image: Green Left/ANF

    Khaled told GL the real reason for this censorship is to “make us shut up about what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank today”.

    Meta has been exposed for carrying out “systematic online censorship”, particularly of Palestinian voices.

    Suppression of content
    In December 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented “over 1050 takedowns and other suppression of content on Instagram and Facebook that had been posted by Palestinians and their supporters, including about human rights abuses”.

    Meta did not apply the same censorship to pro-Zionist posts that incited hate and violence against Palestinians.

    HRW noted that “of the 1050 cases reviewed for this report, 1049 involved peaceful content in support of Palestine that was censored or otherwise unduly suppressed, while one case involved removal of content in support of Israel”.

    Other studies have described the systematic “shadow banning” of pro-Palestinian posts on Facebook and Instagram.

    AccessNow, which defends the “digital rights of people and communities at risk” reports that Meta is “systematically silencing the voices of both Palestinians and those advocating for Palestinians’ rights” through arbitrary content removals, suspension of prominent Palestinian and Palestine-related accounts, restrictions on pro-Palestinian users and content, shadow-banning, discriminatory content moderation policies, inconsistent and discriminatory rule enforcement.

    Social media corporations, such as Meta and Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), exercise a lot of power to manipulate people’s social and political views. This power has grown exponentially as more people access their news, views and information online.

    Break this power
    The search for ways to break this power will go on.

    In the meantime there is one way readers can break the social media bans and restrictions on GL’s voice-for-the-resistance journalism: become a supporter and get GL delivered to you.

    It has always been a struggle to keep people-power media projects alive. But GL has been going since 1991 and, with your help, we will not let the giant social media corporations silence us.

    Republished with permission from Green Left.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian military apologies fail to mask the harassment, gagging of Papuan leaders

    COMMENTARY: By Ronny Kareni

    Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding.

    Nowhere is this more evident than in the plight of the leaders of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Markus Haluk and Menase Tabuni. Their unwavering resolve in condemning the situation has faced targeted harassment and discrimination.

    The leaders of the ULMWP have become targets of a state campaign aimed at silencing them.

    Menase Tabuni, serving as the executive council president of the ULMWP, along with Markus Haluk, the executive secretary, have recently taken on the responsibility of leading political discourse directly from within West Papua.

    This decision follows the ULMWP’s second high-level summit in Port Vila in August 2023, where the movement reaffirmed its commitment to advocating for the rights and freedoms of the people of West Papua.

    On March 23, the ULMWP leadership released a media statement in which Tabuni condemned the abhorrent racist slurs and torture depicted in the video of a fellow Papuan at the hands of Indonesia’s security forces.

    Tabuni called for an immediate international investigation to be conducted by the UN Commissioner of the Human Rights Office.

    Harassment not protection
    However, the response from Indonesian authorities was not one of protection, but rather a chilling escalation of harassment facilitated by the Criminal Code and Information and Electronic Transactions Law, known as UU ITE.

    Since UU ITE took effect in November 2016, it has been viewed as the state’s weapon against critics, as shown during the widespread anti-racism protests across West Papua in mid-August of 2019.

    Harassment and intimidation . . . ULMWP leaders
    Harassment and intimidation . . . ULMWP leaders (from left) Menase Tabuni (executive council president), Markus Haluk (executive council secretary), Apolos Sroyer (judicial council chairperson), and Willem Rumase (legislative council chairperson). Image: ULMWP

    The website SemuaBisaKena, dedicated to documenting UU ITE cases, recorded 768 cases in West Papua between 2016 and 2020.

    The limited information on laws to protect individuals exercising their freedom of speech, including human rights defenders, political activist leaders, journalists, and civil society representatives, makes the situation worse.

    For example, Victor Mambor, a senior journalist and founder of the Jubi news media group, in spite of being praised as a humanitarian and rights activist by the UN Human Rights Council in September 2021, continues to face frequent acts of violence and intimidation for his truth-telling defiance.

    Threats and hate speech on his social media accounts are frequent. His Twitter account was hacked and deleted in 2022 after he posted a video showing Indonesian security forces abusing a disabled civilian.

    Systematic intimidation
    The systematic nature of this intimidation in West Papua cannot be understated.

    It is a well-coordinated effort designed to suffocate dissent and silence the voice of resistance.

    The barrage of messages and missed calls to both Tabuni and Haluk creates a psychological warfare waged with callous indifference, leaving scars that run deep. It creates an atmosphere of perpetual unease, leaving wondering when the next onslaught will happen.

    The inundation of their phones with messages filled with discriminatory slurs in Bahasa serves as crude reminders of the lengths to which state entities will go in abuse of the law.

    Translated into English, these insults such as “Hey asshole I stale you” or “You smell like shit” not only denigrate the ULMWP political leaders but also serve as threats, such as “We are not afraid” or “What do you want”, which underscore calculated malice behind the attacks.

    This incident highlights a systemic issue, laying bare the fragility of democratic ideals in the face of entrenched power and exposing the hollowness of promises made by those who claim to uphold the rule of law.

    Disinformation grandstanding
    In the wake of the Indonesian government’s response to the video footage, which may outwardly appear as a willingness to address the issue publicly, there is a stark contrast in the treatment of Papuan political leaders and activists behind closed doors.

    While an apology from the Indonesian military commander in Papua through a media conference earlier this week may seem like a step in the right direction, it merely scratches the surface of a deeper issue.

    Firstly, the government’s call for firm action against individual soldiers depicted in the video, which has proven to be military personnel, cannot be served as a distraction from addressing broader systemic human rights abuses in West Papua.

    A thorough and impartial investigation into all reports of harassment, intimidation and reprisals against human rights defenders ensures that all perpetrators are brought to justice, and if convicted, punished with penalties commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.

    However, by focusing solely on potential disciplinary measures against a handful of soldiers, the government fails to acknowledge the larger pattern of abuse and oppression prevailing in the region.

    Also the statement from the Presidential Staff Office could be viewed as a performative gesture aimed at neutralising international critics rather than instigating genuine reforms.

    Without concrete efforts to address the root causes of human rights abuses in West Papua, such statements risk being perceived as empty rhetoric that fails to bring about tangible change for the Papuan people.

    Enduring struggle
    Historically, West Papua has been marked by a long-standing struggle for independence and self-determination, always met with resistance from Indonesian authorities.

    Activists advocating for West Papua’s rights and freedoms become targets of threats and harassment as they challenge entrenched power structures and seek to bring international attention to their cause.

    The lack of accountability and impunity enjoyed by the state and its security forces of such acts further emboldens those who seek to silence dissent through intimidation and coercion. Thus, the threats and harassment experienced by the ULMWP leaders and West Papua activists are not only a reflection of the struggle for self-determination but also symptomatic of broader systemic injustices.

    In navigating the turbulent waters ahead, let us draw strength from the unwavering resolve of Markus Haluk, Menase Tabuni and many Papuans who refuse to be silenced.

    The leaders of the ULMWP and all those who stand alongside them in the fight for justice and freedom serve as a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.

    It is incumbent upon us all to stand in solidarity with those who face intimidation and harassment, to lend our voices to their cause and to shine a light on the darkness that seeks to envelop them.

    For in the end, it is only through collective action and unwavering resolve that we can overcome the forces of tyranny and usher in a future where freedom reigns freely.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • 16,000 sign NZ petition urging more support for Gaza – tabled in House

    By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter

    A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House.

    More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori.

