BurmaNet News, May 6, 2008

[Editor]

May 6, 2008 Issue # 3459


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar says cyclone death toll tops 22,000
AP: Myanmar opposition says referendum 'unacceptable' after cyclone
AP: Transport, visa hurdles slowing aid to Myanmar storm victims
Irrawaddy: Burmese officials go AWOL to search for relatives

ON THE BORDER
Narinjara News: Another cyclone likely to strike

BUSINESS / TRADE
Times of London: Rice prices hit records amid Burmese disaster

HEALTH / AIDS
AP: WHO says Burma faces major health worries

ASEAN
AFP: Mangrove destruction partly to blame for Myanmar toll: ASEAN chief

REGIONAL
Times of London: India says it warned Burma about cyclone

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Hundreds of thousands need help in Myanmar: U.N.
The New Australian: Care Australia allowed into Burma
Bangkok Post: Bush calls for action, adds $3m to Burma aid
BBC News: UK pledges £5m in aid for Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Times of London: Hated Burma junta is facing one hell of a challenge to
its isolation
Irrawaddy: Relief effort should be Burma’s no 1 priority
AP: Analysis: Devastating cyclone raises risks for Myanmar junta
IHT: Burma's twin disasters: A cyclone and the generals



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 6, Agence France Presse
Myanmar says cyclone death toll tops 22,000

More than 22,000 people were killed in Myanmar's devastating cyclone and
41,000 are still missing four days after the storm slammed into the
country's southern coast, the government said Tuesday.

Aid workers were racing to deliver food and water to the worst-hit
Irrawaddy delta region, which was submerged by floodwaters, leaving scenes
of utter devastation with homeless survivors running low on food and
water.

Witnesses described horrific images of rice fields littered with corpses,
and there were fears the death toll from tropical cyclone Nargis could
rise much further.

Save the Children, one of the few relief agencies allowed to operate in
the secretive and impoverished Southeast Asian country, said the toll
would rise sharply in the coming days as more victims were found in
hard-to-reach areas.

"If at this stage, only four days in, the government are telling us the
numbers are already reaching over 20,000 and there are 40,000 people
missing, I think it could well go higher," spokesman Dan Collinson told
AFP.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it went as high as 50,000," he said.

US President George W. Bush urged Myanmar to allow in international help,
as Washington -- usually one of the junta's toughest critics -- upped its
total emergency aid offer to 3.25 million dollars.

"Our message is to the military rulers: let the United States come to help
you, help the people," Bush said.

"The United States has made an initial aid contribution, but we want to do
a lot more," he added as he signed a law giving Myanmar democracy icon
Aung San Suu Kyi the Congressional Gold Medal, the US Congress's top
civilian honour.

A US disaster relief team was on standby, and the Pentagon said four naval
ships currently participating in military exercises off the coast of
Thailand could be redirected to Myanmar, if the junta gave the go-ahead.

"But that's all we can do at this point, is to plan, because we have not
received a request from the Burmese government," Pentagon press secretary
Geoff Morrell said.

The junta -- facing mounting global pressure to quickly allow aid teams
into the country -- still insisted foreign relief workers would have to
negotiate before being allowed to enter, as agencies waited for visas for
their staff.

The ruling generals also defied calls to postpone Saturday's referendum on
a new constitution -- part of its slow-moving "road map" to democracy --
saying it would proceed except in the areas hardest hit by the disaster.

Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy reacted
angrily, saying it was "extremely unacceptable" for the vote to go ahead
when storm survivors were in desperate need of assistance.

In the government's first news conference since Nargis barrelled into the
Irrawaddy region early Saturday, it said 95 percent of the homes in the
delta town of Bogalay had been washed away.

"Many people were killed in a 12-foot (3.5-metre) tidal wave," Social
Welfare Minister Maung Maung Swe told reporters.

State television said 21,793 people were killed and 40,695 were missing in
Irrawaddy division, while 671 were killed and 359 people were missing in
Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city and the former capital.

Satellite images from US space agency NASA showed virtually the entire
coastal plain of the country, one of the world's poorest nations, under
water.

Christian relief organisation World Vision said its teams had witnessed
horrific scenes.

"They saw the dead bodies from the helicopters, so it's quite
overwhelming," said Kyi Minn, an adviser to World Vision's office in
Yangon.

Video footage of the disaster zone showed flattened villages, smashed
bridges, and survivors forced to live out in the open.

Aid groups were rushing to bring food, water, clothing and shelter into
the country, whose military rulers have long turned their back on the
outside world -- and prevented many aid charities from operating here.

"Getting it out to the affected populations will be a major challenge,
given that there is widespread flooding," said Richard Horsey, a spokesman
for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangkok.

"The urgent need is for shelter and for water. Without clean drinking
water, the risk of disease spreading is the most serious concern."

The UN's World Food Programme said it had begun distributing 800 tonnes of
food to the hardest-hit areas including Yangon, but that many coastal
regions remained cut off due to flooding and road damage.

Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan, the regime's information minister, said the
country was "greatly thankful" for the offers of help that have been
pouring in from around the world.

But Myanmar faced criticism over its apparent lack of preparation for the
disaster, with US First Lady Laura Bush saying the government had not done
enough to warn citizens the storm was approaching.

