Indigenous Issues: Southern Chile shaken by occupations of land by Mapuche activists

By Daniela Estrada - IPS

SANTIAGO, Jul 31 (IPS) - The southern Chilean region of Araucanía has been shaken in the last few days by occupations of land by Mapuche activists claiming it as part of their ancestral territory, attacks on vehicles, and the resurgence of an anti-Mapuche paramilitary group.

"In order for us to call off our actions, we would have to sit down to talk - the government, the business community and the Mapuche people - at a negotiating table," Juan Carlos Curinao, a Mapuche "lonco" or chief, told IPS Friday, referring to the series of actions that began on Jul. 23, with no scheduled end date.

On Jul. 7, around 100 Mapuche activists travelled 680 km from Araucanía to the capital, hoping to meet with socialist President Michelle Bachelet.

But the president did not receive them, and they left her a letter warning that actions would soon be taken if their demands were not addressed.

As the activists explained on that occasion, they decided to directly show up at the seat of government after they received no response from the governor of the Araucanía region, Nora Barrientos, appointed by the president.

On Jul. 23, the Mapuche activists began to occupy private property that they claim as their ancestral territory, including land that belongs to a logging company. Both Mapuche activists and police were injured in the clashes that occurred when the police attempted to evict them.

The Mapuche, Chile's largest indigenous group, number nearly one million in this country of over 16 million people. The struggle for their rights to what they claim as their ancestral lands in the south of the country has frequently spilled over into violence.

On Tuesday, a passenger bus heading from Santiago to Puerto Montt in the south was stoned by a group of hooded men, who also spray-painted it with Mapuche demands. In addition, two trucks were recently set on fire by hooded men in Temuco, the capital of the region of Araucanía. The radical Mapuche group Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM) claimed responsibility for the incidents.

The government has brought legal action in connection with the incidents, invoking the harsh state security law.

The government sent Deputy Interior Minister Patricio Rosende to the area to oversee police actions and coordinate policies focusing on matters of interest to indigenous communities, such as employment plans, the provision of basic services like piped water and electricity to rural areas, and the improvement of irrigation.

On Thursday, government spokeswoman Carolina Tohá said that of the 2,800 indigenous communities in the country, only seven "are involved in violent actions."

"We are not going to allow these actions, but at the same time, it is very clear to us that there are indigenous issues that the country must address, which have to do with much deeper policies and cannot be solved by security measures, because they are not limited to the realm of law and order, and have to do with social, political and cultural aspects," said Tohá.

The government said that since 1994, more than 650,000 hectares of land have been transferred to indigenous communities - 35 percent since Bachelet took office in 2006.

On Thursday, 16 Mapuche students at the Alonso de Ercilla high school in Araucanía were arrested by the carabineros (militarised police) while they were holding a demonstration outside of their school.

At the same time, a paramilitary group in Araucanía that calls itself the "Hernán Trizano Commando" announced that it would become active again, and threatened Mapuche leaders with dynamite attacks starting on Aug. 3.

In response, Senator Alejandro Navarro, the presidential candidate of a new political party, the Movimiento Amplio Social (MAS – Broad Social Movement) announced Friday that he would file a lawsuit invoking the anti-terrorism law against the paramilitary group.

The Observatorio Ciudadano (Citizen Observatory, a local NGO) and the London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International expressed concern over human rights violations committed in the region of Araucanía in the last few days.

According to reports from Mapuche activists, "the police have made excessive use of dissuasive elements like tear gas and rubber bullets, and even buckshot, which they have shot from helicopters to crack down on protesters," said the Observatorio.

Amnesty, meanwhile, said the Mapuche attacks on the physical and psychological integrity of unarmed people, private property, and free circulation were "unacceptable."

This is not the first time in Chile that the slow, inadequate resolution of indigenous claims to ancestral lands and the impact of current and future projects of extractive industries and logging companies have caused tensions that have spiraled into violence, said Amnesty.

According to Curinao, "lonco" of the Guañaco Millao village, the Mapuche communities involved in the actions "are not a minority."

He said the mobilisation is led by 40 traditional authorities or loncos from different Mapuche territories, who represent all of the subgroups of Mapuche people.