    Member of the Palestinian community Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab presented Labour MP Phil Twyford with the petition, signed by more than 16,000 people.

    Twyford said Labour unequivocally supported the call for special humanitarian visas for families of New Zealanders currently trapped in Gaza.

    “We created a special visa for the families of Ukrainian Kiwis so they could sponsor their families to escape the war zone. To not do so for the people of Gaza is a disgraceful double standard,” he said.

    Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick reiterated her party’s support for special visas.

    “The Minister of Immigration has patronisingly said that the government do not want to offer what they call false hope to the people of Palestine. Let us say, that’s for the people of Palestine.

    ‘Offer consistency’
    “It’s not for politicians in this place to patronise the people in Gaza and tell when what they should or shouldn’t hope for. The very least we can do is offer the consistency that we have to those affected in Ukraine by Russia’s aggressions.”

    Last week, the government was urged to create a special humanitarian visas for Palestinians in Gaza who have ties to New Zealand.

    It followed more than 30 organisations — including World Vision, Save the Children and Greenpeace — sending an open letter to ministers asking they step up support and help with evacuation and resettlement efforts.

    More than 200 people gathered at Parliament in support of a petition urging the government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.
    More than 200 people gathered at Parliament in support of the petition. Image: RNZ/Anneke Smith

    Immigration Minister Erica Stanford acknowledged there was an “unimaginable humanitarian crisis in Gaza” but said issuing special visas would not assist people.

    “Those people in Ukraine were able to leave. They were able to get on a plane and get to New Zealand. The situation in Gaza is that they cannot leave.

    “I’m not going to be issuing visas, which is issuing false hope, for people on a great scale who cannot leave. As and when the situation changes, we will reconsider our position.”

    Labour MP for Nelson Rachel Boyack, a Christian, said she was calling on MPs of all faiths in Parliament to stand up for Palestine.

    ‘War about land, power’
    “Our religion and our faith has been used to fight a war that is fundamentally about land and power. I said in the House earlier this week in the debate that as a Christian, it pains me greatly to see other people of faith misuse their faith to kill and harm other people.”

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced plans to attend a NATO meeting in Brussels, and meet with counterparts in Egypt, Poland and Sweden.

    The urgent humanitarian situation in Gaza will be a focus of the trip, with Peters saying New Zealand was part of an “overwhelming international consensus demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.

    “This travel will allow us to share information and perspectives with a range of interested parties and coordinate on broad international action,” he said.

    Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said Peters did not need to travel to the region to understand the need for further humanitarian support.

    “it’s good to hear the minister talking about some support but we can do it now,” sdhe said.

    “It’s right now that people are starving and dying without water and medical supplies. We can actually see that from here and that decision can be made right now to use all of the levers to get that kai and food and medical supplies through.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • RSF concern over whereabouts of Gaza journalist in Al Shifa hospital siege

    Pacific Media Watch

    The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan.

    She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in last week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.

    RSF has demanded that the Israeli military “shed light on the disappearance of @BayanPalestine”, her X handle.

    On March 19, she posted a message on her X account saying “Israeli forces just murdered my only brother in front of my eyes”.

    She has not been heard from since and RSF is investigating.

    Meanwhile, to support journalists in the region affected by the war in Gaza, RSF has opened a new press freedom centre in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

    Following the opening of two centres in Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s large-scale invasion of the country in 2022, this initiative by RSF underlines the organisation’s ongoing commitment to helping information professionals meet the specific challenges they face.

    Equipped with internet access, the Beirut centre, a regional hub for the media in the Middle East, will welcome journalists to work there if they wish.

    RSF and its local partners will offer training in physical and digital security, particularly for those wishing to travel to Palestine.

    Bullet-proof vests
    Access to psychological support and legal assistance will also be provided, as well as protective equipment to cover dangerous areas (bullet-proof vests, helmets, first-aid kits, etc.).

    “There is a clear and urgent need to support Palestinian journalism and the right to information throughout the Middle East, particularly the parts of the region most affected by the war in Gaza,” said RSF campaign director Rebecca Vincent.

    “Drawing on our experience in Ukraine, where we opened two press freedom centres during the war, RSF is launching a regional centre in Beirut dedicated to supporting journalists.

    “The centre will provide a crucial space, and essential services to reinforce the safety of journalists working in the region, and to defend press freedom.”

    Pacific Media Watch collaborates with RSF.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Killings of junta military recruiters rise to 17, tripling in last week

    At least 17 local officials carrying out the junta’s conscription efforts have been killed since a draft law was enacted early last month, according to rebel officials and residents.

    The number of killings has more than tripled in the last week, ahead of the official start of conscription, which the junta has said will take place in April. On March 23, RFA reported a total of six such killings.

    The junta enacted the “People’s Military Service Law” on Feb. 10 to replenish its military ranks after months of mounting losses and surrenders to insurgents in Myanmar’s three-year civil war.

    In the weeks since the announcement, youths in many cities have fled abroad or to rebel-controlled territories to avoid the draft, refusing to fight for the military that seized control of the country in a February 2021 coup d’etat.

    RFA has received reports of forced recruitment and officials compiling lists of residents of fighting age, as well as draft lotteries to select who will serve.

    But rebel forces are fighting back against those doing the junta’s bidding, according to sources who spoke to RFA Burmese on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

    As of Tuesday, at least 17 village- and township-level general administration officials and other related personnel, including clerks and heads of 100 households, have been assassinated in Bago, Magway, Sagaing and Mandalay regions, as well as Rakhine, Mon and Kachin states, sources told RFA Burmese.

    When asked about the killings, an administrative officer in Yangon region’s South Dagon township said there had been no resistance to recruitment in his ward, which had been implemented through a lottery last week.

    He suggested that only “corrupt officials” had been targeted after accepting bribes to keep some draft-eligible youth out of the selection process, while “those who worked transparently have remained unharmed.”

    List of victims grows

    The earliest instance of an official being killed for their role in military recruitment took place on Feb. 20, when an administrator for Shin Thabyay Pin village in Magway’s Taungdwingyi township named Nan Win was found dead. 

    Members of the local anti-junta People’s Defense Force, or PDF, claimed responsibiliity, saying he was killed after pressuring residents to join military training.

    On March 18, members of the Salin Township PDF shot and killed Myint Htoo, the administrator of Pu Khat Taing village in Magway’s Salin township, as he called on residents to enlist for military service with a loudspeaker, according to sources in the township.

    The following day, unidentified attackers killed Maung Pu, the administrator of Mandalay region’s Wundwin township, while he worked to recruit soldiers for the junta, township residents said. Details of the attack were not immediately available.

    On March 20, Tin Win Khaing, the administrative officer of Oke Shit Kone village in Magway’s Yenangyaung township, and his clerk San Naing, were also killed.

    On March 22 and 24, Mya Mye Nyein, a junior clerk at the General Administration Office in Sagaing’s Shwebo township, and Nan Nwe Oo, the administrator of Shwebo’s Ward No. 4, were shot dead.

    Both had distributed leaflets calling on people to join the military and were deeply involved in the recruitment process, said a resident of Shwebo, who identified himself as Oat Aaw and claimed that a guerrilla group known as Shwebo Ar Mann had carried out the assassinations.

    Rebels issue warnings

    San Lwin, the administrator of Taung Ka Lay village in Mon’s Kyaikhto township, was also shot dead on his way to work on March 24. He had handed over a list of local draft-eligible residents to township officials, a leader of the anti-junta Kyaikhto Revolution Force told RFA.

