VOA News: Asia: Alternate Account of Chen Drama Unfolds on Twitter

VOA News: Asia Asia Voice of America

Alternate Account of Chen Drama Unfolds on Twitter May 2nd 2012, 19:49 A close associate of a blind Chinese dissident who left U.S. protection in Beijing Wednesday has posted a series of notes on Twitter, saying the press has gotten the story wrong about Chen Guangcheng. Zeng Jinyang, the wife of activist Hu Jia and a friend of Chen's, says the dissident lawyer felt pressured to leave the U.S. embassy. GUANGCHENG TALKED TO ME. WHAT MEDIA REPORTED IS WRONG. — zengjinyan (@zengjinyan) May 2, 2012 Senior U.S. officials in Beijing who helped negotiate Chen's case say the activist left the diplomatic compound of his own free will. In a background briefing with reporters, the officials said Chen consistently stated his desire to stay and work in China. But at about 8 p.m. in Beijing Wednesday, Zeng tweeted in English and Chinese that Chen said he and his family were willing to leave the country. However, she said he felt compelled to abandon the U.S. embassy because he feared for his family's safety. That account echoes an interview Chen gave the Associated Press. VOA was unable to contact Zeng or Chen for comment, but other Western journalists who reached Zeng said she confirmed her Tweets and said she was taking a big risk by speaking with them. Zeng also tweeted that Chen told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a phone call Wednesday that he wanted to "see her," not "kiss her," as U.S. officials reported. A U.S. State Department spokesman dismissed the discrepancy, saying Chen was speaking in "broken English." <!--IMAGE-RIGHT-->That phone call was one of many Chen made while driving to a Beijing hospital with U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke after leaving the embassy. He also placed calls to members of the Western press to confirm his departure from the diplomatic compound. Zeng says since Friday, Chen was not able to contact anyone. The Texas-based advocacy group ChinaAid, which has been in contact with Chen since his escape, says it fears the U.S. has "abandoned Mr. Chen." "We are deeply concerned about this sad development if the reports about Chen's involuntary departure [from the U.S. Embassy] is true," said ChinaAid President Bob Fu in a statement. The group is demanding the U.S. and Chinese governments release the full details of Chen's release. U.S. officials say Chen left the embassy after receiving guarantees from China that he would be relocated to a "safe environment" and be permitted to attend a university. Chen is a self-taught lawyer who fell out of favor with Shandong province authorities after exposing and challenging forced abortions and sterilizations, which are contrary to Chinese law. Chen's perilous flight from his heavily guarded home in Dongshigu village to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has presented Washington and Beijing with their greatest test of diplomatic relations in decades. The situation was made even more delicate because of its timing.  The U.S. secretary of state and other senior officials are in Beijing this week for talks that were supposed to focus on North Korea, Iran and Sudan. Instead, Chen's human rights, an issue Clinton has long championed, became the focus of a week of flurried negotiations that the U.S. diplomats involved say left them sleepless. When asked by reporters about Chen's long-term safety, Deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington Wednesday the U.S. would continue to seek access to Chen to ensure China's commitments become a reality. Media files: AFP_Chen_China_Dissident_05_02_2012_480.jpg (image/jpeg, 0 MB) AP_Twitter_3001.jpg apChenGuangchengGaryLockeUSChinaDiplomatHumanRights2May2012-resizedpx480q100shp8Tease.jpg

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VOA News: Asia: UN Security Council Imposes Sanctions on North Korean Firms

VOA News: Asia Asia Voice of America

UN Security Council Imposes Sanctions on North Korean Firms May 2nd 2012, 18:59 The United Nations is penalizing three North Korean companies involved in the country's missile and nuclear programs. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, says the Security Council sanctions include freezing the assets of the three "very significant" entities. She said the Security Council views the sanctions as "strong and credible." North Korea launched a long-range missile last month, despite calls by many in the international community not to do so.  The missile malfunctioned and fell into the Yellow Sea about a minute after liftoff. At the time, all 15 Security Council members condemned the failed launch, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called North Korea's actions "deplorable." North Korea said the launch was aimed at placing a weather satellite into orbit.  But the operation was widely believed to be a test of a long-range ballistic missile that could carry warheads as easily as satellites. Media files: reuters_unsc_syria_230_21Apr12-resized.jpg

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VOA News: Asia: Chen Case Highlights Delicate Nature of Human Rights in US-Sino Relations