However, he marked a distance from organisations like the Consejo de Todas las Tierras (All Lands Council), led by Aucán Huilcamán, and the radical CAM.

"We do not recognise the authority of CAM. This is a people's movement, not a movement of organisations. This is the demand set forth by the traditional authorities, although we also accept shows of support from different sectors," he said.

"The Mapuche people who are demonstrating are not violent. We don't carry weapons to go around hurting non-indigenous settlers, we are fighting for our culture. It is the state that has attacked us, shooting at us," said Curinao.

"If I occupy property, it's not violence; I am reclaiming my territory," he said.

Curinao said "we are not responsible for the attack on the bus; we do not do those things. There are many 'self-attacks' staged here to frame our people. Whenever we step up our struggle, it fails because of things like that."

There is no solution in sight yet to the latest series of Mapuche occupations of land and demonstrations.

But on Friday the authorities announced the creation of a working committee made up of representatives of the government and the association of truck owners to improve safety conditions for drivers around the country, especially in areas where indigenous conflicts have flared up.

A march in the capital in favour of the Mapuche cause has been called for Saturday, and on Aug. 5 the Senate will hold a special session to discuss "the security situation that is affecting the region of Araucanía."

After 22-year-old Mapuche agronomy student Matías Catrileo was shot in the back by the police in January 2008 while trespassing on private land with a group of fellow activists, te co-director of the Observatory of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, José Aylwin, said "Violence begets violence.

"What we have here is historical violence, which began with the occupation of Mapuche territory by the state (in the 19th century) and continued with the policies of usurpation promoted throughout the 20th century, which continue today, through, for example, forestry plantations of exotic species planted on the lands of the indigenous communities, and the expansion of investment projects.

"There have been violent reactions by the communities, but it is the state that must put a stop to the spiral of violence," he said at the time.

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Defense: Obama and USA's missile defense system plans

Pravda - The politics of the US administration in the field of the ballistic missile defense will not be changed much, Brad Roberts, an official with the US Defense Department said. The Pentagon does not exclude alternative locations for the deployment of the missile defense system in Europe, but the United States will not take account of Russia's concerns at this point.

"I don't see much likelihood of significant departure from the continuity of policy of the last 20 years of the United States," Brad Roberts, the deputy assistant defense secretary for nuclear and missile defense policy said in an interview with Global Security Newswire.

The official did not specify, how the new missile defense policies of the United States are going to affect the plans to deploy a radar station and interceptor missiles in Eastern Europe. Mr. Roberts only said that the discussion was underway.

In the meantime, another official representing the US Defense Department stated that the US was considering options for European missile defense other than current plans for a system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"The site in Poland and the radar in the Czech Republic are among the options that are being considered, together with other options that might be able to perform the mission as well," Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow told lawmakers in the House of Representatives, The Associated Press reports.

Vershbow said the missile defense review will look at a range of options, but will not take Russia's objection into account.

"We are reviewing these internally; we are not engaged in a discussion with the Russians about alternative options at this point. Our conclusions will be based exclusively on the threat from Iran, the effectiveness of the systems and the cost,” The AP quoted Vershbow as saying.

The US Missile Defense Agency has recently conducted a successful test of a sea-based component of its missile defense shield. An interceptor missile successfully destroyed the test target fired from Hawaii on Thursday night. It became the 19th successful test of the Aegis sea-based missile defense system.

However, the United States has been trying to dispel Russia’s apprehensions regarding the US missile defense system in Europe. A group of American military experts is visiting Moscow to negotiate the establishment of the early prevention center which would analyze the ballistic missile threat, The Washington Post wrote.

It seems that the new US administration does not even intend to do at least something to justify Russia’s hopes. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in the beginning of June that the Pentagon had plans to deploy missile defense system elements on Russia’s territory. Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry responded that Moscow did not consider an opportunity to host the system on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Patrick O’Reilly, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said that the deployment of the US missile defense system components in the Czech Republic could be finished within four and a half years, and in Poland – in five years.

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Venezuela: Chavez silences 34 radio stations

The Venezuelan government has ordered the closure of 34 radio stations, the head of the national telecommunications regulator, Conatel, has said.

Diosdado Cabello, who is also minister of public works in the government of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, said the closures were due to the stations' inability to meet legal operating requirements, and warned that more closures may follow.

