Southeast Asia
Burma: Kachin rebels agree to peace talks
With fighting escalating after a 17-year ceasefire broke down last year, Burma’s Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has agreed to talks with the government.
Tag: Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Burma: new airstrikes on Kachin rebels
Burma's army claimed responsibility for air-strikes against Kachin rebel positions in the north—less than a day after the government denied the strikes had taken place.
Southeast Asia
Burma: repression of anti-mine protesters
Aung San Suu Kyi is to lead an investigation after brutal repression of protests by farmers facing forced relocation to make way for expansion of a Chinese-owned copper mine.
Southeast Asia
Burma frees 452 (political?) prisoners
Burma freed 452 prisoners ahead of Obama’s visit, but the National League for Democracy denounced the move as empty, saying that no political prisoners were included.
Southeast Asia
Mindanao: fighting despite new autonomy deal
New fighting was reported from the southern Philippines island group of Mindanao, despite a recent deal on regional autonomy aimed at ending the decades-long insurgency.
Southeast Asia
Indonesia indigenous peoples: We exist!
Indonesia responded to UN recommendations to recognize the rights of its indigenous peoples by claiming that none live in the country—as massacres of tribal peoples continue.
Southeast Asia
Vietnam: peasant protests over land-grab
Residents of Van Giang outside Hanoi marched to oppose the seizure of their lands for an “EcoPark” development project hailed by the government as a model of sustainability.
Southeast Asia
Cambodia: rights activist sentenced to 20 years
Prominent Cambodian rights activist Mam Sonando was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment after being convicted of insurrection and inciting rebellion against the state.
Southeast Asia
Burma: invisible war in Kachin state
As Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to the US won wide media attention, more peasants were displaced by the ongoing war against tribal peoples in Burma’s north.
Southeast Asia
Burmese warlord confesses to Mekong massacre
Burmese warlord Naw Kham, hunted down in the Golden Triangle by elite Chinese forces, pleaded guilty before a court in Yunnan to a massacre of Chinese merchant crewmen.
Southeast Asia
Geopolitical chess game heats up South China Sea
Beijing's move to set up a military garrison on disputed Yongxing Island—claimed by the Philippines as part of the Paracel chain—is escalating tension in the South China Sea.
Southeast Asia
Inhabitants look at the Mina Marlin
In San Miguel Ixtahaucán, Guatemala, the Mina Marlin gold mine, operated by Canadian giant Goldcorp, has divided indigenous communities through gifts, benefits, and violence. The mine has not only had a profound impact on the environment but also on the… Read moreInhabitants look at the Mina Marlin