Kim Jong-il state funeral held in North Korea

The BBC's Chris Rogers said many details of the two-day funeral
had been kept secret

North Korea has begun two days of funeral services for late leader Kim Jong-il with a huge procession in the capital, Pyongyang.

Footage showed tens of thousands of soldiers with their heads bowed as a giant portrait of Mr Kim was carried slowly through the streets.

His successor and third son, Kim Jong-un, walked beside the hearse, images from state television showed.

Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on 17 December, aged 69, state media said.

He has been lying in state for the past 10 days.
New line-up

No schedule was released ahead of the commemorations and no foreign delegations are attending.

But observers said the ceremonies echoed the displays of pomp and military might that marked the death of Mr Kim's father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994.

Kim Jong-un - who is thought to be in his late 20s and who has little political experience - was shown weeping beside the hearse as it drove through the snowy capital.

He was accompanied by his uncle, Chang Song-taek, who is expected to be a key player as the younger Kim consolidates power.

Ri Yong-ho, the army chief, also accompanied the hearse as it drove past ranks of troops.

The three-hour funeral procession was led by a limousine bearing a huge portrait of a smiling Kim Jong-il. The coffin was draped in a red flag and surrounded by white flowers.

As it passed by, crowds of mourners wailed and flailed their arms as soldiers struggled to keep them from spilling into the road.

One soldier interviewed by North Korean state television said: "The snow is endlessly falling like tears. How could the sky not cry when we've lost our general who was a great man from the sky? As we're separated from the general by death, people, mountains and sky are all shedding tears of blood. Dear Supreme Commander!"

The procession was broadcast live on state television. When it ended outside Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace, state TV began broadcasting documentaries about Kim Jong-il's life.

Mr Kim's body had previously lain in state in a glass coffin at the palace.

Observers are keenly watching the line-up over the two-day funeral to see which officials are in prominent positions.
Jostling for influence?

Kim Jong-il - known in North Korea as the "Dear Leader" - was in the process of formalising Kim Jong-un as his successor when he died. However, the transition was not complete, leaving regional neighbours fearful of a power struggle in the nuclear-armed pariah state.
Continue reading the main story
Kim Jong-un, centre right, followed by his uncle, Chang Song-taek

The BBC's Lucy Williamson, in the South Korean capital Seoul, says senior military and party officials may well now be jostling for influence in the new regime.

North Korea's reluctance to open up the funeral ceremony to foreign delegations may signal that those hierarchies have not yet been fully agreed, she adds.

In the week since Mr Kim died, state media has called Kim Jong-un the "Great Successor" and referred to him as the leader of the military and the party.

Commemorations are expected to continue on Thursday, with a three-minute silence at noon local time (03:00 GMT), followed by trains and ships sounding horns. The national memorial service will then begin.

The inter-Korean Kaesong industrial park has been closed for two days for the mourning following a North Korean request, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports.

Are you marking the funeral of Kim Jong-il? You can share your thoughts on his passing and your expectations for Kim Jong-un by filling in the form below.


Src  :  BBC

Refugees in Thai camps waiting for peace

(Mizzima) – The Nu Po refugee camp in Thailand has a feeling of permanence. Nestled in the Thai hills tight on the border with Karen State, the camp is a six-hour dirve south of Mae Sot in Umphang District in Tak Province.

The Mae La refugee camp is located about 90 kilometres from Mae Sot
on the Thai-Burmese border. Photo: AFP

But, set up in 1997, it is now threatened by changes in Bangkok and Naypyitaw.

Tawin Pleansri, the secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council, said in April, “I cannot say when we will close down the camps but we intend to do it”. Only months later, the new President of Burma, Thein Sein, publicly invited exiles to return home.

But whether the refugees feel they can safely go home may ultimately lie in the hands of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her work with Naypyitaw’s “Peace Committees,” which are engaged in working out a comprehensive peace deal with various ethnic armed groups.

Despite the call by Thein Sein for exiles to return, most refugees in Thai camps are sitting tight.

