BurmaNet News, May 16, 2008

[Editor]

May 16, 2008 Issue #3468


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar cyclone death toll nearly 78,000
Reuters: Cyclone beggars line roads of Myanmar delta
New York Times: Aid groups say Myanmar food stolen by military
AP: Myanmar's junta confines foreigners to Yangon

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Regime cronies win contracts for cyclone reconstruction work

HEALTH / AIDS
BBC News: India sends doctors to Burma
Reuters: Some cholera confirmed in cyclone-hit Myanmar

ASEAN
VOA: British PM: UN plans emergency summit in Asia regarding Burma

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: Junta rebuffs EU humanitarian commissioner

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Myanmar accuses France of sending "warship"
Bloomberg: China backs Myanmar in resisting demands to take aid

OPINION / OTHER
WSJ: Burma's junta will survive the cyclone
Irrawaddy: If humanitarian intervention happens, then what?

STATEMENT
Seven Alliances: Referendum result must not be accepted
MSF: MSF teams delivering aid to the Delta call for immediate and
unobstructed escalation of relief operations

INTERVIEW
Mizzima News: Opinions on SPDC's constitutional referendum result
DVB: Monks prevented from working with other donors



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 16, Associated Press
Myanmar cyclone death toll nearly 78,000

The cyclone's official death toll has nearly doubled to almost 78,000 and
another 56,000 people remain missing two weeks after the devastating
storm, state television reported Friday.

The United Nations, meanwhile, said that severe restrictions by Myanmar's
military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent
of survivors' suffering.

John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, will go
to Myanmar on Sunday in an attempt to convince junta leaders to grant more
access to U.N. relief workers and massively scale up aid efforts, said
Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman in Bangkok, Thailand.

With pressure mounting, the military regime has invited foreign diplomats
to tour the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta on Saturday, providing their first
opportunity to personally view the devastation.

U.S. Embassy charge d'affaires Shari Villarosa told The Associated Press
Friday that the Foreign Ministry was arranging the trip, but no further
details were available and it was unclear how much access the diplomats
will have outside the controlled tour.

The handful of foreign experts who have been allowed into the country have
been restricted to Yangon, the former capital. The government has set up
police and military checkpoints on roads leading out of Yangon to
Irrawaddy, where foreigners are being turned back.
____________________________________

May 16, Reuters
Cyclone beggars line roads of Myanmar delta

The rows of beggars on either side of the road stretched for miles, twin
columns of human misery left by the winds and waves of Cyclone Nargis.

Without clothes or shoes, the thousands of men, women and children made
destitute by the cyclone could only stand in the mud and rain of the
latest tropical downpour, their hands clasped together in supplication at
the occasional passing aid vehicle.

Any car that did stop was mobbed by children, their grimy hands reaching
through a window in search of bits of bread or a t-shirt.

The desperate entreaties expose the fragility of the claims by Myanmar's
military government to be on top of the distribution of emergency relief
in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, where up to 2.5 million people are now
clinging to survival.

They also make all the more questionable the reclusive junta's refusal to
admit large-scale foreign aid operations and the workers to run them.

That refusal is motivated by fear the operations might threaten the
generals' grip on power in a country that has known only military rule for
the last 46 years, critics say.

Aid volunteers were shocked by the roadside scenes, which suggest
conditions in the delta are deteriorating rapidly with what little rice
and food that could be salvaged from the ruins of inundated villages now
running out.

"The situation has worsened in just two days. There weren't this many
desperate people when we were last here," one relief volunteer said.

In the storm-struck town of Kunyangon, around 100 (60 miles) southwest of
the former capital, Yangon, the situation was little better, even though
the former Burma's military rulers have started distributing small amounts
of emergency food there.

"I am one of the few survivors," said one lady in her 60s, who did not
want to be named. "I came here to ask for some rice."

Her clothes -- a grubby grey top and faded black longgyi, or sarong -- are
the same she wearing when the May 2 storm struck, sweeping away her home
and possessions.

"I only survived by climbing a tree," she said.

Around the town, the countryside remains a mess of half-submerged trees,
snapped electricity pylons or bamboo poles -- the skeletal remains of a
house -- leaning at crazy angles.

Villagers say they are slowly burying the bloated corpses of friends and
relatives that have littered the rice fields for the last two weeks. But
the stench of death remains.

PRIVATE AID

Frustrated by the speed of the official response, ordinary people were
taking matters into their own hands, sending trucks and vans into the
delta with clothes, biscuits, dried noodles, and rice provided by private
companies and individuals.

"There are too many people. We just cannot give enough. How can the
government act as if nothing happened?" said one volunteer, who declined
to be named for fear of reprisals.

Some said pro-regime thugs were even harassing volunteers in the western
suburbs of Yangon.

Soldiers at military checkpoints leading out of the city were seizing
digital cameras from aid volunteers to try to stop news leaking out to the
outside world, others said.

With almost total distrust of the government, private aid is being left in
the care of Buddhist monasteries, to be distributed by the monkhood, whose
immense moral authority makes it the only institution capable of standing
up to the military.

Going through the roll-call of the needy is a grim task.

"We need to give aid to this family," said one monk pointing to a list in
a temple in one village.

"No," another monk beside him interjected. "They're all dead." (Writing by
Ed Cropley; Editing by Jerry Norton)

____________________________________

May 16, New York Times
Aid groups say Myanmar food stolen by military

The directors of several relief organizations in Myanmar said Wednesday
that some of the international aid arriving into the country for the
victims of Cyclone Nargis was being stolen, diverted or warehoused by the
country’s army.

The United States military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said there was a
possibility that “a significant tropical cyclone” — a second big storm —
would form within 24 hours and head across the Irrawaddy Delta, the region
that suffered most from the first storm, which struck May 3.

