Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor
Times Online
The leader of the Burmese junta, Than Shwe, personally ordered the murder of scores of unarmed villagers and Thai fishermen, according to a senior diplomat and military intelligence officer who defected to America.
Aung Lin Htut, formerly the deputy chief of mission at the Burmese Embassy in Washington, described to a radio station how 81 people, including women and children, were shot and buried on an isolated island after straying into a remote military zone in the southeast of the country in 1998.
After one general hesitated to kill the civilians, fearing that the commander who had given the order was drunk, he was informed that it came from “Aba Gyi” or “Great Father” – the term used to refer to Senior General Than Shwe, the head of the junta.
A few days later troops from the same military base captured a Thai fishing boat that had strayed close to Christie Island in the Mergui Archipelago. The 22 fishermen on board were also shot and buried on the island. “I was a witness to the two incidents in which a total of about 81 people were killed,” Mr Aung Lin Htut, formerly a major in military intelligence, told the Burmese language service of Voice of America. “All of them were unarmed civilians.” In 46 years of military rule in Burma, there have been numerous reports of grave human rights violations but few have been attested by so well placed a source as Mr Aung Lin Htut. They come at a time when General Than Shwe and his regime are coming under scrutiny, after their refusal to allow a full scale relief operation for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The French Government has said that it comes close to being a “crime against humanity”, and last week Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, called it “criminal neglect”. If a tribunal like the ones established for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia is ever created for Burma, then Mr Aung Lin Htut will doubtless be called to give evidence.
He sought asylum in the US in 2005, along with six members of his family, after a purge against the country’s prime minister and intelligence chief of the time by General Than Shwe destroyed the careers of a generation of intelligence officers. Given the control of information in Burma, his account is impossible to verify. But it has credibility because it is the first time since his defection that Mr Aung Lin Htut has made any public comment on his former masters.
In May 1998 he was stationed on Zadetkyi island, a frontline base close to Burma’s maritime border with Thailand. The commander of the base was Colonel Zaw Min, who is now Minister for Electric Power and general secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, the junta’s grassroots organisation.
A unit led by the colonel landed on Christie Island and found 59 people living there to gather wood and bamboo, in violation of Burmese law. The order came back from headquarters that they were to be “eliminated”.
Myint Swe, an air force general, said that he was a religious person, and that the matter should be handled delicately. He said that he was very concerned by the timing of the elimination order – just after lunch, a time when General Maung Aye, now the number two in the junta, was usually drunk.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Those who suffer and Those who enjoy by Nagis Cyclone
By Mahorgani
It's really nice to stay here !!
Everything is just perfect..
Such a good generator ! bring it back to army bar....
have to rebuild with whatever we have...
This is school open day ! Which school we have to go then...
No idea what to do !
Nothing but space to sleep
Surviving with makeshift shelter, where is the foreign aid - tent ...
(I would appreciate it if anyone could translate and share this post around the internet and spread the words please)
MAHORGANI IS A TEAM MEMBER OF BURMESE BLOGGERS WITHOUT BORDERS
It's really nice to stay here !!
Everything is just perfect..
Nothing was difficult to do aid work...
Such a good generator ! bring it back to army bar....
have to rebuild with whatever we have...
This is school open day ! Which school we have to go then...
No idea what to do !
Nothing but space to sleep
Surviving with makeshift shelter, where is the foreign aid - tent ...Those who suffer and Those who enjoy by Nagis Cyclone
MAHORGANI IS A TEAM MEMBER OF BURMESE BLOGGERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Everything that is happening is different to what the international aiders are expecting or witnessing. The fact is that these aid and donated stuff is really and very useful to them (junta). It seems in fact that the army is provided with international aid instead of the victims.
Herewith we reveal to the international community representing the genuine cyclone victims. They (real cyclone victims) could hardly manage the space to sleep in. Even so, authorities evict them within three days.
That's why.. Let me say it out.
We just try to accept that it's OK even if the cyclone victims receive 10 pieces out of 100 donated by the international community. But in reality, nothing has been handed to the victims. So, please don't send any more food and aid stuff. It seems like things are provided to the army exclusively. They (junta) will torture and oppress as long as they are provided with such a nice food and good materials. If you want to donate and support to the real victims, please
"try to find out the right channel to reach victims out".
Friday, 6 June 2008
Burma Army cremates Rohingya Muslims
Kaladan Press - 04 June 2008
Maungdaw, Arakan: The Burmese Army based in Bandohla camp, near the Burma-Bangladesh border, near pillar No.50, cremated two Rohingya Muslims on June 1 evening, according to a villager near the camp. The bodies ought to have been buried.
Bandohla camp is a border outpost with the special armed forces located near the Burma-Bangladesh border.
On June 1, a section of army personnel patrolling the area, found two bodies near the camp, between pillars No.54 and 55 and took the bodies to the camp, according to official source.
The troops informed camp authorities that the dead were Muslims, who had gone to cut bamboo inside the government controlled forest and could have been killed by Bangladeshi robbers, the official source more added.
On May 31, in the morning, a group of army went to the forest to check the border and they shot to the bamboo cutters while they were cutting bamboo and cranes from the forest not far from the camp. The patrol group, hearing the voice of the bamboo cutters, the army blindly fired to them and killed two bamboo cutters on the spot, but some others were managed to escape. But, the nearby villagers did not dare to expose the name of the dead bodies, according to the villagers inside Arakan.
Of the two dead one was old and another young. The army was unable to identify them or get their address. The officer-in-charge ordered their cremation.
"Bodies of Muslims are not cremated as per traditional Muslim custom, but the army didn't handover the bodies to the nearest Muslim village and cremated them in keeping with Buddhist customs," said the sources.
Maungdaw, Arakan: The Burmese Army based in Bandohla camp, near the Burma-Bangladesh border, near pillar No.50, cremated two Rohingya Muslims on June 1 evening, according to a villager near the camp. The bodies ought to have been buried.
Bandohla camp is a border outpost with the special armed forces located near the Burma-Bangladesh border.
On June 1, a section of army personnel patrolling the area, found two bodies near the camp, between pillars No.54 and 55 and took the bodies to the camp, according to official source.
The troops informed camp authorities that the dead were Muslims, who had gone to cut bamboo inside the government controlled forest and could have been killed by Bangladeshi robbers, the official source more added.
On May 31, in the morning, a group of army went to the forest to check the border and they shot to the bamboo cutters while they were cutting bamboo and cranes from the forest not far from the camp. The patrol group, hearing the voice of the bamboo cutters, the army blindly fired to them and killed two bamboo cutters on the spot, but some others were managed to escape. But, the nearby villagers did not dare to expose the name of the dead bodies, according to the villagers inside Arakan.
Of the two dead one was old and another young. The army was unable to identify them or get their address. The officer-in-charge ordered their cremation.
"Bodies of Muslims are not cremated as per traditional Muslim custom, but the army didn't handover the bodies to the nearest Muslim village and cremated them in keeping with Buddhist customs," said the sources.
Four 'vote No' campaigners detained in Chin state
Khonumthung - May 31, 2008 - A vengeful Burmese military junta has detained four 'Vote No' campaigners in a military camp located in a remote area in southern Chin state, Burma in the aftermath of the referendum to approve the draft pro-military constitution.
The detained campaigners are Aung Be from Salowa village, Hla Myint Aung from Kinwa village and Tu Lin and Ko Htet from Leite village in Paletwa Township.
The quartet were arrested by Burma Army troops on May 7 while they were distributing pamphlets urging voters in Chinletwa village in Paletwa Township to reject the new charter drafted to perpetuate and legitimize military rule in Burma.
The villagers residing around Chinletwa villages tried to bail the detainees out. They are yet to be produced in the township court.
"We are approaching a commander of the military camp in Chinletwa and trying to bail them out with Kyat 300,000 for each detainee," a village headman from Chin state said on condition of anonymity.
In an initial attempt to bail the detainees out, the villagers paid the money they collected. The village headman did not mention how much was collected from villages near Chinletwa's. The money went to grease the palms of Captain Thang Cing Thang of the Light Infantry Battalion (20) from the military outpost based in Tura Ai village in Paletwa Township.
According to referendum watch groups in Chin state, voters from several areas in Chin state had overwhelmingly rejected the draft constitution in the referendum held on May 10.
However, the regime announced that 92 percent of the voters in Burma endorsed the military's new constitution.
The detained campaigners are Aung Be from Salowa village, Hla Myint Aung from Kinwa village and Tu Lin and Ko Htet from Leite village in Paletwa Township.
The quartet were arrested by Burma Army troops on May 7 while they were distributing pamphlets urging voters in Chinletwa village in Paletwa Township to reject the new charter drafted to perpetuate and legitimize military rule in Burma.
The villagers residing around Chinletwa villages tried to bail the detainees out. They are yet to be produced in the township court.
"We are approaching a commander of the military camp in Chinletwa and trying to bail them out with Kyat 300,000 for each detainee," a village headman from Chin state said on condition of anonymity.
In an initial attempt to bail the detainees out, the villagers paid the money they collected. The village headman did not mention how much was collected from villages near Chinletwa's. The money went to grease the palms of Captain Thang Cing Thang of the Light Infantry Battalion (20) from the military outpost based in Tura Ai village in Paletwa Township.
According to referendum watch groups in Chin state, voters from several areas in Chin state had overwhelmingly rejected the draft constitution in the referendum held on May 10.
However, the regime announced that 92 percent of the voters in Burma endorsed the military's new constitution.
Forced labour for 'No' voters; villagers build military outpost
Khonumthung - June 4, 2008 - The Burmese military junta authorities have engaged villagers from remote areas in Chin state, Burma to construct a military outpost. Engaging the villagers as labour is the regime's way of harassing the people who rejected the draft constitution during the referendum held on May 10.
Captain Thang Cing Thang, camp commander of the Light Infantry Battalion (20) stationed in Shinletwa village in Paletwa Township, southern Chin state issued an order directing the villagers to build and fence military camps on the Indo-Burma border, a village headman in Chin state said on condition of anonymity.
On May 23, military authorities paid a surprise visit to Shinletwa village to find out who all rejected the new constitution, a village head said.
During the referendum, Shinletwa and its nearby villages in the Shinletwa military territory were said to have overwhelmingly voted "No" in the referendum, which the regime said had been supported by 92.4 percent of 99.07 percent of voters who turned up.
"The military authorities came to the village and asked villagers who had told them to reject the constitution. They also wanted to know who the leader is," a village headman said.
Those unwilling to participate in the construction of the military outpost must pay Kyat 30,000 the order said.
So far, Ramri, Pari, Sha O, Hamapi, Arakan and Hemar Te villages have paid Kyat 30,000 each to the camp commander of the Shinletwa military camp. There are 15 villages in the camp territory.
At least five villagers from each village along with the village headman from the respective villages are involved in the construction of a new military camp, according to a villager who arrived on the Indo-Burma border.
Nearby villages of Shinletwa – which have been hit by famine caused by bamboo flowering, are also facing shortage of food.
Soldiers arrested four 'vote No' campaigners in Shinletwa ahead of the referendum poll on May 7.
Captain Thang Cing Thang, camp commander of the Light Infantry Battalion (20) stationed in Shinletwa village in Paletwa Township, southern Chin state issued an order directing the villagers to build and fence military camps on the Indo-Burma border, a village headman in Chin state said on condition of anonymity.
On May 23, military authorities paid a surprise visit to Shinletwa village to find out who all rejected the new constitution, a village head said.
During the referendum, Shinletwa and its nearby villages in the Shinletwa military territory were said to have overwhelmingly voted "No" in the referendum, which the regime said had been supported by 92.4 percent of 99.07 percent of voters who turned up.
"The military authorities came to the village and asked villagers who had told them to reject the constitution. They also wanted to know who the leader is," a village headman said.
Those unwilling to participate in the construction of the military outpost must pay Kyat 30,000 the order said.
So far, Ramri, Pari, Sha O, Hamapi, Arakan and Hemar Te villages have paid Kyat 30,000 each to the camp commander of the Shinletwa military camp. There are 15 villages in the camp territory.
At least five villagers from each village along with the village headman from the respective villages are involved in the construction of a new military camp, according to a villager who arrived on the Indo-Burma border.
Nearby villages of Shinletwa – which have been hit by famine caused by bamboo flowering, are also facing shortage of food.
Soldiers arrested four 'vote No' campaigners in Shinletwa ahead of the referendum poll on May 7.
DVB News - 4-5 May'08
Monks and students reject junta’s constitution
Thai artists raise funds for Burma’s cyclone victims
Commentary: Who will bell the cat in Burma?
Bogalay residents accuse authorities of selling aid
Zarganar taken in for police questioning
Authorities demand money and goods from farmers
Schools demand fees from pupils after cyclone
Thai artists raise funds for Burma’s cyclone victims
Commentary: Who will bell the cat in Burma?
Bogalay residents accuse authorities of selling aid
Zarganar taken in for police questioning
Authorities demand money and goods from farmers
Schools demand fees from pupils after cyclone
Burmese police arrest prominent comedian & director Zarganar (Video Update)
Mizzima News
05 June 2008
Prominent Burmese comedian, actor & director Zarganar, who has been playing an active role in helping Cyclone survivals, was taken away from his residence by authorities on Wednesday evening, family sources said.
A team of nine police led by district Police commander of Western Rangoon at about 8 p.m on Wednesday night raided Zarganar's resident in Sanchuang Township.
Thuya or better known as Zarganar was reportedly taken for further interrogation after the police team searched his house, the family source said.