"They will have to cease transmission once they have received the order", Cabello said on Friday.

"This is about legitimate authority of the government to manage the radio spectrum... We are only implementing what the law says."

Among the best known channels shut down is CNB, which airs in Caracas and nearby Valencia, and is part of a national network that has been critical of the Venezuelan president.

Last month Conatel launched a survey of radio broadcasters, asking them to present documentation showing the validity of their licences.

More than 200 stations are still under investigation for failing to update their registrations.

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Bangladesh: Too many child brides

Early marriage means early pregnancy for most women in Bangladesh

Too many teenage girls are getting married in Bangladesh today, say health specialists.

According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) State of the World’s Children 2009 report, more than 64 percent of girls marry before they are 18.

But with early marriage comes early pregnancy. One-third of teenage girls aged 15 to 19 are mothers or pregnant in Bangladesh today, with adolescent mothers more likely to suffer birth complications than adult women, the British Medical Journal reports.

Teenage mothers are twice as likely as older mothers to die from pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications, with mothers younger than 14 facing the greatest risks.

In fact, research shows that the risk of maternal mortality could be five times higher for mothers aged 10 to 14 than for those aged 20 to 24, while babies born to mothers younger than 14 were 50 percent more likely to die than babies born to mothers older than 20.

Teenage mothers are more likely to suffer from obstructed delivery and other severe childbirth- and pregnancy-related complications, say health experts.

This results in higher morbidity and mortality for them and their children, according to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007, released in March 2009.

A third of women are either pregnant or mothers by age 20, and this proportion is not declining, the report observed.

The BDHS 2007 shows that the median age at marriage for women is 16.4 years, against 16.0 in the previous DHS (2004), but still 18 months below the legal minimum age, indicating that laws or policies alone do not guarantee implementation. The legal age is 21 for boys and 18 for girls.

Parents encourage early marriage out of fear that the dowry price will increase as their daughter ages. Young girls are often regarded as an economic burden to their families; marrying them off at a very early age is seen as reducing that burden.

It is also a way to ensure that their daughters are “protected” from sexual abuse or illicit sexual contact, and making them financially more secure.

But with early marriage, many girls drop out of school. Studies show that girls who marry as adolescents attain lower schooling levels, have lower social status in their husband’s families, report less reproductive control, and suffer higher rates of maternal mortality and domestic violence.

Moreover, early marriage extends a woman’s reproductive span, thereby contributing to larger family sizes, especially in the absence of contraception.

According to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research, Bangladesh, these individual outcomes suggest larger social consequences, including higher population growth, higher rates of maternal mortality and a higher number of orphans.

Raising awareness

To counteract this, several NGOs are working to raise awareness of the risks of early marriage.

In February, a conference of social workers and women in Dhaka underlined that 70 percent of girls in Bangladesh were forced into marriage while still in their teens.

“The burden breaks the health of young mothers. Many die at delivery, or at least suffer untold health problems. The major casualty is the education of teenage girls. It denies them the awareness they need for taking the decision that affects their life most - marriage,” according to one of the papers presented.

“The young brides, lacking education, become the malnourished mothers of undernourished children and little else,” Rahela Rahmatullah, an anti-child marriage activist, told IRIN.

Working in 45 of the country’s 481 sub-districts, Rahmatullah’s volunteers seek out cases of child marriage in local communities and discuss the problems facing the underage mother with the young mother and her family.

“We persuade and train her to tell her story to adolescent girls and their families. We organise courtyard meetings where the trained mother describes the problems she faces as an adolescent wife or mother and advises others not to accept any marriage proposal before they are at least 20,” she said.

But in most cases, the issue is not so simple.

“In most rural families girls are never consulted on their marriage. The parents and the family seniors choose the groom, fix the date and manage the wedding ceremony. Seeking a girl’s consent on marriage is still considered a taboo in most families,” Rahmatullah said.

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Honduras: Zelaya's wife returns for demonstration

FOCUS Information Agency - Wife of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returned to the capital Friday and joined a demonstration against the interim government, Xinhua News Agency infromed.