Underlining these realities, the first official trip to Burma by the new Thai Prime Minister included a focus on economic cooperation including the countries energy interests.

“Maybe I'm more realistic than optimistic,” said Zulu, who has a bright smile and warm, open demeanour. She gives no hint of the five years she spent as a political prisoner in Burma's notorious prison system.

Speaking at a NGO office in Mae Sot, she said: “For this question, it is too early to judge, but how we can measure the changes... there are three things; If they release all political prisoners, also internal peace between ethnic groups and Burmese army... and how they give the space to do politics. We must measure these areas.”

The sustained news of the changes coming out of Burma has generated much discussion in the media, diplomatic circles and within the camps.

“The people in the refugee camp don't have much work to do... so they have much time to listen to rumours, so they've heard a lot of rumours and are worried,” said Zulu, who spent a year in the Nu Po refugee camp.

Sitting down with two of the camps residents over a cup of coffee, I ask what they thought of the changes. Khin (names change at their request) smiled and pointed to his friend,Thet. “He thinks it's a trick, but I think there are little positive changes”. Both have been in the camp for four years after  fleeing their homes in Rangoon.

The camp is really more like a small city. Unable to work in the outside world, camp residents have created everything from beauty salons to bike shops and tea stalls. Churches, mosques and Buddhist temples dot the area. With little to do but wait, schools offer the chance to learn English or skills like hairdressing.

Khin's brother was a member of the National League for Democracy and fled Burma after spending eight years in prison. He fled to the Thai border and after extensive screening, he resettled in America.

Almost 70,000 refugees have already chosen to go to a third country, with another 9,000 leaving this year. A similar number are expected to leave next year, but that will account for nearly all the registered refugees. The last official registration took place in 2006.

A number of the people I spoke to pointed out that while the resettlement is good for individuals who leave, it has negative impacts for the wider camp, often taking skilled people like teachers and nurses away from the community.

The current international climate is also challenging. Rations in the camps, and the yearly allotment for building materials have both been cut.

A recent report, which noted the U.S. has accepted the lion’s  share of refugees, is a further point of concern. The report compiled by researchers at San Francisco State University and the Burma Refugee Family Network (BRFN) and released this week found that nearly 60 per cent of the Burmese refugees in Oakland are living in extreme poverty. The Karen and Karenni are most at risk due to added language barriers and lower rates of education but even taken as a whole, Burmese refugees “are at risk of becoming a permanent, poverty-stricken underclass.”

When another official screening will start no one knows, Khin said, “but it depends on (the) Thai government.” A number of people said they though the lack of official screening was an attempt to discourage more people fleeing to the camps.

In an interview with Karen news, the Secretary of Nu Po refugee camp, Saw Thoolei Doh Soe, said “The people who want to resettle are around 50 per cent, and another 40 per cent want to still remain as refugees. Not even 1 percent of people want to go back to Burma now.”

There are good reasons for this. Karen State is one of the most mined areas on earth. Forced labour is still endemic and woman across the state are at risk of rape and sexual assault from government soldiers. 

Since the 1980s camps along the Thai-Burma boarder have been home to refugees fleeing the world's longest running civil war. They have also been home to the political activists forced to flee waves of repression.

While the officially registered number of refugees in the camps is 90,000, the Thai-Burma Boarder Consortium (TBBC), which provides humanitarian aid inside the camps, last month fed 148,000 in the 10 camps that hug the boarder.

Inside Burma, TBBC estimates at least 112,000 have been forced to flee their homes in the past year. This is the highest yearly number since TBBC “and partners started documenting displacement in 2002”, and is an indication that if anything the situation in ethnic areas has got worse over the last year.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Burma marked the highest level of engagement between the U.S. and Burma in 50 years and comes only weeks after Burma was named Asean chair for 2014.

Some refugees think the international community may be moving too fast to reengage with Burma.

“I'm not surprised by them, but I'm surprised with the international community, and how come they don't know these peoples games,” said Naw Htoo Paw.