____________________________________

May 6, Associated Press
Myanmar opposition says referendum 'unacceptable' after cyclone

Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition said Tuesday that it was "extremely
unacceptable" for the ruling junta to go ahead with a constitutional
referendum after a cyclone killed 15,000 people in the country.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) said the regime had yet to provide
meaningful assistance to hundreds of thousands of victims four days after
the storm hit.

"We haven't seen effective assistance to storm victims, even though the
authorities have declared (regions) as disaster zones," the party said in
a statement.

"It is extremely unacceptable because they are giving priority to the
constitution process without respecting the social difficulties faced by
people during this disaster."

Myanmar's military rulers announced Tuesday that they would go ahead with
a referendum on Saturday in most of the country, despite the cyclone
damage.

The voting will take place two weeks later in the 47 townships hardest-hit
by the cyclone, state television announced.

The balloting will be the first in Myanmar in nearly two decades.

The NLD called for international assistance to help ease the suffering of
the hundreds of thousands of people believed to be homeless after the
storm, as well as for help in rebuilding roads, schools, hospitals and
other damaged facilities.

"The NLD especially requests, on behalf of the people, international
assistance, including from the United Nations, as soon as possible to
rebuild basic infrastructure quickly and to ease the suffering of the
people," the statement said.

"The NLD will help and cooperate to deliver these international supplies
to the storm victims quickly and correctly," it added, urging the party's
members to help the victims of the cyclone.

____________________________________

May 6, Associated Press
Transport, visa hurdles slowing aid to Myanmar storm victims – Alexander
Higgins

Travel and visa obstacles on Tuesday hampered aid deliveries to the
estimated 1 million people in Myanmar believed to be homeless after the
devastating cyclone, officials said.

Assistance had started to reach people in and around Yangon, Myanmar's
largest city, said Chris Kaye, the U.N. World Food Program's director for
Myanmar.

But many coastal areas remained cut off from food supplies because of
flooding and road damage. Additional truckloads of food would be
dispatched Wednesday to Labutta township, the area hardest hit by the
cyclone that struck over the weekend, Kaye said.

The food agency said its assessment teams were reporting tremendous storm
damage to homes and shelter in villages in the rice-growing areas on
Myanmar's coast. It said the death toll was still increasing.

However, U.N. relief spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said that some U.N.
workers planning to assess needs were still awaiting their visas to enter
the country.

The death toll in the country, which is also known as Burma, was in the
tens of thousands with many more still missing, state radio reported. As
many as 1 million people may have been left homeless.

The United States said it was giving $3 million to U.N. agencies to help
with their efforts, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000.
The European Union will provide $3.1 million, according to a statement
released by Slovenia, president of the 27-nation bloc.

China is providing $1 million in aid, including relief materials worth
$500,000, to help with disaster relief and rehabilitation efforts, a
spokesman said.

But the United States and France complained about Myanmar's reluctance to
accept direct aid.

President Bush called on Myanmar's military junta to allow the United
States to help with disaster assistance, saying the U.S. already has
provided some assistance but wants to do more.

"We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost
their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation.
But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster
assessment teams into the country," he said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France minimized its aid to
about $309,000. He said Myanmar officials are willing to accept aid but
insist on distributing it themselves, which he said was "not a good way of
doing things."

"It's not a lot but we don't really trust the way the Burmese ministry
would use the money," said Kouchner, who is also the co-founder of French
aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Kouchner said, however, that 25 percent of the EU donation was coming from
France.

Anne-Francoise Moffroid, the EU desk officer dealing with the crisis, said
it was difficult to know how many people will need aid. Affected areas are
isolated and difficult to reach and infrastructure has been destroyed, she
said.

"Many volunteers from the local Red Cross have died in the disaster," she
said. "I think it will be a major challenge to bring assistance to these
areas."

Simon Horner, spokesman for the EU humanitarian office, called it "a
massive disaster," particularly in the Irrawaddy delta.

"The reports that are coming back from some of our partner organizations
... is that there are some communities where the destruction is close to
100 percent," Horner said.

The military government generally makes it difficult for aid workers to
move around the country without permission, and obtaining visas to bring
in more international staff also is an obstacle.

The U.N. emergency relief coordinator said that a number of organizations
felt visas were "a concern" and that the United Nations was asking the
government to ease the situation.

"Since we now have the green light for international aid to go there, I
hope we will get the visas as soon as possible," UNICEF spokeswoman
Veronique Taveau said.

The U.N., Red Cross and other aid organizations have been organizing
shipments to the country.

The national Red Cross staff and 18,000 volunteers are handing out plastic
sheets, drinking water, insecticide-treated bed nets and clothes, said
Eric Porterfield, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the international community
should focus on providing humanitarian aid to Myanmar instead of
criticizing the ruling junta's handling of the cyclone.

Some residents of Yangon, the former capital of 6.5 million, said they
were angry the government failed to adequately warn them of the
approaching storm and has so far done little to alleviate their plight.

The Norwegian government alone said it would give up to $1.96 million.
Spain said it would donate $775,000 to the World Food Program, while
Switzerland said it would send an initial $475,000 and the Swiss Red Cross
said it would send $190,000.

Singapore said it will provide $200,000 for tents, ground sheets, sleeping
bags, medical supplies, drinking water and emergency food. The Czech
government allocated $154,000, while Denmark said it was giving $103,600.

Sweden offered logistic support and water cleaning systems to the U.N.
operation.