Thailand’s prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, flew to Yangon on Wednesday
to try to persuade Myanmar’s leaders to allow more foreign aid workers
into the country. The members of the military junta told him they were in
control of the relief operations and had no need for foreign experts, he
told reporters after returning to Bangkok, The Associated Press reported.

The government said there were no outbreaks of disease or starvation among
the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the cyclone. In Yangon,
Mr. Samak met with the prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, The A.P.
report said.

The aid directors in Myanmar declined to be quoted directly on their
concerns about the stolen supplies for fear of angering the ruling junta
and jeopardizing their operations, although Marcel Wagner, country
director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, confirmed that
aid was being diverted by the army. He said the issue would become an
increasing problem, although he declined to give further details because
of the sensitivity of the situation.

International aid shipments continued to arrive Wednesday, including five
new air deliveries of relief supplies from the United States. Western
diplomats said their representatives at the airport were making sure the
cargo was unloaded efficiently and then trucked to staging areas. The fate
of the supplies after that, however, remained unknown, because the junta
has barred all foreigners, including credentialed diplomats and aid
workers, from accompanying any donated aid, tracking its distribution or
following up on its delivery.

Myanmar state radio reported Wednesday that the death toll from the May 3
cyclone had risen again, to 38,491, Agence France-Presse reported, with
27,838 people still missing. The toll has been increasing daily as more of
the missing are identified as dead. The United Nations has estimated that
the toll could be more than 60,000. The International Red Cross estimated
Wednesday that the cyclone death toll was between 68,833 and 127,990,
according to The A.P.

There were rumors in Myanmar on Wednesday that special high-energy
biscuits donated for distribution in the disaster areas had been replaced
by cheaper, off-the-shelf crackers. But Mr. Wagner and the others said
they had not heard of high-quality foodstuffs being stolen and replaced by
inferior products.

Although aid flights are now regularly seen arriving at the Yangon
airport, international rescue teams and disaster-relief experts for the
most part are being kept away from the country. A small French rescue team
has arrived in Yangon, although it was unclear whether it had received
official permission. The government said it would allow in 160 relief
workers from neighboring countries, including India, China, Bangladesh,
and Thailand, The A.P. reported. But diplomats and representatives of aid
missions said that visas for overseas experts were still being denied.

The United Nations’ top emergency aid official expressed “huge
frustration” Wednesday with the Myanmar government’s barring foreign aid
workers from the areas most devastated by last week’s cyclone and urged it
to make “a radical change” and reverse its decision. John Holmes, the
undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said he could report only
“small signs of progress.”

The United Nations, he said, had raised its estimate of the number of
people “severely affected “ by the cyclone and therefore most in need of
emergency aid to between 1.6 million and 2.5 million. The earlier
estimates were 1.3 million and 1.9 million, respectively.

Mr. Wagner said he and his agency’s foreign staff members were now barred
from the Irrawaddy Delta, even areas where the group has projects from
before the storm. Fortunately, he said, he has Burmese staff members who
are permitted to pass through an increasing number of military
checkpoints.

The Adventist group specializes in rainwater collection, water filtration
and sanitation — just the kinds of expertise most needed now — and Mr.
Wagner said outside experts were needed to train local people in the
proper use of filters, pumps and hygiene.

Reports have been mixed about how much aid was actually getting through to
the delta. One longtime relief coordinator in Myanmar said Tuesday that 30
percent of the people in the damaged areas had been reached. But other
agencies were encouraged about recent improvements in deliveries,
especially groups with projects and local staff already in place, and the
agencies with established working relationships with the government.

The World Health Organization said its supplies were arriving in the
country normally, without being diverted, siphoned off or replaced with
substandard items.

Mr. Wagner said his agency had success in getting its trucks into Labutta,
although daily rainstorms were beginning to make road travel more
difficult. The monsoon season would make things worse, he said, and he and
the World Health Organization experts said they expected to start getting
reports from the field soon about malaria, dengue fever and water-borne
diseases. Mr. Wagner was careful to point out that these afflictions were
not unusual in the delta region, saying, “They happen every year at this
time, with or without a cyclone.”

Shari Villarosa, the senior diplomat at the United States Embassy in
Yangon, said she was encouraged by the military government’s acceptance of
aid. “The Burmese will see they’re going to need help getting this aid
out, but they’re going to come around way too slow — and too late for
many,” Ms. Villarosa said during an interview in her office.

A number of countries have offered to bring in aid and deliver it from the
south, by ship, but the junta has refused. One of the generals’ most
enduring fears is a seaborne invasion by Western powers it calls “foreign
saboteurs.”

“These guys really believe we are planning an invasion,” Ms. Villarosa
said. The United States said this week that several of its military ships
were in the area and ready to provide help in Myanmar. “If they hear that
a large U.S. ship is off the coast, they don’t receive the message that
it’s a genuine humanitarian effort,” she said.

A medical officer from the World Health Organization said Wednesday that
the presence of corpses in the region’s waters was not a serious health
issue.

“I know this issue of dead bodies is a worldwide concern, but the dead
bodies do not represent any specific additional public health risk,” said
Pino Annunziata, a medical officer in the organization’s Department of
Emergency Response and Operations. “This is a very negligible risk from a
public health standpoint. We have to focus on the survivors.”

Warren Hoge contributed reporting from the United Nations.

____________________________________

May 16, Associated Press
Myanmar's junta confines foreigners to Yangon

Myanmar's military rulers have thrown a tightening ring of security around
Yangon, blocking aid workers, foreign diplomats and journalists from
reaching cyclone-battered regions where millions need food and medicine.

New roadblocks manned by armed police have sprung up around Myanmar's
largest city. Authorities at the checkpoints take down passport
information and license plate numbers and sometimes interrogate drivers
and their foreign passengers before ordering them to return to Yangon.

"A circle has been drawn around Yangon and expats are confined there.
While you are getting aid through, it's like getting it through a 3-inch
pipe, not a 30-inch pipe," said Tim Costello, president of the aid agency
World Vision-Australia, in Yangon.