Xiomara Castro had been since June 24 in El Paraiso, east of the country, together with her daughter and other relatives, since the interim government prevented them from crossing the Nicaraguan border to join Zelaya.

Castro arrived in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital on Friday to join the Front of National Resistance, which for the second consecutive day has marched on Tegucigalpa’s streets.
"We are going to continue the fight, we have solidarity with the people who were attacked yesterday," Castro told supporters in front of the government palace.

"Today that olive-green uniform means repression, today that olive-green uniform means dead," she said.

Hundreds of Zelaya's followers took to the streets on Friday to block highways for a second day after demonstrations on the previous day were dispersed by police with tear gas.
On Thursday, at least six people were injured and 88 were detained during demonstrations. Police has said it will immediately disperse any kind of protests.

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Defense: Russian troops head to Kyrgyzstan

A supplementary Russian military contingent will be deployed on the territory of Kyrgyzstan according to a memorandum thats been signed by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

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Cricket: NYPD using cricket to reach out to ethnic groups

The sport of cricket is making some inroads in the United States, even though most Americans still know little - if anything - about the game. Typical reactions tend to range from bemusement to bafflement. But changing demographics, brought about by immigration from cricket-loving parts of the world, are helping the sport to establish a foothold in a country where baseball remains the national pastime. In New York, the city's police department is finding the centuries-old game a good way to reach out to sections of the community.

Many kids use these fields in the Queens section of New York to play sports like baseball or soccer, but as the demographics of the communities surrounding these parks shift, so too do the games played in them.

Faced with an influx of new immigrants, the New York City Police Department - already the sponsor of several sports leagues - needed a way to reach out to these burgeoning ethnic groups. And they seem to have found it in cricket - an open air game played between teams of eleven players on a large grass field with balls, bats, and two wickets. The object of the game - for your team to score more runs than the opposition.

Deputy Inspector Amin Kosseim runs special projects for the department's community affairs bureau. "It helps occupy their time in the summer. It helps maybe keep them out of trouble," Kosseim said.

Now in its second year, the league has grown from six to ten teams, with 170 players.

Alfaz Ally is from Guyana and has been playing for nine years. He says cricket's popularity is growing in New York, even though it is still not widely understood. "The remarks you usually hear is that cricket is a copy of a baseball. Well, we think baseball is a copy of cricket," Ally said.

Putting together the league is hard work.

"We have to go out into communities, we have to draw interest. We have to put rosters together, we have to get coaches, we have to get managers, we provide transportation, we supply all the equipment, the uniforms, get permits for the fields. Although it's rather overwhelming at times, when you see the look on the kids' faces, it's all worth it," Kosseim said.

And, although the police say they do not use the program to recruit, players like Hanzia Munir from Pakistan are already thinking about a career in law enforcement. "I would like to get in because I would like to be a cop," he states, "and the second thing, you're supporting your community, and I would like to do that."

An ambition that supports the New York Police Department's view that the program is helping the department make contact with the Muslim community - a group police have struggled to reach in the past.

By Paige Kollock
Published with the permission of Voice of America

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Cuba: Communist Party's first congress in 12 years postponed

The Cuban government has suspended plans for the Communist Party's first congress in 12 years, as leaders focus on repairing the nation's battered economy.

The state-run Granma newspaper quotes President Raul Castro as saying party leaders are analyzing the economy to determine, in his words, "what must be perfected and even eliminated."

The congress, which last gathered in 1997, was scheduled to meet late this year in order to set a long-term course for Cuba's future.

The congress was expected to consider Cuba's future for long after President Castro, and his older brother and former President Fidel Castro, are gone. Elections also were expected to be held to fill key Communist Party positions.

The postponement comes as Granma reports that the island nation's 2009 economic growth forecast has been lowered by nearly one percentage point, from 2.5 to 1.7 percent.
Agencies

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Nuclear Issues: Let's make a movie - that will stop nuclear proliferation

PanARMENIAN.Net/ On Saturday the United Nations is launching a competition for the best short film on the issue of nuclear disarmament and/or non-proliferation.

This is part of the ongoing “We must disarm campaign “and of the 100-day countdown to the International Day of Peace on 21 September, launched by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 13 June.

The UN is looking for short videos from anyone, regardless of skill or experience, to submit their work by Thursday, 10 September 2009.

