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Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 84 7 August 1998 In this issue (1) THREE UYGHURS EXECUTED IN YARKENT COUNTY OF KHOTAN (2) SEVERAL REGIONS OF EAST TURKISTAN UNDER CURFEW 3 August 1998, East Turkistan Information Center (3) OFFICERS OF SOCIAL SECURITY SHOT DEAD A CRIMINAL AND TERRORIST IBRAHIM MEMETJAN A report by "Ili kechlik geziti" (Ili evening newspaper) by Xalide Abdukerim on June 3, 98 (4) TWO BOMBS BLOW UP IN XINJIANG, NO ONE HURT Aug. 7, 98, CND-Global (GL98-110) (5) MODERATE QUAKE INJURES TWO IN NORTHWEST CHINA 3 August 1998, CNN (6) A BOAT TRIP ENDS IN TRAGEDY July 27, 98, South China Morning Post (7) LARGE WEAPONS HAUL SEIZED IN KAZAKHSTAN 16 July 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 135 (8) PRESIDENT JIANG ON XINJIANG 13 July 1998, BBC (9) KAZAKHSTAN, CHINA SIGN BORDER AGREEMENT 7 July 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 128 (10) CHINA ENDS KAZAKH BORDER DISPUTE 4 July 1998, BBC (11) CENTRAL ASIA TIGHTENS CO-OPERATION
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) THREE UYGHURS EXECUTED IN YARKENT COUNTY OF KHOTAN 4 August 1998, East Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, Aug. 4, 98] On June 22, a court of Yarkent county of Khotan sentenced to death three Uyghurs charging them in separatist activities. They were accused in posting leaflets with anti-Chinese-government materials on walls of Yarkent. The young men, who were of ages about 20 years old, were executed the same day. A huge crowd of Uyghurs of Yarkent held funeral services for killed men. After Namaz (an Islamic burial prey), the crowd carried the bodies shouting "Allah Akbar" to a cemetery and buried them. Shortly after, the Chinese police detained many of those who participated in the burial ceremony. Some of them were released later, but many are still under detention. [Chogori Choqi] (2) SEVERAL REGIONS OF EAST TURKISTAN UNDER CURFEW 3 August 1998, East Turkistan Information Center [ETIC, Aug. 3, 98] The north-western area of East Turkistan from Ghulja to Khotan are reported being under curfew. Local residents must register with local Chinese authorities even if they travel from one village to another. Recently, the authorities did not allow people from one village in Khotan region to attend a mosque in another. A curfew was imposed in the North-West because of continuing armed clashes between East Turkistan pro-independence fighters and Chinese armed police, and killings of several Uyghur policemen who actively collaborated with the Chinese authorities. It was reported that a bomb exploded recently in Khotan killing several people and injuring many others. [Chogori Choqi] (3) OFFICERS OF SOCIAL SECURITY SHOT DEAD A CRIMINAL AND TERRORIST IBRAHIM MEMETJAN A report by "Ili kechlik geziti" (Ili evening newspaper) by Xalide Abdukerim on June 3, 98, forwarded to ETIC by Rabiyem Yakub At 1:30 p.m. on May 28, security service officers shot dead Ibrahim Memetjan who resisted using a fire arm to his arrest. A small foreign made gun was found next to his body. A terrorist and a criminal Ibrahim Memetjan was detained earlier for participating in the Fifth of February event in Ghulje, and was released after re-education. (4) TWO BOMBS BLOW UP IN XINJIANG, NO ONE HURT Aug. 7, 98, CND-Global (GL98-110) [CND, 08/04/98] On July 8, Moslem separatists set off two bombs in Khotan, a southern Xinjiang town, AFP reported, quoting local police and officials. No one was hurt and the bombers were arrested. The homemade bombs were placed close to a traffic watchtower near the Khotan town hall. One bomb blew up at 9:00 am and another at midnight. The building's windows were shattered by one of the blasts. The blasts occurred when president JIANG Zemin was visiting Xinjiang; he urged the authorities to crack down on Moslem separatists. Some unidentified travelers said that there were more than two bomb blasts. According to a report by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, another bomb went off in another Xinjiang city Korla ten days ago. But Korla authorities contacted by AFP said the explosion was caused by a gas cooker, which left two dead. Xinjiang has been dogged by separatist violence over the past few years. (Shiji SHEN, YIN De An) (5) MODERATE QUAKE INJURES TWO IN NORTHWEST CHINA 3 August 1998, CNN BEIJING, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A moderate earthquake struck China's northwestern region of Xinjiang on Sunday, injuring at least two people and destroying several houses, a local official said. The earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit Jiashi county at 12.40 p.m.