"Foreigners can't go this way," a policemen Friday told a driver with a
foreign journalist at a checkpoint manned by 10 police and an immigration
official dressed in khaki.

The reporter was heading north of Yangon, not even in the direction of the
Irrawaddy delta, where Cyclone Nagris spent its greatest fury two weeks
ago. The United Nations says more than 100,000 may have perished while up
to 2.5 million survivors face starvation and disease.

In the week after the storm hit, entry by foreigners into the delta was
difficult but not impossible. However, the security cordon has been
noticeably tightened in recent days, with numerous new roadblocks thrown
up along roads leading south and west into the delta from Yangon.

Some diplomats will be taken on a visit to the delta by the Foreign
Ministry on Saturday, said U.S. Ambassador Shari Villarosa. Diplomats, who
must seek official permission to travel outside Yangon, have faced the
same barriers in trying to enter the affected region.

Even the few tourists remaining in Yangon cannot now take a ferry across
the city's Rangoon River, visit townships in the immediate Yangon area or
travel to tourist sites elsewhere in the country.

"I tried to leave again yesterday, hoping to go to the Golden Rock but
they wouldn't let me board a bus after checking my ID," said Michael
Emery, a university student from Australia who said he plans to Myanmar
because he is being confined to Yangon. The Golden Rock temple is a
popular tourist destination about 120 miles southeast of Yangon.

The director of an international aid organization said he managed to
penetrate the hardest-hit Irrawaddy region by taking roundabout routes to
towns 100 to 150 miles from Yangon. He ended up driving 22 hours round
trip to spend just two hours in the area and returned to Yangon on Monday.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn't want restrictions on
his agency's travel in the future.

Earlier, others who managed to reach severely hit towns like Laputta and
Bogalay were ordered out before they could enter the evacuation centers in
which thousands of homeless, sick and hungry are huddled.

"Things will still get done but they will not be done as effectively,
efficiently or as quickly which means delays, which means increasing risk
(for survivors)," said Steve Marshall, a U.N. staffer interviewed in
Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday after arriving from Myanmar.


>From the start, the isolationist regime has restricted foreign involvement

in the crisis, saying it welcomes outside aid but not outside experts.

"It has been very clear 'don't try to leave Yangon or you could compromise
your arrangement with the government,'" Costello said. "There is a visible
fence around Yangon that we don't dare cross."

Myanmar staffers of international agencies such as World Vision, Save the
Children and U.N. organizations have been permitted into the delta and the
government has made only one exception to the no-foreigners order.
Thailand will send in a 30-member medical team Saturday which has been
promised access, while about 130 aid workers from China, India and
Bangladesh may follow them into the delta.

The four countries, especially China, have close political ties with
Myanmar which is widely criticized by Western nations and activist groups
of suppressing pro-democracy forces and trampling on human rights.

"The hand that has been slapping them for their political regime and human
rights is the same hand that is offering them aid and saying this isn't
about politics. They distrust that hand," Costello said.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 16, Irrawaddy
Regime cronies win contracts for cyclone reconstruction work – Min Lwin

The Burmese military regime is reportedly giving companies run by its
cronies lucrative contracts to reconstruct areas flattened by cyclone
Nargis.

The 43 companies entrusted with the reconstruction work include such
regime-friendly enterprises as the Asia World Company, Htoo Trading, the
Eden Group, Max Myanmar and Shwe Thanlwin.

The Asia World Company will undertake reconstruction work in Kungyungone
Township under the direction of Brig-Gen Hlun Thi, local sources say.

Asia World is the country’s biggest construction enterprise, run by Tun
Myint Naing, also known as Steven Law, one of the Burmese businessmen on a
US sanctions list because of his suspected links with drugs trafficking.

Htoo Trading is owned by another businessman on the sanctions list—Tay Za.
His company will rebuild destroyed houses, government buildings and
schools in the devastated Irrawaddy delta region. The work in the Bogalay
Township will be overseen by Forestry Minister Brig-Gen Thein Aung.

The Eden Group will undertake reconstruction work in Dedaye Township.

Business sources say Shwe Thanlwin and the First Myanmar Investment
Company have received contracts to reconstruct military buildings at the
Burmese naval base in Hinegyigyun.

Ayear Shwe Wah, Max Myanmar and Wah Wah Win have started reconstruction
projects in Laputta Township.

Ayer Shwe Wah was established by Aung Thet Mann, son of junta member Gen
Thura Shwe Mann, who has been accused of using his position to win
contracts for War Office work in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Aid workers from Laputta Township allege that the Ayear Shwe Wah company
is pressing cyclone survivors to work on reconstruction projects for 800
kyat (70 US Cents) a day.

Other companies which have received contracts for post-cyclone work
include the Naing Group Construction Company, Phwint Phyo Aung
Construction Company, Shine Construction Company, Tet Lann Group,
Universal Construction Group, A1 Construction Company, ASPIDIN
Construction Company, Chan Tha Construction, Ah Yone Oo Construction
Company and Yuzana Construction Group.

Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein said on Thursday that the first
phase of bringing relief to the victims of the cyclone had been completed
and the second phase, reconstruction, was now beginning.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 16, BBC News
India sends doctors to Burma – Sanjoy Majumder

A team of 50 Indian medical personnel is being sent to Burma to help the
victims of Cyclone Nargis, following a request by the country's military
regime.

An Indian Air Force transport aircraft is being sent to the capital
Rangoon on Saturday carrying a team of doctors and medical supplies.

Despite mounting international pressure, the Burmese government has mostly
refused access to foreign aid workers.

But India has close ties to the Burmese junta - one reason why its offer
may have been accepted.

"The request was made by the Myanmar government to our Ministry of
External Affairs which in turn passed it on to the Ministry of Defence,"
says Wing Commander Manish Gandhi of the Indian Air Force.