To illustrate her point she described trying to help negotiate for around 100 villagers who fled “from active fighting”, after the election, to stay in Thailand. “We tried to say the fighting has not stopped yet” but the authorities maintained it had.

After sending back the last boatload across the river “another mortar landed” and the boat wanted to return. But the authorities said “it’s only mortar shelling, we have to wait for more fighting… the population was mainly woman and small children... and this was only one boat so this is the Thai relations to refugees, they don't want more.”

She understands the dangers. At age 11, she witnessed a man from her village killed on suspicion of being an insurgent.

Such doubts will only be put to rest by a lasting peace in the ethnic areas and the unconditional release of all political prisoners. 

Without lasting peace in the ethnic regions, Thailand seems unlikely to find an acceptable way to close the camps. No matter how much it wants to or how much the refugees wish to return home, without a stable peace, the camps will remain in the unenviable position of being between a rock and a very hard, unforgiving place.

Src : Mizzima

Death Toll Rises After Grenade and Gun Attack in Belgium

LIÈGE, Belgium — Belgian police said on Wednesday they had discovered a woman’s body at a cannabis warehouse used by a man who lobbed three hand grenades and opened fire at a crowded central bus stop here Tuesday, killing four people, wounding more than 100 and creating panic before killing himself. The death brought the toll to at least five.

grenade and gun attack in the Belgium

No motive was immediately established, though the Interior Ministry said it was not related to terrorism, for which European cities have long been on alert. The man had a history of run-ins with the law.

Cedric Visart de Bocarme, a prosecutor, told a Belgian radio station on Wednesday that “a search last night revealed in a warehouse used by the attacker, notably to grow cannabis, the body of a woman killed by the attacker before he went to the central Place St.-Lambert” to launch the main assault.

Three victims died on the spot and at least one died later at a hospital, Belgian news reports said.

The attacker was identified as Norodine Amrani, 33, of Liège, who received a 58-month prison sentence for drug and gun offenses in 2008. He had been summoned to appear before the police on Tuesday, suggesting that his attack was some sort of desperate final lashing out. The reason for the questioning was not clear.

The attack took place just after noon at a crowded bus stop in Place St.-Lambert, a hub of the Old City that hosts an annual Christmas market and is the site of a main courthouse building. Liège is in eastern Belgium and is the country’s third-largest city, after Brussels and Antwerp.

“I saw a lot of blood splashed over parts of the square,” said Jean-Marie Deprez, 59. “It looked like thousands of people were trying to flee the square, and a lot of them were running toward the River Meuse to save themselves.”

The police discovered Mr. Amrani’s van nearby and destroyed it, Danièle Reynders, the city prosecutor, said in a televised news conference.

Ms. Reynders identified three of the people killed as “a 15-year-old — a young boy who died on the spot — a 17-year-old and a 75-year-old woman who died outside the court.” Belgian news media reported that a 20-year-old man later died in a hospital and that a 2-year-old girl was in critical condition, with some saying she had died.

“We’d never observed that he had any mental problems,” Ms. Reynders said of Mr. Amrani. “He has no history of terrorist acts.” An inquiry will determine if the attack was premeditated, she said.

The local news media described Mr. Amrani as a weapons expert, skilled at repairing firearms, who was sentenced for having 9,500 weapons parts and a dozen complete weapons, as well as for growing 2,800 marijuana plants.

On Tuesday, he left his home in Liège armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an assault rifle, then made the half-hour downhill walk alone to the central square, Ms. Reynders said. He still had a number of grenades with him when he died, she said.

Witnesses told the Belgian news media that the assailant had hurled explosives from a platform above a bakery. A police official told The Associated Press on Tuesday evening that at least 123 people were wounded.

“It was total panic, and people were running everywhere,” said Catherine Leburton, 55, a barmaid at Le Bus Taverne, which overlooks Place St.-Lambert. She said she had heard four explosions and a volley of gunfire.

The explosions sent glass far and wide from the bus stop, which serves 1,800 buses a day. Video showed people fleeing, including a large group of children. The police rapidly closed off the area and moved through surrounding streets on foot and searched by helicopter for possible accomplices.