(0440 GMT), the official from the local earthquake bureau said by telephone. There had been no reports of any deaths, the official said, but added that it was too early to assess the full extent of the damage in the Moslem region. "Authorities have sent a team to assess the effects of the earthquake but we have no detailed figures as yet," the official said. But he said several houses had collapsed and at least two people had been reported injured. The China Seismological Bureau had pinpointed the epicentre at 39.6 degrees north latitude and 77.5 degrees east longitude, the official Xinhua news agency said. Last week an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit northern Xinjiang's Baicheng county, injuring dozens, damaging 780 houses and causing losses of up to 40 million yuan ($4.8 million), a local official has said. Xinjiang is often hit by moderate tremors, but reports of deaths are rare in the sparsely populated desert region. China suffered the worst earthquake in modern history in 1976 when a tremor measuring 7.8 levelled the northern city of Tangshan, killing at least 240,000 people. (6) A BOAT TRIP ENDS IN TRAGEDY July 27, 98, South China Morning Post Seven people drowned and another was missing after an overloaded boat carrying 20 members of the same family capsized on Xinjiang's largest lake, Xinhua reported. The accident occurred on Lake Bosten, in central Xinjiang, after a local official took relatives on a tour aboard a surveying ship. All 20 ended up in the water when a sudden gust of wind turned the vessel over. Twelve people were rescued after the incident on July 19. By Wednesday seven bodies had been found, Xinhua said.s] Officials said there had been a serious breach of local navigation safety rules. Surveying ships were only meant to carry employees on duty and were not supposed to be used for boat tours. The vessel had been designed to carry only 16 passengers and was not equipped with sufficient lifesaving facilities, officials said. (7) LARGE WEAPONS HAUL SEIZED IN KAZAKHSTAN 16 July 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 135 Kazakh police on 12 July seized a large amount of weapons while searching a vehicle, RFE/RL correspondents in Almaty and "Krasnaya Zvezda" reported on 14 and 15 July, respectively. Traveling in the car were two Kyrgyz citizens, one Chinese, and one Turkish. Also in the vehicle were guns, gun powder, electronic detonators, and home-made bombs. Kazakh authorities suspect the group were planning terrorist action. An investigation is under way. (8) PRESIDENT JIANG ON XINJIANG 13 July 1998, BBC President Jiang Zemin of China has been speaking of the strategic and economic importance of the autonomous region of Xinjiang on the western frontier of China. The Chinese news agency quoted President Jiang as saying that Xinjiang must open its doors wider to the outside world, and explore the international market in Central and Western Asia. President Jiang was speaking on an extensive tour of Xinjiang last week. Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia, is one of the poorest regions in China and home to the Turkic Uigur minority. Trade between Xinjiang and Central Asia has grown considerably in recent years in line with Chinese plans to develop the area. (9) KAZAKHSTAN, CHINA SIGN BORDER AGREEMENT 7 July 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 128 Nazarbayev and visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin signed an agreement in Astana on 4 July. According to Nazarbayev, the accord "finally and irrevocably" resolves the outstanding disputes over their 1,700 km frontier, Interfax reported. The two presidents also instructed their respective governments to draw up an economic cooperation program for the next 15 years. That program will focus primarily on the oil and gas sectors, telecommunications, Kazakh deliveries of electricity to China, and Chinese investment in Kazakhstan's new capital. China reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement concluded last summer on constructing an oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to China. Feasibility studies on that project are already under way. Nazarbayev said that a gas pipeline will be built to run parallel to the oil export pipeline. LF (10) CHINA ENDS KAZAKH BORDER DISPUTE 4 July 1998, BBC China and Kazakhstan say they have resolved a long running