Associated Press Writer Paul Ames in Brussels, Belgium, and AP
correspondents in bureaus around the world contributed to this report.

____________________________________

May 6, Irrawaddy
Burmese officials go AWOL to search for relatives – Min Lwin

With the death count climbing in Burma’s densely populated Irrawaddy Delta
in the wake of last Saturday’s devastating cyclone, some officials in the
capital are courting the ruling junta’s ire by leaving their posts to
search for family members in the affected area.

Sources in Naypyidaw told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that civil servants in
the regime’s new capital, located some 320 kilometers north of Burma’s
largest city and former capital, Rangoon, have been denied permission to
take leave until after a constitutional referendum scheduled to take place
on May 10.

Despite orders to remain on the job, however, many have already made their
way back to Rangoon, which was directly in the path of Cyclone Nargis when
it struck in the early hours of May 3.

“Some staff members have returned with the tacit approval of their
superiors,” said an official who works in the Ministry of Education,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We left our children in Rangoon, and we should be there with them now,”
the official said, adding that higher authorities have turned down all
requests for leave until after the May 10 referendum.

Many of Burma’s bureaucrats have homes in Rangoon, where they lived until
the junta suddenly shifted the capital to Naypyidaw in November 2005.
Telephone lines and Internet connections in Rangoon, which is still the
country’s main commercial center, have been down since Friday.

Military personnel with relatives in the stricken area have also been
returning to their homes without permission from their commanding
officers.

A sergeant working at a military supply office in Naypyidaw said that some
junior officers have gone back to Rangoon because they had been unable to
make contact with their families there.

“I don’t know if the people who have gone to Rangoon will be punished
after they come back to work,” he said.

Meanwhile, concern is also growing among Burmese people living in other
parts of the country and overseas.

A doctor from Kalewa Township in northern Burma’s Sagaing Division said
that she was deeply worried about the situation in Rangoon, because she
hadn’t received any information from her family there since the cyclone
struck.

Millions of Burmese living and working abroad are also troubled by the
lack of concrete information coming out of the disaster zone.

“Every Burmese worker here is concerned about the situation,” said Aung
Myint, an employee at a company in Malaysia’s Kalan State. “We keep trying
to call Burma every chance we get.”

According to Aung Myint, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian
telecommunications company, sent a message to registered Burmese customers
announcing that calls to Burma had been impacted by the Cyclone Nargis
disaster.


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 6, Narinjara News
Another cyclone likely to strike

The Bangladesh meteorological office said on Sunday in its long-range
forecast for May that at least one cyclonic storm may develop from the
depressions in the Bay of Bengal this month.

The forecast was issued by the meteorological office after a meeting of
experts.

The cyclone, if it forms in the Bay, would be called ABC, from a panel of
code names selected for cyclones in the Bay of Bengal this year, a
Bangladesh senior meteorologist and cyclone expert said.

Cyclone Nargis struck the Burma delta earlier this month and may have
killed as many as 15,000 people. After Nargis, the meteorological office
in Bangladesh is closely watching the weather patterns in the Bay of
Bengal.

When cyclone Nargis formed in the Bay of Bengal, the Bangladesh authority
also warned Bangladeshis about the cyclone via radio and multiple TV
channels.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 6, Times of London
Rice prices hit records amid Burmese disaster – Rhys Blakely, Bombay and
Leo Lewis

The cyclone that has devastated Burma is not only set to push world rice
prices higher but may have jeopardised the country’s long-term ability to
feed its own population, Asian food experts say.

As well as unleashing a catastrophic loss of life, Cyclone Nargis appears
to have been fiercest in Burma’s main rice-growing region, the Irrawaddy
delta.

Full details of the damage are not yet clear, say World Food Programme
officials, but the growing fear is that millions of tons of salt water
have flooded onto the precious rice paddies, making them unfit for
planting for some time.

The UN agency said that it was not yet known whether Burma, a key rice
exporter, would be able to meet commitments to supply the staple to Sri
Lanka and Bangladesh and has warned of "potentially serious effects".

The price of rice has trebled across Asia this year, hitting a record
$25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24. Some local market prices have risen
tenfold in the past year and several governments have responded by
imposing export bans. Rice is currently trading around $20.96 per 100
pounds.

The price rise has put a severe strain on poor families which spend most
of their incomes on food and countries such as Bangladesh have already
been forced to plead with neighbouring states, including India, to
guarantee supplies.

Officials in Burma say that it is still too early to know the full impact
of the storm on rice supplies but it is thought likely shipments out of
the country will be delayed. "We are still carrying out a damage survey of
our rice stocks and will make an appropriate decision after that," an
official from the national Federation of Commerce and Industry told
Reuters.

If several harvests are missed as a result of the calamity, Burma’s
rickety food economy and impoverished population may take the blow the
country can least afford and become a net importer of rice. Given Burma’s
uncomfortable relationship with many suppliers in the region China, which
remains close to the military regime, would probably step in as the main
exporter.

Becoming an importer is not a position anyone would wish for under current
market conditions: yesterday the Philippines was forced to cancel a huge
tender for rice imports because only one bidder emerged with an impossible
price for the goods.

The International Rice Research Institute warned that, with the year’s
second harvest imminent, weather patterns in Asia would come under
unprecedented scrutiny: the freak damage caused by the cyclone will now
exacerbate that.