Even as he spoke, a giant IL-76 military transport aircraft was being
prepared for the mission at Delhi's Palam Air Force base.

'Vastly experienced'

Several olive green military trucks were backed up to the rear of the
aircraft and a team of soldiers was unloading crates of medicines,
supplies and food.

"They're carrying approximately six tonnes of medicines today," says Wing
Commander Gandhi.

"Once they reach Rangoon, they will be divided into two teams which will
set up two mini-hospitals, independent of each other."

The team is expected to be deployed in the flood-hit Irrawaddy delta and
has been drawn from the Indian armed forces.

Officials say they are vastly experienced in disaster management, having
worked in similar situations in India.

India is one of the few countries which have been allowed to send aid to
Burma.

Already, two Indian navy ships and five aircraft have delivered several
shipments of food, clothes, medicines and tents. But until now they were
only allowed to hand over the aid to the Burmese military authorities.

India has forged a close economic and military relationship with Burma
over the years and is one of the few countries which has opposed calls for
sanctions against the country.

This is possibly the main reason why the Burmese government has been less
reluctant to accept its help.

____________________________________

May 16, Reuters
Some cholera confirmed in cyclone-hit Myanmar

An international aid agency has confirmed some cases of cholera in
Myanmar's cyclone-hit Irawaddy delta but the number was in line with
normal levels in previous years, an aid official said on Friday.

"We do have some confirmed cholera," World Health Organization
representative Maureen Birmingham told a news conference in Bangkok. She
was speaking on behalf of around 30 health groups trying to get medical
aid into the delta, where cholera is endemic.

"We don't have an explosion of cholera. Thus far the rate of cholera is no
greater than the background rate that we would be seeing in Myanmar during
this season," she said.

A network was still being set up to monitor for diseases among 2.5 million
people severely affected by the cyclone that tore through the delta two
weeks ago, she said.

Diarrhea, dysentery and skin infections have afflicted some cyclone
refugees crammed into monasteries, schools and other temporary shelters
after the devastating May 2 storm.

The first sign of cholera, which is spread by drinking contaminated dirty
water, is "rice water" Diarrhea leading to chronic dehydration and
possibly death within a few hours.

Without treatment, it can spread rapidly through populations of displaced
people and kill as many as one in two victims.

The WHO has sent emergency health kits to the devastated region and was
providing bleach and chlorine tablets to treat dirty water.

Corpses are still rotting along the banks of the Irrawaddy river two weeks
after the disaster which killed up to 128,000, but the WHO said they pose
no risk to public health.

"There has never been a documented case of a post-natural disaster
epidemic that could be traced to dead bodies," the WHO said in a
statement.

It said the peak danger period is between 10 days and one month after a
natural disaster due to the heightened threat of unsafe food, dirty water
and poor hygiene and sanitation in overcrowded shelters.

"It is how the survivors are managed, rather than how the dead are
managed, that determines if and when an epidemic may occur," the WHO said.

(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Jerry
Norton)


____________________________________
ASEAN

May 16, Voice of America
British PM: UN plans emergency summit in Asia regarding Burma

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the United Nations is planning an
emergency summit in Asia to address Burma's growing humanitarian crisis
created by Cyclone Nargis.

Mr. Brown told reporters Thursday in London at his monthly press
conference that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to meet with
donor states and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), which includes Burma.

A U.N. official confirmed Thursday that Mr. Ban has proposed a meeting
Wednesday to the Asian nations. ASEAN is expected to discuss Burma Monday
in Singapore.

Officials also announced U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, is awaiting
approval for his visa to travel to Burma. They said Holmes wants to travel
to the Irrawaddy delta, the region hardest hit by the storm.

Burmese state media today raised the cyclone death toll to more than
43,000. Officials say the death toll could rise to more than 100,000
people as famine and disease take hold.

The Red Cross says 2.5 million people may have been affected by the storm
and its aftermath.

Burma's leaders have declined most offers of foreign aid workers. They
also have been slow to accept shipments of food, water and supplies.

Human Rights Watch warned this week that foreign donors must closely
monitor aid shipments to the region.

The New York-based group says that without independent monitors on the
ground, the international community cannot be sure aid is reaching those
who need it most.

The Burmese government says it will investigate any claims of misused aid.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 16, Mizzima News
Junta rebuffs EU humanitarian commissioner – Larry Jagan

The European Union Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Lois Michel has
left Burma empty-handed. He failed to convince Burma's military rulers to
make any concessions to the international aid effort during his three-day
visit.

"I urged the Burmese government to grant more visas and allow more
expertise in so that there is a more efficient response to the disaster,"
the commissioner told journalists. "I stressed that my mission was purely
humanitarian and nit in the least political," he added.

The EU envoy went with several key requests: give EU commission staff a
thirty day extension to their visas; rapidly process the outstanding visa
applications from UN and NGO personnel, of which there is more than 200;
grant six-month multi-entry visas to NGOs and UN international aid
workers, thereby increasing the number on the ground three-fold; and allow
NGO and local staff access to the Irrawaddy Delta without seeking prior
permission.

"This would significantly help the international aid effort," he said.
"Time is of the essence," he insisted. But the regime took little heed of
his appeals.

He also asked for improved air access for planes flying from aboard to
land at airports closer to the areas affected by the cyclone to unload aid
supplies. The Burmese authorities rejected this appeal on the grounds that
Burmese traffic control was incompatible with foreign flights. The
international community has recently proposed establishing an air corridor
to the affected areas so that some aid flights could by-pass Rangoon
airport and deliver the supplies more directly and save time.

Although none of his requests were immediately granted, he remains
optimistic that there will be some movement on them in the near future. "I
felt they were tempted to react positively but there was a reluctance to
co-operate with the international community," he said.