"They came in and said they will only search but after searching the house at about 10:45 p.m they told him [Zarganar] to get his cloths. They said they will take him for about two days," the family source told Mizzima.
The Police team confiscated a computer, video CDs of Than Shwe's daughter's wedding, Rambo 4, and Nargis plights, two cash account book, 30 Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) and USD 1000 from Zarganar's resident.
Zarganar was among the first Burmese celebrities to have rushed to help Cyclone after Nargis struck Burma on May 2 -3. He has played active role in reaching people with aid supplies including rice and other commodities.
Observers believe that authorities are having difficulties with the celebrity's outspoken nature and critical stand against the government's slow response to the crisis.
Zarganar has been frequently arrested by the authorities for revealing and daring to speak to the media that exposes parts of the truths of Burma's tightly controlled living situation.
Authorities in May 2006, banned Zarganar from practice any artistic performances including a ban on writing, film acting and directing, after talking to the Burmese Service of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
05 June 2008
Prominent Burmese comedian, actor & director Zarganar, who has been playing an active role in helping Cyclone survivals, was taken away from his residence by authorities on Wednesday evening, family sources said.
A team of nine police led by district Police commander of Western Rangoon at about 8 p.m on Wednesday night raided Zarganar's resident in Sanchuang Township.
Thuya or better known as Zarganar was reportedly taken for further interrogation after the police team searched his house, the family source said.
"They came in and said they will only search but after searching the house at about 10:45 p.m they told him [Zarganar] to get his cloths. They said they will take him for about two days," the family source told Mizzima.
The Police team confiscated a computer, video CDs of Than Shwe's daughter's wedding, Rambo 4, and Nargis plights, two cash account book, 30 Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC) and USD 1000 from Zarganar's resident.
Zarganar was among the first Burmese celebrities to have rushed to help Cyclone after Nargis struck Burma on May 2 -3. He has played active role in reaching people with aid supplies including rice and other commodities.
Observers believe that authorities are having difficulties with the celebrity's outspoken nature and critical stand against the government's slow response to the crisis.
Zarganar has been frequently arrested by the authorities for revealing and daring to speak to the media that exposes parts of the truths of Burma's tightly controlled living situation.
Authorities in May 2006, banned Zarganar from practice any artistic performances including a ban on writing, film acting and directing, after talking to the Burmese Service of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The video of Zarganar and Group activities helping cyclone Nargis survivors.
Month after cyclone access to delta still a problem
Solomon
05 June 2008
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Access to the Irrawaddy delta region is still a huge problem a month after the killer cyclone struck Burma, though visa applications have been granted in small numbers, international aid agencies said.
So far at least 143 international aid workers have been granted entry visa to Burma, said an official at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Bangkok.
"There is some progress on that [obtaining visa]," said the official.
While many international aid workers have been provided access to the delta region they are restricted from staying for long periods, said an official at the United Nations information department in Rangoon.
"But definitely there is progress," the official said, adding that the UN and other agencies are pushing the regime to allow aid workers to stay up to 60 days in the delta.
"They can go to the delta but the junta decides how long they can stay," the official said.
The UN World Food Program meanwhile said it has a single international aid worker staying over night in the delta and coordinating its aid distribution, while others have not received clearance from the government to stay overnight.
"That will be the first significant deployment of international staff in the Delta," Paul Risley, spokesperson of WFP told a UN press conference on Wednesday in Bangkok.
The WFP said it has over 40 international staff members in Burma. Though they are allowed to go down into the delta, only one person so far has received permission to stay back.
"Access to the Delta for international staff does remain a challenge," Risley added.
Jagan Chapagain, deputy head of zone office of the International Federation of Red Cross in Malaysia said, "Primarily our international staff members are in Rangoon, while most of the relief works are being carried out by their national partners -- Myanmar Red Cross Society".
The IFRC, however, sends its international staff members to the delta to provide assistance to the national staff for emergency response and the water unit, but they have to come back as soon as their work is done.
"There is no free access for people to go around [in the delta]," said Chapagain.
"Not everybody in Rangoon can just go in to the delta, we need to get permission," Chapagain added.
However, the World Vision, a Christian NGO, extensively working in Burma said, there has been progress in terms of easing restrictions on travel into Burma and to the delta.
James East, the World Vision spokesperson in Bangkok, said there has been significant progress made on visa application to enter Burma as well as in terms of getting clearance from the concerned ministries to go into the delta.
"Earlier, it took about three to four weeks to get approval to go outside Rangoon but now it takes only a couple of days, its becoming much easier," said East.
Earlier international aid workers needed to get clearance from the Burmese Ministry of Defence as well as from the concerned ministry depending on the nature of the work. But this process has now been eased, he added.
The World Vision said it has over 50 national staff members along with dozens of volunteers working in the Irrawaddy delta. Its international staff are going in and out to assist them but are not permanently based in the delta.
(JEG's: Somethng fishy here... WV sees what the others cannot.. odd???)
05 June 2008
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Access to the Irrawaddy delta region is still a huge problem a month after the killer cyclone struck Burma, though visa applications have been granted in small numbers, international aid agencies said.
So far at least 143 international aid workers have been granted entry visa to Burma, said an official at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Bangkok.
"There is some progress on that [obtaining visa]," said the official.
While many international aid workers have been provided access to the delta region they are restricted from staying for long periods, said an official at the United Nations information department in Rangoon.
"But definitely there is progress," the official said, adding that the UN and other agencies are pushing the regime to allow aid workers to stay up to 60 days in the delta.
"They can go to the delta but the junta decides how long they can stay," the official said.
The UN World Food Program meanwhile said it has a single international aid worker staying over night in the delta and coordinating its aid distribution, while others have not received clearance from the government to stay overnight.
"That will be the first significant deployment of international staff in the Delta," Paul Risley, spokesperson of WFP told a UN press conference on Wednesday in Bangkok.
The WFP said it has over 40 international staff members in Burma. Though they are allowed to go down into the delta, only one person so far has received permission to stay back.
"Access to the Delta for international staff does remain a challenge," Risley added.
Jagan Chapagain, deputy head of zone office of the International Federation of Red Cross in Malaysia said, "Primarily our international staff members are in Rangoon, while most of the relief works are being carried out by their national partners -- Myanmar Red Cross Society".
The IFRC, however, sends its international staff members to the delta to provide assistance to the national staff for emergency response and the water unit, but they have to come back as soon as their work is done.
"There is no free access for people to go around [in the delta]," said Chapagain.
"Not everybody in Rangoon can just go in to the delta, we need to get permission," Chapagain added.
However, the World Vision, a Christian NGO, extensively working in Burma said, there has been progress in terms of easing restrictions on travel into Burma and to the delta.
James East, the World Vision spokesperson in Bangkok, said there has been significant progress made on visa application to enter Burma as well as in terms of getting clearance from the concerned ministries to go into the delta.
"Earlier, it took about three to four weeks to get approval to go outside Rangoon but now it takes only a couple of days, its becoming much easier," said East.
Earlier international aid workers needed to get clearance from the Burmese Ministry of Defence as well as from the concerned ministry depending on the nature of the work. But this process has now been eased, he added.
The World Vision said it has over 50 national staff members along with dozens of volunteers working in the Irrawaddy delta. Its international staff are going in and out to assist them but are not permanently based in the delta.
(JEG's: Somethng fishy here... WV sees what the others cannot.. odd???)
In Rural Villages, Life is Desperate
By MOE AUNG TIN
The Irrawaddy News
The shoreline of this island in the Bogalay River is filled with cyclone debris—fallen trees, pieces of houses, thatch and other household rubble.
I saw a yellow shape and then recognized it—the body of a man—devastated by sun and water: yellowish-white and bloated, hands across the branches of a bush.
When a gentle breeze whirls over the river, a putrid odor wafts along in the wind from other decomposed bodies.
Residents squat by a river at their village near Bogalay.
Villagers continue to fish, wash and bathe in the river
where rotting corpses can still be sighted tangled in the scrubs.
(Photo: Reuters)
The local name for this area is Pait Taw (Thick Forest). The island, called Mein Ma Hla Kyun (Pretty Lady Island), is littered with cyclone wreckage and decomposing bodies. The odor of death hangs over the island.
This is one island of death and destruction among hundreds in the delta.
The debris covering the island was deposited here from villages as much as five miles away by the tidal surge and violent winds. People in small boats moved along the shoreline searching for anything usable: pieces of wood, furniture, clothes or household items, anything that could be used to rebuild their lives. Two hungry dogs scavenged for something to eat.
One of the men searching the debris was Myint Than Oo, in his thirties, a resident of Outer Mayan village in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract on the western shore of the island. The cyclone killed 13 of his family members and relatives. He was one of 22 people who survived out of more than 400 in his village.
Myint Than Oo said that there were 4,000 people living in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract. Of those, about 500 survived.
"Nobody will return to their home village,” he said, taking a break from scavenging. In his boat, he had a gathered a small Nat statute (a spiritual figure) and a few pieces of wood.
“People from four or five villages in the tract will join together into a resettlement village,” he said. “I am looking for house poles and wood to build a house." Before the cyclone, he had worked as a laborer on a farm. He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to work again.
My mind was filled with different images, such as pictures of Than Shwe and other generals handing out aid on television. The generals said the first phase of the relief effort was completed and that reconstruction would now begin. The people on this island would say otherwise.
I know millions of dollars have been donated to help the survivors and thousands of tons of food and other material has poured into Rangoon in the past weeks, but so far little of it has trickled down to village tracts like Myint Than Oo’s.
Military trucks and privately owned vehicles pass daily on the roads leading to Laputta, Bogalay, Kwan Chan Kone, Pyar Pon and Mawlamyaing Gyun townships. Relief aid piles up in compounds in Laputta, Dedaye and Bogalay. Will the next phase include a major effort to get reconstruction and aid to the villagers who live far away from the big cities? If so, when?
UN statistics say assistance has reached 1.3 million people out of 2.5 million affected by the cyclone. However, there are several million people here in the delta who seem to desperately need on-going assistance.
One example: Hla Win of Taw Kyaung village in Kwan Chan Kone Township. She said: "My entire betel vine plantation was destroyed in the cyclone. I have nothing left to replant. Some say I could buy betel vine sprouts, but the price has gone sky high. A thousand sprouts of betel vine now costs 55,000 kyats (US $40). It is incredible, and I can't afford to buy at that price. Now I can do nothing but rely on rice assistance from donors. The hardest time was a week after the cyclone. I cooked rain-soaked rice and at it with green mangoes. I thought it would have been better to die. Then, all my troubles would be over."
Many refugees in this area spend hours trying to receive food from donors who drive into the delta from Rangoon, some even reaching remoter areas like this. Some people all their time near the roads. The authorities have assigned military and police to patrol the roads leading into the major cities and village areas. The guards at the checkpoints try to prevent refugees from lining up to receive food.
In many villages, the majority of the residents are Buddhist Karen who work rice paddy, betel vine or betel nut farms.
They have only a few days to plant crops before the monsoon begins. Only a few lucky ones will be able to farm this growing season.
One of the unlucky ones is Hlaing Tun, 24, of Hayman Latar village, about a one hour boat trip from Bogalay.
"My family owns 10 acres of paddy,” he said, “and I used to work it with four buffalo. Now all our buffaloes are dead. All our seeds are gone. I can't afford to buy a mechanical plow, and I can’t afford diesel and seeds. I have no help from anywhere. If I can't start right now, it’s too late."
The burden of many people who have lost their loved ones and their livelihood in the cyclone is hard to bear. Maybe more aid will eventually reach into the distant villages, but it will take time.
Meanwhile, the struggle to eat and to stay healthy grows more difficult for many people who have lived under unimaginable conditions for more than one month.
During the night as I drove between Bogalay and Pyapon, I saw families huddled under under bamboo mats on the side of the road. Others sat under plastic sheets and pieces of corrugated metal.
Many people also stood silently next to the road in the dark, their eyes searching the cars for signs that they might stop and offer a little food.
The Irrawaddy News
The shoreline of this island in the Bogalay River is filled with cyclone debris—fallen trees, pieces of houses, thatch and other household rubble.
I saw a yellow shape and then recognized it—the body of a man—devastated by sun and water: yellowish-white and bloated, hands across the branches of a bush.
When a gentle breeze whirls over the river, a putrid odor wafts along in the wind from other decomposed bodies.
Residents squat by a river at their village near Bogalay.Villagers continue to fish, wash and bathe in the river
where rotting corpses can still be sighted tangled in the scrubs.
(Photo: Reuters)
The local name for this area is Pait Taw (Thick Forest). The island, called Mein Ma Hla Kyun (Pretty Lady Island), is littered with cyclone wreckage and decomposing bodies. The odor of death hangs over the island.
This is one island of death and destruction among hundreds in the delta.
The debris covering the island was deposited here from villages as much as five miles away by the tidal surge and violent winds. People in small boats moved along the shoreline searching for anything usable: pieces of wood, furniture, clothes or household items, anything that could be used to rebuild their lives. Two hungry dogs scavenged for something to eat.
One of the men searching the debris was Myint Than Oo, in his thirties, a resident of Outer Mayan village in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract on the western shore of the island. The cyclone killed 13 of his family members and relatives. He was one of 22 people who survived out of more than 400 in his village.
Myint Than Oo said that there were 4,000 people living in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract. Of those, about 500 survived.
"Nobody will return to their home village,” he said, taking a break from scavenging. In his boat, he had a gathered a small Nat statute (a spiritual figure) and a few pieces of wood.