The WFP yesterday raised the prospect for "long-term food insecurity" in
Burma, and the president of the powerful Thai Rice Exporters Association
acknowledged that it may soon have to export rice to a country that used
to produce enough to meet its own needs.

The region is likely to suffer too. Burma was preparing to export 400,000
tons of rice over the course of this year and had been hoping to profit
from record price levels.

Commodity traders in Hong Kong told The Times that with rice and other
international grain markets now on a "hair-trigger" for bad news, emerging
details of the cyclone could cause cause further panic among Asian
governments still struggling to devise the right policy response to
soaring food inflation.

Burma is one of the countries that Samak Sundaravej, Thailand's Prime
Minister, recently proposed to draw together in a cartel of South-East
Asian rice exporters. The plan to create a body that would seek to wield a
greater influence over rice prices has drawn heavy criticism from
importers.

In the wake of mounting concerns over rice supplies, Mr Samak said that he
would seek to bring together Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Cambodia
in a price-setting organisation.

At least 15,000 people have been killed and up to 30,000 are missing after
the catastrophic cyclone struck Burma at the weekend, with officials
warning that the toll was likely to rise.

Nyan Win, the Burmese Foreign Minister, said on state television that
10,000 people had died in just one town, Bogalay, as he gave the first
detailed account of the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000
people died in Bangladesh.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 6, Associated Press
WHO says Burma faces major health worries – Maggie Mason

Fears of outbreaks fueled by mosquitoes, dirty water and poor sanitation
were among the World Health Organization's biggest concerns after a
devastating cyclone hit Burma, home to one of the world's worst health
systems.

WHO was waiting Tuesday for permission from the country's ruling junta to
send in medical teams but demolished infrastructure would likely hamper
early efforts, said Vismita Gupta-Smith, spokeswoman for WHO's regional
office in New Delhi.

"The communications are broken down and the roads are not operational,"
she said. "But the officers are on the ground and are ready for rapid
assessment, surveillance and mobilization."

Teams will work to prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, as
well as diarrhea and other outbreaks that can spread quickly amid a lack
of clean water and sanitation. Major concerns also include respiratory
illnesses among children forced to sleep outside and injuries suffered
during the storm, Gupta-Smith said.

WHO was waiting for Burma's military leaders to request aid from a
regional emergency fund the UN agency set up last year to fill the time
gap between international donors' pledges and the actual arrival of aid.
About US $175,000 would be available right away, she said.

Officials said the death toll from the weekend storm could climb higher
than the 22,400 already feared dead. Up to 1 million people were left
homeless.

The cyclone ripped down power lines and destroyed roads and homes. Fuel
shortages and a lack of food and clean water have worsened the situation
in some areas, said UNICEF spokeswoman Shantha Bloemen in Bangkok, the
capital of neighboring Thailand.

She said it would likely take two or three days to assess the damage.

UNICEF planned to distribute water purification tablets, mosquito nets and
health kits, while also responding to food shortages in a country where
millions go hungry during the best of times and about one in three
children is malnourished.

An estimated 90 percent of people in Burma live on just US$1 a day. In
2000, WHO ranked its overall health care system as the world's
second-worst after war-ravaged Sierra Leone.

Hospitals are available but most people cannot afford them. Thousands
instead risk their lives each year to travel to a clinic at a border town
in Thailand where free treatment is offered.

Several humanitarian agencies, including the French arm of Doctors Without
Borders, have pulled out of the Southeast Asian country in recent years
due to travel restrictions and tight government control.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962 and the junta has been
widely criticized for large-scale human rights abuses and suppression of
pro-democracy parties. In September the military crushed peaceful protests
led by Buddhist monks and pro-democracy activists, killing at least 31
people and leading to the arrest of thousands more.


____________________________________
ASEAN

May 6, Agence France Presse
Mangrove destruction partly to blame for Myanmar toll: ASEAN chief

The destruction of mangrove forests that served as a buffer from the sea
is partly to blame for the massive death toll from a cyclone in Myanmar,
the head of the ASEAN regional bloc said Tuesday.

More than 15,000 people have died after the cyclone swept through the
Irrawaddy river delta over the weekend and pounded Myanmar's main city of
Yangon, the country's state media reported.

"Why the impact is so severe is because of the increase of the
population," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, to which military-ruled Myanmar belongs.

This has led to an "encroachment into the mangrove forests which used to
serve as buffer between the rising tide, between big waves and storms and
the residential area," he said in a speech in Singapore.

"All those lands have been destroyed. Human beings are now direct victims
of such natural forces."

Surin was giving a keynote address at the launch of a new centre at the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies to focus on non-traditional
security threats. These include climate change, degradation of the
environment, and diseases such as bird flu.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the devastated town of
Bogalay, in the heart of the Irrawaddy river delta where the storm swept
ashore, had suffered most of the losses.

The Irrawaddy is one of the most heavily silted rivers in the world
because of deforestation and intensive agriculture activities along its
banks, the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation said on its
website.

It said land outside the reserved forests has been converted for
agricultural use and mangrove forests within the reserve "are now
disappearing at a rapid rate."

The centre cited a study which said that if the rate of destruction
between 1977 and 1986 was maintained, all mangrove forest would disappear
in 50 years.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 6, Times of London
India says it warned Burma about cyclone

Indian meteorologists say that they gave authorities in neighbouring Burma
48 hours warning before a cyclone slammed into the country, killing as
many as 60,000 people.