The main problem was that the EU commissioner only met relatively
powerless ministers and did not get chance to talk directly to any of the
senior members of the junta. The ministers told the envoy candidly that
they could take any decisions themselves and had to refer it up, according
to a European diplomat travelling with the European delegation.

This was taken to mean only Senior General Than Shwe had the power to make
these decisions. "We now know the chain of command and who's at the top,"
Mr Michel told Mizzima.

Mr Michel also strongly urged the regime to allow him access to the delta
during his visit to see the extent of the damage for himself. This they
have now arranged, for the day after the envoy had left the country. More
than sixty diplomats and heads of UN agencies in Rangoon are being taken
to the delta in three helicopters.

"I hope my visit has been useful," the commissioner told journalists in
Bangkok on a stop between Rangoon and Brussels. But it seems to have
achieved no concrete results. Now the focus is on the UN humanitarian
chief John Holmes' visit on Sunday.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 16, Reuters
Myanmar accuses France of sending "warship" – Louis Charbonneau

Myanmar's U.N. envoy accused France on Friday of sending a warship toward
the cyclone-ravaged country, while the French ambassador said the military
junta was on the verge of a "crime against humanity".

French envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert said the two men had a heated exchange as
he addressed the U.N. General Assembly. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also
spoke, reporting no progress in increasing U.N. access to the many victims
of Cyclone Nargis desperately in need of aid.

"I was interrupted after my first sentence by the ambassador of Myanmar,
who denounced the fact that France was sending a warship to Burma," Ripert
told reporters. "It's not true."

Ripert said the ship is operated by the French navy but is not a warship.
It is carrying 1,500 metric tons of food and medicine as well as small
boats helicopters and field hospital platforms to reach the flooded
Irrawaddy delta.

Myanmar's U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Tint Swe was not available for comment.

Ripert said the French ship would be off the coast of Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma, on Saturday but had not yet received permission to deliver
aid.

"We are still trying to convince the authority of Burma to authorize us to
go there," Ripert said. "The ship will be off the coast of the delta, but
in international waters, tomorrow. We still hope they will not refuse
that."

He said the situation was shifting from a humanitarian disaster "to a
situation that could lead to some true crime against humanity" in which
hundreds of thousands of lives could be in jeopardy.

RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT

France has called on U.N. member states to invoke a little-used concept
known as the "responsibility to protect" based on a 2005 U.N. resolution
that was originally conceived to deal with war crimes and genocide.

Ripert said the U.N. Security Council should authorize countries to
provide aid to Myanmar's people. But China, Russia, Vietnam and South
Africa oppose council involvement in what they say is a humanitarian, not
a political issue.

Separately, the United Nations said its top humanitarian official, John
Holmes, will arrive on Sunday in Myanmar to try to establish contact with
its reclusive military leaders. The aim is to improve U.N. access to the
hardest-hit areas with up to 2.5 million survivors of the cyclone.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Holmes was carrying a third letter
from Ban to Myanmar's senior general Than Shwe, who has repeatedly ignored
Ban's requests for a conversation.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)
____________________________________

May 16, Bloomberg
China backs Myanmar in resisting demands to take aid – Demian McLean

China is backing Myanmar in resisting pressure from the U.S. and other
nations to admit more relief workers and supplies to help as many as 2.5
million cyclone victims at risk of disease and hunger.

Other countries must show ``due respect'' to Myanmar, said Wang Baodong, a
spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, at a briefing yesterday.
``Myanmar is a sovereign country. In the end, rescue and relief work will
have to rely on the Myanmar government and people.''

Wang's comment was the clearest response yet to international pleas for
China to urge the neighboring country to open its doors wider to outside
help.

As many as a half-million children need help in the nation formerly known
as Burma, according to the Christian charity World Vision. Since Cyclone
Nargis struck on May 3, the regime has barred most foreign relief workers,
rejected offers of helicopters and boats, and accepted only a trickle of
the aid offered by the world.

Four more U.S. C-130 cargo planes landed in the city of Yangon yesterday,
and the contents of two of them were handed to charities instead of the
regime, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in
Washington. He said it was the first time the U.S. has been able to ensure
that aid has gone directly to international humanitarian groups.

About 10 Red Cross planes have arrived in the past week, with supplies
distributed by locals.

Death Toll

The death toll from the storm has reached almost 78,000 people, the
Associated Press cited state television as saying. Another 56,000 people
are missing.

The junta insists it can cope with the disaster itself and is stopping
international relief workers from traveling from Yangon to the delta
region struck by the cyclone, Tim Costello, chief executive of World
Vision Australia, said by telephone from the former capital.

``They're very, very efficient at stopping'' aid workers, he said. ``If
there was equal efficiency in delivering aid we'd be pleased.''

France's envoy to the United Nations said yesterday that the Myanmar
government's resistance to delivery of aid is close to becoming criminal
negligence that would allow for forceful intervention.

`We Want Action'

``We are shifting from a situation of non-assistance to people in need to
a situation that could lead to a true crime against humanity if we go on
like that,'' Ambassador Jean- Maurice Ripert told reporters after a
meeting of the UN General Assembly. ``The time is no more for academic
quarrels. People are dying every day. We want action.''

Ripert said France will press for Security Council action next week.

The cyclone is the worst natural disaster to hit Southeast Asia since the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 220,000 people.

China's view on international involvement in disaster relief is rooted in
its historical experience, according to one analyst.

``China would never endorse a precedent of someone flying or sailing into
someone else's country, no matter how good the intentions,'' said Richard
Cronin, head of the Asian Political Economy program at the Henry L.
Stimson Center in Washington. ``Memories of Europeans walking in and
taking Chinese territory in the 19th century are very much alive.''

China at UN

China helped block French and U.S.-led efforts to discuss Myanmar's
resistance to granting visas to aid workers last week in the United
Nations Security Council. In 2006 and 2007, China opposed efforts to
discuss the Myanmar crackdown on political opponents in the council.