VOA News: Asia Asia Voice of America

Chen Case Highlights Delicate Nature of Human Rights in US-Sino Relations May 2nd 2012, 18:54 So where does the Chen Guangcheng case leave U.S./China relations and Washington's role as a champion of human rights? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the agreement ending Chen's six-day stay at the U.S. embassy in Beijing "reflected his choices and our values." China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, says Washington must apologize for what Beijing considers interfering in Chinese domestic affairs and for taking in a Chinese citizen in such an "irregular manner."  He told China's Xinhua news agency that Beijing authorities will investigate and punish all those responsible for helping Chen escape house arrest. "I think it has always been a challenge for the United States," says Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a Washington research group. "The U.S. stands for very basic human rights issues. The U.S. promotes democracy. The U.S. talks about these issues. If you are dealing front-and-center with another very important country, it is hard to get away from those." Getting Chen out of the embassy allows Secretary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to focus on the broader global issues at the center of this annual economic and political dialogue in Beijing. "We cannot make them treat their people better," Bandow said. "If you make this kind of the center of your dispute, you are not going to get anything else done. "So I think the desperate attempt then is to say, 'Let's talk about these things, but let's be able to set them aside when we have to go and talk about Sudan, go and talk about North Korea, Iran, economic issues, all these other things,'" Bandow added. But the director of Human Rights Watch China, Sophie Richardson, says it's a mistake to consider human rights as distinct from other U.S./China issues. "Whether you are talking about product safety; whether you're talking about the validity or the efficacy of trade negotiations; and whether contracts can be upheld, those are fundamentally premised on some basic human rights protections," Richardson says. While Washington has been strong on some specific cases, including Chen Guangcheng's, Richardson believes the Obama administration's overall performance on human rights in China is uneven. "In making the case for better human rights protections in China - not just as a peculiar interest of the U.S.'s, but as being in the interest of the Chinese people - there has been some great language on that," Richardson noted. "But I don't think this administration has done a particularly good job of coordinating across the breadth and the depth of the relationship in the service of better protecting human rights issues." U.S. officials traveling with secretaries Clinton and Geithner say Beijing's response to the Chen case, especially following the ouster of Chongqing Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, reflects a growing disconnect between central and local authority in China. A senior Obama administration official told reporters in Beijing that Chen "expressed his desire for assistance from the central government in addressing his concerns and grievances, primarily relating to his reported mistreatment and that of his family at the hands of local officials." And central government officials "further stated that they will investigate reported extralegal activities committed by local Shandong authorities against Mr. Chen and his family." "Some of the people who have been persecuted in a most brutal way, like Chen Guangcheng, haven't actually called for the ouster of the Chinese Communist Party," Richardson said. "They have called for upholding the rule of law as it is on the books.  And some of the people who have been vocal proponents of continuing Party rule have not been protected as a result of that, Bo Xilai being the best case in point." Richardson believes the pressure for systemic change in China is only growing. "People see both in Chen's so-called escape from Shandong and in Bo Xilai's ouster the opportunity for change," Richardson explained. "And that the system is not immutable. And that the senior level leadership has to respond to these kinds of social demands, whether they are about corruption, whether they are about inequality, whether they are about abusive family-planning practices. Simply imposing policies from above and ignoring the fallout, I think, has ceased to be an option." That seems especially true given Beijing's reaction to the events of the Arab Spring and its continuing support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "I think the leadership is extremely nervous," Doug Bandow noted. "They sit on a volcano. I mean, this is a ruling party that has essentially no legitimacy other than economic prosperity. You have the princelings, people who are kind of living on the legacy of the Communist Party. But this is a very different Communist Party. Issues like corruption bother the Chinese people." In the short term, Bandow says that concern makes Party leaders clamp down on dissent. But over the long-term, he says it may help bring about change. "I think there are at least some, like the current premier, who recognize that if you don't allow those kind of release mechanisms, you make it much more dangerous," Bandow says. "The paranoia has clearly been heightened," says Sophie Richardson. "This is not a representative government. It's not one that is interested in having a conversation in any sort of systematic way with the population as a whole about what people want." Richardson believes the attention surrounding the Chen Guangcheng and Bo Xilai cases is a "tremendous opportunity for the United States and others who have a stated interest in human rights issues to not just say that they welcome China's rise, meaning the government, but indeed to welcome the rise of people's activism and their efforts to hold their own government to account." "I think we're at a moment, historically, when governments like the U.S. have to start thinking about a broader relationship with the Chinese people, not just a government that we know is not necessarily representative of popular sentiment." Media files: apChenGuangchengGaryLockeUSChinaDiplomatHumanRights2May2012-resizedpx480q100shp8.jpg (image/jpeg, 0.1 MB) apChenGuangchengGaryLockeUSChinaDiplomatHumanRights2May2012-resizedpx480q100shp8Tease.jpg

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VOA News: Asia: South Asia Regional Stability Depends on Solutions for Afghan Refugees

VOA News: Asia Asia Voice of America

South Asia Regional Stability Depends on Solutions for Afghan Refugees May 2nd 2012, 19:19 The United Nations says peace and stability will not be achieved in south Asia until durable solutions are found for millions of Afghan refugees. Delegates from more than 40 countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran are discussing the Afghan situation at a two-day conference in Geneva. Afghanistan has been producing refugees for more than 30 years, and the endless wars in that country continue to create new refugees and internally displaced people. The U.N. refugee agency, which is co-hosting a two-day conference in Geneva, calls this one of the most complex and protracted refugee situations in the world. The conference is seeking solutions for the three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran, and 5.7 million Afghans who have returned to their country after many years in exile. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres says displacement in Afghanistan and beyond its borders continues because of instability, drought and unfavorable conditions. He says the rate of return has declined during the past three years, from a high of more than one-quarter of a million refugees per year to about 70,000 last year.l "We are in an important period of transition in Afghanistan that is characterized by uncertainty," said Guterres. "Afghan refugees have shown that they "vote with their feet" when conditions for return are conducive, they have always wished to go home. Durable solutions for refugees and creating conditions for sustainable return and reintegration do not lie within the scope of humanitarian action alone. It requires political and economic developments."   One year ago, the UNHCR along with the governments of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan began to map out a three-year strategy aimed at creating opportunities for sustainable solutions for Afghan refugees. Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi has served twice in Afghanistan as Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, from July 1997 to October 1999 and immediately after 9/11, 2001 until January 2004. In his keynote address to the conference, he urged the international community to learn from the mistakes of the past and not to repeat them. Brahimi says time and again nations have pledged not to forget Afghanistan and to remain engaged, only to abandon the country, resulting in more conflict, more deaths, and more refugees. "Of course, interest for Afghanistan immediately jumped up sky-high after 9/11," said Brahimi. "9/11 is the direct consequence of the way in which the international community turned its back on Afghanistan after the Soviet Union withdrew from that country in 1989.  Are you going to turn your back again on Afghanistan?"   Brahimi says political negotiations must include all segments of Afghan society, including those Taliban who are ready to join the process. He says such negotiations should mobilize the support of all Afghanistan's neighbors, including Pakistan and Iran. He says a political settlement would put an end to the fighting and create a better future for the millions of refugees and displaced people who, through no fault of their own, have been stripped of their homes and their rights. Media files: ap_afghanistan_refugee_eng_480_13mar12.jpg (image/jpeg, 0 MB) ap_afghanistan_refugee_eng_230_13mar12.jpg

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VOA News: Africa: South Sudan: Kosti Returnees Denied Aid, Forced Out

VOA News: Africa Africa Voice of America

South Sudan: Kosti Returnees Denied Aid, Forced Out May 2nd 2012, 19:02 South Sudan is voicing concern for southerners stuck at a way station in Sudan who are being forced to leave within days. Sudan has ordered between 12,000 and 15,000 South Sudanese to leave Kosti, a river port in White Nile state, by Saturday, after declaring a state of emergency in border areas where it has been fighting its neighbor for more than a month. But aid agencies that have been helping people return to newly independent South Sudan say the May 5 deportation deadline is impossible due to a lack of adequate transport. South Sudan's government spokesman, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said Wednesday that Sudan has asked charities to leave and stopped aid agencies from delivering vital food, health and water to the camps, even removing their supplies. "Our concern is that these people might actually be killed, as the government of Sudan is not caring for them anymore," said Benjamin, explaining that Khartoum's demands leave the aid-dependent population stranded in serious danger. "Here they have stopped the organizations giving them food ... they are preventing them to get drinking water." In the last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has helped almost 50,000 people resettle or return to South Sudan from the north, where about 350,000 Southerners remain. According to IOM, a best case scenario for moving up to 15,000 people would take up to four months, require 24 passenger barges and 60 for belongings if people reduced their luggage. The IOM fears that if people end up having to travel by bus or on foot, they will be forced to leave their possessions behind and start their new lives in the impoverished South with nothing. More than 375,000 people have returned to South Sudan since October 2010, three months before Southerners voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum. Despite a peaceful split from Sudan in July after five decades of intermittent civil war, the two nations have yet to agree on borders, citizenship rights, and how to share oil revenue. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was due to sign agreements with his southern counterpart Salva Kiir to protect the "four freedoms" of each other's citizens and start border demarcation on April 3. But clashes around oil-rich border areas started days before the scheduled meeting and have since escalated, sparking fears the two sides could return to all-out war. Media files: Reuters_Kosti_barge_480_2may12.JPG (image/jpeg, 0.1 MB) Sudan-SouthSudan-caps.png

