The Troops Have Arrived at Last, but Where’s the Aid? - Comment

By YENI
Irrawaddy News

June 12, 2008 - Burma’s men in uniform are now to be seen in the areas of the country devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which left up to 2.5 million people in urgent need of food, water and shelter. But the troops aren’t there to help these victims. Instead of aid, they bring only fear and oppression to the survivors.

In contrast with the impressive way neighboring China responded to the disastrous earthquake there, Burmese troops reacted to their own country’s disaster sluggishly and cold-heartedly.

While Chinese soldiers are working hard to save the lives of earthquake victims, the Burmese army is still shunning the responsibility of collecting the dead, identifying them and giving them a proper funeral according to their religious traditions. Thousands of dead bodies still lie in the sodden rice paddies, fields and waterways of Burma’s Irrawaddy delta.

The Burmese army has also stepped up a campaign to evict displaced citizens from refugee shelters and, in the latest, most disgusting development, is forcing survivors to perform unskilled labor for military infrastructure projects, such as helicopter landing places, in exchange for food.

London-based Amnesty International said last week that the Burmese authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite the junta's pledge to crack down on the problem.

All this misery stems from the actions of one man, the junta’s infamous leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe. After Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta, he knew exactly who to appoint to head the military mission in the region: Brig-Gen Maung Maung Aye, commander of Light Infantry Division (LID) 66, based in Pegu Division’s Pyay Township.

Maung Maung Aye earned the aging leader’s trust and respect after he played a key role in the suppression of last September’s monk-led protests. According to sources close to the military, it was Maung Maung Aye who gave the order to carry out raids on monasteries and fire on protesting monks and other demonstrators.

As commanding officer of Infantry Battalion 70 in Pegu Division and Karen State in the early 2000s, Maung Maung Aye became notorious for his use of forced labor, routinely press-ganging civilians into road construction and to clear roadsides of vegetation, army sources told The Irrawaddy.

This time, the cyclone survivors in the delta have had to endure his three LID 66 tactical operation commands—Tactical Command 661, led by Col Aung Tun and based in Myaung Mya Township; Tactical Command 662, led by Col Htwe Hla and based in Mawlamyinegyun Township; and Tactical Command 663, led by Col Han Nyunt and based in Kyaiklat Township.

Meanwhile, Burma's government has established total control over the international aid agencies’ efforts to carry out assistance programs for victims of last month's cyclone. Guidelines, distributed on Tuesday by the government at a meeting with UN agencies and private humanitarian organizations, would require a large amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with national and local government agencies.

Disaster management is a recognized dimension of government responsibility. The Burmese regime is proving itself to be totaling lacking in the skills of disaster management—which encompass all aspects of planning for and responding to disasters, including analysis, vulnerability reduction (preparedness), prevention, mitigation, response, recovery and rehabilitation.

Throughout the world, since disasters pose significant challenges to governance, it is not possible for local governments alone to take care of all the relief responses.
There is a need for active participation by international aid workers, volunteers, non-governmental organization staffers and the wider civil society.

The needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis mean nothing, however, to Than Shwe, whose attention is focused only on building a "strong, efficient, modern and patriotic" army and cementing the unity of the military as an "essential" for maintaining his tight grip on power.

Because of the junta’s mishandling and mismanagement, there is no hope of a dramatic increase in the amount of aid being delivered to those facing starvation and disease. This is a great human tragedy.