“People from four or five villages in the tract will join together into a resettlement village,” he said. “I am looking for house poles and wood to build a house." Before the cyclone, he had worked as a laborer on a farm. He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to work again.
My mind was filled with different images, such as pictures of Than Shwe and other generals handing out aid on television. The generals said the first phase of the relief effort was completed and that reconstruction would now begin. The people on this island would say otherwise.
I know millions of dollars have been donated to help the survivors and thousands of tons of food and other material has poured into Rangoon in the past weeks, but so far little of it has trickled down to village tracts like Myint Than Oo’s.
Military trucks and privately owned vehicles pass daily on the roads leading to Laputta, Bogalay, Kwan Chan Kone, Pyar Pon and Mawlamyaing Gyun townships. Relief aid piles up in compounds in Laputta, Dedaye and Bogalay. Will the next phase include a major effort to get reconstruction and aid to the villagers who live far away from the big cities? If so, when?
UN statistics say assistance has reached 1.3 million people out of 2.5 million affected by the cyclone. However, there are several million people here in the delta who seem to desperately need on-going assistance.
One example: Hla Win of Taw Kyaung village in Kwan Chan Kone Township. She said: "My entire betel vine plantation was destroyed in the cyclone. I have nothing left to replant. Some say I could buy betel vine sprouts, but the price has gone sky high. A thousand sprouts of betel vine now costs 55,000 kyats (US $40). It is incredible, and I can't afford to buy at that price. Now I can do nothing but rely on rice assistance from donors. The hardest time was a week after the cyclone. I cooked rain-soaked rice and at it with green mangoes. I thought it would have been better to die. Then, all my troubles would be over."
Many refugees in this area spend hours trying to receive food from donors who drive into the delta from Rangoon, some even reaching remoter areas like this. Some people all their time near the roads. The authorities have assigned military and police to patrol the roads leading into the major cities and village areas. The guards at the checkpoints try to prevent refugees from lining up to receive food.
In many villages, the majority of the residents are Buddhist Karen who work rice paddy, betel vine or betel nut farms.
They have only a few days to plant crops before the monsoon begins. Only a few lucky ones will be able to farm this growing season.
One of the unlucky ones is Hlaing Tun, 24, of Hayman Latar village, about a one hour boat trip from Bogalay.
"My family owns 10 acres of paddy,” he said, “and I used to work it with four buffalo. Now all our buffaloes are dead. All our seeds are gone. I can't afford to buy a mechanical plow, and I can’t afford diesel and seeds. I have no help from anywhere. If I can't start right now, it’s too late."
The burden of many people who have lost their loved ones and their livelihood in the cyclone is hard to bear. Maybe more aid will eventually reach into the distant villages, but it will take time.
Meanwhile, the struggle to eat and to stay healthy grows more difficult for many people who have lived under unimaginable conditions for more than one month.
During the night as I drove between Bogalay and Pyapon, I saw families huddled under under bamboo mats on the side of the road. Others sat under plastic sheets and pieces of corrugated metal.
Many people also stood silently next to the road in the dark, their eyes searching the cars for signs that they might stop and offer a little food.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Poor sanitation causes disease outbreak in Bogalay
Jun 4, 2008 (DVB)–Aid workers on the ground in Irrawaddy division have reported continuing health and sanitation problems, while some cyclone victims in some remote areas are still waiting for assistance.
In Bogalay township, volunteers from the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters network have had to withdraw from Ayeyargyi village, where they had been helping storm victims, due to an outbreak of dysentery, according to HRDP members based locally.
The United Nations and health organisations have warned that there could be outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid in cyclone-hit areas due to lack of proper sanitation.
An individual aid worker who had been to remote areas of Bogalay, Dadaye and Laputta said the outbreak was not surprising as survivors because of the lack of access to clean water.
“I’ve seen people bathing and washing their mouths and faces about 20 feet away from corpses,” he said.
“In this kind of situation, you won’t be able to control cholera and contagious diseases.”
He also urged aid workers and UN staff based in towns to come and help survivors in remote areas.
“There are people who want to help but they are based in towns – people don’t tend to go to remote areas,” the aid worker said.
“As for the authorities, they just keep on loading and unloading materials onto military trucks at depots,” he said.
“That’s all we see at the moment. We see them in boats with flags flying, but they are doing nothing effective. Many villages, especially Karen villages, have not received aid.”
U Myint Aye of HRDP also said that doctors from Philippines had not been allowed to visit remote areas and restricted to treating patients in the regional capital Pathein.
A Buddhist monk who has been helping survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Irrawaddy division stressed that help is still needed and that comforting words alone are not enough to save lives.
“The situation here is not how the Burmese government describes it. People will only be able to survive with the help of others,” he said.
“You can’t just send prayers; you have to send charity.”
The monk’s comments came after the junta declared in state-run newspapers that the disaster relief phase was over and called for patience while reconstruction work takes place.
Reporting by Aye Nai
In Bogalay township, volunteers from the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters network have had to withdraw from Ayeyargyi village, where they had been helping storm victims, due to an outbreak of dysentery, according to HRDP members based locally.
The United Nations and health organisations have warned that there could be outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid in cyclone-hit areas due to lack of proper sanitation.
An individual aid worker who had been to remote areas of Bogalay, Dadaye and Laputta said the outbreak was not surprising as survivors because of the lack of access to clean water.
“I’ve seen people bathing and washing their mouths and faces about 20 feet away from corpses,” he said.
“In this kind of situation, you won’t be able to control cholera and contagious diseases.”
He also urged aid workers and UN staff based in towns to come and help survivors in remote areas.
“There are people who want to help but they are based in towns – people don’t tend to go to remote areas,” the aid worker said.
“As for the authorities, they just keep on loading and unloading materials onto military trucks at depots,” he said.
“That’s all we see at the moment. We see them in boats with flags flying, but they are doing nothing effective. Many villages, especially Karen villages, have not received aid.”
U Myint Aye of HRDP also said that doctors from Philippines had not been allowed to visit remote areas and restricted to treating patients in the regional capital Pathein.
A Buddhist monk who has been helping survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Irrawaddy division stressed that help is still needed and that comforting words alone are not enough to save lives.
“The situation here is not how the Burmese government describes it. People will only be able to survive with the help of others,” he said.
“You can’t just send prayers; you have to send charity.”
The monk’s comments came after the junta declared in state-run newspapers that the disaster relief phase was over and called for patience while reconstruction work takes place.
Reporting by Aye Nai
UN: Burma Aid Costs Soar as Junta Plays Hard Ball
The Irrawaddy News
The ruling junta's refusal to permit the use of military helicopters even from friendly neighboring countries is hampering aid to Burma's cyclone survivors and dramatically increasing costs, a United Nations report said.
More survivors of the disaster are now receiving some assistance, although in many cases it doesn't meet essential needs, the UN said in a report circulated Tuesday.
A total of 1.3 million survivors have been reached with assistance by local and international humanitarian groups, the Red Cross and the UN, said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a situation report dated June 2.
It said that in Burma's Irrawaddy delta, the area hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, the proportion of people reached with assistance had increased to 49 percent from 23 percent on May 25.
However, the report warned that "There remains a serious lack of sufficient and sustained humanitarian assistance for the affected populations."
"This is compounded by the lack of a clear knowledge of the locations, numbers of families, and level of assistance required, as well as a clear understanding of the support being provided by the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to its people."
The UN has estimated that 2.4 million people are in need of food, shelter or medical care as a result of the storm, which the government said killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
The junta had promised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that foreign relief workers would be allowed into areas worst affected by the storm in the Irrawaddy delta after they were initially barred.
The UN's World Food Program warned Tuesday that its effort to supply food to the storm's victims, while satisfactory, is facing escalating costs.
Paul Risley, a spokesman for the agency in Bangkok, Thailand, said it is currently able to supply survivors with rice obtained inside Burma, and has about six week's supply on hand, considered a reasonable safety net.
WFP appealed to the international community for US $70 million to fund its operations in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, but was facing a 64 percent shortfall of that target, Risley said.
He warned that logistical aspects of the operations, such as the chartering of helicopters, are causing expenses to soar.
In previous large scale disasters—such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Pakistan's 2005 earthquake—military helicopters are used to meet the massive immediate emergency requirements, he said. Thailand and Singapore have many such aircraft on hand, he said.
"For political reasons, the Myanmar government was reluctant to approve their use," Risley said. Burma was reportedly able to field only seven helicopters of its own.
After UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon won Burma's agreement to allow in helicopters to work for WFP, the UN agency was compelled to charter 10 privately owned military-grade helicopters: one from nearby Malaysia, and the others from Ukraine, Uganda and South Africa.
The helicopters had to be shipped to Bangkok aboard huge cargo planes. The Canadian government arranged commercially chartered flights to have four helicopters hauled from Ukraine, and an Australian air force plane transported two from South Africa. But a Russian plane had to be chartered to carry the three others from Uganda, at a cost of "roughly US$1 million," said Risley.
WFP must also pay for each hour the helicopters are used, plus associated costs for pilots and ground crew, meaning "expenses can rise very rapidly," he said.
Only one helicopter has arrived in Burma so far, and it flew its first flight there from Rangoon to the Irrawaddy delta town of Laputta on Monday, carrying half a ton of high-energy biscuits.
The other nine are in Thailand and "ready to fly," Risley said, adding that WFP hopes they could be transferred to Burma by the end of the week.
Because of the costs of the helicopters and other equipment WFP needs to hire—such as boats and barges for river transport inside Burma—"expenses will probably go higher than estimated," he said.
The ruling junta's refusal to permit the use of military helicopters even from friendly neighboring countries is hampering aid to Burma's cyclone survivors and dramatically increasing costs, a United Nations report said.
More survivors of the disaster are now receiving some assistance, although in many cases it doesn't meet essential needs, the UN said in a report circulated Tuesday.
A total of 1.3 million survivors have been reached with assistance by local and international humanitarian groups, the Red Cross and the UN, said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a situation report dated June 2.
It said that in Burma's Irrawaddy delta, the area hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, the proportion of people reached with assistance had increased to 49 percent from 23 percent on May 25.
However, the report warned that "There remains a serious lack of sufficient and sustained humanitarian assistance for the affected populations."
"This is compounded by the lack of a clear knowledge of the locations, numbers of families, and level of assistance required, as well as a clear understanding of the support being provided by the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to its people."
The UN has estimated that 2.4 million people are in need of food, shelter or medical care as a result of the storm, which the government said killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
The junta had promised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that foreign relief workers would be allowed into areas worst affected by the storm in the Irrawaddy delta after they were initially barred.
The UN's World Food Program warned Tuesday that its effort to supply food to the storm's victims, while satisfactory, is facing escalating costs.
Paul Risley, a spokesman for the agency in Bangkok, Thailand, said it is currently able to supply survivors with rice obtained inside Burma, and has about six week's supply on hand, considered a reasonable safety net.
WFP appealed to the international community for US $70 million to fund its operations in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, but was facing a 64 percent shortfall of that target, Risley said.
He warned that logistical aspects of the operations, such as the chartering of helicopters, are causing expenses to soar.
In previous large scale disasters—such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Pakistan's 2005 earthquake—military helicopters are used to meet the massive immediate emergency requirements, he said. Thailand and Singapore have many such aircraft on hand, he said.
"For political reasons, the Myanmar government was reluctant to approve their use," Risley said. Burma was reportedly able to field only seven helicopters of its own.
After UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon won Burma's agreement to allow in helicopters to work for WFP, the UN agency was compelled to charter 10 privately owned military-grade helicopters: one from nearby Malaysia, and the others from Ukraine, Uganda and South Africa.
The helicopters had to be shipped to Bangkok aboard huge cargo planes. The Canadian government arranged commercially chartered flights to have four helicopters hauled from Ukraine, and an Australian air force plane transported two from South Africa. But a Russian plane had to be chartered to carry the three others from Uganda, at a cost of "roughly US$1 million," said Risley.
WFP must also pay for each hour the helicopters are used, plus associated costs for pilots and ground crew, meaning "expenses can rise very rapidly," he said.
Only one helicopter has arrived in Burma so far, and it flew its first flight there from Rangoon to the Irrawaddy delta town of Laputta on Monday, carrying half a ton of high-energy biscuits.
The other nine are in Thailand and "ready to fly," Risley said, adding that WFP hopes they could be transferred to Burma by the end of the week.
Because of the costs of the helicopters and other equipment WFP needs to hire—such as boats and barges for river transport inside Burma—"expenses will probably go higher than estimated," he said.
Referendum below UN Standards
By LALIT K JHA / UNITED NATIONS
The Irrawaddy News
The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Tuesday the Burmese referendum on the draft constitution held in May did not meet UN Security Council standards of openness and fairness.
Khalizad, the Security Council president for the month of June, also expressed concern over the lack of progress made by the military government toward political reconciliation and democracy.
"We have not seen satisfactorily progress on that and as a matter of fact, the referendum did not meet the standards of the Security Council," Khalilzad said.
The Security Council for the past several months has emphasized the Burmese political reconciliation process should be all inclusive and transparent.
"The easing of the conditions on Aung San Suu Kyi has not taken place besides the issue of the referendum,” Khalizad said. “The reconciliation process has not moved forward."
On the junta’s response to the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Khalilzad said: "While there has been some progress, we recognize that it didn't start as early as it should have. We expressed our outrage early on and said the government had the responsibility to protect its people and it shouldn't stand in the way."