    “We have issued a notice to local administrative officials instructing them not to cause harm to the people, and not to force youths into the military, in accordance with the junta’s order,” the rebel leader said. “If they don’t follow our instructions, we will take action against them.”

     

    The PDF issued a similar warning in the third week of March, stating that ward members from various regions and states would be “punished appropriately” if they forcibly pressured people to serve in the military.

    National and staff IDs of Mya Mya Nyein, the junior clerk of Shwebo Township General Administration Office. (Shwebo Ar Mann Guerrilla Group)
    National and staff IDs of Mya Mya Nyein, the junior clerk of Shwebo Township General Administration Office. (Shwebo Ar Mann Guerrilla Group)

    Political commentator Than Soe Naing said he expects the killings will continue unless the junta halts its implementation of the military service law.

    “The public’s anger was clearly sparked by the junta’s decision to enact the law,” he said.

    The public backlash has also prompted some administrators to resign, saying they won’t be able to comply with the junta’s order.

    Last week, 21 administrators in Rakhine’s Thandwe township collectively resigned, accounting for more than one-third of the heads of Thandwe’s 62 village-tracts. Similar resignations have taken place in Yangon region’s Thanlyin and Sanchaung townships, and Bago region’s Nat Than Kwin village.

    Blazes in Ayeyarwady

    Buildings being used in the junta’s recruitment drive have also burned under mysterious circumstances in Ayeyarwady region’s Hinthada and Yegyi townships in recent days, according to residents.

    On Sunday, the rear of an administrative office in Hinthada’s Ka Naung Su ward caught fire at approximately 8 pm, while a draft lottery was underway, a resident of the ward told RFA.

    While some residents attributed the fire to faulty electrical wiring, others suggested it had been set by someone opposing the recruitment drive.

    On March 19, the residence of Administrator Kyaw Moe in Hinthada’s Oke Hpo Chaung village, was set on fire while he was recruiting for the military in the front yard, according to a resident of the village.

    Damage was minimal, as those present acted quickly to put out the blaze, he added.

    The same day, the house of a Yegyi ward administrator was also destroyed by fire, although details remained unclear.

    Residents characterized the fires as “arson” and said the incidents were motivated by anger over the implementation of the conscription law.

    Attempts by RFA to contact Khin Maung Kyi, the junta’s social affairs minister and spokesperson for Ayeyarwady region, went unanswered Wednesday.

    Mandalay recruitment drive

    Meanwhile, residents say there has been a push for recruitment in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, with administrative authorities actively compiling military service rosters and threatening punishment for those who resist.

    Recruitment activities were most prevalent in Mandalay’s Chan Mya Thazi and Maha Aung Mye townships, they said, and census-taking is underway throughout the region.

    Residents also reported that authorities manning checkpoints along roads connecting Mandalay to Sagaing region have intensified their scrutiny of passing vehicles, looking for anyone trying to escape the draft.

    A resident of Mandalay said the junta is issuing threats of arrest and punishment for entire families of youths evading service.

    “There are ominous warnings of apprehending family members of those aged between 18 and 35 on [recruitment] lists, should they refuse military service,” she said.

    A resident of Patheingyi township said local administrators have openly told people to pay them money in order to avoid service.

    “It is said that if we don’t want to go, we can give them money to arrange for a replacement,” she said.

    Thein Htay, the junta’s minister of economy and spokesperson for Mandalay region, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

    The military has said that it will enlist draft-eligible citizens in batches of 5,000 monthly, beginning in April.

    According to data released last week by independent research group Data for Myanmar, the junta had commenced implementation of the military service law in 172 townships nationwide as of March 22.

    Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Palestine solidarity must keep up pressure as Israel defies Gaza ceasefire order

    COMMENTARY: Jewish Voice for Peace

    The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it.

    Security Council resolutions are legally binding, despite the Biden administration claiming that they are not.

    But it is up to the Palestine solidarity movement to ensure the US government enforces it.

    The resolution demands an immediate ceasefire that leads to a “lasting” and “sustainable” ceasefire, demands the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” and emphasises “expand[ing] the flow of humanitarian assistance.”

    The resolution also contains several weaknesses, reflected in its intentionally vague, watered-down language, which obscures member states’ responsibilities to enforce the ceasefire.

    Concerningly, the resolution only demands a ceasefire “for the month of Ramadan,” which ends in two weeks. US diplomats also lobbied for concessions until the last minute, leading to replacing the call for a“permanent ceasefire” with the much weaker “lasting ceasefire.”

    The resolution demands the release of all hostages, but it fails to explicitly name the tens of thousands of Palestinians held illegally in Israeli detention and subject to systematic abuse, instead referring ambiguously to both parties complying with “their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain.”

    Essential clause ‘buried’
    And although the resolution does “reiterate its demand for the lifting of all barriers to provision of humanitarian aid at scale” — in a clear message to the Israeli government — this essential clause is buried at the end of a longer sentence that merely emphasises the need to expand the flow of humanitarian aid.

    As JVP international advisor Phyllis Bennis puts it, “in UN diplo-speak… ‘emphasising’ something ain’t even close to ‘demanding’ that it happen.”

    Nevertheless, the US’s decision to abstain on the vote has inflamed tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who immediately announced that he had cancelled a high-level Israeli delegation bound for Washington.

    President Biden had explicitly requested the meeting to raise concerns about Israel’s potential ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are currently sheltering.

    Biden has insisted on a plan to evacuate civilians, however impossible that may be, and has called the planned ground invasion a “red line.”

    That a ceasefire resolution was finally achieved is in large part due to the massive pressure being exerted by the Palestine solidarity movement. It is a reminder that pressure works, and that now is not the time to let up.

    That it took this long, however, shows us how far we have to go.

    US vetoed four times
    The US vetoed four previous UNSC ceasefire resolutions while the Israeli military slaughtered tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children, even after the World Court found South Africa’s claim that Israel was committing genocide to be “plausible.”

    Gaza is now a shell of its former self, its entire landscape rendered unrecognisable by the Israeli military’s months-long genocidal onslaught.

    Over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed. Full-blown famine is imminent, and half of Gaza’s entire population — 1.1 million people — are facing starvation.

    Yet the Biden administration remains intent on continuing to arm the Israeli military.

    Immediately following the passage of the resolution, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was already undermining it by claiming that UN Security Council resolutions are not legally binding.

    This is patently false — and it tells us that the Biden administration is fully prepared to skirt any and all responsibility to enforce this resolution, which would necessitate cutting off the flow of US weapons to the Israeli military.

    $3.8 billion for Israeli military
    Last week, Biden signed off on a spending bill that would provide $3.8 billion in funding to the Israeli military.

    The bill will also ban funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) through March 2025.

    Meanwhile, the US military continues to conduct aid airdrops in Gaza — a public relations manoeuvre intended to diffuse pressure on the US government.

    These aid drops will not prevent a famine, and they do not absolve the United States government of its complicity in this genocide. They are also dangerous, expensive, and inefficient.

    Republished from JVP

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Investigative author says GCSB-hosted spy system likely to be one used in capture-kill ops

    Asia Pacific Report

    A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations.

    Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 book on New Zealand’s role in global spy networks, said the controversial and unidentified foreign intelligence operation cited in a report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appeared to be an “intelligence system with a ghostly codename”.

    “The IGIS report said the GCSB decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was ‘improper’ and that the GCSB ‘could not be sure the tasking of the capability was always in accordance with… New Zealand law’,” he wrote.