Foreign ministers representing the 10 countries in the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Thailand and Myanmar, are meeting
next week in Singapore to discuss ways to get more assistance into the
devastated areas. The group will have to overcome internal divisions that
have prevented it from taking a tougher line against the Myanmar regime on
human rights abuses.

``While Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan on May 14 called the
response to the catastrophe a ``defining moment'' for the organization,
Singapore's ambassador to the U.S., Chan Heng Chee, cautioned that the
issue will be difficult.

``Myanmar should not be made the litmus test of the effectiveness of
Asean,'' she told an audience of the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace in Washington, where Pitsuwan was speaking.

`Man-Made Catastrophe'

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been among the most vocal world
leaders in criticizing Myanmar's rulers. Brown told Parliament on May 14
that the regime was fomenting ``a man-made catastrophe'' and urged it to
open its borders to aid.

Brown resisted calls from the opposition Conservatives to set a deadline
for invoking the UN's ``responsibility to protect'' clause, citing private
aid groups who said air- dropping relief would be ineffective and a
``distraction.''

Since May 12, China has been coping with its own natural disaster, an
earthquake that killed at least 22,000 people. While China has welcomed
foreign teams of relief workers, they have come from nearby countries such
as Russia, Singapore and Japan, Wang said.

Military Distribution

In Myanmar, donated food, water and supplies have been accepted, with the
provision that the military distribute them in almost all cases.

``International aid workers need unrestricted access to the disaster area
and have to be able to work unhindered,'' German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier said this week. ``We're asking the government of
Myanmar to finally ensure this to the fullest extent.''

The UN's emergency-aid chief, John Holmes, is due to arrive in Myanmar
tomorrow to help expedite aid delivery.

The first German flight reached Yangon on May 15, carrying six
water-purification systems that can supply 40,000 people daily.

A French naval vessel loaded with 1,500 tons of food, shelter and medicine
is set to arrive today off Myanmar's coast, and would have the small boats
and helicopters to deliver aid with or without the government's agreement,
Ripert said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Demian McLean in Washington at
dmclean8 at bloomberg.net


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 16, Wall Street Journal
Burma's junta will survive the cyclone – Leslie Hook

It's tempting to see the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis as a
catalyst for democratic change in Burma. After all, other unpopular
regimes have been undermined by natural disasters – think Managua in 1972,
or Mexico City in 1985. But the key lesson of Nargis's aftermath is that
the military junta may be here to stay.

The generals have no other goal. Led by Than Shwe, they manage a vast
security apparatus of 400,000 soldiers. Education, health care and
infrastructure? Ignored. Democratic legitimacy? Who cares. This week, as
if to ram this home, state media announced that the country had approved a
new constitution enshrining the military's power through a rigged
referendum that reported 99% turnout and a 92% "yes" vote.

Over the past 46 years, the generals have signed peace treaties or
cease-fire agreements with most rebel ethnic groups, including the Shan
and the Wa. The political opposition is mostly in jail or in exile. The
generals fund their lifestyle by selling the country's rich natural
resources to Thailand, China and India. That's enough to keep them
solvent, even though the United States, European Union and Australia all
have strict financial sanctions against the rulers, their businesses, and
many Burmese exports.

Meanwhile, the Burmese people live in utter poverty, unable to mount any
significant opposition. Most farm for their livelihood and food, surviving
on less than $1 a day.

The junta's paranoid reaction to Nargis was utterly predictable. This week
the military erected checkpoints along major roads in the Irrawaddy Delta
to prevent foreign-aid workers from traveling to affected areas. What
foreign aid the government has accepted is channeled first to the military
– perhaps so it can be repackaged as Burmese government aid, or squirreled
away for the elites.

The junta has also squashed any nascent civic organization. Since Nargis
hit, soldiers have ordered homeless refugees in the delta to leave the
monasteries in which they were taking shelter, and forbidden some
monasteries from distributing aid.

"Many Burmese communities themselves who are organizing relief efforts are
being harassed by the authorities," reports Debbie Stothard, the
coordinator for Altsean-Burma, an advocacy group. Burmese citizens who try
to take aid to affected areas have been forced to turn the supplies over
to the army.

The generals, too, have been selective about which foreign nations they'll
deal with in the wake of Nargis. Friends like Thailand are welcomed – 30
Thai doctors were granted visas to enter the country, and 130 more
foreign-aid workers will be allowed in from India, Bangladesh and China in
the coming days. That's more than double the number of aid experts
admitted from all other aid organizations, including the United Nations.

Enemies like America are allowed to send aid supplies, such as water,
mosquito nets and blankets, but cannot have a physical relief effort on
the ground that the Burmese people could see. Four U.S. Navy ships are
anchored off the coast, ready to deliver 70,000 gallons of fresh water a
day to the delta area – where people are dying from lack of clean water –
as soon as the junta gives the green light. That supply will be lucky to
see the beach.

All this jibes with how Burma's leaders have approached the international
community in the past: shunning outside pressure, while knowing that their
friends will continue to trade with them and that their domestic
opposition has been defanged. That leaves only one real way for anything
to change inside Burma – a military coup.

Before Nargis, this scenario was unlikely at best. After Nargis, it seems
possible. Gen. Than Shwe, the head of state who has been calling the shots
on how aid is distributed, is old and ill. Mid-ranking officers displeased
with the regime's handling of the cyclone crisis have started complaining
to exile publications such as Chiang Mai, the Thailand-based Irrawaddy
magazine. Civil servants and army officers are reportedly deserting their
posts to go home and help their families.

It's unlikely that a successful grass-roots movement for democracy can be
born out of all this. Cyclone Nargis, which so far has killed more than
60,000 people and displaced a million more, has certainly changed Burma.
Whether it's changed it enough to catalyze a change in government is
another question altogether.

Ms. Hook is an editorial page writer for The Wall Street Journal Asia.