At the same time, he said: "We have been encouraged by some of the recent decisions. We want to see more access."
"We will continue to closely monitor events in Burma," he said.
Khalilzad said the issue of Burma is expected to be taken up for discussion by the council this month.
Meanwhile, the United States announced that its naval ships stationed off the coast of Burma are preparing to leave the region, after waiting in the area for three weeks for the junta to grant permission to assist in relief efforts.
The ships—the USS Essex, USS Harpers Ferry, USS Mustin and USS Juneau—were sent to the coast of Burma to offer assistance after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in early May.
"These are assets that are needed elsewhere, and there's no rational expectation at this point that we would be able to effectively use those assets in the humanitarian relief operation,” State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington. “That permission has not been forthcoming from the Burmese authorities. And at this point, we don't have any rational expectation that it would be."
However, McCormack said the US would continue with its relief mission through other means.
"We are not going to abandon those people. We're going to continue to try to get more aid in there, get experts in there. It's a humanitarian issue, and we're certainly not going to give up."
"The decision-making process of the Burmese regime stands in stark contrast to the decision making of those countries affected by the tsunami several years ago in the Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean region," McCormack said.
Those countries, he noted, were quick to open up their borders to a massive influx of aid. As a result, people's lives were saved and the process of reconstruction was able to proceed quickly.
"Because of that, also, I would say the international system was prepared to offer even more assistance well beyond the date at which the natural disaster took place," he said.
At UN headquarters in New York, a spokesperson at the secretary-general’s office confirmed media reports that nearly a month after the cyclone hit Burma, more than a million people have still not been reached by representatives of the international community. The assessment is based on information provided by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
However, they may have received aid from Burmese authorities or other groups, she said.
"What they are also saying is that a large number of villages have not received any support at all, and this is causing displacement as people search for food and clean drinking water," she said.
The Irrawaddy News
The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Tuesday the Burmese referendum on the draft constitution held in May did not meet UN Security Council standards of openness and fairness.
Khalizad, the Security Council president for the month of June, also expressed concern over the lack of progress made by the military government toward political reconciliation and democracy.
"We have not seen satisfactorily progress on that and as a matter of fact, the referendum did not meet the standards of the Security Council," Khalilzad said.
The Security Council for the past several months has emphasized the Burmese political reconciliation process should be all inclusive and transparent.
"The easing of the conditions on Aung San Suu Kyi has not taken place besides the issue of the referendum,” Khalizad said. “The reconciliation process has not moved forward."
On the junta’s response to the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, Khalilzad said: "While there has been some progress, we recognize that it didn't start as early as it should have. We expressed our outrage early on and said the government had the responsibility to protect its people and it shouldn't stand in the way."
At the same time, he said: "We have been encouraged by some of the recent decisions. We want to see more access."
"We will continue to closely monitor events in Burma," he said.
Khalilzad said the issue of Burma is expected to be taken up for discussion by the council this month.
Meanwhile, the United States announced that its naval ships stationed off the coast of Burma are preparing to leave the region, after waiting in the area for three weeks for the junta to grant permission to assist in relief efforts.
The ships—the USS Essex, USS Harpers Ferry, USS Mustin and USS Juneau—were sent to the coast of Burma to offer assistance after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in early May.
"These are assets that are needed elsewhere, and there's no rational expectation at this point that we would be able to effectively use those assets in the humanitarian relief operation,” State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington. “That permission has not been forthcoming from the Burmese authorities. And at this point, we don't have any rational expectation that it would be."
However, McCormack said the US would continue with its relief mission through other means.
"We are not going to abandon those people. We're going to continue to try to get more aid in there, get experts in there. It's a humanitarian issue, and we're certainly not going to give up."
"The decision-making process of the Burmese regime stands in stark contrast to the decision making of those countries affected by the tsunami several years ago in the Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean region," McCormack said.
Those countries, he noted, were quick to open up their borders to a massive influx of aid. As a result, people's lives were saved and the process of reconstruction was able to proceed quickly.
"Because of that, also, I would say the international system was prepared to offer even more assistance well beyond the date at which the natural disaster took place," he said.
At UN headquarters in New York, a spokesperson at the secretary-general’s office confirmed media reports that nearly a month after the cyclone hit Burma, more than a million people have still not been reached by representatives of the international community. The assessment is based on information provided by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
However, they may have received aid from Burmese authorities or other groups, she said.
"What they are also saying is that a large number of villages have not received any support at all, and this is causing displacement as people search for food and clean drinking water," she said.
Khin Ohmar Wins International Award
The Irrawaddy News
June 2, 2008 - Burma democracy advocate Khin Ohmar has won the Anna Lindh prize for her efforts to fight prejudice and oppression in Burma. The prize includes a cash award of US $42,000.
The prize was established to honor Anna Lindh, the Swedish foreign minister stabbed to death in 2003.
Khin Ohmar, 46, is the head of the Burma Partnership Network, based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which seeks to promote democracy in Burma. She is also the chairperson of the Network for Democracy and Development. She was actively involved in protests against the junta in 1988.
DVB News for 2-3 June'08
Ethnic organisations appeal for border aid
Modern art group holds cyclone memorial
Meikhtila NLD denounces referendum result
Rights activists commemorate cyclone victims
Donors face questioning at checkpoints
Films planned to raise funds for cyclone victims
FFSS to provide support to cyclone orphans
Irrawaddy residents fear spread of disease
ILO concerned about forced labour after cyclone
Cyclone benefit concert stopped by authorities
School opening delayed in cyclone-hit areas
Modern art group holds cyclone memorial
Meikhtila NLD denounces referendum result
Rights activists commemorate cyclone victims
Donors face questioning at checkpoints
Films planned to raise funds for cyclone victims
FFSS to provide support to cyclone orphans
Irrawaddy residents fear spread of disease
ILO concerned about forced labour after cyclone
Cyclone benefit concert stopped by authorities
School opening delayed in cyclone-hit areas
Refugees Return to Relief Centers in Laputta
Cyclone Nargis victims prepare to leave the Central Relief Camp after the authorities decided to close the camp in Kawhmu Township of Rangoon Division on June 2. All of them are supposed to leave the camp by Tuesday but many said that their villages are still flooded and inhabitable. (Photo: Reuters)The Irrawaddy News
Thousands of cyclone survivors who were forcibly expelled from relief centers in Laputta over the last two weeks have returned, according to volunteer groups and local residents in Laputta Township.
This comes after international aid workers had said that cyclone survivors who had taken refuge in shelters were being driven out of towns by the local authorities and dumped in rural areas with no aid or supplies.
Sources said it was apparent the military government wanted the victims back in their villages repairing their houses and preparing their land for agriculture.
According to a local resident, however, congregating the refugees in relief centers made it easier for international aid organizations and local donors to distribute food, shelter and medical care.
Having returned from Laputta, Ohn Kyaing, the spokesperson for a relief team sponsored by the opposition National League for Democracy, said on Monday that thousands of cyclone victims had just returned and were sheltering at Layhtat monastery in Laputta, where some 7,000 survivors had taken refuge shortly after Cyclone Nargis hit the region on May 2-3.
Ohn Kyaing said that, in some cases, the authorities had again expelled the refugees who had just made their way back to Laputta from the places they had been driven to.
“The authorities called to the survivors by loudspeaker to return to their devastated villages,” said Ohn Kyaing. “But the refugees still poured into the relief camps.”
A businessman from the Yadanar NGO in Rangoon, who visited cyclone victims in remote villages of Laputta Township on Saturday, said that only a few villagers remained and that they were not receiving sufficient food and shelter from the government or any non-governmental organization.
"It was a sad scene,” he said. “Victims have no food, fresh water or shelter. The situation is just the same as when the cyclone hit. Nothing has changed.”
He said that dead bodies were still floating in rivers and nobody could wash there. He said the villages—including Kyane Chaung, Ale Yekyaw, Maung Ngne, Hlaing Pone and Thit Chaung—are facing disease and starvation.
He added that the international organizations and private donors could not reach the villages between Laputta Township and Pyinsalu village because there was still a strong current at the mouth of the rivers.
An estimated 2.4 million people remain homeless and hungry after the cyclone hit Burma. Official estimates say the storm killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
Burmese Volunteers Struggle to Bring Aid to Cyclone Survivors
Men carry an injured elderly man at a refugee camp in Laputta, in the Irrawaddy delta. (Photo: AFP)Burmese medical relief workers in the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta region report that restrictions applied by local government authorities and soaring prices for supplies are preventing them from helping all those who urgently need aid.
“The medicines we brought along with us were not enough for the people who needed treatment,” said one volunteer doctor.
A nurse who has just returned from a remote area of Bogalay Township said stomach problems were a common complaint among survivors forced to exist on a diet of coconut shoots.
“People suffer from diarrhea and stomach pain after eating coconut shoots, but they have no other food,” she said.
The nurse bought medical supplies with money donated by her family and friends, but soaring prices prevented her from helping all those who needed treatment.
One Rangoon news journal reported that Burmese volunteers were taking medical aid by boat deep into the delta, to such hard-hit places as Laputta, Pyapon and Bogalay.
Foreign aid workers in the delta include medical personnel from India, Laos, Bangladesh, Singapore, the Philippines, France, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand.
The Chinese medics have treated 4,000 people in Dedaye, in the Irrawaddy delta, and Kungyangon and Kawmu in Rangoon Division. Thai medics have treated nearly 4,000 people in Myaungmya and Laputta in the delta region.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has, meanwhile, established a task force, led by Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, to coordinate and channel international aid to Burma. Asean is planning to send hundreds of additional relief personnel to cyclone-ravaged areas.
Relief networks have also been set up by several Burmese organizations in exile, including the National Health and Education Committee, the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, the Burma Medical Association and Dr Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic.
Mahn Mahn, a leading member of the Burma Medical Association, said that three days after the cyclone struck the region his organization had established 34 networks to provide food, drinking water, clothes, shelters, medicines and building materials.
But Mahn Mahn said that because the networks had been set up by Burmese in exile he was concerned about the security of volunteers working within Burma to distribute the aid.
Despite the difficulties, Mahn Mahn said, the networks had been able to help more than 40,000 survivors who had received no assistance from the state.
Myanmar Needs `Sustained' Aid for Cyclone Survivors, UN says
By Paul Tighe
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar needs ``sustained'' aid for survivors of last month's cyclone as relief supplies have reached less than half of the more than 2 million people in need, the United Nations said.
About 1.3 million people in the southern Irrawaddy River Delta, the main rice-producing area, have received assistance a month after Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck, Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva yesterday.
``There remains a serious lack of sufficient and sustained humanitarian assistance,'' Byrs said, according to a statement from the UN. About 49 percent of people in the delta have been reached, she said.
International agencies say Myanmar's ruling junta is still delaying full access to the region by imposing travel controls for aid workers. The military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, says the delta is receiving supplies ``without delay,'' Agence France-Presse reported.
The cyclone killed about 77,000 people and left 55,000 missing, according to the UN. An estimated 500,000 to 600,000 people have been relocated, many in the delta, it said.
Supplies from abroad are ``flowing continuously to the country by planes,'' AFP cited the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper as saying yesterday. ``The relief supplies team accepted the items at the airport and transported them to the storm-hit regions without delay.''
Food Distribution
The World Food Programme says 1.5 million people need food assistance. With the help of other agencies, it aims to distribute about 400 metric tons of food a day, the UN's IRIN news agency cited Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, as saying yesterday in Bangkok.
A fleet of more than 30 boats is carrying supplies through the delta's waterways to reach villages, he added.
Aid workers said there is evidence that the government is closing some temporary settlements and sending survivors back to their places of origin prematurely, IRIN reported. Authorities are closing shelters in the delta town of Labutta, it cited Frank Smithuis of Doctors Without Borders as saying yesterday.
Premature Returns
``We do not endorse premature returns to areas where there are no services,'' IRIN cited Terje Skavdal, head of the Asia and Pacific office for the UN humanitarian agency, known as OCHA, as saying May 30. ``People need to be assisted in the settlements and satisfactory conditions need to be created before they can return to their places of origin. This point has been made very clearly to the authorities.''
Teams are still finding communities where every building has been destroyed and survivors are living without any outside assistance, the WFP said on its Web site yesterday. Food, drinking water and shelter remain immediate necessities.
The delta produces most of Myanmar's rice, fish and pork, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Prices of goods have at least doubled since the cyclone struck. Myanmar was already battling to feed its 48 million people, with one- third of children malnourished and one-fifth born underweight.
The military went ahead with a referendum on a new constitution after the cyclone hit, saying more than 92 percent of voters approved the charter that provides for elections in 2010.
The vote ``washed away'' the victory claimed by the opposition National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a 1990 ballot, state media said yesterday, according to AFP.
The military never recognized the result of the election and has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar needs ``sustained'' aid for survivors of last month's cyclone as relief supplies have reached less than half of the more than 2 million people in need, the United Nations said.
About 1.3 million people in the southern Irrawaddy River Delta, the main rice-producing area, have received assistance a month after Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck, Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva yesterday.
``There remains a serious lack of sufficient and sustained humanitarian assistance,'' Byrs said, according to a statement from the UN. About 49 percent of people in the delta have been reached, she said.
International agencies say Myanmar's ruling junta is still delaying full access to the region by imposing travel controls for aid workers. The military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, says the delta is receiving supplies ``without delay,'' Agence France-Presse reported.
The cyclone killed about 77,000 people and left 55,000 missing, according to the UN. An estimated 500,000 to 600,000 people have been relocated, many in the delta, it said.