dispute over two areas along their shared border. They have also agreed to prepare a 15-year economic co-operation programme and have discussed a proposal to build a gas pipeline alongside an oil pipeline already planned across Kazakhstan to western China. At the end of a two-day visit to the Kazakh city of Almaty, the Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, agreed to split the two border areas almost evenly. They signed a treaty defining sovereignty over the areas - a 680-square-km territory near the Baimurz pass and a 380-square-km area near the Sary-Chardy River - and setting the 1,700-km border between the two countries. President Nazarbayev announced that Kazakhstan had become the first of the four countries that border northern China to have settled once and for all the territorial disputes dating from Soviet times. Moscow and Beijing briefly went to war over the Kazakh-China frontier 30 years ago. But BBC correspondents say there are now compelling reasons for the Kazakhs and the Chinese to resolve their differences. Last September China signed a huge oil deal to develop one of Kazakhstan's largest oil fields. It was the biggest investment China had ever made in the former Soviet Union - an initial $1 billion and the promise of much more to come. The plan involves building a 3,000-km pipeline across the vast Kazakh Step to China's western province of Xinjiang. BBC Correspondents say China wants Kazakh oil to fuel its colossal economy. China's own hopeful reserves from the Tarim basin in Xinjiang have proved disappointing, whilst from the Middle East oil has to be shipped thousands of kilometres by tanker - a slow, risky and expensive route. BBC Correspondents say Kazakhstan hopes to benefit from China's rapid economic growth and to create a counterbalance to its other powerful neighbour, Russia to the north. (11) CENTRAL ASIA TIGHTENS CO-OPERATION 3 July 1998, BBC China, Russia and three Central Asian states have pledged to boost economic ties and to crack down on organised crime and political separatism. "It is impossible to achieve solid regional stability if it is not supported by multilateral economic cooperation," the Russian delegate, Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, said. The five-nation summit in the Kazakh capital, Alma Ata, was also attended by the presidents of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. President Boris Yeltsin was due to attend, but had to cancel the visit because of Russia's pressing financial problems. China's formerly strained relations with the four former Soviet republics have relaxed and the five states are all eager to develop their co-operation, especially in the lucrative energy sector. "We possess the richest deposits of natural reserves, primarily of oil and gas," Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said. "This gives us an opportunity to develop our potential more rationally and to develop common projects." Kazakhstan and China are eager to strength its biggest investment ever in the former Soviet Union, with an oil deal worth more than nine billion dollars, giving it rights to Kazakhstan's second largest oilfield. The Chinese have also been talking about building a 3,000km pipeline across the vast Kazakh Step to Western China. But the summit participants also said they needed to co-operate more to tackle problems they all face. "These evils include national separatism, religious extremism, terrorism, illegal arms trafficking, smuggling and drug trade," said Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The frontier between China and the former Soviet bloc is almost 10,000 km long, and runs through some of the highest mountains in the world. The five countries first signed a pact to reduce tension in the region two years ago. Parts of the border are disputed and there is concern on both sides about potential support from Central Asian groups for separatist minorities in China. Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan lie along China's north-west province of Xinjiang, home to millions of Turkic-speaking Muslims, like their neighbours across the border in Central Asia. Beijing has been anxious to stem any possible support for a separatist revolt. The BBC correspondent in Alma Ata says that, for their part, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are looking to China to provide a counter-weight to Russia. Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) WUNN newsletter index*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |