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WORLD NEWSSaturday 5 March 2016

Japan PM suspends work on US base on Okinawa Tibetan in India
immolates self in
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, left, talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their area on the island. protest of China
meeting at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo Friday, March 4, 2016. Abe said Friday he has decided Onaga later flew in to To-
to temporarily suspend preliminary work on moving a U.S. Marine Corps base on Okinawa and kyo and held talks with NEW DELHI (AP) — A
will resume talks on the contentious relocation plan. The central government and Okinawa’s Abe at his office, both con- 16-year-old Tibetan living
prefectural government have been locked in a legal battle over relocating the base, with both firming to follow the court in India has died in a New
sides suing the other. Onaga last year issued an order to suspend permission for the reclamation proposal and abide by Delhi hospital three days
work. any subsequent court de- after he set himself on fire in
cisions related to their legal a protest against Chinese
(Kimimasa Mayama/Pool Photo via AP) dispute. Onaga welcomed rule, a hospital official said
Friday’s decision by both Friday. The Tibetan suffered
MARI YAMAGUCHI with both sides suing the summer’s parliamentary sides as “very significant.” burns over 98 percent of his
Associated Press other. elections. Abe said the plan to even- body and died late Thurs-
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Abe said that his govern- Okinawa Gov. Takeshi tually move the base to day, said Pankaj, an offi-
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ment is accepting a court Onaga last year issued an the town of Henoko is un- cial at New Delhi’s govern-
said Friday he has decided proposal not to force the order to suspend permis- changed. The relocation ment-run Safdarjung hospi-
to temporarily suspend pre- reclamation work over sion for the reclamation is based on a 20-year-old tal. Pankaj uses one name.
liminary work on moving a Okinawa’s objections. The work. Then the central gov- bilateral agreement to re- The Tibetan set himself
U.S. Marine Corps base on court in February made ernment sued to reverse duce the burden of the on fire on Monday in the
Okinawa and will resume the proposal as an interim the order, to which Okina- U.S. military presence on northern Indian city of Deh-
talks on the contentious re- step allowing talks. Details wa counter-sued, seeking Okinawa. Opponents want radun and was brought to
location plan. of the proposal were not a court injunction. the base moved off Oki- New Delhi for treatment. It
The central government made public. The sudden The work involves filling in nawa entirely, and a pros- was the second such pro-
and Okinawa’s prefectural reversal of his policy to con- part of a bay to create off- pect for a compromise is test this year, seen as an
government have been tinue with the reclamation coast runways for Futenma still unclear, though Okina- extreme expression of the
locked in a legal battle work is seen as an attempt air station, which is now in wa is expected to drop the anger and frustration felt
over relocating the base, to win votes ahead of this a more densely populated lawsuit. Abe said he wants by many Tibetans living
to avoid leaving the situa- under heavy-handed Chi-
tion deadlocked “for years nese rule. A Tibetan Bud-
to come, a development dhist monk self-immolated
that nobody wants to see.” and died on Monday near
In Washington, State De- the Retsokha monastery in
partment spokesman John western Sichuan province’s
Kirby told reporters Friday traditional Tibetan autono-
that the U.S. understands mous prefecture of Kardze,
that the Japanese govern- Radio Free Asia reported.
ment took its decision af- It said the monk called out
ter careful consideration. for Tibetan independence
He said the allies remain while he burned, and died
committed to the planned on the way to a hospital
base relocation. in the provincial capital
America’s top military offi- of Chengdu. Tibetan ex-
cial in the Pacific said last ile sources say at least
month that the relocation 114 monks and laypeople
plan has been pushed have self-immolated over
back by two years until the past five years, with
2025 from the current tar- most of them dying. Radio
get, because of delays Free Asia puts the number
from the disputes. of self-immolations at 144
since 2009. Tibetan monks
Nigeria: and nuns are among the
most active opponents of
Military shuts cattle market ‘financing’ Boko Haram Chinese rule in the region
and the strongest propo-
ISMAIL ALFA sions and economic strain Umar Adamu, chairman of zation has 12,000 members nents of Tibet’s indepen-
MICHELLE FAUL in a city overrun by war the United Butchers’ Asso- and the butchers’ more dent identity, prompting
Associated Press refugees, and is increasing ciation. than 200,000. the authorities to subject
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) animosity toward the mili- Maiduguri’s was the last A senior military officer said them to harsh and intrusive
— Nigeria’s military has tary, according to people major cattle market oper- butchers and traders were restrictions. Beijing blames
closed one of Africa’s big- interviewed by the AP. ating in the region, where involved in “shady deals” the exiled Tibetan spiritual
gest cattle markets, charg- Some 20,000 cattle and the insurgency has closed with Boko Haram. He spoke leader the Dalai Lama and
ing sales of stolen animals goats locked into the main at least eight others, said on condition of anonymity others for inciting the im-
is helping finance Boko abattoir are dying from Musa Abdullah of the Cat- because he is not autho- molations and says it has
Haram’s Islamic insurgen- lack of water and food, ac- tle Traders’ Union. Traders rized to speak to reporters. made vast investments
cy, according to angry resi- cording to Abubakar Abba came from southern Nige- Resident Abubakar Maina, to develop the region’s
dents who say thousands of the Livestock Traders’ ria as well as West and Cen- who has not eaten meat economy and improve
of people have lost jobs, Union. tral African nations. for days, said the military quality of life. The Dalai
beef is no longer available The closure is affecting “This clampdown has af- should target suspects, not Lama says he is against
and animals are dying in a markets as far away as La- fected thousands of truck punish everybody. all violence. He fled Tibet
sealed abattoir. gos, the commercial capi- drivers, loaders, butch- Beef is a major source of to India in 1959 amid an
The three-week-old closure tal more than 1,500 kilome- ers, even water sellers ... protein in Nigeria. In Maidu- abortive uprising against
of the market in Maidu- ters (940 miles) southwest the consequences will be guri, those who can afford Chinese forces who had
guri, the main city in north- of Maiduguri, where cattle devastating,” Abdullah it are buying fresh and fro- occupied the Himalayan
east Nigeria, is piling on ten- prices are rising daily, said warned, saying his organi- zen fish at inflated prices. region a decade earlier.