But by midafternoon, Peter Mertens, an Interior Ministry official, confirmed that there had been only one attacker and that he had died at the scene. Mr. Mertens said the authorities had also ruled out the possibility that the attack was part of a diversion to help free prisoners at the Court of Justice nearby.

A witness in the square told RTL Television that he had seen a man throw grenades before firing haphazardly at the crowd with an assault rifle. When that weapon appeared to be out of bullets, “he took a revolver and he shot himself in the head,” the witness, who was not identified, told the broadcaster.

Television images showed scenes of panic in the center of the city as sirens blared and police officers ran through the lunchtime crowds. Blood could be seen on the cobblestones of Place St.-Lambert, lined with rows of stalls selling seasonal trinkets and snacks.

“It’s the beating heart of our city that was attacked today,” said Francis Bourdoux, 42, who lives near Place St.-Lambert.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London, Stephen Castle from Brussels, and J. David Goodman from New York.


Src  : New York times

Death toll from Afghan holy day bombs reaches 80

KABUL — Afghanistan said Sunday the death toll from bombings targeting the Shiite Muslim holy day of Ashura, which raised fears the nation could face an eruption of sectarian violence, has climbed to 80.
 

Death toll from Afghan

The coordinated attacks struck in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Tuesday as Shiites gathered to mark the holiest day in their calendar.

"The Ashura incident happened at a time that the people of Afghanistan were happy after a successful Bonn conference," Karzai said during a speech in the capital, referring to the international meeting in Germany on his country's future.

"Unfortunately the blast in Ashura martyred 80 people. The death toll has reached 80... It was either hitting our happiness or a wider policy is involved behind it."

The twin blasts have prompted fears that Afghanistan could see the sort of sectarian violence that has pitched Shiite against Sunni Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan.

The Afghan state is already fragile, with different ethnic groups including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks living together, sometimes uneasily, under one flag as a decade-long war rumbles on with no end in sight.

But US ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker told reporters Saturday he did not expect the attacks to spark a wave of sectarian violence in the country and Shiite leaders had called for calm.

Shiites make up roughly 20 percent of the population.

Karzai on Wednesday blamed Pakistani extremists for the unprecedented attack in Kabul, demanding justice from the government in Islamabad.

By pointing the finger at the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militant group, Karzai threatened to ratchet up tensions with neighbouring Pakistan, which responded by calling for an end to the "blame game".

The group's purported claim of responsibility for the attack has not been confirmed independently.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are tense, and frequently spiral into mutual accusations over the violence plaguing both their countries.

Meanwhile the Taliban issued a fresh statement Sunday renewing their condemnation of the "inexplicable bombings" which they described as a "pre-planned plot of the defeated enemy".

"Nobody should be allowed to reach their sinister goals by creating rifts and divisions amongst our united people on the basis of religion, race, language or region," the statement said.

Initial death tolls were put at 55 in Kabul and another four in Mazar-i-Sharif.


Src  : AFP

Bangladesh says refugees must return quickly

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Refugees living in the Nayapara and Kutupalong refugee camps and the huge number of undocumented Burmese nationals living in Bangladesh should be returned quickly, according to a joint statement by Burma and Bangladesh.

The Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf, Cox’s bazar.
There are 30,000 un-registered Rohingya refugees living in the camp.
Photo: Bayazid Akter

The statement came following a two-day visit to Burma by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, which ended on Wednesday.

President Thein Sein was quoted in the Burmese state-run newspaper Myanmar Ahlin as saying: “Burma wants to cooperate with Bangladesh in resolving the issue.”

According to figures compiled by UNHCR, there are about 29,300 Burmese refugees assisted by the UN group and more than 200,000 Burmese of questionable status in Bangladesh.

The joint statement did not use the word “Rohingya,” a term the Burmese government does not accept.

On Tuesday, the Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star reported that Burma had agreed to take back Rohingya refugees who have been recently verified by Burmese authorities.