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VOA News: Africa: Somalia PM Plans Constitutional Government by August

VOA News: Africa Africa Voice of America

Somalia PM Plans Constitutional Government by August May 2nd 2012, 18:44 Somalia's Transitional Federal Government is making preparations to hand over power to an elected government in August.   The surprising development is being engineered by a Somali-American technocrat intent on ending his native country's reputation as a failed state. Somalia's Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali is a man with a mission. The Harvard-educated Ali could easily go back to his wife and four children and his career as an academic in the United States.  A month ago, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed two of Somalia's top sports officials. Instead he has chosen to take on what some might call "mission impossible," returning stability to Somalia after more than 20 years of lawlessness and conflict. Just a few months ago, southern Somalia was in the grip of drought and famine. Much of the countryside was controlled by al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist group that refused to allow Western aid agencies to provide life-saving food aid.  As a result, thousands of Somalis died. Today, al-Shabab's grip is broken, due partly to public anger at their callousness, and partly to a African Union-led military force that hit them when they were at their weakest. A few weeks ago, al-Shabab fighters were forced to pull out of their last few positions in Mogadishu. Prime Minister Ali sees the political vacuum created by al-Shabab's departure as an opportunity for his U.N.-backed government, which until recently was seen as weak, corrupt and incompetent. "We gained a lot of territory from Shabab.  They're on the run, and Somalis came to understand they have no tolerance," he said.  "They don't have a Somali agenda.  Their agenda is an obnoxious agenda.  Shabab lost the hearts and minds of the Somali people.  They lost the battle and also lost the war." Ali and his crew of Western-educated technocrats are racing against the clock to create a constitutional government for Somalia by August, when his administration's mandate expires.  Two weeks ago they finished drafting a new constitution. In technocratic form, Ali expresses confidence that he can succeed where others have failed by strict adherence to a timetable. "We have a 'road map.'  You know why previous governments failed was because they never had a framework that guides them, that takes them from where they were and to where they want to be," he said. "Now we have a framework. The road map has benchmarks, timelines and deadlines of doing specific jobs.  That's why we've succeeded." The next steps include forming a convention of elders to select a constitutional assembly that will ratify the constitution. The assembly will then choose members of a slimmed-down parliament that will elect a speaker and a president by July. The new government would then be ready to take power by August, when Prime Minister Ali's mandate expires. It's a tall order, but he says the progress made in the past few months suggests it can be done. "Nobody would have thought seven months ago that the whole city of Mogadishu would be secured and safe," he said. "We are a proud country with rich history. We'll get out of this mess and hopefully in the near future you will have a Somalia at peace with itself and its neighbors." Ali says al-Shabab may continue for some time to be able to stage sporadic terrorist attacks like the one this week that killed two members of parliament.  But he envisions a state that within five years will become a solid member of the community of nations, something that has evaded Somalia for more than two decades. Media files: AP_Somalia_Abdiweli Mohamed Ali_feb2012_file_480.jpg (image/jpeg, 0 MB) AP_Somalia_Abdiweli Mohamed Ali_feb2012_file_230.jpg

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VOA News: Europe: Germany Threatens to Block Ukraine-EU Deal Over Jailed Opposition Leader