    “The Inspector-General said: ‘I have found some of the GCSB’s explanations about how the capability operated and was tasked to be incongruous with information in GCSB records at the time’,” Hager wrote.

    But the Inspector-General could not reveal details of the system to the public because they were “highly classified”.

    “The name and function of the foreign spy spying equipment, the identity of the ‘foreign partner agency’ and the location of the ‘GCSB facility’ where foreign equipment was hosted all remained secret,” Hager wrote.

    Hager argued that the mystery spy equipment appeared strongly to be a top secret US surveillance system that had been installed at the GCSB’s Waihopai base at the same time as the equipment in the IGIS investigation was installed at a “GCSB facility”.

    25 years of investigations
    Hager has worked as an investigative journalist for the past 25 years, and has been a New Zealand member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for 20 of those years.

    In 2018, he was part of a reference group established by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

    Hager wrote that the top secret NSA spy equipment had the ghostly codename “APPARITION” and fitted with all the details presented in the IGIS report.

    “APPARITION was owned by and controlled by the US National Security Agency — the world’s largest intelligence gathering agency and head of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance that includes the GCSB,” he wrote.

    According to Hager, the NSA internal report, written after the launch of the APPARITION system in 2008, said that it “builds on the success of the GHOSTHUNTER prototype . . .  a tool that enabled a significant number of capture-kill operations against terrorists”.

    “Capture-kill operations involve lethal attacks on targeted people using drones, bombs and special forces raids,” wrote Hager.

    “Human rights organisations have documented numerous deaths of civilians during capture-kill operations — many of them ‘algorithmically targeted’ by electronic surveillance systems such as APPARITION.

    ‘Extra-judicial killings’
    “They are also criticised as being ‘extra-judicial killings’.”

    For decades, protesters had been calling for the GCSB’s iconic radomes at Waihopai Valley spy base in rural Marlborough to be dismantled, saying that when that intelligence was shared with Five Eyes partners — the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia — it made New Zealand complicit in the military campaigns of those countries, among other criticisms.

    However, Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) organiser Murray Horton said at the time of news of the domes’ redundancy in 2021 was nothing to celebrate, since the base itself would continue to operate at the site, “albeit without its most conspicuous physical features that stick out like dogs’ balls”.

    The out-of-date domes were removed in 2022.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian military impunity, poor training condemned over torture of Papuans

    Jubi/West Papua Daily

    Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion.

    There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement and the evaluation of the deployment of TNI troops from outside Papua to the region.

    Frits Ramandey, the head of the Papua Office of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM Papua), said that since 2020, Komnas HAM Papua had handled several cases of alleged torture by TNI soldiers against civilians.

    “This [case of torture against civilians] is not the first to occur in Papua,” said Ramandey said this week.

    Ramandey cited the case of the torture and murder of Pastor Yeremia Zanambani in Intan Jaya Regency in September 2020.

    He also mentioned cases of violence against people with disabilities in Merauke in July 2021.

    Torture of children
    In 2022, Komnas HAM Papua also dealt with cases of civilian torture in Mappi regency, as well as the torture of seven children in the Puncak regency.

    In Mimika regency, four Nduga residents were murdered and mutilated, and three children were tortured in Keerom regency.

    Ramandey said that the cases handled by Komnas HAM indicated that the torture experienced by civilians was extremely brutal, inhumane, and violated human rights.

    According to Ramandey, similar methods of torture used by the military were employed during Indonesia’s New Order regime.

    Head of the Representative Office of Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Ramandey (centre),
    Head of the Representative Office of Komnas HAM Papua, Frits Ramandey (centre), with colleagues presenting the statement about the latest allegations of Indonesian military torture in Jayapura City, Papua, last weekend. Image: Jubi/Theo Kelen

    “They tend to repeatedly commit torture. [The modus operandi] used [is reminiscent of] the New Order regime, using drums, tying up individuals, rendering them helpless, allowing perpetrators to freely carry out torture,” he said.

    Ramandey emphasised that such torture only perpetuated the cycle of violence in Papua.

    Human rights training
    He insisted that TNI soldiers deployed in Papua must receive proper training on human rights. Additionally, soldiers involved in torture cases must be prosecuted.

    “Otherwise, the cycle of violence will continue because [the torture that occurs] will breed hatred, resentment, and anger,” said Ramandey.

    Ramandey called for an evaluation of the deployment of TNI troops from outside Papua to the region.

    According to Ramandey, TNI troops from outside Papua would be better placed under the control of the local Military Area Command (Kodam) instead of the current practice of under the Operational Control of the Joint Defence Region Command (Kogabwilhan) III.

    He believed that the Papua conflict could only be resolved through peaceful dialogue. He urged the state to create space for such peaceful dialogue, including humanitarian dialogue advocated by Komnas HAM in 2023.

    Repetition due to impunity
    In a written statement last weekend, the director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said that the right of every individual to be free from torture was part of internationally recognised norms.

    Usman said that Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and General Comment No. 20 on Article 7 of the ICCPR had affirmed that no one could be subjected to practices of torture/cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under any circumstances.

    “No one in this world, including in Papua, should be treated inhumanely and have their dignity degraded, let alone resulting in loss of life,” wrote Usman.

    Usman criticised the practice of impunity towards suspected perpetrators of various past cases, which had led to repeated cases of torture of civilians by TNI soldiers.

    “These actions keep repeating because there has been no punishment for members who have been proven to have committed crimes such as kidnapping, torture, and even loss of life,” he said.

    According to Jubi’s records, TNI soldiers are suspected of repeatedly being involved in the torture of civilians in Papua.

    On February 22, 2022, TNI soldiers allegedly assaulted seven children in Sinak District, Puncak Regency, after a soldier from 521/Dadaha Yodha Infantry Battalion 521, Second Pvt. Kristian Sandi Alviando, lost his SS2 weapon at PT Modern hangar, Tapulunik Sinak Airport.

    The seven children subjected to torture were Deson Murib, Makilon Tabuni, Pingki Wanimbo, Waiten Murib, Aton Murib, Elison Murib, and Murtal Kulua. Makilon Tabuni later died.

    Killed and mutilated
    On August 22, 2022, a number of TNI soldiers allegedly killed and mutilated four residents of Nduga in Settlement Unit 1, Mimika Baru District, Mimika Regency.

    The four victims of murder and mutilation were Arnold Lokbere, Irian Nirigi, Lemaniel Nirigi, and Atis Tini.

    On August 28, 2022, soldiers from Raider 600/Modang Infantry Battalion allegedly apprehended and assaulted four intoxicated individuals in Mappi Regency, South Papua Province.

    The four individuals arrested for drunkenness were Amsal Pius Yimsimem, Korbinus Yamin, Lodefius Tikamtahae, and Saferius Yame.

    Komnas HAM Papua said that these four individuals also experienced abuse resulting in injuries all over their bodies.

    On August 30, 2022, soldiers stationed at Bade Post, Edera District, Mappi Regency, allegedly committed assault resulting in the death of Bruno Amenim Kimko and severe injuries to Yohanis Kanggun.

    A total of 18 soldiers from Raider 600/Modang Infantry Battalion were suspects in the case.

    On October 27, 2022, three children in Keerom Regency, Rahmat Paisei, 15; Bastian Bate, 13; and Laurents Kaung, 11; were allegedly abused by TNI soldiers at a military post in Arso II District, Arso, Keerom Regency, Papua.

    These three children were reportedly abused using chains, wire rolls, and hoses, requiring hospital treatment.