The Daily Star quoted the Bangladesh prime minister saying that the presence of the Burmese refugees creates social, financial and environmental challenges to Bangladesh

In other business, the joint statement said the two governments stressed the establishment of a direct banking arrangement under the Asian Clearing Union and a plan to launch direct air flights between Dhaka/Chittagong and Rangoon. The governments also discussed border trade, and Bangladesh said that it wanted to organize a trade fair in Rangoon early next year.

The Bangladesh prime minister asked Burma to import readymade garments, pharmaceutical products, knitwear, and jute goods and ceramics from Bangladesh.

During the visit, the two countries signed an “Agreement on the Establishment of a Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation,” and an agreement for the two countries’ chambers of commerce to cooperate more closely.

On Wednesday, a ceremony was held to lay a foundation to build a Bangladesh Embassy in the diplomatic zone in Naypyitaw.


Src  : Mizzima

China tells Kachin refugees: go home

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Chinese authorities on Friday told Kachin war refugees in La Ying in Yunnan Province to return to Burma.

Four Chinese officials came to a camp located opposite Momauk Township in Kachin State where more than 2,000 Kachin refugees stay and told them to return home, according to Dwe P Sar, a civilian official with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) relief committee.

A temporary camp for Kachin refugees who have fled from the renewed
fighting by the government and Kachin Independence Army in Kachin State.
Photo: Human Rights Watch

“We replied that the villagers were just taking refuge at their relative’s home for security reasons, and they would decide by themselves whether they returned home or not,” said Dwe P Sar.

Refugees in camps in Laiza, Mai Ja Yang and Manwin on the Sino-Burmese border now number about 45,000, he said.

Friday marks six months since the fighting between the KIO and the government started. In the past six months, there were more than 800 battles between the KIO and government troops, according to the KIO.

“Up until now, we’ve supported the refugees as much as we can. Now, the number of refugees is increasing. If we don’t get international aid, we’ll start to worry,” Dwe P Sar said.

Most of the relief aid has come from religious organizations, the Kachin in Burma and in foreign countries and businessmen. The Burmese government has not allowed help from local NGOs and international organizations, according to local aid workers.

Many refugees are frustrated, said one aid worker. “They have run out of food because not enough organizations help. As time goes by, they feel upset. They don’t want to stay here. So, they hope for peace. They thought that the fighting would be for a short time, but now we need to make plans for the long run,” he told Mizzima.

In November, the KIO and the government held peace talks, but they have failed to reach agreement.

Src  : Mizzima

China: Explosion at Bank Kills 2

Explosion at Bank Kills 2

A explosion shook a branch of the China Construction Bank late Thursday afternoon in Wuhan, a provincial capital in south-central China, a municipal police official there said, and state media reported that at least two people were killed and more than 10 were injured.

Postings on the Twitter-like Weibo microblog, from people identifying themselves as being in Wuhan, said that someone put two or three bags of what looked like cement near the bank’s entrance, along with a “work in progress” sign. The bags turned out to be full of explosives and detonated when an armored car full of cash showed up.

The armored car was not punctured and kept going, the postings said.

The cause of the blast is under investigation, said a man answering the phone at the Wuhan municipal police press office, who declined to provide his name.

Explosives are sometimes used in commercial and domestic disputes as well as in crimes in China, partly as an alternative to guns, which are extremely hard to obtain. Natural gas leaks sometimes cause explosions as well, but these have more often been reported at restaurants than banks.

Src  :  The New York Times

Burma pledges to Clinton it will release political prisoners

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The speaker of the Burmese Lower House Thura Shwe Mann said on Thursday that he made a pledge to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that all political prisoners across Burma will be released.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, right, and opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi have dinner at the U.S. Chief of Mission Residence
in Rangoon on Thursday. Photo: AFP

“She urged Burma to release political prisoners. In response, I said I pledged that we will do as much as we can in order that all citizens including political prisoners can be involved in building the nation and for the sake of national reconciliation,” Thura Shwe Mann said in the press conference in Naypyitaw after meeting with Clinton.

Earlier, Clinton met with Burmese President Thein Sein in Naypyitaw followed by a private lunch.