The comments from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) came after
allegations from Laura Bush, the US First Lady, that Burma's military
junta failed to warn its citizens of the impending storm.

“Forty-eight hours before (tropical cyclone) Nargis struck, we indicated
its point of crossing (landfall), its severity and all related issues to
Myanmarese agencies,” B.P. Yadav, an IMD spokesman, said.

The department is mandated by the United Nations’ World Meteorological
Organisation to track cyclones in the region. “Our job is to give warnings
and in advance, and we take pride in saying that we gave warnings much,
much in advance and there was enough time to take precautionary measures
such as evacuation,” Mr Yadav added.

He said that starting in late April, the weather department was issuing
regular advisories to Burma and other South and Southeast Asian countries
that the cyclone was brewing in the Bay of Bengal.

“Way back on April 26, we told them a cyclone was coming,” Mr Yadav said,
referring to general warnings of a growing storm.The IMD’s 41st and final
advisory about the status of the storm was issued on Saturday, just after
the cyclone hit land.

Mrs Bush yesterday accused Myanmar’s military regime of failing to take
action to protect the remote part of the impoverished country from the
storm. “Although they were aware of the threat, Burma’s state-run media
failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm’s path,” she
said.

The IMD, which also alerted the World Meteorological Organisation,
declined to comment on Mrs Bush’s allegations.

The official death toll from the cyclone stands at 22,000 with a further
41,000 people listed as missing. Most of the victims were killed in the
Irrawaddy river delta, a remote but densely populated region of malarial
swampland that is hard to reach at the best of times, experts say.

International aid agencies, which are still waiting for permission to
enter the country four days after the storm, said delivering aid to such a
remote region was posing a major challenge.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 6, Reuters
Hundreds of thousands need help in Myanmar: U.N. – Louis Charbonneau

The United Nations estimates that "hundreds of thousands" of people in
Myanmar are in need of help after a cyclone that killed nearly 22,500, a
top U.N. humanitarian official said on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately we cannot tell you how many people are in need of
assistance," Rashid Khalikov, director of the U.N. office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs, told reporters in New York. "We just
clearly understand that it will probably be in the hundreds of thousands
of people."

Khalikov also appealed to Myanmar to waive visa requirements for U.N. aid
workers trying to get into the country days after the devastating cyclone,
in the same way Pakistan and Iran did after disastrous earthquakes struck
their countries.

Khalikov added that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had also asked the
government to cooperate with the United Nations as much as possible to
enable aid to reach people in the affected areas.

He said the U.N. aid officials gathered in Bangkok had only applied for
their visas on Tuesday. They were unable to apply on Monday, he said,
because the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok was closed due to a Thai holiday.

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said that Ban had written a letter to the
junta's senior general, Than Shwe, though she declined to say whether he
had mentioned the issue of visas for U.N. aid officials.

Khalikov was asked if he had a backup plan if the military government in
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, refused to issue visas to U.N. aid
workers.

"The backup plan is to urge (the government) to issue visas," he said.

Separately, the World Food Program (WFP), the food aid branch of the
United Nations, said in a statement that it began distributing food in
cyclone-damaged areas in Yangon on Tuesday.

"WFP food assistance has now begun to reach persons who are without
shelter or food resources in and around Yangon," said WFP country director
Chris Kaye.

Kaye said the government had provided "some valuable cooperation".
However, he indicated that the cooperation provided so far was
insufficient.

"In order to meet the needs of the persons most badly affected by the
disaster, much more cooperation will be required in the short term," Kaye
said.

Khalikov said the United Nations was in the process of shipping additional
emergency aid to Myanmar to supplement the more than 800 metric tons of
food stocks the WFP has available in warehouses in Yangon.

However, Khalikov said he could not confirm that any of the U.N. aid
coming from outside Myanmar had crossed the border.

The U.N. Central Emergency Relief Fund could also quickly release tens of
millions of dollars in emergency aid, he said.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau, editing by Philip Barbara)

____________________________________

May 6, The New Australian
Care Australia allowed into Burma

A leading Australian aid agency says the Burmese military regime has
allowed its efforts to provide urgent relief following the catastrophic
aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

CARE Australia, which has operated in parts of Burma for 14 years, has
already begun providing plastic sheeting for emergency shelter, food,
water and other essentials.

With the latest death toll reaching 22,000 dead, 41,000 missing and
expected to continue rising from the weekend cyclone, many aid agencies
are still awaiting travel visas to enter the reclusive nation.

The US and Australia have led international calls for the military junta
to ease emergency entry restrictions.

CARE Australia spokesman Robert Yallop said that authorities had been
cooperative.

"We've had full support from the authorities, working with the UN. The
scale is quite enormous," Mr Yallop told the Nine Network.

"Every indication that we have at the moment is that we've been receiving
full cooperation from the government authorities in Myanmar Burma.

"The UN is basically organising most of that interaction with the
government authorities, but we have certainly had no impediment to our
activities to date."

Australia has said it will put aside cool relations with its military
junta to offer humanitarian aid to the millions affected by the cyclone in
Burma.

Mr Yallop said CARE's team in Burma had been shocked by the extent of the
devastation, and called for Australians to donate money to the relief
fund.

"The CARE Australia team's were out yesterday in areas just on the
outskirts of Yangon (Rangoon), along the river. They were shocked," Mr
Yallop said.

