OSAKA, Japan: An exiled advocate for China’s ethnic Uighur minority Friday urged world leaders gathered in Japan for the G20 summit to confront Chinese President Xi Jinping over the “genocide” of her Muslim people.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Osaka meeting, Rebiya Kadeer said strong world pressure was essential to free an estimated one million people, mostly ethnic Uighurs, held in internment camps in western China.
“(The) entire Uighur people are facing (an) existential threat, and its real and urgent,” Kadeer, the 72-year-old head of the World Uyghur Congress, said through an interpreter.
Chinese officials describe the camps as voluntary “vocational education centers” where Turkic-speaking Uighurs receive job training.
But rights groups and former inmates describe them as “concentration camps” where Uighurs and other minorities are being forcefully assimilated into China majority ethnic Han society.
Kadeer said Uighur culture could vanish if “strong actions” are not taken by China’s trading partners.
“I call (on) European countries who are economically dependent on China to wake up and stand up against Chinese genocide of Uighurs and take practical actions immediately.”
More than 100 demonstrators later gathered in Osaka to protest against the camps, as well as moves in Hong Kong to diminish the Chinese city’s unique freedoms.
Kadeer’s presence in Osaka will no doubt anger China, which labels her a dangerous separatist and has previously condemned Japan for allowing her entry.
Kadeer extended her thanks to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the summit’s host, for resisting Beijing’s pressure.
Xinjiang is a remote, resource-rich region bordering on central Asia that has long seethed with sporadic violence over Uighur allegations of Chinese repression.
Kadeer was a successful Xinjiang businesswoman hailed in the 1990s by China as proof that its policies were good for the country’s many ethnic minorities.
But she fell out with authorities and was jailed six years after complaining about Uighur repression.
She was released and went abroad in 2005, settling in the United States and becoming leader of the World Uyghur Congress, which advocates respect for Uighur culture.
China accuses her of instigating deadly Uighur rioting in Xinjiang in 2009 that killed at least 197 people, according to state media.
She strongly denies the charge.
Uighur leader urges G20 pressure to end China ‘genocide’
Uighur leader urges G20 pressure to end China ‘genocide’
- Rebiya Kadeer said strong world pressure was essential to free an estimated one million people, mostly ethnic Uighurs, held in internment camps in western China
- Chinese officials describe the camps as voluntary vocational education centers where Turkic-speaking Uighurs receive job training
Dozens missing after boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsized off the coast of Gambia
- At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year’s Eve in northwest Gambia’s North Bank region
BANJUL: Dozens are missing after a boat carrying more than 200 migrants on their way to Europe capsized off the coast of Gambia, the West African nation’s leader said late Friday, setting off a frantic search and rescue operation.
At least 102 survivors have been rescued and seven bodies recovered from the boat that capsized on New Year’s Eve in northwest Gambia’s North Bank region, Gambian President Adama Barrow said in a state broadcast.
The emergency services were joined by local fishermen and other volunteers in searching for the victims, days after Wednesday’s incident near the village of Jinack, he said.
Thousands of Africans desperate for better opportunities in Europe risk their lives traveling on boats along the Atlantic coast, one of the world’s deadliest migrant routes that connects the West African coast across Gambia, Senegal and Mauritania.
Many migrants seeking to reach Spain via the Canary Islands never make it due to high risks of boats capsizing. In August 2025, around 150 people were either dead or missing after their boat that came from Gambia capsized off the coast of Mauritania. A similar incident in July 2024 killed more than a dozen migrants with 150 others declared missing.
It was not clear what led to the latest tragedy. Gambia’s Ministry of Defense said the boat was found “grounded on a sandbank.”
“The national emergency response plan has been activated and the government has deployed adequate resources to intensify efforts and provide assistance to the survivors,” Barrow said.
Some of the 102 survivors were undergoing urgent medical care, the Gambian leader said.
As he condoled with families, Barrow vowed a full investigation and called the accident a “painful reminder of the dangerous and life-threatening nature of irregular migration.”
“The government will strengthen efforts to prevent irregular migration and remains determined to create safer and more dignified opportunities for young people to fulfil their dreams,” he added.