____________________________________

May 16, Irrawaddy
If humanitarian intervention happens, then what? – Wai Moe

As calls for humanitarian intervention in Burma widen and gain momentum,
analysts are asking, what would the country’s armed forces do—fight or
take off their uniforms?

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in London on Thursday: "We will
stop at nothing in trying to pressure the regime into doing what any
regime should have done long ago. And there should be nothing, nothing
that stops that aid getting to the people of the country now.”

Britain, France and the United States all have significant naval forces
very near Burma’s waters.   Part of the US Seventh Fleet, headed by the
USS Essex, is now in the Bay of Bengal or Andaman Sea; France has
dispatched a 22,000-ton amphibious naval craft, Mistral, with 1,500 tons
of rice and medical supplies; and a British Royal Navy frigate, the HMS
Westminster is nearby.

The US vessels carry more than 20 helicopters, other aircraft, landing
craft, humanitarian supplies and 11,000 troops ready for relief work in
Burma.

“It would only take half an hour for the French boats and French
helicopters to reach the disaster area, and I imagine it’s the same story
for our British friends,” the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner,
said in Paris. “We are putting constant pressure on the Burmese
authorities, but we haven’t yet got the go-ahead.”

The pace of the relief effort has failed to make significant progress
nearly two weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck the country, which is
unprecedented in recent decades.

Up to 3.2 million people have been impacted by the storm, according to the
John Hopkins School of Public Health.

What would be the Tatmadaw’s [armed forces] position if Western nations
implemented a humanitarian intervention?

A former major in the Tatmadaw who lives in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy the
armed forces would not fight against a multi-national coalition force that
entered to help the Burmese people.

“Who in the Tatmadaw could be loyal to the top generals who have failed to
help millions of people, if there is intervention on humanitarian
grounds?” he asked.

He said many soldiers and their families also face dire circumstances
because of the mismanagement of the country by the military government.
Soldiers obey orders from the generals not because of love or nationalism,
but because of fear, he said.

Other analysts say the Tatamadaw has a history of patriotism and
nationalism in the past, particularly during the independence struggle in
the 1940s and the battle against communists who occupied eastern Burma in
the 1950s. But the current Tatmadaw is very different from earlier
regimes, they say.

The nation also is well aware of its ranking among the world’s poorest and
most inefficient countries because of the 46-year rule of military
governments.

Htay Aung, a researcher in warfare with the Network for Democracy and
Development (NDD), said if there is a humanitarian intervention by the
international community, the top generals might order troops to oppose the
intervention.

“There is a small possibility that the Tatmadaw would fight back against a
multi-national force because soldiers in the Tatmadaw follow orders, but
it’s just because of fear,” he said.

The Tatmadaw’s ability to oppose a foreign professional force is
questionable, he said.
“In 1950s, the Tatmadaw was well-organized against the Kuomintang troops
in Shan State of Burma. But foreign troops here for a humanitarian
intervention are not like the Kuomintang occupation. Humanitarian
intervention troops come to save people,” he said.

A Burmese military analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border, Aung Kyaw
Zaw, said the Tatmadaw would probably not fight against an international
force.

“Today the Tatmadaw is not like the Tatmadaw during the independence
struggle,” he said. “Burmese military officers are very corrupt, and they
all are looking out for their own business interests.”

If the Tatmadaw battles against multi-national forces, he said, it would
be for a very brief period. “This time is not 1885 or the 1940s. Burma is
suffering under the military rules.”

Win Min, an analyst in civil-military relations in Chiang Mai, Thailand,
said many Tatmadaw officers also want change in the country and would not
oppose foreign forces.

Talk of intervention and the possible consequences is a hot topic among
Burmese bloggers domestically and abroad. Some bloggers have posted public
notices warning that if there is an intervention by Western powers local
people should not go near international aircraft, boats, tanks or troops.
____________________________________
STATEMENT

May 16, Seven Alliances
Referendum result must not be accepted

The united front of the Burmese democracy movement denounces in the
strongest possible terms the published results of the ruling military
regime’s illegal National Referendum. The Burmese military junta has
claimed that 92.4% of the 22 million eligible voters approved the National
Constitution, which would serve to consolidate its illegitimate rule. The
referendum was held amidst gross injustice and human rights abuses.
International voting standards were fundamentally contravened, all
political dialogue was suppressed and the referendum was neither free nor
fair. Ballots were openly manipulated by a heavily present military and
armed forces, many were arrested, some had their vote cast for them and
others were simply barred from casting any vote.

It is ethically indisputable that the absolute priority of the authorities
must be to assist those affected by the catastrophe of Cyclone Nargis and
to properly address its grave potential aftermath. As well as the spread
of disease and the extreme vulnerability of those affected, Burma has just
suffered the destruction of its food-bowl. The Irrawaddy Delta is the
overwhelmingly major agricultural area of Burma; crops, forests, fisheries
and livestock have been annihilated. The long-term economic effects of a
failure to confront this disaster would be devastating for a country that
is already considered one of the poorest in Asia.

The military junta has announced the ‘results’ of their referendum in
advance of the vote of those in the areas most affected by the cyclone.
This illegal act emphasises the cruel absurdity of the entirely fraudulent
referendum. 47 of the country’s 324 townships have had their vote
postponed until May 24th. There has so far been no announcement of the
list of eligible voters or where they should vote, which must surely be
deemed impossible in the current situation. We are further concerned that
people will be intimidated into voting in favour of the junta’s
constitution by the threat of having much-needed aid withheld. It is it a
humanitarian disgrace to consider holding the vote amidst such tragedy and
disruption.

In the face of the despicable contravention of their own and international
laws regarding the holding of a national vote, as well as the current
humanitarian crisis, the referendum must be whole-heartedly condemned. We
hereby call on the United Nations Security Council, ASEAN and the whole
international community to reject the results of this referendum on both
legal and ethical grounds.