    On February 22, 2023, TNI soldiers at Lantamal X1 Ilwayap Post allegedly assaulted Albertus Kaize and Daniel Kaize. Albertus Kaize died as a result.

    Republished with permission from Jubi/West Papua Daily.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • China railway for Davao dream dashed as Marcos tilts towards the US

    By Kalinga Seneviratne in Davao, Philippines

    After being elected to the presidency in a landslide vote in June 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte visited China in October and declared that his country was “realigning” its foreign policy to move closer to China.

    He was accompanied by 400 Filipino business executives and returned home with Chinese pledges of investments and loans worth $24 billion. One of those investments was to build a 1300km railway across the southern Mindanao Island with Chinese loans and technology.

    People on this long-neglected island eagerly waited for the railway, as Mindanao had never had a rail network.

    It would have given farmers an alternative way to transport their produce to markets and boosted tourism to the scenic mountainous island.

    The first stage of the project — a 103 km railway linking Tagum City to Digos City through Davao City — was supposed to be constructed by the second quarter of 2022. But this never materialised, and when Duterte left office in June 2022, the negotiations over the project’s funding were still ongoing.

    Building a railway across Mindanao has been a promise of successive presidents for almost 90 years, but no foreign donors have made the investments until the Chinese showed interest.

    On 28 June 2017, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approved the pesos 35.26-billion Mindanao Railway Project (MRP) Phase 1 Tagum-Davao-Digos Segment. Transport Undersecretary Rails Cesar Chavez said the construction would begin by the second quarter of 2018.

    “During Duterte’s time, he was leaning towards China, but now Marcos is leaning towards the US,” noted Councillor Pilar Caneda Braga of the Davao City Council in an interview with IDN. “All projects (with China) that have not taken off until now are cancelled”.

    While emphasising that the railway project is a national issue and not one the council should comment on, she did indicate that the railway was a welcome project for the city of over 1.6 million people.

    “During Duterte’s time, there were problems with loans and borrowings. It (negotiations) fizzled out,” she said.

    Reshaping foreign policy
    Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, is reshaping the country’s foreign policy and realigning the Philippines more closely with the US’s militaristic strategies in Asia. China has apparently lost interest in the project.

    The stumbling block is believed to have been the 3 percent interest China wanted on the loan they will make available to build the railway.

    In contrast, Japan announced this month that they would be lending $1 billion to the Philippines for the Metro Manila railway extension project at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent.

    Department of Transport Under-Secretary Jeremy Regino said on February 24 that the Mindanao rail project had been terminated. However, he added that they had not terminated negotiations with China, which was still ongoing.

    During a visit to Davao in February, President Marcos said that the Mindanao rail project has not been terminated.

    He has ordered the Transport and Finance departments to look at a hybrid model that could be funded via private investments and ODA (overseas development assistance). He added that private investors could build the railway, while rolling stocks and engines could be financed via ODA or vice versa.

    The mountain scenery close to Digos City
    The mountain scenery close to Digos City where the railway would promote tourism. Image: IDN

    It is believed that the US is also considering a funding model for the railways through its ODA mechanisms, perhaps in alliance with the Asian Development Bank, Japan, and possibly South Korea.

    ‘Debt trap’ narrative
    This would give the US enormous propaganda clout over China and help spread its China “debt trap” narrative further.

    The Dutertes are believed to be unhappy with Marcos’s strong tilt towards the US, which is antagonising China.

    Sebastian Duterte, the former president’s son, is Davao City Council’s mayor. He has recently made some critical comments about President Marcos’s policies.

    His elder sister is Sarah Duterte, the Vice-President of the Philippines, who garnered more votes than the president in the May 2022 elections.

    In July 2023, Duterte visited China in a private capacity and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who called upon the former president to “play an important role” in promoting ties between their countries and resolving the territorial dispute in the South China Sea (which Manila refers to as the West Philippines Sea) amid Philippine’s growing military ties with the US.

    Upon his return, Duterte met Marcos to brief him on the visit.

    In January 2023, President Marcos made an official visit to China and, in a joint statement issued by the two neighbours said, Xi and Marcos had an “in-depth and candid exchange of views on the situation in the South China Sea, emphasised that maritime issues do not comprise the sum-total of relations between the two countries and agreed to appropriately manage differences through peaceful means”.

    Naval skirmishes
    However, throughout 2023, there have been skirmishes between Chinese and Filipino naval vessels and supply ships sailing to the Spratly Islands, which the Philippines considers as their territory.

    Amid this, Marcos has made a strong tilt towards the US, with the Philippine media backing his stance, which is focused on developing stronger defence ties between the two countries.

    But many countries across Asia are getting worried. In November 2023, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong cautioned Marcos when asked about rising tensions in the South China Sea during a regional forum in Singapore.

    He is reported to have asked Marcos: “Are you sure you (Filipinos) want to get into a fight where you will be the battleground?”

    Councillor Braga hinted at why the Filipinos welcomed Marcos’s stance when the same question was asked of her.

    “Generally, Filipinos are more inclined towards the US because many of our relatives are in the US, and we have been under American rule for several years. So, we have a better relationship with the US”, she said.

    “There have been some abuses in that relationship, but then America needs the Philippines vis-à-vis China. So, America is courting the Philippines using the EDCA. It is simple as that.”

    Defence cooperation
    EDCA is a defence cooperation agreement that allows the US to rotate troops into the Philippines for extended stays. Still, the US is not permitted to establish any permanent military bases.

    The agreement was signed in April 2014, coinciding with US President Baraka Obama’s visit to Manila, where he promoted his “pivot to Asia” strategy.

    Marcos recently agreed to allow US forces to access some six bases in northern Luzon, the closest point to Taiwan. China has threatened to mount pre-emptive strikes on these bases if provoked.

    Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Manila for the second time in two years. China’s Global Times described the visit as a move by Washington to create an AUKUS-like clique in Asia aimed at China in the South China Sea.

    It said: “Blinken’s visit is seen by Chinese observers as partly to incite the Philippines to continue its provocations in the South China Sea and partly to pave the way for a summit of the US, Japan and the Philippines that is scheduled for April”.

    Manila’s waltzing with Washington is raising eyebrows in Southeast Asia, which needs a peaceful environment to prosper.

    During a visit to Australia to attend the ASEAN-Australia forum to mark 50 years of relations, Marcos made a passionate speech to the Australian Parliament seeking Canberra’s support — a staunch US ally — for his battle with China.

    But, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, speaking during a joint press conference at the forum with the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, said: “While we remain … an important friend to the United States and Europe and here in Australia, they should not preclude us from being friendly to one of our important neighbours, precisely China.”

    He added: “if they have problems with China, they should not impose it upon us. We do not have a problem with China”.

    Kalinga Seneviratne is a correspondent for IDN is the flagship agency of the nonprofit International Press Syndicate. The article is published with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Next Freedom Flotilla nearly ready to sail for Gaza with NZ medics

    Asia Pacific Report

    Two of the global Freedom Flotilla ships are being prepared in Turkey and almost ready for the upcoming humanitarian mission to Gaza.

    It is expected that the flotilla will include a New Zealand medical team.

    Kia Ora Gaza is a member of the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition — a grassroots solidarity movement of different campaigns and activists across the world who are working together to end the “illegal and inhumane” Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

    “With the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the increased violence against all Palestinians living under Israeli oppression and occupation, our work is now more important than ever,” said Roger Fowler, a founder and facilitator of Kia Ora Gaza.