Supplies from abroad are ``flowing continuously to the country by planes,'' AFP cited the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper as saying yesterday. ``The relief supplies team accepted the items at the airport and transported them to the storm-hit regions without delay.''
Food Distribution
The World Food Programme says 1.5 million people need food assistance. With the help of other agencies, it aims to distribute about 400 metric tons of food a day, the UN's IRIN news agency cited Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, as saying yesterday in Bangkok.
A fleet of more than 30 boats is carrying supplies through the delta's waterways to reach villages, he added.
Aid workers said there is evidence that the government is closing some temporary settlements and sending survivors back to their places of origin prematurely, IRIN reported. Authorities are closing shelters in the delta town of Labutta, it cited Frank Smithuis of Doctors Without Borders as saying yesterday.
Premature Returns
``We do not endorse premature returns to areas where there are no services,'' IRIN cited Terje Skavdal, head of the Asia and Pacific office for the UN humanitarian agency, known as OCHA, as saying May 30. ``People need to be assisted in the settlements and satisfactory conditions need to be created before they can return to their places of origin. This point has been made very clearly to the authorities.''
Teams are still finding communities where every building has been destroyed and survivors are living without any outside assistance, the WFP said on its Web site yesterday. Food, drinking water and shelter remain immediate necessities.
The delta produces most of Myanmar's rice, fish and pork, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Prices of goods have at least doubled since the cyclone struck. Myanmar was already battling to feed its 48 million people, with one- third of children malnourished and one-fifth born underweight.
The military went ahead with a referendum on a new constitution after the cyclone hit, saying more than 92 percent of voters approved the charter that provides for elections in 2010.
The vote ``washed away'' the victory claimed by the opposition National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a 1990 ballot, state media said yesterday, according to AFP.
The military never recognized the result of the election and has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
Myanmar evicts cyclone victims from schools
HLAING THAYAR, Myanmar - After Cyclone Nargis destroyed their home, Htay Win and her two daughters found shelter in the classrooms of a nearby school on the outskirts of Myanmar's former capital Yangon.
But late last week, authorities forced them to move back to the ruins of their home, and then said the two daughters should return on Monday for classes.
Her daughters, longing for some semblance of normalcy in the routine of a school day, begged her to let them go.
So she went to a money lender to borrow the 5.50 dollars she needs for school fees. Htay Win is supposed to pay him back at the end of the month, plus 20 percent interest.
"I have no choice. I have to find a way to give my daughters an education," she said.
"But I have nothing. I am a widow, and my house was destroyed by the storm. I already had to get a loan to build a bamboo tent where my house used to be," the 42-year-old vegetable seller told AFP.
"We just got two tins of rice from the township authorities today. Apart from that, the authorities have not given anything to us.
"Some private donors came to donate things to storm victims, but the authorities stopped them," she said.
Htay Win's family were among 400 hungry and homeless storm victims forced to leave the No.2 Basic Education Middle School on Friday, according to a teacher here.
The lucky ones had a bit of tarpaulin to make a tent, but most had nothing, she said.
The authorities insisted that schools around Yangon open on schedule on Monday after a long holiday, despite the cyclone that left 133,600 dead or missing, with 2.4 million people in need of food, shelter and medicine.
Schools in the hardest-hit regions of the Irrawaddy Delta have been given another month to open, but UNICEF says 3,000 schools were wiped out by the cyclone. About 500,000 children have no classrooms at all.
At this middle school, flies now swarm through the three-storey building, with classrooms reeking of human waste. There has been no sanitation since the cyclone hit one month ago.
Teachers fear for their students' health, but their fear of defying the military authorities is even greater.
"My school isn't clean enough. I worry for the children's health. We need to spray disinfectant around the school. We hope the Doctors Without Borders or World Vision will help," the teacher said.
Only about half of the school's 870 students showed up for class this week.
"Many parents can't afford to send their children to school, because they don't have enough money. I feel so sad for my pupils," another teacher said.
"Many parents told me that they went to money-lenders for their school fees, even with the very high interest rates. I told the children they can come to school even if they don't have the right uniforms," she said.
Some of the children have been sent to work instead.
San San Khaing, a 30-year-old fish seller, said she has sent her 14-year-old daughter to work in a factory after their home was destroyed in the storm.
"I can't afford to educate my eldest daughter any more. I am sending the younger one to school, by borrowing the money at 20 percent interest. We are surviving on my eldest daughter's wages," she said.
"I hope she will go back to school next year," she said. "But I'm lucky enough to send one daughter to school," she added.
Cyclone victims around Hlaing Thayar, a crippling poor neighbourhood on Yangon's outskirts, said the military has stopped private donors from delivering supplies here, even though state media loudly proclaim every day that anyone is free to make donations everywhere.
"The local authorities have given us seven potatoes. Three were already rotten. I have seven family members. What I am supposed to do with that?" said Khin Cho, a 43-year-old mother living in a homemade tent.
"They always try to stop the private donors," she said. "What's the result? We get nothing." - AFP/ir
But late last week, authorities forced them to move back to the ruins of their home, and then said the two daughters should return on Monday for classes.
Her daughters, longing for some semblance of normalcy in the routine of a school day, begged her to let them go.
So she went to a money lender to borrow the 5.50 dollars she needs for school fees. Htay Win is supposed to pay him back at the end of the month, plus 20 percent interest.
"I have no choice. I have to find a way to give my daughters an education," she said.
"But I have nothing. I am a widow, and my house was destroyed by the storm. I already had to get a loan to build a bamboo tent where my house used to be," the 42-year-old vegetable seller told AFP.
"We just got two tins of rice from the township authorities today. Apart from that, the authorities have not given anything to us.
"Some private donors came to donate things to storm victims, but the authorities stopped them," she said.
Htay Win's family were among 400 hungry and homeless storm victims forced to leave the No.2 Basic Education Middle School on Friday, according to a teacher here.
The lucky ones had a bit of tarpaulin to make a tent, but most had nothing, she said.
The authorities insisted that schools around Yangon open on schedule on Monday after a long holiday, despite the cyclone that left 133,600 dead or missing, with 2.4 million people in need of food, shelter and medicine.
Schools in the hardest-hit regions of the Irrawaddy Delta have been given another month to open, but UNICEF says 3,000 schools were wiped out by the cyclone. About 500,000 children have no classrooms at all.
At this middle school, flies now swarm through the three-storey building, with classrooms reeking of human waste. There has been no sanitation since the cyclone hit one month ago.
Teachers fear for their students' health, but their fear of defying the military authorities is even greater.
"My school isn't clean enough. I worry for the children's health. We need to spray disinfectant around the school. We hope the Doctors Without Borders or World Vision will help," the teacher said.
Only about half of the school's 870 students showed up for class this week.
"Many parents can't afford to send their children to school, because they don't have enough money. I feel so sad for my pupils," another teacher said.
"Many parents told me that they went to money-lenders for their school fees, even with the very high interest rates. I told the children they can come to school even if they don't have the right uniforms," she said.
Some of the children have been sent to work instead.
San San Khaing, a 30-year-old fish seller, said she has sent her 14-year-old daughter to work in a factory after their home was destroyed in the storm.
"I can't afford to educate my eldest daughter any more. I am sending the younger one to school, by borrowing the money at 20 percent interest. We are surviving on my eldest daughter's wages," she said.
"I hope she will go back to school next year," she said. "But I'm lucky enough to send one daughter to school," she added.
Cyclone victims around Hlaing Thayar, a crippling poor neighbourhood on Yangon's outskirts, said the military has stopped private donors from delivering supplies here, even though state media loudly proclaim every day that anyone is free to make donations everywhere.
"The local authorities have given us seven potatoes. Three were already rotten. I have seven family members. What I am supposed to do with that?" said Khin Cho, a 43-year-old mother living in a homemade tent.
"They always try to stop the private donors," she said. "What's the result? We get nothing." - AFP/ir
U.S. warships to leave Myanmar after aid refused
BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. warships will soon leave waters near Myanmar after the ruling military junta refused permission for the delivery of aid supplies to the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta, a top U.S. commander said on Wednesday.
Admiral Timothy Keating said the USS Essex group will sail away from the former Burma on Thursday but leave several heavy-lift helicopters in neighboring Thailand to assist in the relief effort.
"Should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering we are prepared to help," Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said in a statement.
Myanmar has been promised millions of dollars in aid from the United States, other governments and aid organizations.
But the junta has refused to allow the U.S. military to help distribute aid to affected areas, appearing due to fear that a large-scale international relief effort would loosen the grip the generals have held since a 1962 coup.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Bangkok on Sunday that the junta had rejected foreign military help in delivered cyclone aid because it feared it could be seen as an invasion.
Keating said they had made 15 attempts over the past three weeks to convince the regime to allow in U.S. helicopters and landing craft, "but they have refused us each and every time."
The United States had delivered more than 2 million lbs of relief supplies on 106 airlifts to Myanmar since the first U.S. military aid flight on May 12, Keating said.
(Reporting by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Davies and Valerie Lee)
Admiral Timothy Keating said the USS Essex group will sail away from the former Burma on Thursday but leave several heavy-lift helicopters in neighboring Thailand to assist in the relief effort.
"Should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering we are prepared to help," Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said in a statement.
Myanmar has been promised millions of dollars in aid from the United States, other governments and aid organizations.
But the junta has refused to allow the U.S. military to help distribute aid to affected areas, appearing due to fear that a large-scale international relief effort would loosen the grip the generals have held since a 1962 coup.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Bangkok on Sunday that the junta had rejected foreign military help in delivered cyclone aid because it feared it could be seen as an invasion.
Keating said they had made 15 attempts over the past three weeks to convince the regime to allow in U.S. helicopters and landing craft, "but they have refused us each and every time."
The United States had delivered more than 2 million lbs of relief supplies on 106 airlifts to Myanmar since the first U.S. military aid flight on May 12, Keating said.
(Reporting by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Davies and Valerie Lee)
Tin Soe: Striving for democracy in Myanmar
By A. Junaidi
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 06/04/2008
Tin Soe knows how difficult it is to be a minority Burmese Muslim -- suffering discrimination and insecurity -- as well as a journalist working in an authoritarian country like Myanmar.
Along with other inter-faiths activists, Tin, who is also known as Mohamed Taher, the editor of Kaladan Press Network, has been struggling against Myanmar's military junta and dreaming of a democratic country.
"I'm fighting the military junta through the media. No foreign media are able to cover ... the junta are not giving permission to enter the areas," Tin said in an interview with The Jakarta Post recently on the sidelines of his visit together with a group of Buddhist monks at the Post's office in Central Jakarta.
The visit included a discussion on the recent rally in Myanmar, which thousands of people joined, including Buddhist monks in Yangon, the capital of the country.
Hundreds of people, including the monks and a foreign journalist, were reportedly killed during the demonstration after police brutally dispersed the crowd.
Through his news agency, which is based in Chitagong, a Bangladesh border town, Tin coordinated reporters inside Myanmar, particularly in Yangon, to collect information on the rally.
Tin said he was jailed twice in 2004 -- in January (seven days) and November (15 days) -- in Bangladesh for distributing news about the military junta.
"The military junta would also attack Buddhist monks if they felt threatened ... it's not just Muslims who suffered discrimination for years under the regime," self-exiled Tin said.
The muslim population of Myanmar comprises about eight percent or one million of the total population. The religious group is divided into four sub-groups: Muslims of Indian origin, from Bangladesh, India or Pakistan; Arakan Muslims, called Rohingyas; Panthays Muslims, who originate from Yunnan, China and use Mandarin language; and Burmese Muslims, of Persian origin.
Tin said Burmese Muslims in Mynamar were discriminated under an assimilation project commonly called "Burmanization", a socio-cultural project in which Muslims were not allowed to use Urdu (the main language of Muslims of Indian origin), Arabic and Mandarin, instead of Burmese language. Islamic schools, mosques and cemeteries were also closed under the project.
"We were banned from holding Islamic functions such as the Idul Adha and Idul Fitri celebrations," Tin, who received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Rangoon University, Burma, said.
Another form of discrimination, he said, was the one citizen law, which had forced thousands of Arakan Muslims (who resided in predominantly Muslim state of Rakhine) to take refuge in Bangladesh, as they were not legally acknowledged in Myanmar and not permitted to hold identity cards. Many Muslims also took refuge in Malaysia, while others sought protection in Thailand.
After graduating from university, Tin worked at a private company in Chitagong. He was also active in the Arakan Roping Islamic Front as an intern who collected information from inside Arakan on abuses carried out by the military junta from May 1982 to December 1988.
Tin, who was born on May 20, 1955, went on to study mass media and joined several training programs on various topics, such as public relations, photography and news gathering in Baguio city, the Philippines, and web design and ICT in Thailand.
From January 1989 to December 2003, he worked as an assistant (overseas) information secretary for the Arakan Rohingya National Organization in Saudi Arabia. He reported to the head office in Bangladesh on the settlement of large number of Rohingyas refugees in the Middle East, and set up networks with government officials and local NGOs.
The military junta's brutal action against Buddhist monks was an indication, Tin said, that the violence in Myanmar did not discriminate religion or ethnicity.
It was once thought that the junta supported Buddhism -- as shown by their participation in Buddhist rituals and celebrations -- and discriminated other minority religions, including Islam.
However, the junta has always claimed that a firm government is needed to prevent the country, which is diverse in terms of ethnicity and religions, from breaking up. Burmese comprise the largest ethnic group in Myanmar. Other ethnic groups, including the Karen and Shan groups, are still involved in armed conflict with the military junta.