"What they found were that there were thousands of people who are now
living in pagodas, in schools, who've lost their houses.

"We're beginning to provide plastic sheeting for shelter, provide food,
water and other immediate needs.

"But the scale of this is quite enormous and in the coming days the
requirements are going to be much, much greater.

"There are a lot of things that need to be brought in.

"We will be bringing in materials and equipment from Thailand, but what we
really need at the moment is the generous support of the Australian public
so that we can simply get enough resources to provide assistance for this
effort."

____________________________________

May 6, Bangkok Post
Bush calls for action, adds $3m to Burma aid

The United States will give an additional $3 million in aid to Burma in
response to a cyclone that has left more than 22,000 people dead, the
White House said Tuesday.

The money through the US Agency for International Development will be at
the disposal of an aid team in Thailand that is prepared to head into
Burma when the military government grants it access, White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

President George W Bush earlier Tuesday urged the military junta to accept
US aid.

"The United States has made an initial aid contribution, but we want to do
a lot more," Bush said, while signing legislation awarding Burmese Nobel
peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi the highest civilian honour from the US
Congress, the Congressional Gold Medal.

"We're prepared to move US Navy assets to help find those who've lost
their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation.
But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster
assessment teams into the country," he said.

Washington would also consider diverting its funds through international
organizations such as the United Nations if its aid workers are not
allowed into the country, Perino said.

"The assistance that we are providing is needs-based, and it's dependent
on only us wanting to help them," Perino said, stressing that "the relief
that Burmese people need would be much better handled if we could get into
the country."

The money is on top of $250,000 in immediate emergency aid through the US
embassy in Yangon released on Monday.

____________________________________

May 6, BBC News
UK pledges £5m in aid for Burma

Britain has promised £5m to Burma to help the survivors of a cyclone that
struck on Saturday leaving more than 22,000 dead and many more missing.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander told BBC News it was
the right response for "an extremely serious humanitarian situation".

International aid agencies are pushing to gain access to the area for a
massive relief operation.

Some UK charities have already begun distributing aid packages.

Save the Children aims to provide 30,000 families with food supplies,
water purification kits, plastic sheeting, kitchen equipment and
rehydration salts.

'Largest single effort'

Christian Aid has sent £50,000 to its partners carrying out relief work in
the country and the British Red Cross has released £30,000 from its
disaster fund to pay for supplies in the region.

Both have also launched appeals for the public to donate money.

Oxfam committed up to £250,000 in aid and has put a team on standby.

HAVE YOUR SAY Right now the international community has to bend over
backwards to alleviate the suffering of the Burmese people Pancha,
Brussels

Meanwhile, Cornwall-based charity Shelterbox is sending 200 tents to
provide shelter for 2,000 people, with another 600 expected to be sent
over in the next few days.

Mr Alexander told BBC News Britain's contribution was "the largest single
effort of any member state of the United Nations so far".

He also called for the Burmese government to allow the international
community access to carry out assessments and provide much-needed relief.

Speaking earlier at a conference in London, the prime minister offered
sympathy on behalf of the British people to those suffering in Burma.

Gordon Brown said: "I believe nearly a million people are now in need of
food aid, and we will have to help the families of those where people have
died.

"I want to pledge on behalf of the British government that we will work
with the whole international community to make sure that the food aid and
the other support that is necessary is available to the people of Burma."

'Stretched to the limit'

Save the Children, which has had a presence in the military-ruled country
for 13 years, says there are difficulties distributing aid.

Amanda Weisbaum, head of emergency response, said: "Public transport
prices have risen 1,000%. Fuel and all transport are hard to source and,
with a few exceptions, electricity and landline communications have also
been cut.

"Trucks and boats and other logistical support are also needed to help
distribute the materials.

"Families are using flood water and water from lakes. Food is available
but the cost has gone up by 50%," she added.

Dan Collinson, programme manager for Save the Children in South East Asia,
said in some cases there were more than 1,000 people per shelter and
people were fighting over access to water, nails and candles.

Shelterbox said 200 boxes, each including a 10-man tent, blankets and
water carriers were on their way to the country.

Tom Henderson, the charity's chief executive, said a team of four workers
was flying out on Tuesday to distribute the packages and he was confident
they would be allowed access.

"We have operated in North Korea and Lebanon and are well used to working
hard to get this done," he said.

Quick response

Christian Aid's four local partners say shelter, food, and clean water are
urgently needed.

The charity's Asia specialist, Anjali Kwatra, said it had been difficult
to get information from the ground.

But one handwritten letter taken into Thailand revealed salt water had
been contaminating fresh water wells and a lot of military were on the
streets of Rangoon trying to organise relief work, she said.

Sarah Ireland, Oxfam's East Asia regional director, said: "The aid effort
faces huge challenges.

"Some 24 million live in the areas affected by the storm. Communications
are down in the cyclone-hit areas, roads have been washed away and getting
aid to people will be very difficult.

"The international community needs to be quick both to respond to this
crisis and to ensure the needs of those most affected are met."


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

Ma 6, Times of London
Hated Burma junta is facing one hell of a challenge to its isolation –
Bronwen Maddox

It is impossible not to hope that the catastrophe in Burma undermines one
of the most oppressive and unpleasant dictatorships in the world. There
are a few reasons why it might, although the regime's brutal resilience
means that this can be only a slim chance.