VOA News: Europe Europe Voice of America

Germany Threatens to Block Ukraine-EU Deal Over Jailed Opposition Leader May 2nd 2012, 18:38 Germany's foreign minister is threatening to block a political and trade deal between Ukraine and the European Union if jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko is not given adequate health care. Guido Westerwelle said on German television Wednesday that Germany cannot ratify an "association agreement" between the EU and Ukraine if Kiev does not abide by the rule of law. The agreement is one in a series of steps designed to deepen Ukraine's political and economic association with the European Union. Westerwelle refused to say whether Germany would refrain from participating in the Euro 2012 football (soccer) tournament to be held in Ukraine starting in June. Austria and the Netherlands on Wednesday joined European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso in saying they will not attend if Ms. Tymoshenko's conditions do not improve. "We see no reason for ongoing discussions about a boycott," said Westerwelle. "We want to help Yulia Tymoshenko and others and we don't want to lose our influence to change the situation there." The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry this week called the boycotts "Cold War tactics" and "artificial manipulation." Ukraine and Poland are co-hosting Europe's most important football championship for national teams, from June 8 until July 1. Czech President Vaclav Klaus and German President Joachim Gauck have both announced they will not attend a Yalta summit of Central European heads of state scheduled for May 11 and 12.   Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison last year on charges of abuse of office in a 2009 gas deal with Russia. She is now standing trial on tax evasion charges that could extend her prison time to 12 years. Ms. Tymoshenko denies the charges and says they are part of a campaign by President Viktor Yanukovich to remove his strongest political rival. She has been on a hunger strike for more than a week, after she said she was beaten by prison guards. German doctors diagnosed Ms. Tymoshenko last week with back problems that they say cannot be treated in Ukraine, but the Kyiv government has refused appeals to allow her to leave. Ms. Tymoshenko's daughter, Yevgenia, told reporters in Prague Monday that her mother's health is deteriorating and called for European governments to keep up the pressure. She said she hopes the Ukraine government will take action so her mother will stop her hunger strike. The government has threatened to force-feed Ms. Tymoshenko if necessary.   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. Media files: reuters_ukraine_tymoshenko_prison_480_27april2012.jpg (image/jpeg, 0.1 MB) reuters_ukraine_tymoshenko_prison_230_27april2012.jpg

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VOA News: Asia: Hundreds of Pakistanis Rally on bin Laden Death Anniversary

VOA News: Asia Asia Voice of America

Hundreds of Pakistanis Rally on bin Laden Death Anniversary May 2nd 2012, 18:34 Hundreds of Pakistanis took to the streets Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's death. U.S. special forces killed bin Laden during a covert raid in the garrison Pakistani town of Abbottabad on May 2, 2011.   In the southwestern city of Quetta, members of the pro-Taliban Jammat-e-Ulema Party condemned bin Laden's killing - shouting slogans in support of the al-Qaida leader and burning the American flag. In Abbottabad, school children rallied at the site of bin Laden's compound, calling for peace and an end to U.S. drone strikes on Pakistani soil. Pakistan's government has condemned the strikes and the bin Laden raid as a violation of the country's sovereignty.   Pakistan was on high alert Wednesday, with security agencies directed to watch out for possible attacks by militants seeking revenge for bin Laden's killing. Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said it was restricting its employees from going to restaurants and markets in the Pakistani capital between April 27 though May 5, and recommended that American citizens in Islamabad take similar precautions. The embassy did not give a reason for the security warning, but the dates coincide with the first anniversary of the al-Qaida leader's death. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. Media files: reuters_pakistan_bin_laden_supporters_rally_480_02may2012.jpg (image/jpeg, 0.1 MB) reuters_pakistan_bin_laden_supporters_rally_230_02may2012.jpg

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VOA News: Asia: Report: Blind Dissident Wants to Leave China