Winning films will be shown at UN Headquarters in New York and posted on the online platforms supporting the Secretary-General’s campaign, UN official website reported.

A movie is really going to help!

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Corruption: Canadian charged with bribery, kickbacks under Oil for Food Program

A Canadian citizen has been charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday for his alleged participation in an eight-year conspiracy to defraud the United Nations Oil for Food Program (OFFP) and to bribe Iraqi government officials in connection with the sale of a chemical additive used in the refining of leaded fuel, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division announced.

Ousama Naaman, 60, of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, was indicted on Aug. 7, 2008, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Naaman is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and two counts of violating the FCPA. Naaman was arrested on July 30, 2009, in Frankfurt, Germany. The Department of Justice is seeking his extradition from Germany to the United States.

According to the indictment, from 2001 to 2003, acting on behalf of a publicly traded U.S. chemical company and its subsidiary, Naaman allegedly offered and paid 10 percent kickbacks to the then Iraqi government in exchange for five contracts under the OFFP. Naaman allegedly negotiated the contracts, including a 10 percent increase in the price to cover the kickback. In exchange for handling the kickbacks, Naaman allegedly received two percent of the contract value, in addition to the two percent commission he was paid for securing the contracts. The U.S. company allegedly inflated its prices in contracts approved by the OFFP to cover the cost of the kickbacks.

In addition, according to the indictment, in 2006 Naaman allegedly paid $150,000 in bribes on behalf of the U.S. company to Iraqi Ministry of Oil officials to ensure that a competing product manufactured by a different company failed a field test, keeping the competing product out of the Iraqi market. Naaman is alleged then to have provided the U.S. company with false invoices, on the basis of which the U.S. company reimbursed him for the bribes to the Iraqi officials.

If convicted on all charges, Naaman faces a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kathleen M Hamann of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section. The case is being investigated by the Washington Field Office of the FBI. Significant assistance was provided by the Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement and the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office's United Nations Oil for Food Investigations Unit.

An indictment is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

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Zimanbabwe: Time to end Zimbabwe's blood diamonds

Campaign group Global Witness today welcomed calls for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, set up to stop the trade in blood diamonds, and called on participant governments to act to stop to human rights abuses taking place in Zimbabwe's diamonds fields and restore the credibility of the landmark scheme.

A Kimberley Process review mission visited Zimbabwe earlier this month to investigate reports of human rights abuses, smuggling and other forms of non-compliance. Their interim report has found its way into the public domain: it shows that the mission found clear evidence of human rights abuses, and recommends a ban on Zimbabwe trading in diamonds, for at least 6 months.

"Global Witness wholly supports the call for Zimbabwe's full suspension from the Kimberley Process. The Marange diamond fields have been the scene of horrific human rights violations, military activity, and rampant smuggling over the past year - all of which has been substantiated by the recent review mission. These activities are entirely incompatible with the values and requirements of the scheme," said Elly Harrowell, campaigner with Global Witness, which was one of the original architects of the Kimberley Process.

"The Kimberley Process has a poor track record of dealing with problem cases quickly and effectively. This is litmus test for the scheme's credibility. If member governments fail to take prompt and effective action by suspending Zimbabwe, consumer confidence will be seriously shaken, which will be a blow for diamond exporting countries and the industry alike," she added.

Normally a Kimberley Process review mission will only share a summary of its report, which will have previously been consulted on by the country in question. This process would usually take around two months. In the case of Zimbabwe the team seems to have recognised the urgency of the situation and responded by issuing an interim report and recommendations, elements of which appeared in the Zimbabwe Herald on July 30th.

Global Witness recognises that suspension from the Kimberley Process is only the first step in addressing the grave situation in Zimbabwe, and stresses that continued engagement from regional governments will be vital.

Harrowell: "Suspension alone would not be enough to solve Zimbabwe's problems. Participant governments must actively support efforts to reform Zimbabwe's diamond industry in line with Kimberley Process minimum standards. Suspension should not be seen as a punitive measure - rather an opportunity for Zimbabwe to build a clean diamond sector that will contribute to the future development of the country."