The first is the scale of the tragedy — the number of dead, still climbing
yesterday, and the annihilation of much of the country's rice crop. Any
normal government would call to the world for help; even the Burmese junta
is under pressure to accept the food and other help now showered on it.

That did not count for much in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami when the
regime spurned offers of help. Yesterday there were signs that it might
accept money and food aid — but was balking at letting in the teams of
workers to distribute it.

Yet it has a problem if it refuses — hard to call it a political problem
in a land without politics — but a risk of reigniting opposition, and
fanning it further with a demonstration of the limits to its own control.

The Burmese cannot blame their Government for the cyclone but they can for
all the effects. As Laura Bush, the American First Lady, said yesterday:
“Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to
issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path.”

The State Peace and Development Council, as the junta calls itself, will
be even more to blame if thousands more now die from starvation or disease
when so much has been offered and when its own security forces have
appeared so unwilling or unable to help. “Last time they came here just
like ants, from where I don't know. Now I can't see any — no army, no
police,” said one Rangoon resident, comparing this week's response with
last September's violent and immediate crackdown on the protests led by
Buddhist monks.

Would that make any difference to the regime? The active protests by the
monks did not. But it might, a bit. The regime has not shown itself
concerned in the slightest about the wellbeing of its people. But it
appeared rattled by last year's protests — and the impossibility of
stopping the world from seeing them, in an age of mobile phones and tiny
cameras. The size of the demonstrations, and the support they won around
the world, told the ageing junta that it could not build a wall around its
country and completely shut out the modern world, as it has been so
determined to do.

Its most preposterous move to shore up its support is the referendum it
was due to hold on Saturday — now postponed by a few weeks — to win
backing for a “democratic constitution”. Many Burmese, rightly, see this
as the generals' ploy to entrench themselves in power with a pretence of
legitimacy. Why bother, however, unless they did put some value on that
pretence, even if the world doesn't?

They are not blind to the revolutions or opposition dislodging military
regimes (as in Pakistan), or the protests that can rattle even powerful
authoritarian ones (the generals have had a careful eye on the progress of
the Olympic torch, we can assume).

They have an antique and ridiculous sense of what might strengthen their
grip. But they might still recognise that it is in their own interests
this time — to head off even more furious criticism abroad as well as
bitter protests at home — if they let in aid and people to help.

That alone would acknowledge the usefulness of the outside world, a step
the junta has never wanted to take - and so would begin to change Burma.

____________________________________

May 6, Irrawaddy
Relief effort should be Burma’s no 1 priority – Kyaw Zwa Moe

Burma, devastated by cyclone Nargis, is undergoing a national disaster
that is beyond politics.

The military government said on Tuesday 22,464 people are dead and 41,054
are missing, but local people say the figure may go much higher. One
million people may be homeless in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions,
according to aid workers.

It’s time to go beyond politics: local, national and international.

Neighboring Asian countries, Western countries and the United Nations are
ready to provide relief assistance. But what is the military government
doing?

People across the region complain of a lack of warning as the storm
approached. After the storm hit, the military, police and other
governmental workers were nowhere to be seen. On Monday—two days after the
cyclone struck—a few uniformed people could be seen in areas of the city.
Overall, the government’s response has been criminally negligent, a clear
demonstration of its disrespect and concern for the people of Burma.

Scores of people were quoted in the media noting the government’s
readiness to dispatch troops to shoot, beat and arrest people engaged in
peaceful demonstrations in 2007, and its recent disappearing act when the
people needed its help.

In the ruling generals’ view, the disaster is something to be exploited
for politics. The generals, including Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein, have
appeared on television handing out aid donations to families of victims.
The people receiving blankets and other material were shown clapping on
state television—pure propaganda.

Meanwhile, The Irrawaddy stringers in Rangoon file reports saying many
people in Hlaing Tharyar and Shwe Pyi Thar townships are sleeping on the
roads because their houses are gone. People don’t have clean drinking
water. Almost all towns in the affected areas still lack electricity and
other public services. Prices of all commodities are doubling and
tripling. Material for rebuilding house is skyrocketing, if it can be
found.

Some European countries, the United States and some Asian countries
quickly offered assistance, but the military regime, as always, was
skeptical and slow to accept help. Nevertheless, aid from Thailand and
India is already on the way, and many other countries are setting the
wheels in motion for a massive relief effort. On Tuesday, a UN
spokesperson said the junta finally signaled it will welcome humanitarian
aid.

Unfortunately, the UN and other aid groups will face cumbersome
restrictions as usual. In the past, the junta has thwarted international
NGOs from having clear access to people in need of their services. The
suspicious generals believe foreigners are looking for information they
will use to embarrass the regime.

In spite of the turmoil, the regime is determined to hold the
constitutional referendum except in 47 townships that were hit hardest by
the cyclone. The vote in forty townships in Rangoon Division and seven
townships in Irrawaddy Division will be postponed until May 24. The rest
of the country will vote on May 10 as scheduled.

Meanwhile, local sources said the military regime has continued to
pressure people in rural areas to vote “yes” in the referendum.

The referendum should have been postponed. The government clearly lacks
the ability to cope with the current disaster and the follow-up relief
effort. Going on with the referendum as scheduled is callous and
demeaning.

During the relief effort, the junta will be asked to work with more
international groups than ever before, and the logistics of the relief
effort will be more demanding than anything the military has attempted in
the recent past.