VOA News: Asia Asia Voice of America

Report: Blind Dissident Wants to Leave China May 2nd 2012, 17:50 A blind Chinese activist who was sheltered in the U.S. embassy in Beijing for nearly a week has emerged. U.S. officials said China has agreed to relocate Chen Guangcheng to a "safe" location. However, after departing the embassy, Chen told the Associated Press he wants to leave China with his family because he fears for their lives.  He also said U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would have beaten his wife to death had he not left the embassy. Threats In the same AP report, a top American official denied the United States told Chen about threats of violence to his family.  But the official said Chen was told his family would be returned to its home province of Shandong if he did not leave the embassy. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that U.S. officials never spoke to Chen about any threats to his wife or children.  But Nuland said China told U.S. officials his family would be returned to Shandong if Chen stayed at the embassy. Earlier Wednesday, U.S. officials reported that Chen had left the embassy and was accompanied by U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke. From there, they went to a hospital where Chen was reunited with his family. Secretary Clinton's call A U.S. official added that Chen later spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and thanked her for supporting his case. In a separate statement,  Clinton said she is pleased U.S. officials were able to facilitate Chen's stay and departure from the embassy "in a way that reflected his choices and our values." In response, China urged the United States to stop "misleading" the public about Chen's case.       The Chen controversy is likely to overshadow high-level security and economic talks between the U.S. and China that begin Thursday.  Clinton is in Beijing for the talks. Chen, under house arrest since 2010, escaped from prison on April 22 and later took shelter inside the U.S. embassy, sparking a diplomatic standoff. A U.S. official said earlier Wednesday Chen did not request political asylum in the United States. China's official Xinhua news agency also reported Chen's departure from the embassy, Wednesday.  It said Chen had stayed at the facility for six days before leaving "of his own volition."   China demands apology China's foreign ministry demanded the United States apologize for taking in Chen, calling it an "unacceptable interference" in Chinese affairs.  It also said the U.S. should give assurances no other dissidents will be given refuge. Some human rights groups and activists remain skeptical the situation has been fully resolved despite Chen's departure from the embassy.  Phelim Kine, a senior Asia researcher at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said that Chen is likely to continue speaking against China's human rights violations. "It's very much our hope that the U.S. has carefully thought through the very real threats to the safety and well-being of Chen Guangcheng and his family and his supporters in China and has negotiated a resolution that takes those considerations into account and ensures that he will indeed be safe once he is outside of U.S. diplomatic protection," Kine said. Kine said he would be "very surprised" if China's agreement with the U.S. allowed for potential violations of Chen's safety. But he does not think China's handling of the issue represents a softening of its treatment of dissidents. Chen is a lawyer and human rights activist who has been blind since childhood. He was given a four-year prison sentence in 2006 for exposing abuses under China's forced abortion policy aimed at population control.  He had been under house arrest since 2010, before escaping on April 22. He posted an Internet video last week saying he, his wife, and young daughter were abused during his house arrest.  He also called on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to investigate human rights abuses in China. "Chinese Dissidents Who Left Their Homeland" Fang Lizhi: The leading astrophysicist stayed at U.S. Embassy for 13 months after China's 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square. He left China in 1990 and died this year in the U.S. Wei Jingsheng: The democracy activist flew to the U.S. in 1997 after more than 14 years in prison. Rebiya Kadeer: Convicted of endangering state security, the Uighur rights activist now lives in the U.S. Wu'er Kaixi: The student leader fled China with the help of a secret network after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Liao Yiwu: Known for "The Corpse Walker" interviews with people on the margin of Chinese society, he fled to Germany in 2011 Yu Jie: Authored a book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao and left for the U.S. in 2012 after being detained repeatedly and beaten. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. Media files: AP China Chen Guangcheng after leaving embassy 2May12 480.jpg (image/jpeg, 0 MB) AP China Chen Guangcheng after leaving embassy 2May12 230.jpg

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VOA News: Africa: Security Council Calls on Sudans to Stop Fighting

VOA News: Africa Africa Voice of America

Security Council Calls on Sudans to Stop Fighting May 2nd 2012, 17:00 The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution calling on Sudan and South Sudan to stop fighting and resolve their issues, or face possible sanctions. The 15-nation Council voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of the resolution, which demands both sides "immediately cease all hostilities" and reach an agreement on oil, border and citizenship issues. The document stresses the need to restore a "comprehensive, just and lasting peace between Sudan and South Sudan." The draft says if either side fails to comply with the resolution, the Security Council "expresses its intention" to take action under Article 41 of the U.N. Charter. The clause allows the council to take non-military action, including economic sanctions, to back up its decisions. Russia and China, both veto-wielding permanent members of the council, had resisted the possibility of sanctions but supported the resolution in the end. The draft notes a decision last week by the African Union's Peace and Security Council, which gave Sudan and South Sudan 90 days to settle oil, citizenship and boundary issues or face binding international arbitration. AU-mediated talks between the two Sudans have produced little progress. Meanwhile, Sudan said Wednesday that it has resumed pumping oil from the Heglig oil fields, which South Sudan occupied for 10 days last month.p> Media files: ap_sudan_heglig_dead_soldier_480_14april2012.jpg (image/jpeg, 0.1 MB) ap_sudan_heglig_dead_soldier_230_14april2012.jpg

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