    Since forming in 2010, Kia Ora Gaza has successfully participated in six non-violent direct challenges to the Israeli siege of Gaza:

    • Lifeline to Gaza land convoy (2010)
    • Miles of Smiles land convoy (2012)
    • Research visit (2012)
    • Freedom Flotilla 3 to Gaza (2015)
    • Women’s Boat to Gaza (2016)
    • Right to a Just Future for Palestine (2018)

    “This year we are again joining with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Save Gaza Campaign and planning three separate actions that will deliver much needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” said Fowler.

    “We’ll also be challenging the illegal Israeli blockade and siege of the enclave.”

    "Where our governments fail, we sail"
    “Where our governments fail, we sail” . . . a message from a Canadian member of the Freedom Flotilla. Image: Kia Ora Gaza

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • China’s ‘military fans’ could run afoul of national security laws

    China’s Ministry of State Security has warned the country’s social media influencers, particularly military enthusiasts and former state employees with access to confidential information, that they are at risk of breaching national security laws in their bid to attract fans.

    “With the rise of self-media, a casual video or comment can attract a lot of attention online, and anyone can become an online celebrity,” the ministry said in a post on Tuesday to its official WeChat account.

    “Knowledge-sharing and outdoor check-in accounts are very popular … but they need to improve their awareness of national security,” the post warned.

    The growth of amateur military enthusiasts has come amid a rise in popularity for nationalistic commentators who like to brag about China’s military might online, particularly with regard to a potential invasion of democratic Taiwan.

    “Military fan” content has proliferated behind the Great Firewall of internet censorship in recent years, as it is often produced by “little pink” creators of nationalistic content, which drives large amounts of traffic on Chinese social media.

    Some like to report on the latest high-tech weaponry and equipment being deployed by the People’s Liberation Army, analyze the strengths of its command regions and theaters, or engage in military plane-spotting, including aircraft identifying marks, according to state media reports.

    Meanwhile, on YouTube, short videos have also appeared in large numbers on channels like China Defense and Military Tube and CCTV’s China Military, using official state media footage and sometimes an AI voice-over and subtitles in English that appear aimed at an overseas audience.

    But official warnings are growing that some influencers appear to be going too far, amid a nationwide crackdown on the flow of information under ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

    The latest Ministry of State Security post follows a warning from the Ministry in December that any military fans reporting details of construction projects, technical specifications or the deployment of new military equipment could be prosecuted, with prison sentences of 3-7 years for the most serious offenders.

    In January, a People’s Liberation Army-affiliated media organization Jun Zhengping Studio complained publicly after a blogger shared tips on how to sneak into a restricted military zone on the Xiaohongshu social media platform.

    The post was illustrated with a photo of a young woman scaling a chain-link fence at a restricted facility near the central city of Wuhan, close to a big red sign that reads “No Entry. Restricted Military Area.”

    The Ministry’s post on Tuesday said former civil servants, defense officials and scientific researchers have used their insider knowledge to drive traffic to their accounts, taking advantage of public curiosity about secret matters, even before the statute of limitations on that knowledge has expired.

    “Anyone striving to become an internet celebrity must always pay attention to their words and deeds, and never leak national secrets or endanger national security,” the account warned, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

    It singled out “outdoor enthusiasts” who like to check in at restricted areas “as a gimmick to attract attention,” and who take photos around military restricted zones regardless of warning notices.

    “Illegal actions like breaking into military restricted areas in order to attract fans seriously disrupts the orderly management of important military areas, and may even provide an opportunity for overseas spies and intelligence agencies to spy on and analyze our military deployment, endangering national security,” the report said, citing the ministry.

    “Areas under military management and classified sensitive areas are not tourist attractions,” it said, calling on social media platforms to weed out content of this kind.

    Under Chinese law, the country’s citizens are obliged to protect military facilities, the post warned.

    “Any behavior that disrupts the orderly management of military restricted areas or threatens safety at military facilities will be severely punished by law,” the Ministry warned.

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • White House Wants $895 Billion for Pentagon and Nukes in Fiscal Year 2025

    The White House released its budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2025 on March 11th, and the news was depressingly familiar: $895 billion for the Pentagon and work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy. After adjusting for inflation, that’s only slightly less than last year’s proposal, but far higher than the levels reached during either the Korean or Vietnam wars or at the height of the Cold…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • UN report: Migrants abused by ‘military, police, smugglers, criminal gangs’

    Although three-quarters of migrants surveyed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand said they suffered some type of abuse while leaving their homelands via people-smuggling networks, nearly half said they would do it again, the United Nations said in a report released Tuesday.

    The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime conducted a survey of nearly 4,800 migrants and refugees in those three countries who had turned to illegal networks to smuggle them into Southeast Asia, the UNODC’s regional office in Bangkok said in its report.

    The respondents were abused by the “military, police, smugglers, border guards or criminal gangs,” according to the report titled “Migrant Smuggling in Southeast Asia.” Those who took part in the survey were from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Somalia and Vietnam, and included Rohingya.

    “Migrant smuggling is often not a free or voluntary choice, but an act of desperation, to seek security, safety or opportunity, or freedom from threat of harm, oppression or corruption,” said Masood Karimipour, UNODC regional representative in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. 

    “The data shows that smugglers may be individual actors, loosely connected criminals, or organized groups. Bringing them to justice is an important part of protecting the people seeking safety and a better life,” he said in a statement that accompanied the report’s release.

    26-UN-SEA-migration Infographic Border Crossings.JPG

    The report found that military and police were seen as likely to carry out physical violence; ask for bribes or engage in extortion; cause death; and commit sexual violence during the journey. 

    “Non-physical violence (e.g., harassment) is more common for men (18% of smuggled men surveyed) than women (13%). Eleven percent of women and 6% of men experienced sexual violence, while 9% of men and 6% of women witnessed death,” the report said.

    About one-quarter of the respondents said that climate issues including floods, drought or extreme temperatures drove them to seek out smugglers. 

    “Climate issues are particularly relevant for smuggled Bangladeshis; three out of four Bangladeshis surveyed said that climate-related or natural environment issues influenced their decision to leave,” the UNODC said.

    A similar number said they were pulled into having to bribe officials, or give them gifts or perform favors during their travels. 

    “[P]eople think that they need smugglers to help them deal with corrupt authorities,” the report said.

    Despite this, “Among smuggled people surveyed, almost half (48%) stated that they would have taken the journey anyway, knowing what they did now about the conditions, 40% said that they would not have and 12% were undecided,” the report said.

    It found that more than two out of every three respondents said they, family or friends had initiated contact with smugglers through social media, by phone or in person. They pay fees averaging US$2,380.

    Nearly 90% of Rohingya – members of a persecuted and stateless Muslim minority group from Myanmar – told interviewers that they used smugglers to get to Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia.

    In light of the report released by UNODC, RFA-affiliate BenarNews reached out and interviewed three Rohingya who had relied on people-smuggling networks in their efforts to migrate to countries in Southeast Asia other than Myanmar.  

    26-UN-SEA-migration2.jpg
    Rohingya Shobbir Hussain (left) and fellow refugees Sirajul Mustafa, Abdul Kalam and Hafiz Ayasullah stand near the Balee Meuseuraya Aceh Building, a meeting building in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, March 25, 2024. (Nurdin Hasan/BenarNews)

    One of the three, Shobbir Hussain, 18, is among 2,000 Rohingya who have been sheltering in Indonesia’s Aceh region since October 2023.