Notes: The Kimberley Process is a rough diamond certification scheme, established in 2003. It brings together Governments, industry and civil society, and aims to eradicate the trade in conflict diamonds. Member states are required to pass national legislation and set up an import/export control system. Over 75 of the world's diamond producing, trading and manufacturing countries participate in the scheme.

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Child soldiers: Islamic rebel group signs "action plan"

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines, has signed an action plan to prevent the continued recruitment of child soldiers

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict today welcomed news that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Islamic rebel group fighting Government forces in the Philippines, has signed an action plan to prevent the continued recruitment of child soldiers.

Radhika Coomaraswamy said the signature indicates “that the protection of children is a priority beyond any political or other agenda. It serves as proof positive of the impact of the Security Council’s involvement on this crucial issue.

“However, compliance will require close follow-up in collaboration with the country team and the continuous support of the international community for the sake of these children.”

The action plan sets out concrete, time-bound steps to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers and to release any children found among MILF forces. It also requires that monitoring teams have unimpeded access to the children and that former child soldiers are reintegrated into civilian life.

MILF first agreed to the action plan, which conforms with the monitoring and reporting mechanism established as a result of a Security Council resolution from 2005 on the issue, in December last year after Ms. Coomaraswamy visited the Philippines.

The plan was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN country team in the Philippines.

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Middle East: Saudis reject U.S. calls to mend relations with Israel

Aljazeera.net - Saudi Arabia has dismissed calls by the US government to mend relations with Israel to help restart peace talks between the Israel and the Palestinians.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said on Friday that Riyadh would not consider forging links with Israel until it agrees to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territories.

"Incrementalism and a step-by-step approach, has not and, we believe, will not lead to peace," al-Faisal said on Friday, after holding talks with Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, in Washington.

"Temporary security and confidence building measures will also not bring peace."

Al-Faisal said that Israel must adhere to what is stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative, which has been endorsed by the 22-member Arab League, in order for it to have a constructive relationship with Saudi Arabia.

"What is required is a comprehensive approach that defines the final outcome at the outset and launches into negotiations over final status issues," he said.

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Terrorism: China fears air terrorism by pro al-qaeda Uighurs

By B.RAMAN
See also www.southasiaanalysis.org and the Chennai Centre For China Studies at
www.c3sindia.org

On March 7,2008, the Chinese authorities had claimed to have foiled an attempt by three Uighurs to blow up a plane of the China Southern Airlines flying from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province, to Beijing. The persons involved had allegedly managed to smuggle inside the aircraft gasoline concealed inside a can of soft drinks. The plot was foiled by alert security guards on board the plane and two of the suspects were arrested on board the plane. A third was arrested subsequently.

2.The Chairman of China Southern Airlines Liu Chaoyong said that a female passenger came out of the rest room and passed by a flight attendant who detected a suspicious smell. Then she smelt the scent of perfume and gasoline in front of the rest room. The attendant immediately searched the rest room and found an inflammable substance inside the garbage bin of the rest room. The attendant notified the airplane security guard immediately. Based upon how the female passenger spoke and acted, they realized that the male passenger next to her was a companion. The two individuals were arrested. The plane crew then moved the suspicious substance into the special container bin for handling such materials. The plane made an unscheduled stop at the Lanzhou airport. The two suspects were taken away by the police. Liu Chaoyong said that the preliminary analysis was that the two individuals intended to hide the inflammable material and then take action at the appropriate moment. ( Please refer
to http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers27/paper2654.html )

3. Since then, the Chinese authorities have been greatly concerned over the dangers of an act of aviation terrorism by Uighur jihadis belonging to the pro-Al Qaeda Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan (IMET). Apart from conventional acts of hijacking an aircraft, their concerns are focused on acts such as causing an explosion in mid-air with explosive material smuggled into an aircraft and a 9/11 style attack on a ground target with a hijacked aircraft. Possible responses to such scenarios have formed an important part of counter-terrorism exercises
in China.

4. These concerns, which are not only continuing, but have also been aggravated after the violent incidents in Urumqi from July 5 to 8,2009, were reflected in the third joint Sino-Russian counter-terrorism exercise code-named "Peace Mission 2009" held for five days from July 22,2009, in the Sino-Russian border region. The actual exercise was preceded by a strategic preparatory meeting held at Khabarovsk in Russia on July 22. This was followed by the actual exercise held at the Taonan tactical training base of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in northeast China's Jilin Province. It comes under the Shenyang Military Command.