The current military junta is dominated by Burmese (top opposition leader Aung San Su Kyi is also Burmese).
International countries, including ASEAN states like Indonesia, have condemned the brutal military action against demonstrators in Myanmar.
Tin said international support would help Mynamarmese activists to free the country from military repression. He and other activists, including monks, are now traveling overseas to seek that support.
"We have shown that we, Buddhists and Muslims, as well as people from different ethnic (groups) can cooperate. We believe a democratic country can protect their citizens without any discrimination."
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 06/04/2008
Tin Soe knows how difficult it is to be a minority Burmese Muslim -- suffering discrimination and insecurity -- as well as a journalist working in an authoritarian country like Myanmar.
Along with other inter-faiths activists, Tin, who is also known as Mohamed Taher, the editor of Kaladan Press Network, has been struggling against Myanmar's military junta and dreaming of a democratic country.
"I'm fighting the military junta through the media. No foreign media are able to cover ... the junta are not giving permission to enter the areas," Tin said in an interview with The Jakarta Post recently on the sidelines of his visit together with a group of Buddhist monks at the Post's office in Central Jakarta.
The visit included a discussion on the recent rally in Myanmar, which thousands of people joined, including Buddhist monks in Yangon, the capital of the country.
Hundreds of people, including the monks and a foreign journalist, were reportedly killed during the demonstration after police brutally dispersed the crowd.
Through his news agency, which is based in Chitagong, a Bangladesh border town, Tin coordinated reporters inside Myanmar, particularly in Yangon, to collect information on the rally.
Tin said he was jailed twice in 2004 -- in January (seven days) and November (15 days) -- in Bangladesh for distributing news about the military junta.
"The military junta would also attack Buddhist monks if they felt threatened ... it's not just Muslims who suffered discrimination for years under the regime," self-exiled Tin said.
The muslim population of Myanmar comprises about eight percent or one million of the total population. The religious group is divided into four sub-groups: Muslims of Indian origin, from Bangladesh, India or Pakistan; Arakan Muslims, called Rohingyas; Panthays Muslims, who originate from Yunnan, China and use Mandarin language; and Burmese Muslims, of Persian origin.
Tin said Burmese Muslims in Mynamar were discriminated under an assimilation project commonly called "Burmanization", a socio-cultural project in which Muslims were not allowed to use Urdu (the main language of Muslims of Indian origin), Arabic and Mandarin, instead of Burmese language. Islamic schools, mosques and cemeteries were also closed under the project.
"We were banned from holding Islamic functions such as the Idul Adha and Idul Fitri celebrations," Tin, who received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Rangoon University, Burma, said.
Another form of discrimination, he said, was the one citizen law, which had forced thousands of Arakan Muslims (who resided in predominantly Muslim state of Rakhine) to take refuge in Bangladesh, as they were not legally acknowledged in Myanmar and not permitted to hold identity cards. Many Muslims also took refuge in Malaysia, while others sought protection in Thailand.
After graduating from university, Tin worked at a private company in Chitagong. He was also active in the Arakan Roping Islamic Front as an intern who collected information from inside Arakan on abuses carried out by the military junta from May 1982 to December 1988.
Tin, who was born on May 20, 1955, went on to study mass media and joined several training programs on various topics, such as public relations, photography and news gathering in Baguio city, the Philippines, and web design and ICT in Thailand.
From January 1989 to December 2003, he worked as an assistant (overseas) information secretary for the Arakan Rohingya National Organization in Saudi Arabia. He reported to the head office in Bangladesh on the settlement of large number of Rohingyas refugees in the Middle East, and set up networks with government officials and local NGOs.
The military junta's brutal action against Buddhist monks was an indication, Tin said, that the violence in Myanmar did not discriminate religion or ethnicity.
It was once thought that the junta supported Buddhism -- as shown by their participation in Buddhist rituals and celebrations -- and discriminated other minority religions, including Islam.
However, the junta has always claimed that a firm government is needed to prevent the country, which is diverse in terms of ethnicity and religions, from breaking up. Burmese comprise the largest ethnic group in Myanmar. Other ethnic groups, including the Karen and Shan groups, are still involved in armed conflict with the military junta.
The current military junta is dominated by Burmese (top opposition leader Aung San Su Kyi is also Burmese).
International countries, including ASEAN states like Indonesia, have condemned the brutal military action against demonstrators in Myanmar.
Tin said international support would help Mynamarmese activists to free the country from military repression. He and other activists, including monks, are now traveling overseas to seek that support.
"We have shown that we, Buddhists and Muslims, as well as people from different ethnic (groups) can cooperate. We believe a democratic country can protect their citizens without any discrimination."
Monday, 2 June 2008
Canberra urged to uphold vow to act on Burma crimes
Brendan Nicholson
The Age
BURMESE exiles in Australia are pressing the Federal Government to push for Burma's military junta to be charged in the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity, a move that Labor supported during last year's election campaign.
During that campaign, Burmese activist Myint Cho received a letter from then opposition leader Kevin Rudd recognising the "tremendous courage" of the Burmese protesting against the country's dictatorship.
"International law has been repeatedly violated in Burma and international law should be used in response," Mr Rudd told Dr Cho.
"Labor … also believes it is time to request the UN Security Council to authorise the International Criminal Court to commence investigations into Burma's leaders for crimes against humanity."
The detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for more than a decade, and the prosecution of political opponents, clearly established a case for the regime to answer, Mr Rudd wrote. "The international rule of law … will be rendered meaningless if we leave it on the bookshelves of The Hague instead of activating it in defence of human rights."
But such a prosecution is unlikely. Burma does not recognise the International Criminal Court and charging its leader would require a unanimous decision by members of the United Nations Security Council. China, a Security Council member, is an ally of Burma.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said that international legal action against Burma was not a high priority for Australia or other countries given cyclone Nargis and the continuing humanitarian crisis in the country.
"However, we continue to enforce travel and financial sanctions against specific individuals in the regime as well as making known our strong view about the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi," Mr Smith said. "Progress toward democracy and respect for human rights in Burma will only happen with the participation of all political players in a genuine, transparent process supported by the international community, including members of the Security Council."
Dr Cho said that Mr Rudd and Labor's former foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, had both indicated that the junta members should be taken before the international court.
"I strongly believe that the Labor Government should take that kind of promise seriously," he said.
Burma's generals would never listen to international opinion or develop respect for human rights, he said.
"This is the last option to take action against the regime.
"We need International Criminal Court action against the Burmese generals," Dr Cho said.
"The top generals do not travel outside Burma because they fear that sort of action."
The Age
BURMESE exiles in Australia are pressing the Federal Government to push for Burma's military junta to be charged in the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity, a move that Labor supported during last year's election campaign.
During that campaign, Burmese activist Myint Cho received a letter from then opposition leader Kevin Rudd recognising the "tremendous courage" of the Burmese protesting against the country's dictatorship.
"International law has been repeatedly violated in Burma and international law should be used in response," Mr Rudd told Dr Cho.
"Labor … also believes it is time to request the UN Security Council to authorise the International Criminal Court to commence investigations into Burma's leaders for crimes against humanity."
The detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for more than a decade, and the prosecution of political opponents, clearly established a case for the regime to answer, Mr Rudd wrote. "The international rule of law … will be rendered meaningless if we leave it on the bookshelves of The Hague instead of activating it in defence of human rights."
But such a prosecution is unlikely. Burma does not recognise the International Criminal Court and charging its leader would require a unanimous decision by members of the United Nations Security Council. China, a Security Council member, is an ally of Burma.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said that international legal action against Burma was not a high priority for Australia or other countries given cyclone Nargis and the continuing humanitarian crisis in the country.
"However, we continue to enforce travel and financial sanctions against specific individuals in the regime as well as making known our strong view about the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi," Mr Smith said. "Progress toward democracy and respect for human rights in Burma will only happen with the participation of all political players in a genuine, transparent process supported by the international community, including members of the Security Council."
Dr Cho said that Mr Rudd and Labor's former foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, had both indicated that the junta members should be taken before the international court.
"I strongly believe that the Labor Government should take that kind of promise seriously," he said.
Burma's generals would never listen to international opinion or develop respect for human rights, he said.
"This is the last option to take action against the regime.
"We need International Criminal Court action against the Burmese generals," Dr Cho said.
"The top generals do not travel outside Burma because they fear that sort of action."
Junta Defends Cyclone Response as 'Prompt,' with Schools Set to Reopen
The Irrawaddy News
Burma's military government said it planned to reopen schools Monday in several areas still reeling from a catastrophic cyclone, a move that international aid groups fear could be harmful to the children.
More than a week ago, the junta agreed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's request that foreign relief workers be allowed in to the areas worst affected by the storm in the Irrawaddy Delta, after they had been initially barred. But the regime has been slow to implement the agreement, allowing some in but limiting their numbers and adding conditions.
Deputy Defense Minister Maj-Gen Aye Myint, told an international security conference in Singapore that the junta broadcast warnings about the May 2-3 cyclone more than a week in advance and moved quickly to rescue and provide relief to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.
"Due to the prompt work" of the military government, food, water and medicine were provided to all victims, the defense minister said. "I believe the resettlement and rehabilitation process will be speedy."
The comments came a day after the junta came under sharp criticism for kicking homeless cyclone survivors out of shelters and sending them back to their devastated villages.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced people have recently been expelled from their temporary shelters in schools, monasteries and public buildings, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.
"The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance," Human Rights Watch said.
Some international aid agencies said their staffers were still meeting survivors deep in the delta who have not received any help since the storm hit.
Burma's military leaders have also been criticized for not immediately visiting cyclone-affected areas. Junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe visited some refugee camps two weeks after the storm.
An article in New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Than Shwe had intended to visit the affected regions as soon as the storm occurred, but delayed his plans "so that the Prime Minister, head of the National Disaster Management Committee, could carry out the relief and rescue work more effectively."
In its struggle to return to normalcy, the junta planned to reopen many schools Monday in areas hit by the cyclone, though some were scheduled to reopen in July.
UNICEF said more than 4,000 schools serving 1.1 million children were damaged or totally destroyed by the storm and more than 100 teachers were killed. As a result, the government planned to train volunteer teachers and hold some classes in camps and other temporary sites, the UN Children's Fund said.
"What is normally a safe space can become an unsafe space," said Gary Walker, a spokesman for the UK charity Plan. "Sending (children) to what can be unsafe buildings with ill-trained and ill-equipped teachers can actually set them back rather than leading them on a road to speedy recovery."
Anupama Rao Singh, UNICEF's regional director, said that reopening schools in the delta Monday "may be too ambitious," since construction materials were still on the way and there was not enough time to rebuild schools and train new teachers.
Cyclone Nargis killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
Burma's military government said it planned to reopen schools Monday in several areas still reeling from a catastrophic cyclone, a move that international aid groups fear could be harmful to the children.
More than a week ago, the junta agreed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's request that foreign relief workers be allowed in to the areas worst affected by the storm in the Irrawaddy Delta, after they had been initially barred. But the regime has been slow to implement the agreement, allowing some in but limiting their numbers and adding conditions.
Deputy Defense Minister Maj-Gen Aye Myint, told an international security conference in Singapore that the junta broadcast warnings about the May 2-3 cyclone more than a week in advance and moved quickly to rescue and provide relief to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.
"Due to the prompt work" of the military government, food, water and medicine were provided to all victims, the defense minister said. "I believe the resettlement and rehabilitation process will be speedy."
The comments came a day after the junta came under sharp criticism for kicking homeless cyclone survivors out of shelters and sending them back to their devastated villages.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced people have recently been expelled from their temporary shelters in schools, monasteries and public buildings, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.
"The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance," Human Rights Watch said.
Some international aid agencies said their staffers were still meeting survivors deep in the delta who have not received any help since the storm hit.
Burma's military leaders have also been criticized for not immediately visiting cyclone-affected areas. Junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe visited some refugee camps two weeks after the storm.
An article in New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Than Shwe had intended to visit the affected regions as soon as the storm occurred, but delayed his plans "so that the Prime Minister, head of the National Disaster Management Committee, could carry out the relief and rescue work more effectively."
In its struggle to return to normalcy, the junta planned to reopen many schools Monday in areas hit by the cyclone, though some were scheduled to reopen in July.
UNICEF said more than 4,000 schools serving 1.1 million children were damaged or totally destroyed by the storm and more than 100 teachers were killed. As a result, the government planned to train volunteer teachers and hold some classes in camps and other temporary sites, the UN Children's Fund said.
"What is normally a safe space can become an unsafe space," said Gary Walker, a spokesman for the UK charity Plan. "Sending (children) to what can be unsafe buildings with ill-trained and ill-equipped teachers can actually set them back rather than leading them on a road to speedy recovery."
Anupama Rao Singh, UNICEF's regional director, said that reopening schools in the delta Monday "may be too ambitious," since construction materials were still on the way and there was not enough time to rebuild schools and train new teachers.
Cyclone Nargis killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
Malaysia presses Myanmar to allow ASEAN militaries help the cyclone-devastated country
(Associated Press WorldStream Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SINGAPORE_Malaysia urged Myanmar's junta Sunday to let Southeast Asian militaries help deliver aid to cyclone victims, an unprecedented plea for foreign intervention in a region where nations generally stay out of each other's affairs.
The appeal by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak at an international security conference came after Myanmar's Deputy Defense Minister Aye Myint used the forum to claim that his government acted promptly to provide relief in the aftermath of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis.