    Along with about 130 other Rohingya, he arrived in Aceh Besar regency on Dec. 10, from the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh, after weeks adrift at sea.

    Shobbir said his parents sent him on his journey to have a better life.

    “Life in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, Bangladesh, is no longer safe. There are frequent acts of violence, kidnapping and extortion,” Shobbir said. 

    “It turns out here is not what I expected either,” he said.

    Four months after arriving in Aceh, Shobbir said his life is much like it was in the Bangladesh camp – his time is spent eating and sleeping.

    “There is nothing to do, even though I want to go to school or work.” 

    Shobbir said his father paid smugglers to take him by a wooden boat across the rough Andaman Sea – a 45-day journey to Indonesia – after they promised a better life in Indonesia or Malaysia. He said he did not know how much his father had paid for him to leave.

    His father, mother and seven siblings lived in a cramped Cox’s Bazar refugee camp after they were forced to leave Rakhine state following a brutal offensive launched by the Myanmar military in 2017. 

    “Our house was burned down and the Myanmar military shot dead one of my younger brothers. That’s why we fled to Bangladesh,” he said. 

    Fled to Malaysia

    Meanwhile in Malaysia, Shahidullah Mohd Hosein, said his parents paid smugglers to help him leave a crowded refugee camp in search of better opportunities abroad.

    Shahidullah lived in the Kutapalong refugee camp in Bangladesh after his family fled the prosecution in Myanmar. His family and about 1 million other Rohingya live in camps and settlements in and around Cox’s Bazar.

    Shahidullah said he had no future in the camp.

    “There are a lot of groups who kidnap people to demand ransom, and if the family of the kidnapped person does not pay, they threaten to kill that person,” Shahidullah, 29, told BenarNews. 

    He said groups have burned shelters in the crowded camps at night, leaving families homeless.

    Shahidullah said he reached out to a syndicate to arrange passage to Malaysia. Before long the syndicate demanded his mother pay 500,000 Bangladeshi taka ($4,565) to transport him to Malaysia. He arrived in Malaysia in September 2023.

    “I did not know how my mother was able to get the money. But after a few days I was sent to a boat with around 100 other Rohingya.

    “It took us one month and some trekking to get us to Malaysia. We had no food throughout the journey and could only eat when we were on land,” he said, adding that the group had to resort to eating leaves while trekking through jungles.

    Shahidullah’s journey ended last September in Ampang, near Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur, where he has been housed by the Rohingya expatriate community.  

    26-UN-SEA-migration3.jpeg
    Rohingya Halima Khatun, 25, seen here in a Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, returned to Bangladesh last month after spending 13 months incarcerated in Myanmar after her effort to travel to Malaysia failed, March 8, 2024. (Sharif Khiam/BenarNews)

    In Bangladesh, a Rohingya woman has returned to a refugee camp after her attempt to travel to Myanmar for an arranged marriage led to spending more than a year in a Myanmar prison. 

    Halima Khatun saw her father killed by Burmese troops in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Aug. 25, 2017. Her mother took her and two sisters across the border where they sheltered at a Bangladesh seeking shelter in the Teknaf refugee camp. 

    Halima, who was 18 at the time, said she fled the camp in late 2022 to travel to Malaysia assisted by human traffickers. Instead, she spent 13 months in prison after being arrested by Myanmar authorities when the boat’s engine broke down during the sea voyage. 

    “My family was unable to trace me during those 13 months. They assumed I had drowned in the sea or died anyhow,” she told BenarNews during an interview. 

    Following her release from prison, Halima returned to Bangladesh in February with assistance from Myanmar relatives. 

    “My marriage to Habibur Rahman, a young Rohingya guy in Malaysia, was planned. He was the one who attempted to utilize the ‘Dalal’ syndicate to get me there,” she said. The term means brokers.

    “One of the brokers involved in my journey to Malaysia was a Rohingya living in Myanmar; another was a local Bangladeshi,” Halima said. 

    The traffickers demanded 800,000 taka ($7,289) as payment for transporting her to Malaysia. 

    She was traveling with several Rohingya men and women, as well as some Bangladeshis. 

    “After leaving Shamila [a Rakhine state village], we stayed on that boat for 22 days before moving on to another small boat for two days and two nights. Then, as the boat [engine stalled], the sailors rushed away.

    “Then the ‘military’ arrived and rescued us. After that, a police car drove all of us to a place where we were for 12 days,” she said. 

    26-UN-SEA-migration Infographic Country Origin.JPG

    Sentenced to two years in a Myanmar prison, Halima spent 13 months incarcerated.

    About three weeks ago, Halima paid a broker fee to cross the Naf river by boat and return to Bangladesh.

    Halima said the man who promised to marry her had already married another Rohingya girl from a camp in Bangladesh and took her to Malaysia. 

    Abdur Rahman in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Ahmad Mustakim Zulkifli in Kuala Lumpur and Nurdin Hasan in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

    BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By BenarNews Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • As Israel blocks more UN aid, Gaza is on the brink of ‘most intense famine’ since WW2

    DEMOCRACY NOW! Presented by Amy Goodman

    AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! — The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

    We turn to Gaza, where aid groups say famine is imminent after five months of US-backed attacks by Israel.

    This is in spite of the historic UN Security Council resolution yesterday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Fourteen countries voted in favour of the resolution — while the US, Israel’s main ally, abstained.

    The head of the UN Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA, says Israel is now denying access to all UNRWA food convoys to northern Gaza, even though the region is on the brink of famine.

    UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, quote, “This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.”

    On Saturday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres travelled to the Rafah border crossing.

    SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES: A long line of blocked relief trucks on one side of the gates, the long shadow of starvation on the other. That is more than tragic. It is a moral outrage. …

    It’s time to truly flood Gaza with lifesaving aid. The choice is clear: either surge or starvation.

    Let’s choose the side of help, the side of hope and the right side of history.

    AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined by Alex de Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine. His new piece for The Guardian, “We are about to witness in Gaza the most intense famine since the Second World War.”

    Alex, welcome back to Democracy Now! Describe what’s happening, at a time when Israel is now preventing the largest aid umbrella in Gaza, UNRWA, from delivering aid to northern Gaza, where famine is the most intense.


    As Israel blocks more aid, protests mount for a free independent state. Video: Gaza famine

    ALEX DE WAAL: Let’s make no mistake: We talk about imminent famine or being at the brink of famine. When a population is in this extreme cataclysmic food emergency, already children are dying in significant numbers of hunger and needless disease, the two interacting in a vicious spiral that is killing them, likely in thousands already. It’s very arbitrary to say we’re at the brink of famine. It is a particular measure of the utter extremity of threat to human survival.

    And we have never actually — since the metrics for measuring acute food crisis were developed some 20 years ago, we have never seen a situation either in which an entire population, the entire population of Gaza, is in food crisis, food emergency or famine, or such simple large numbers of people descending into starvation simply hasn’t happened before in our lifetimes.

    AMY GOODMAN: How can it be prevented?

    ALEX DE WAAL: Well, it’s been very clear. Back in December, the Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system — and that is the sort of the ultimate arbiter, the high court, if you like, of humanitarian assessments — made it absolutely clear — and I can quote — “The cessation of hostilities in conjunction with the sustained restoration of humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip remain the essential prerequisites for preventing famine.”

    It said that in December. It reiterated it again last week. There is no way that this disaster can be prevented without a ceasefire and without a full spectrum of humanitarian relief and restoring essential services.