5. Whereas in the previous two exercises held in 2005 and 2007, army units of the two countries played a prominent role, in the latest exercise Air Force units of the two countries played a prominent role The greater prominence given to the role of the Air Force in counter-terrorism resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of military personnel involved in the exercise. This came down from about 10,000 from each side in the previous two exercises to about 1300 from each side in the latest exercise.

6.Russia deployed 22 aircraft ---- including Su-27 fighters, Su-24 and Su-25 attacker aircraft--- and several helicopters in the exercise.. They arrived at a military airport in Qiqihar in the Heilongjiang Province. The PLA deployed more than 40 aircraft including attackers, fighter-bombers, armed helicopters and transporters. Interestingly, the Russians and the Chinese also deployed surface-to-air missile units. The deployment of the SAM units indicated that their operating instructions against aviation terrorism envisaged the shooting down of a hijacked aircraft if there was a danger of a 9/11 type incident.

7. Briefings and comments by Chinese experts to their media, which was allowed to watch the exercise, indicated that their concerns mainly focused on the dangers of an act of aviation terrorism by the Uighurs. Even though the exercise was planned long before the recent Urumqi disturbances, these disturbances found mention in the briefings and comments.

8.In a curtain-raiser despatch of July 20,2009, the Xinhua news agency quoted Major General Wang Haiyun, a former Chinese Military Attache to Russia and an expert in international
strategy, as saying as follows: "Russia, a large country with many ethnic groups and complex political situations, is facing similar challenges. To some extent, the July 5 Xinjiang riot pushed forward anti-terrorism cooperation between China and Russia. Russia and China should also cooperate more vigorously to defend themselves and prevent terrorism from spreading from Afghanistan to Central Asia."

9.In an interview to the "China Daily" (July 31,2009) after the conclusion of the exercise, Major General Meng Guoping, who is the Deputy Director of the War Operations Department under the General Staff Department of the PLA, said: ."Rules of engagement for anti-terrorism combat operations are being formulated by the Chinese army to deal with the growing terrorist threat facing the nation. The move would mark the first time since its founding 82 years ago that the 2.3-million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) would have separate regulations for anti-terrorism operations.

The army is drafting an Ordinance for Anti-terrorism Combat Operations based on its experience in anti-terror missions over the past few years. The army will also publish its first set of combat guidelines on anti-terror operations for the whole armed forces. The guidelines will regulate the anti-terror mission's responsibility, composition, command and logistics support. The PLA has included anti-terror combat training in its elite armed forces divisions since last year and each army division has set up its task force for emergency response."

10.The same paper quoted Song Xiaojun, a leading military expert based in Beijing, as saying as follows: "Extremists, separatists and terrorists have been collaborating to target China and turning more violent, almost to the point of forming an anti-Chinese government rebellion. The "three forces" defined in the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ) Shanghai Treaty, namely extremism, separatism and terrorism, were said to be behind the deadly riot in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region on July 5, during which 197 Han people and Uighurs died. China gave legal rights to its army to combat terrorism when it implemented the Emergency Response Law in August 2007."

11. An interesting feature of the just-concluded exercise was the virtual absence of any role for the police and other civilian counter-terrorism agencies, if China has any. China treats counter-terrorism, even against its own nationals taking to violence amounting to terrorism, as a military and not a police operation. The result is the relative inexperience of the Police in dealing with terrorism-like situations and other law and order disturbances involving the use of violence by protesters. Any such disturbances tend to be looked upon by the Police as terrorism. They easily lose their cool and over-react, using disproportionate force. This is what happened at Urumqi
recently.

12. India has already held two joint counter-terrorism exercises with the Chinese armed forces---- the first in Yunnan and the second in Karnataka. The police has a very important role to play in our counter-terrorism operations away from the border. We must take care that our security forces do not get infected with the ruthless Chinese ways of dealing with their own people under the name of counter-terrorism. (31-7-09)

Published by Mike Hitchen,
Putting principles before profits
Uighurs China Terrorism Al-qaeda Urumqi