But Najib said the tragedy was of such a huge scale that the toll could surpass that of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia, where about 167,000 people died.
Cyclone Nargis killed about 78,000 people and left nearly 56,000 missing. Some 2.4 million survivors are in need of fresh water, food and medical care.
Myanmar has not allowed foreign militaries to deliver aid directly to cyclone victims, but Najib suggested that militaries of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations be allowed to do so.
"At the risk of offending my colleague here I would certainly speak on behalf of ASEAN that we do want to play a bigger role in the context of tragedy in Myanmar," Najib said, referring to Aye Myint, who sat next to him on the stage.
It was the most direct public appeal so far by a member of ASEAN for Myanmar's military rulers to give up their refusal to allow greater foreign help. ASEAN has generally followed the principle of noninterference in each other's affairs, and Najib's plea was unprecedented.
Najib said such a military mobilization would not threaten the junta.
"There is no other agenda in our mind when we send our military into stricken areas," he told reporters after the conference.
During the conference, he described the situation in Myanmar as "very, very serious" and noted that the military was the "only viable organization" that could be effective in disaster relief operations and could afford to deploy a large number of helicopters and boats. Such means of transport are needed to deliver aid to remote areas, he said.
"There is a huge human tragedy of the highest proportion that might befall the people of Myanmar if the government of Myanmar doesn't allow greater participation by ASEAN countries and by the world," he said.
Several people in the audience lambasted Myanmar after Najib's comments, with one questioner calling its actions "a scandal."
Aye Myint sat stoically through the verbal attack and did not respond to Najib's plea, saying only that his government was not preventing aid workers from doing their work.
Earlier in a speech, Aye Myint claimed that his government acted promptly in rescuing and providing relief. He also said that food, water and medicines have been provided to all victims, and that the government has now moved to a rehabilitation phase.
Many international aid agencies and foreign governments have said little government aid has reached most of the survivors.
Najib said that according to Malaysian aid workers in Myanmar, the scale of the disaster could become even bigger than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami if aid does not soon reach people.
"I don't know if that is a correct assessment but it is one view delivered to us by people who have been on the ground," he said.
TMC Net
The appeal by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak at an international security conference came after Myanmar's Deputy Defense Minister Aye Myint used the forum to claim that his government acted promptly to provide relief in the aftermath of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis.
But Najib said the tragedy was of such a huge scale that the toll could surpass that of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia, where about 167,000 people died.
Cyclone Nargis killed about 78,000 people and left nearly 56,000 missing. Some 2.4 million survivors are in need of fresh water, food and medical care.
Myanmar has not allowed foreign militaries to deliver aid directly to cyclone victims, but Najib suggested that militaries of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations be allowed to do so.
"At the risk of offending my colleague here I would certainly speak on behalf of ASEAN that we do want to play a bigger role in the context of tragedy in Myanmar," Najib said, referring to Aye Myint, who sat next to him on the stage.
It was the most direct public appeal so far by a member of ASEAN for Myanmar's military rulers to give up their refusal to allow greater foreign help. ASEAN has generally followed the principle of noninterference in each other's affairs, and Najib's plea was unprecedented.
Najib said such a military mobilization would not threaten the junta.
"There is no other agenda in our mind when we send our military into stricken areas," he told reporters after the conference.
During the conference, he described the situation in Myanmar as "very, very serious" and noted that the military was the "only viable organization" that could be effective in disaster relief operations and could afford to deploy a large number of helicopters and boats. Such means of transport are needed to deliver aid to remote areas, he said.
"There is a huge human tragedy of the highest proportion that might befall the people of Myanmar if the government of Myanmar doesn't allow greater participation by ASEAN countries and by the world," he said.
Several people in the audience lambasted Myanmar after Najib's comments, with one questioner calling its actions "a scandal."
Aye Myint sat stoically through the verbal attack and did not respond to Najib's plea, saying only that his government was not preventing aid workers from doing their work.
Earlier in a speech, Aye Myint claimed that his government acted promptly in rescuing and providing relief. He also said that food, water and medicines have been provided to all victims, and that the government has now moved to a rehabilitation phase.
Many international aid agencies and foreign governments have said little government aid has reached most of the survivors.
Najib said that according to Malaysian aid workers in Myanmar, the scale of the disaster could become even bigger than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami if aid does not soon reach people.
"I don't know if that is a correct assessment but it is one view delivered to us by people who have been on the ground," he said.
TMC Net
Macho move would make Burma's plight even worse
By RAMESH THAKUR
WATERLOO, Canada — Their paranoia and mistrust of the outside world are such that Burma's generals have been criminally tardy in permitting emergency humanitarian supplies and personnel to come into the country. More than 100,000 may have been killed and over 2 million displaced and made homeless by the cyclone.
The rising tide of anger, outrage and frustration led French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the founder of MSF (Doctors without Borders), to suggest invoking the "responsibility to protect" (R2P) duty in the U.N. Security Council as the legal means to force open Burma's borders to outside help.
Kouchner's call has generated an intense debate in policy, advocacy and media circles that is worth parsing into moral, legal, political and practical components. There is also the question of which is more damaging to R2P in the longer term: invoking or ignoring it in the context of Burma since Cyclone Nargis.
R2P was a creative and innovative reformulation of the old "humanitarian intervention" debate by a Canadian-sponsored but independent international commission. We published our report at the end of 2001. Less than four years later, it was adopted without a dissenting vote at the U.N. summit of world leaders in New York.
In paragraphs 138/139 of the summit's outcome document, the assembled prime ministers and presidents of the world agreed that every state bears the responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.
They further declared that they "are prepared to take collective action, in timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations."
Morally, there is no difference between large numbers of people being killed by soldiers firing into crowds or the government blocking the delivery of help to victims of natural disasters.
To the extent that R2P is rooted in solidarity with victims of atrocity crimes, the sophistry of the distinction between 100,000 killed by troops or through deliberate government neglect is morally repugnant.
Conceptually, the shift from the crime of mass killings by acts of commission (shooting people) and acts of omission (preventing them from getting food and medical attention) is a difference of degree rather than of type.
Legally, the four categories where R2P apply are genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.
In our original report, we had explicitly included "overwhelming natural or environmental catastrophes" resulting in significant loss of life as R2P triggers if the state was unable or unwilling to cope, or rebuffed assistance. This was dropped by 2005. But "crimes against humanity" were included, and there would be few lawyers who would dispute its foundation for covering the Burmese generals' actions in blocking outside aid when 100,000 have been killed and 2.5 million are affected.
Politically, however, we cannot ignore the significance of the exclusion of natural and environmental disasters between 2001 and 2005. Clearly, the normative consensus on this new global norm did not extend beyond the acts of commission of atrocity crimes by delinquent governments.
To attempt to reintroduce it by the back door today would strengthen suspicion of Western motivations and reinforce cynicism of Western tactics. Unlike previous decades, the new unity of the global South, led by Brazil, China, India and South Africa, is based on a position of strength not weakness. The West can no longer set or control the agenda of international policy discourse and action.
Practically, there is no humanitarian crisis so grave that it cannot be made worse by military intervention.
Unappealing as they might be, the generals are in effective control of Burma. The only way to get aid quickly to where it is most needed is with the cooperation of the authorities. If they refuse, the notion of fighting one's way through to the victims is ludicrous.
The militarily overstretched Western powers have neither the capacity nor the will to start another war in the jungles of Southeast Asia. If foreign soldiers are involved, it does not take long for a war of liberation or humanitarian assistance to morph into a war of foreign occupation in the eyes of the local populace.
It's interesting that the further away countries are from Burma geographically and the less they know about it, the more of a macho stance they seem willing to embrace.
Asians forcefully reject any Western right to set the moral compass for the West's and everyone else's behavior. It's easy for those who have no interests engaged there to accuse China and India of standing shoulder to shoulder with the butchers of Burma.
Their protests and censure would carry more moral weight if their conduct showed a consistent privileging of principles over national strategic or commercial interests in their dealings around the world. Gross double standards can no longer be hidden from Asians.
Any effort to invoke R2P formally in the Security Council would have the counterproductive effect of damaging R2P permanently across Asia, if not more widely in developing countries.
Yet because of the moral and legal considerations, it would be equally shortsighted to rule out the relevance and application of R2P should the situation not improve and people start dying in large numbers from the aftereffects of Cyclone Nargis.
Nor can we rule out laying charges of crimes against humanity against the top leaders in due course.
Ramesh Thakur, a distinguished fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation and a political science professor at University of Waterloo, is one of the original R2P commissioners and author of "The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect."
Japan Times
WATERLOO, Canada — Their paranoia and mistrust of the outside world are such that Burma's generals have been criminally tardy in permitting emergency humanitarian supplies and personnel to come into the country. More than 100,000 may have been killed and over 2 million displaced and made homeless by the cyclone.
The rising tide of anger, outrage and frustration led French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the founder of MSF (Doctors without Borders), to suggest invoking the "responsibility to protect" (R2P) duty in the U.N. Security Council as the legal means to force open Burma's borders to outside help.
Kouchner's call has generated an intense debate in policy, advocacy and media circles that is worth parsing into moral, legal, political and practical components. There is also the question of which is more damaging to R2P in the longer term: invoking or ignoring it in the context of Burma since Cyclone Nargis.
R2P was a creative and innovative reformulation of the old "humanitarian intervention" debate by a Canadian-sponsored but independent international commission. We published our report at the end of 2001. Less than four years later, it was adopted without a dissenting vote at the U.N. summit of world leaders in New York.
In paragraphs 138/139 of the summit's outcome document, the assembled prime ministers and presidents of the world agreed that every state bears the responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.
They further declared that they "are prepared to take collective action, in timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations."
Morally, there is no difference between large numbers of people being killed by soldiers firing into crowds or the government blocking the delivery of help to victims of natural disasters.
To the extent that R2P is rooted in solidarity with victims of atrocity crimes, the sophistry of the distinction between 100,000 killed by troops or through deliberate government neglect is morally repugnant.
Conceptually, the shift from the crime of mass killings by acts of commission (shooting people) and acts of omission (preventing them from getting food and medical attention) is a difference of degree rather than of type.
Legally, the four categories where R2P apply are genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.
In our original report, we had explicitly included "overwhelming natural or environmental catastrophes" resulting in significant loss of life as R2P triggers if the state was unable or unwilling to cope, or rebuffed assistance. This was dropped by 2005. But "crimes against humanity" were included, and there would be few lawyers who would dispute its foundation for covering the Burmese generals' actions in blocking outside aid when 100,000 have been killed and 2.5 million are affected.
Politically, however, we cannot ignore the significance of the exclusion of natural and environmental disasters between 2001 and 2005. Clearly, the normative consensus on this new global norm did not extend beyond the acts of commission of atrocity crimes by delinquent governments.
To attempt to reintroduce it by the back door today would strengthen suspicion of Western motivations and reinforce cynicism of Western tactics. Unlike previous decades, the new unity of the global South, led by Brazil, China, India and South Africa, is based on a position of strength not weakness. The West can no longer set or control the agenda of international policy discourse and action.
Practically, there is no humanitarian crisis so grave that it cannot be made worse by military intervention.
Unappealing as they might be, the generals are in effective control of Burma. The only way to get aid quickly to where it is most needed is with the cooperation of the authorities. If they refuse, the notion of fighting one's way through to the victims is ludicrous.
The militarily overstretched Western powers have neither the capacity nor the will to start another war in the jungles of Southeast Asia. If foreign soldiers are involved, it does not take long for a war of liberation or humanitarian assistance to morph into a war of foreign occupation in the eyes of the local populace.
It's interesting that the further away countries are from Burma geographically and the less they know about it, the more of a macho stance they seem willing to embrace.
Asians forcefully reject any Western right to set the moral compass for the West's and everyone else's behavior. It's easy for those who have no interests engaged there to accuse China and India of standing shoulder to shoulder with the butchers of Burma.
Their protests and censure would carry more moral weight if their conduct showed a consistent privileging of principles over national strategic or commercial interests in their dealings around the world. Gross double standards can no longer be hidden from Asians.
Any effort to invoke R2P formally in the Security Council would have the counterproductive effect of damaging R2P permanently across Asia, if not more widely in developing countries.
Yet because of the moral and legal considerations, it would be equally shortsighted to rule out the relevance and application of R2P should the situation not improve and people start dying in large numbers from the aftereffects of Cyclone Nargis.
Nor can we rule out laying charges of crimes against humanity against the top leaders in due course.
Ramesh Thakur, a distinguished fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation and a political science professor at University of Waterloo, is one of the original R2P commissioners and author of "The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect."
Japan Times
Gates hits at 'criminal neglect' by Burma junta
By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok and Raphael Minder in Singapore
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, yesterday accused Burma's military rulers of "criminal neglect" of their people, amid criticism that they were pushing victims of cyclone Nargis back to their devastated villages prematurely.
International aid agencies are also complaining of persistent difficulties getting clearance to work in the stricken Irrawaddy delta, despite the regime's promise to allow full access to "genuine humanitarian workers".
A World Food Programme helicopter - badly needed to accelerate the delivery of supplies, especially to remote areas - has been parked on the tarmac at the Rangoon airport for a week, awaiting regime clearance for use.
Numerous foreign aid workers, including 30 technical experts from the International Federation of the Red Cross and others from Médecins Sans Frontières, remain stuck in Rangoon, waiting for permission to enter the disaster zone.