The generals No 1 priority should be to help take care of the dead,
injured and homeless, and to follow through with a massive rebuilding of
essential public services. Tragically, the chances of that happening are
slim indeed.

____________________________________

May 6, Associated Press
Analysis: Devastating cyclone raises risks for Myanmar junta – Grant Peck

The deadly cyclone that ripped into Myanmar poses a threat to the
stranglehold on power of the country's ruling generals, becoming a force
for change more powerful than huge pro-democracy demonstrations and
international sanctions.

Few people think revolution is in the air, not while battered survivors
are still burying the thousands of dead.

By an accident of timing, the cyclone hit just a week before Saturday's
referendum on a new constitution. The junta hopes its proposed charter
passes smoothly despite opposition from feisty democracy activists, but
now it may face angry citizens in no mood to approve anything the
government likes, even though the vote has been postponed in some areas
hit by the storm.

No matter what happens in the referendum, the higher the storm's death
toll climbs — and the less effective the government's relief effort proves
— the bigger the potential for undermining the military's mandate to rule.

People in the region are notably superstitious, and the bad aura
surrounding a tragedy often attaches itself to their governments. Rulers
are considered responsible for natural conditions and a disaster can be
viewed as a sign that officials have lost the "mandate of heaven."

Myanmar's generals have long ruled by fear, especially since thousands
died when the army crushed democracy demonstrations in 1988. The lesson
was reinforced last fall when new democracy protests led by Buddhist monks
were suppressed, with at least 31 people killed and thousands arrested.

In contrast to the regime's decisive response to any hint of political
opposition, it has been laggard in getting help to the cyclone victims.

While the military and other government authorities kept a low profile
Monday in the storm-battered streets of the capital, civilians and
Buddhist monks banded together, wielding axes and knives to clear roads of
tree trunks and branches torn down by the cyclone's 120 mph winds.

"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat
civilians?" one man complained to an Associated Press reporter, refusing
to be identified for fear of retribution. "They should come out in full
force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."

The need for a major relief effort poses a dilemma for the junta: how much
assistance to accept from abroad.

Allowing a major influx of foreigners carries risks, injecting unwanted
outside influence and giving the aid givers rather than the junta credit
for a recovery. But keeping out international aid would focus blame
squarely on the military should it fail to restore peoples' livelihoods.

The most extreme change potentially could come within the military itself,
providing an opening for more moderate officers to expand their influence
if relief failures discredit the hard-line leaders at the top.

Dr. Alpaslan Ozerdem, of the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit
of England's University of York, noted the sudden devastation of a natural
disaster can unleash "a huge anger from the public for the inadequacies of
the state."

Cases in recent history where disasters helped blaze a trail for reform
include a 1985 earthquake in Mexico that many believe marked the beginning
of the end for the long-ruling PRI party; Nicaragua's 1972 earthquake,
which led to the decline of the Somoza dictatorship; and a 1970 cyclone
where Pakistan's inadequate relief efforts contributed to the breakaway of
the country's east to form Bangladesh.

"The image of the state as a paternal figure — a heavy handed protector —
collapses spectacularly," Ozerdem said.

Grant Peck, a correspondent based in Bangkok, has reported on politics and
social developments in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian nations for The
Associated Press since 1992.

____________________________________

May 6, International Herald Tribune
Burma's twin disasters: A cyclone and the generals

By all accounts, Cyclone Nargis has devastated Burma - a 12-foot wall of
water swept away entire villages, leaving the coastal plain under water,
thousands dead, missing or homeless, and much of the capital city of
Rangoon without electricity or water.

It is the sort of disaster that brings the world together in a
single-minded and unconditional desire to help, and the reaction of
national governments, the United Nations and international humanitarian
organizations has been swift and noble. There is no time to waste.

We wish we could also say that this is no time for politics, but that
would not be true. Burma - or Myanmar, as its junta wants it called - has
been under the dictatorial rule of the military for 46 years, increasingly
isolated from the rest of the world and struggling under economic
sanctions by the United States and Europe. Last September, the world was
forcibly reminded of the junta's brutality when it crushed peaceful
protest marches by Buddhist monks.

These repressive policies contributed greatly to the disaster. Crushing
poverty left many coastal communities more vulnerable to the storm than
they otherwise would have been, and, as Laura Bush correctly observed, the
government-controlled media failed to issue timely warnings. The fear now
is that the paranoia of the generals may create obstacles to the rescue
operation, which will require moving huge volumes of supplies over sea,
land and air, as well as large number of aid workers, many from countries
hostile to the regime.

Though the junta took the unusual step of actually asking for foreign
assistance, the information minister suggested that only "friendly
countries" would be allowed to help. It is not clear whether aid workers
will require visas. The junta also has so far refused to cancel a
referendum scheduled for next Saturday on a constitution that purports to
be a step toward democracy. The referendum will not only effectively leave
the military in control but will divert attention from the urgent task of
recovery.

None of this should dissuade any government or agency from trying to help
with the aftermath of the cyclone. President George W. Bush on Tuesday
urged the generals to open the country to outside help and said the United
States stood ready to "do a lot more."

Burma's fate rests now with the generals, who must summon the decency to
assist their countrymen. In time, of course, the world must redouble its
effort to free Burma from the greater disaster of the junta itself.