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres
    UN Secretary-General António Guterres . . . travelled to the Rafah border crossing and witnessed long columns of aid trucks not being allowed onto Gaza by Israel. Image: Democracy Now! screenshot APR

    AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain what the IPC is? And also talk about the effects of famine for the rest of the lives of those who survive, of children.

    ALEX DE WAAL: So, the IPC, which is short for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, is the system that the international humanitarian agencies adopted some 20 years ago to try and come to a standardised metric. And it uses a five fold classification of food insecurity.

    And it comes out in very clearly colour-coded maps, which are very easy to understand. So, green is phase one, which is normal. Yellow is phase two, which is stressed. Orangey brown is phase three, that is crisis.

    Red is four, that is emergency.

    And in the very first prototype, actually, of the IPC, this was called famine, but they reclassified it as emergency. And dark blood red is catastrophe or famine. And this measures the intensity.

    There’s also the question of the magnitude, the sheer numbers involved, which in the case of Gaza means, essentially, the entire population of more than 2 million.

    Now, starvation is not just something that is experienced and from which people can recover. We have long-standing evidence — and the best evidence, actually, is from Holland, where the Dutch population suffered what they called the Hunger Winter back in 1944 at the end of the Second World War.

    And the Dutch have been able to track the lifelong effects of starvation of young children and children who were not yet born, in utero. And they find that those children, when they grow up, are shorter. They are stunted.

    And they have lower cognitive capacities than their elder or younger siblings. And this actually even goes on to the next generation, so that when little girls who are exposed to this grow and become mothers, their own children also suffer those effects, albeit at a lesser scale. So, this will be a calamity that will be felt for generations.

    AMY GOODMAN: What are you calling for, Alex de Waal? I mean, in a moment we’re going to talk about what’s happening in Sudan. It’s horrifying to go from one famine to another. But the idea that we’re talking about a completely man-made situation here.

    ALEX DE WAAL: Indeed. It is not only man-made, and therefore, it is men who will stop it. And sadly, of course, even if [with a] ceasefire and humanitarian assistance, it will be too late to save the lives of hundreds, probably thousands, of children who are at the brink now and are living in these terrible, overcrowded situations without basic water, sanitation and services.

    A crisis like this cannot be stopped overnight. And it is a crisis that is not just a humanitarian crisis. It is fundamentally a political crisis, a crisis of an abrogation of essentially agreed international humanitarian law, and indeed international criminal law.

    There is overwhelming evidence that this is the war crime of starvation being perpetrated at scale.

    AMY GOODMAN: Alex de Waal, we’re going to turn now from what’s happening in Gaza. We’ll link to your piece, “We are about to witness in Gaza the most intense famine since the Second World War.”

    The original content of this programme is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States Licence.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Disaster minister Joseph briefs PNG on quake and crises hitting nation

    By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby

    Papua New Guinea’s Defence Minister and minister responsible for the National Disaster Centre Dr Billy Joseph confirmed today that the government — with coordinated support from all stakeholder agencies and development partners — was responding appropriately to the natural disasters that has hit many parts of the country.

    The National Disaster Center (NDC) is the national coordinating agency and is working with provincial governments and district development authorities (DDAs) as well as the Department of Works and Highways, PNG Defence Force and other stakeholders to coordinate and respond promptly.

    The East Sepik provincial earthquake on Sunday left at least three dead and more than 1000 homes collapsed.

    The US Geological Survey said it was magnitude 6.9 and just over 40 km deep.

    Dr Billy Joseph
    PNG’s Disaster Minister Dr Billy Joseph . . . “seven people are still missing [off the coast of New Ireland] and our search is still active.” Image: PNG Post-Courier
    A summary of the current crises impacting on Papua New Guinea.

    King tides and heavy flooding
    The minister confirmed that about 10 provinces are getting the necessary assistance from the National Disaster Center, including Goroka/EHP which was not included in the initial report provided to his office.

    PNG Defence Force troops are working closely with the Simbu Provincial Government and Gumine DDA and their respective leaderships as Simbu was one of the worst affected provinces.

    7 people missing off the coast of New Ireland Province
    Nine people boarded a banana boat at Kavieng for Emirau Island but did not make it due to heavy weather conditions when the boat capsized.

    Two of the young men swam to the island to look for help while seven others made a makeshift raft and floated awaiting assistance.

    “As of today, seven people are still missing and our search is still active — if we don’t find them after 72 hours, we will declare them lost and the search will be discontinued,” Minister Joseph said.

    The Australian Defence Force has provided a C27 aircraft to conduct low aerial surveillance of the subject areas.

    A PNGDF Navy Patrol Boat has also been deployed to the area but no sightings have been reported.

    The Search and Rescue operations are being coordinated by the National Maritime Safety Authority with oversight provided by the PNG Defence Force.

    East Sepik Province earthquake
    NDC is working very closely with the leaders of East Sepik, including the provincial government, to ensure much needed help reach the people that need it.

    An emergency allocation of K200,000 (about NZ$90,000) has been made available for food, water, shelter and medicines etc as seen appropriate by the Provincial Disaster Committee.

    It is at their disposal. A commercial helicopter is now in Wewak to assist in the relief operations and the PNDF military helicopter will join shortly.

    “We are also mobilising support from our bilateral partners to assist but the challenge is now for the Provincial Disaster Center to provide reports to NDC so we define and coordinate what kind of emergency assistance is required,” Minister Joseph said.

    Minister Joseph further warned Papua New Guineans to take precautions and not take risks, especially at sea, as the country’s emergency services are stretched and rescue efforts may not happen in time.

    Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Australian group warns of new ‘arrests, torture’ in Papuan crackdown

    Asia Pacific Report

    An Australian solidarity group for West Papua today warned of a fresh “heavy handed” Indonesia crackdown on Papuan villagers with more “arrests and torture”.

    Joe Collins of the Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) gave the warning in the wake of the deployment of 30 elite rangers last week at the Ndeotadi 99 police post in Paniai district, Central Papua, following a deadly assault there by Papuan pro-independence resistance fighters.

    Two Indonesian police officers were killed in the attack.

    The AWPA warning also follows mounting outrage over a brutal video of an Indonesian Papuan man being tortured in a fuel drum that has gone viral.

    Collins called on the federal government to “immediately condemn” the torture of West Papuans by the Australian-trained Indonesian security forces.

    “If a security force sweep occurs in the region, we can expect the usual heavy-handed approach by the security forces,” Collins said in a statement.

    “It’s not unusual for houses and food gardens to be destroyed during these operations, including the arrest and torture of Papuans.

    “Local people usually flee their villages creating more IDP [internally displaced people]”.

    60,000 plus IDPs
    Human rights reports indicate there are more than 60,000 IDP in West Papua.

    “The recent brutal torture of an indigenous Papuan man shows what can happen to West Papuans who fall foul of the Indonesian security forces,” Collins said.

    “Anyone seeing this video which has gone viral must be shocked by the brutality of the military personal involved. 

    The video clip was shot on 3 February 2024 during a security force raid in Puncak regency.

    “The Australian government should immediately condemn the torture of West Papuans by the Indonesian security forces [which] Australia trains and holds exercises with.

    “Do we have to remind the government of Article 7of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights? It states:

    No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.

    “As more Papuans become aware of the horrific video, they may respond by holding rallies and protests leading to more crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators,” Collins said.

    “Hopefully Jakarta will realise the video is being watched by civil society, the media and government officials around the world and will control its military in the territory.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.