Burma’s relationship with the U.S. has evolved rapidly in the past several months to the point where the U.S. is now prepared to reinstate a modest aid program and not oppose moves by the International Monetary Fund and other key bodies to offer assistance to Burma as it attempts to emerge from two decades of isolation.

Burma’s big hope is that the U.S. will lift economic sanctions against the country, which were put in place after the former military regime attacked and killed hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in 1988 and began a systematic imprisonment of pro-democracy activists.

In the press conference, Thura Shwe Mann denied that Burma had tried to get North Korean nuclear technology.

“Some allegations said that some officials including me went there and signed an agreement regarding nuclear aid. That’s not true. All we did in North Korea is observe their defense systems against air attacks and their ammunition plants. We also observed their air force, navy and other affairs.”

The Lower House speaker also said Clinton told him that the U.S. will watch Burma’s efforts to move toward democracy, and pledged to reward it with aid to education, health and social programmes.

Clinton said in a press conference that the US is not ready to lift sanctions against Burma until it sees further concrete progress in reforms, including the release of political prisoners, a resolution to the bloody fighting in ethnic areas, a more open democratic system that guarantees political parties the right to open offices and travel to all areas of the country, and an end to Burma’s “illicit” dealings with North Korea involving missiles and nuclear technology.

She said that she welcomed the Burmese side’s pledge to release political prisoners soon and to abide by U.N. resolutions on missile and nuclear technology.

Thura Shwe Mann said Clinton urged the newly elected government to continue to make changes that improved the lives of the people and offered greater freedom. He said any improvement in relations with the U.S. would not alter Burma’s relationship with neighbouring countries including China and India.

Meanwhile, on Thursday 70 people including Burmese activists and others staged a demonstration at the U.S. consulate in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, urging the Burmese government to bring peace to ethnic areas and to release all political prisoners.

Win Aung, a member of the demonstration, told Mizzima, “We want Clinton to urge the Burmese government to hold an all-inclusive political dialogue, to try to seek cease-fires and release all political prisoners.”

Since early June, there has been widespread fighting between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State in northern Burma.

The Associated Press reported on Thursday said a senior U.S. official said President Thein Sein outlined his government's plans for reform in a 45-minute presentation in which he acknowledged that Burma lacked a recent tradition of democracy and openness. He asked for U.S. help in making the transition from military to full civilian rule, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Clinton replied that she was visiting because the U.S. was "encouraged by the steps” Burma had taken, the AP reported.

"We're not at the point yet where we can consider lifting sanctions that we have in place because of our ongoing concerns about policies that have to be reversed," Clinton was quoted as saying. "But any steps that the government takes will be carefully considered and will be matched."

Nyan Win, a spokesman for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, welcomed the U.S. package of rewards and said, "The incentives will help promote better relations and a better future for the country, and I hope the government will expand its reform process."

Burmese officials hope Clinton's visit, which started on Wednesday, opens a new chapter in U.S.-Burma relations. Burma’s overriding goal is a lifting of Western economic sanctions. The AP said that Clinton's historic journey is a culmination of behind-the-scenes overtures since a newly elected President Barack Obama told the world's despotic regimes in 2009 that the "US will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

Since then, Burma has released pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi from house arrest, installed an elected government, and opened a dialogue with Suu Kyi, offering Washington just enough of an opening to re-engage.

Three key sticking points block better relations: the remaining political prisoners in Burmese jails, a civil war it has waged against ethnic armed groups, and its illicit dealings with North Korea, which the U.S. believes could involve missile and nuclear technology.

For Burma, better U.S. relations offer a potential flow of badly needed aid and over time even a military relationship with access to U.S. technology and expertise.  Better relations also would allow Burma to play off its dependency on China, its prime benefactor in terms of aid and lucrative energy deals involving oil, gas and hydropower.  Burma benefits from its strategic position between India, China and Southeast Asia.

The AP quoted David Steinberg, the director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., saying: "They [Burma] do feel that they are in such a solid position that they can begin to do things that they could not do before."


Src  : Mizzima