However, Major-General Aye Myint, deputy defence minister, defended the regime's response to the emergency, telling an Asian security conference in Singapore yesterday that victims had received food, water and medicine due to authorities' "prompt work".
Although Nargis has left an estimated 133,000 people dead or missing and 2.4m survivors virtually destitute, Burma's junta has been reluctant to accept foreign support and expertise.
Mr Gates said the regime had been "deaf and dumb" to repeated US offers of help, including from the USS Essex and three other naval vessels laden with supplies in waters near the disaster zone.
"We have reached out, they have kept their hands in their pockets," he said. "We have exercised our moral obligations above and beyond the call." With western and Asian governments divided over delivering aid without the regime's approval, Mr Gates said the Essex would probably withdraw "in a matter of days".
The UN has called for any return of cyclone survivors to their villages to be "voluntary and done on a consultative basis". It said forced eviction from temporary camps would be "completely unacceptable".
Throughout the Irrawaddy delta, aid workers say temporary settlements, where the UN estimates 260,000 people have sought refuge since the cyclone, are being gradually shut down and their residents dispersed.
Myuangmya, a town that became a magnet for survivors searching for food, water and other help, now had just eight temporary settlements, from 30 a week ago, one aid worker said. Aid workers say authorities in Laputta are closing camps in town and offering victims a choice of returning to their communities or relocating to new camps outside town.
Terje Skavdal, of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the UN had made it clear to the authorities "we do not endorse premature returns to areas where there are no services.
"Satisfactory conditions need to be created before [people] can return to their place of origin."
Financial Times
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, yesterday accused Burma's military rulers of "criminal neglect" of their people, amid criticism that they were pushing victims of cyclone Nargis back to their devastated villages prematurely.
International aid agencies are also complaining of persistent difficulties getting clearance to work in the stricken Irrawaddy delta, despite the regime's promise to allow full access to "genuine humanitarian workers".
A World Food Programme helicopter - badly needed to accelerate the delivery of supplies, especially to remote areas - has been parked on the tarmac at the Rangoon airport for a week, awaiting regime clearance for use.
Numerous foreign aid workers, including 30 technical experts from the International Federation of the Red Cross and others from Médecins Sans Frontières, remain stuck in Rangoon, waiting for permission to enter the disaster zone.
However, Major-General Aye Myint, deputy defence minister, defended the regime's response to the emergency, telling an Asian security conference in Singapore yesterday that victims had received food, water and medicine due to authorities' "prompt work".
Although Nargis has left an estimated 133,000 people dead or missing and 2.4m survivors virtually destitute, Burma's junta has been reluctant to accept foreign support and expertise.
Mr Gates said the regime had been "deaf and dumb" to repeated US offers of help, including from the USS Essex and three other naval vessels laden with supplies in waters near the disaster zone.
"We have reached out, they have kept their hands in their pockets," he said. "We have exercised our moral obligations above and beyond the call." With western and Asian governments divided over delivering aid without the regime's approval, Mr Gates said the Essex would probably withdraw "in a matter of days".
The UN has called for any return of cyclone survivors to their villages to be "voluntary and done on a consultative basis". It said forced eviction from temporary camps would be "completely unacceptable".
Throughout the Irrawaddy delta, aid workers say temporary settlements, where the UN estimates 260,000 people have sought refuge since the cyclone, are being gradually shut down and their residents dispersed.
Myuangmya, a town that became a magnet for survivors searching for food, water and other help, now had just eight temporary settlements, from 30 a week ago, one aid worker said. Aid workers say authorities in Laputta are closing camps in town and offering victims a choice of returning to their communities or relocating to new camps outside town.
Terje Skavdal, of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the UN had made it clear to the authorities "we do not endorse premature returns to areas where there are no services.
"Satisfactory conditions need to be created before [people] can return to their place of origin."
Financial Times
Singapore volunteers tell of plight faced by Myanmar cyclone survivors
In the capital city of Yangon, except for the cracks in the ground where Cyclone Nargis had uprooted the trees, life appeared to be back to normal as people went about their business.
But just three hours away in the Irrawaddy Delta region — the “rice bowl” of Myanmar — where the May 2 cyclone hit the hardest, Singaporean volunteer Lim Hwee Sie had only one word to describe the scene: Devastation.
“The situation got worse the further we got from Yangon and as we got closer to the delta region,” said Ms Lim, a sales manager. “Houses there have fallen apart and there’s mud everywhere. Only a few concrete buildings are still standing.”
Together with Venerable K Gunaratana of the Mahakaruna Buddist Society and another volunteer, Ms Lim was in Myanmar for four days last week to deliver aid to residents who were affected by the cyclone.
Apart from the devastation, the level of poverty also shocked her. “They live in extremely simple houses with no toilets, and their clothes were dirty and falling apart,” said Ms Lim, 29, who was on her first relief trip.
Leaving Yangon behind, the group — on volunteer visas and accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs — ventured three hours away to Dedaye and took a boat down the Irrawaddy River to a remote village.
No foreign or local aid had reached the area at the time, said Ms Lim. “I wondered then what they lived on, because all the fields had been destroyed and no one had delivered any food to them,” she said. “They looked fine and were not at the point of starvation, but they had very little that we could see.”
Another Singaporean who had gone to Myanmar to document the aftermath of the cyclone two weeks ago saw locals salvaging rice crops that been destroyed by the cyclone, even though they were not ready to be eaten.
“I think they were living on that,” said the 30-year-old, who only wanted to be known as Bryan. “The food distribution centres were all so far away and the people didn’t have any transport, so a lot of them came running, hoping to receive aid, whenever they heard the sound of vehicles.”
Ms Lim found the experience of delivering aid “surprisingly smooth”. She added: “I was concerned that we would be prevented from delivering the items to the locals but we managed to do that.”
However, Bryan said he saw “lots of aid” piling up at the airport, but none at many of the disaster sites. “Many people were in Yangon trying to help, but they were told to just hand the material over to the officials who were then supposed to deliver it themselves,” he said.
The presence of the Venerable Gunaratana, as well as the donations the society had been giving to the Myanmar embassy since the disaster, could have helped made things smoother, said Ms Lim. “We had no trouble at roadblocks or taking pictures, but I’ve seen other foreigners being chased away for taking pictures,” she said.
In spite of the desolation, she was impressed by the dignity of the residents. “They didn’t rush to us, they lined up to receive the food and money we brought for them,” she said. “You could sense the sadness but they made the most of what they had.”
With just three days to carry out what they had set out to do, Ms Lim is bracing herself to return to Myanmar with more aid. “I don’t think we have seen the worst yet,” she said. - TODAY/sh
To contribute food and medicine, or volunteer to deliver the aid to Myanmar, contact the Mahakaruna Buddhist Society at 6745 1803 or email mahakaruna@pacific.net.sg
Channel News Asia
But just three hours away in the Irrawaddy Delta region — the “rice bowl” of Myanmar — where the May 2 cyclone hit the hardest, Singaporean volunteer Lim Hwee Sie had only one word to describe the scene: Devastation.
“The situation got worse the further we got from Yangon and as we got closer to the delta region,” said Ms Lim, a sales manager. “Houses there have fallen apart and there’s mud everywhere. Only a few concrete buildings are still standing.”
Together with Venerable K Gunaratana of the Mahakaruna Buddist Society and another volunteer, Ms Lim was in Myanmar for four days last week to deliver aid to residents who were affected by the cyclone.
Apart from the devastation, the level of poverty also shocked her. “They live in extremely simple houses with no toilets, and their clothes were dirty and falling apart,” said Ms Lim, 29, who was on her first relief trip.
Leaving Yangon behind, the group — on volunteer visas and accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs — ventured three hours away to Dedaye and took a boat down the Irrawaddy River to a remote village.
No foreign or local aid had reached the area at the time, said Ms Lim. “I wondered then what they lived on, because all the fields had been destroyed and no one had delivered any food to them,” she said. “They looked fine and were not at the point of starvation, but they had very little that we could see.”
Another Singaporean who had gone to Myanmar to document the aftermath of the cyclone two weeks ago saw locals salvaging rice crops that been destroyed by the cyclone, even though they were not ready to be eaten.
“I think they were living on that,” said the 30-year-old, who only wanted to be known as Bryan. “The food distribution centres were all so far away and the people didn’t have any transport, so a lot of them came running, hoping to receive aid, whenever they heard the sound of vehicles.”
Ms Lim found the experience of delivering aid “surprisingly smooth”. She added: “I was concerned that we would be prevented from delivering the items to the locals but we managed to do that.”
However, Bryan said he saw “lots of aid” piling up at the airport, but none at many of the disaster sites. “Many people were in Yangon trying to help, but they were told to just hand the material over to the officials who were then supposed to deliver it themselves,” he said.
The presence of the Venerable Gunaratana, as well as the donations the society had been giving to the Myanmar embassy since the disaster, could have helped made things smoother, said Ms Lim. “We had no trouble at roadblocks or taking pictures, but I’ve seen other foreigners being chased away for taking pictures,” she said.
In spite of the desolation, she was impressed by the dignity of the residents. “They didn’t rush to us, they lined up to receive the food and money we brought for them,” she said. “You could sense the sadness but they made the most of what they had.”
With just three days to carry out what they had set out to do, Ms Lim is bracing herself to return to Myanmar with more aid. “I don’t think we have seen the worst yet,” she said. - TODAY/sh
To contribute food and medicine, or volunteer to deliver the aid to Myanmar, contact the Mahakaruna Buddhist Society at 6745 1803 or email mahakaruna@pacific.net.sg
Channel News Asia
Enough is enough and Burmese help their own
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Asean must isolate the Burmese junta or be accused of complicity in the hell that Than Shwe and his junta have unleashed in Burma.
Buddhist monks beaten; a government minister directing the head of the meteorology department not to issue a public warning after India gave them a 48-hour advance warning of impending disaster; Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest extended by a year _ all heinous atrocities.
The junta gives priority to a bogus referendum to perpetuate their bloody regime instead of aiding cyclone victims, and still lash out at international donors for not giving enough. The money they want runs into billions of dollars for which there will be no accountability and it will find its way into the junta's Swiss bank accounts, used for bathing their wives and daughters with diamonds, as Than Shwe so shamelessly demonstrated at his daughter's wedding.
Than Shwe and his minions must be brought to trial for their crimes against humanity in an international court before they take refuge in China in the unlikely event of a mass uprising. They have long forgotten how to be human beings.
SYDNEY M. PRABHU.
Samut Sakhon
ALSO
BURMESE HELP THEIR OWN
I have just returned from a two-week trip to Rangoon. It is my observation that much of the Cyclone Nargis relief is being provided by ordinary residences of Rangoon.
Every morning, as the sun rises over the sleepy town of Rangoon, small convoys of cars and small trucks loaded with food, water, clothes and shelter leave the city for destinations in the Irrawaddy delta, where needy refugees eagerly wait.
Some of the aid is distributed close to Rangoon and some as far away as Laputta.
These cars and trucks are not associated with any government, the United Nations or NGOs, but are owned and operated by private citizens in Rangoon who finance these operations from their own pockets.
Business people, shop owners, etc, have formed groups of people to aid victims of the cyclone. It seems like on every block there is at least one group of semi-organised ordinary people giving aid to refugees. Many of these groups started one or two days after the cyclone hit, long before international relief was allowed into the country.
We will probably never know how many lives these heroes of Rangoon have saved. But the number is probably considerable.
It was very uplifting and inspiring for me to see ordinary people so motivated and unselfish in such a crisis situation.
BERNARD
Bangkok
Bangkok Post
Asean must isolate the Burmese junta or be accused of complicity in the hell that Than Shwe and his junta have unleashed in Burma.
Buddhist monks beaten; a government minister directing the head of the meteorology department not to issue a public warning after India gave them a 48-hour advance warning of impending disaster; Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest extended by a year _ all heinous atrocities.
The junta gives priority to a bogus referendum to perpetuate their bloody regime instead of aiding cyclone victims, and still lash out at international donors for not giving enough. The money they want runs into billions of dollars for which there will be no accountability and it will find its way into the junta's Swiss bank accounts, used for bathing their wives and daughters with diamonds, as Than Shwe so shamelessly demonstrated at his daughter's wedding.
Than Shwe and his minions must be brought to trial for their crimes against humanity in an international court before they take refuge in China in the unlikely event of a mass uprising. They have long forgotten how to be human beings.
SYDNEY M. PRABHU.
Samut Sakhon
ALSO
BURMESE HELP THEIR OWN
I have just returned from a two-week trip to Rangoon. It is my observation that much of the Cyclone Nargis relief is being provided by ordinary residences of Rangoon.
Every morning, as the sun rises over the sleepy town of Rangoon, small convoys of cars and small trucks loaded with food, water, clothes and shelter leave the city for destinations in the Irrawaddy delta, where needy refugees eagerly wait.
Some of the aid is distributed close to Rangoon and some as far away as Laputta.
These cars and trucks are not associated with any government, the United Nations or NGOs, but are owned and operated by private citizens in Rangoon who finance these operations from their own pockets.
Business people, shop owners, etc, have formed groups of people to aid victims of the cyclone. It seems like on every block there is at least one group of semi-organised ordinary people giving aid to refugees. Many of these groups started one or two days after the cyclone hit, long before international relief was allowed into the country.
We will probably never know how many lives these heroes of Rangoon have saved. But the number is probably considerable.
It was very uplifting and inspiring for me to see ordinary people so motivated and unselfish in such a crisis situation.
BERNARD
Bangkok
Bangkok Post
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