|
¡¡ |
¡¡
SMHRIC . New York
Mr. Mergen, organizer of the Mongolian herders of Right Ujumchin
Banner in Southern (Inner) Mongolia resisting Chinese coal miners¡¯
destruction of their grazing lands, was brutally killed by Chinese
coal haulers on May 10, 2011, after a day long confrontation between
more than 40 local Mongolian herders and hundreds of coal haulers.
Reportedly, Mergen¡¯s body was dragged under the wheels of the first
truck for 150 meters and then repeatedly struck by other trucks in
the caravan.
According to an article by a Mongolian blogger named Zorigt, the
drivers of the 100-ton heavy coal hauler that killed Mergen were
extremely rude, arrogant and full of hatred, claiming that ¡°my truck
is fully insured, and the life of a smelly Mongolian herder costs me
no more than 40,000 Yuan (approx 8,000 USD)¡±.
¡°In order to take a shortcut, these coal hauling trucks have
randomly run over local herders¡¯ grazing lands, not only killing
numerous heads of livestock but also further damaging the
already-weakened fragile grassland,¡± Zorigt¡¯s blog article
complains, ¡°after exhaustively petitioning various levels of local
governments, helpless Mongolian herders of Bayanbulag, Saruul,
Davshilt and Hongor Gachaa (Gachaa is second smallest level
administrative unit) in Hoolt Township organized themselves since
April 26, 2011 to block the coal haulers from trespassing on their
grazing lands.¡±
It was recently announced that the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
(IMAR) has become the ¡°energy base of China¡±. The IMAR Government
has launched a region-wide campaign to open up hundreds of coal
mines across the region. China¡¯s state-run official press Xinhua
News reported that in 2010 alone, IMAR became China¡¯s first province
whose annual coal output exceeded 0.7 billion tons. According to the
same report, with its 732.3 billion tons of coal reserves and 36
open coalfields that have a capacity of over 0.1 billion tons, IMAR
has become China¡¯s top coal producing province.
Competing for this ¡°coal rush¡±, the local government of Right
Ujumchin Banner has invited Chinese mining companies and private
miners from all over China to open up coals mines of various scale
throughout the Banner territory. .
¡°All this means is that more Chinese will come to our ancestral
land, kick out the Mongolians, destroy the environment and plunder
the mineral wealth¡±, Bayaguut, a Southern Mongolian cyber dissident,
said ¡°this really is a three-dimensional attack on us by the
Chinese: they have destroyed our land, polluted our air, and now
digging up what we have below ground. What we will be left with is a
barren land uninhabitable to human beings.¡±
Reactions to the killing of Mergen among the Southern Mongolians are
strong and emotional. Some called upon a united mass movement of
Southern Mongolians against the Chinese colonization; some expressed
their total disappointment in defending the Mongolians¡¯ rights
within China¡¯s existing legal framework; others called Mergen the
modern day Gaadaa Meiren, an iconic Southern Mongolian national hero
who fought to death exactly 80 years ago to protect the Mongol land
from Chinese colonization.
¡¡
http://www.smhric.org/news_376.htm
¡¡
¡¡
¡¡
¡¡
¡¡ |
|