- END -

Media Contact:
Dr. Lian H. Sakhong +66 81 029 6100
Khin Ohmar            +66 81 884 0772
Soe Aung                         +66 81 839 9816
Nang Hseng Noung           +66 81 884 4963

• National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) • National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) • Ethnic Nationalities Council
(ENC) • Women’s League of Burma (WLB) • Forum for Democracy in Burma (FDB)
• Student and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB) • Nationalities Youth Forum
(NY Forum)


____________________________________

May 16, Medecins Sans Frontieres
MSF teams delivering aid to the Delta call for immediate and unobstructed
escalation of relief operations

Fourteen days after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, needs remain immense in
the Irawaddy Delta. Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are delivering
medical assistance and relief supplies directly to tens of thousands of
people. However, MSF urges for an immediate scaling up of the overall
relief operation, which until now has been deployed far too slowly and is
largely insufficient.

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and many are
gathered in makeshift camps. They are in urgent need of drinking water,
food and other basic necessities. Elsewhere, survivors are living among
the remains of their homes, surrounded by flood waters and dead bodies.

MSF already had medical projects in Myanmar before Cyclone Nargis hit.
This has enabled MSF to respond immediately to the catastrophe in the
Delta, bringing relief directly to the populations. Teams now work in over
20 different locations and are managing to push further into the outlying
areas. They treat several hundred patients each day.

In addition to wounds, the main health problems are respiratory
infections, fever and diarrhoea. So far, 140 tons of relief material were
flown into the country. More than 275 tons of food has been distributed
since the beginning of operations.

"Although MSF is able to provide a certain level of direct assistance, the
overall relief effort is clearly inadequate," said Bruno Jochum, Director
of Operations for MSF in Geneva.

"Thousands of people affected by the cyclone are in a critical state and
are in urgent need of relief. The aid effort is hampered by the
government-imposed restriction on international staff working in the Delta
region. For example: despite the fact that some MSF water and sanitation
specialists have been granted visas to enter Myanmar, they have not been
permitted to travel into the disaster area, where their expertise is
desperately needed.

"An effective emergency operation of this magnitude requires coordinators
and technical staff experienced in large-scale emergency response."

MSF calls on the Government of Myanmar to allow for an immediate scale-up
of the relief effort and free and unhindered access of international
humanitarian staff to the affected areas.

MSF has worked in Myanmar since 1992. At present, 250 MSF staff are
working in the Irawaddy Delta in the areas of Pyanpon, Bogaley, Haingyi,
Pyinsalu, Tongwa, Labutta, Thingangon and Chaungzu.

Some 30 international staff are mostly confined to Yangon

So far, MSF has flown in four cargo planes with of emergency items
including water and sanitation equipment, medical supplies, therapeutic
food and other relief supplies. A fifth plane is due to arrive in Yangon
on Friday, May 16.

MSF has been able to receive these goods in our warehouses in Yangon, from
where they are further dispatched by MSF teams to the logistic bases in
Pathein and Bogaley in the Delta. MSF chartered boats are then used for
transport into the disaster area.


____________________________________
INTERVIEW

May 16, Mizzima News
Opinions on SPDC's constitutional referendum result

The National Referendum Convening Commission Chairman U Aung Toe today
announced on state-owned radio that 20,786,596 voters cast 'YES' vote out
of a total eligible voters of over 22 million in the constitutional
referendum held on 10th May 2008 so the percentage of 'YES' vote is 92.per
cent. This Referendum Convening Commission was formed with SPDC's
handpicked members.

Mizzima contacted voters, opposition leaders at home and abroad, and
interviewed them for their opinions on the referendum result. We present
here their opinions.

U Nyan Win (spokesperson – the National League for Democracy)

The spokesperson of main opposition party (NLD) flatly rejected this
election result.

"This referendum doesn't reflect the people's desire. The referendum
without reflecting the people's desire will not be lawful and binding even
though the constitution is approved by the referendum. I just want to say
this.

NLD has compiled a lot of irregularities in the referendum and is now
collecting more facts.

David Taw (Karen National Union – KNU)

"It is not surprising getting 93% 'YES' votes in the referendum that they
announced. If it was less it would be surprising. Would they say they got
99%? According to the poll watchers present at the polling stations, the
voting was not by secret ballots. They forced the voters to cast only
'YES' votes by intimidation and coercion. The voters could not exercise
their franchise in a free and fair atmosphere. Though we predicted they
would rig the votes we but never thought of such blatant rigging. Everyone
knew they would rig the votes".

"They don't need to hold the second phase of the referendum after getting
93% 'YES' votes. I would like to say holding the second phase referendum
will be a waste of time and energy and would mean carrying on with the
rigging. The general elections to be held in 2010 will be like this
referendum; it will not be free and fair election. The people will not
accept the unjust and unfairness unleashed on them. They would defy and
revolt against the regime one day when the time is ripe, I hope".

Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong (Ethnic Nationalities Council – ENC)

"We knew that the election procedure was not in accordance with the
international norms before the referendum was held. It was not in
accordance with democratic norms. The junta drafted the constitution for
perpetuation of their power and to protect themselves. The junta organized
the voters. We cannot accept it. Holding of the referendum is contrary and
violates the referendum law that they enacted. The voters could not vote
freely".

"They collected advance votes moving door-to-door. Moreover the voters did
not need to vote themselves. The head of each household could vote for all
the family members by producing his/her National ID card. In this way, the
referendum cannot guarantee a fair result. The voters and people cannot
claim later that it was an unfair referendum. All the Burmese people in
exile protested against the national referendum held by SPDC, it has no
fairness at all. The junta persuaded people in their favour and
intimidated the government employees in this referendum. They had the
referendum supported in this way".

"If they want to win in referendum, they don't need to hold it; they can
approve their constitution by firing their guns. I would like to tell the
people that your real votes are not reflected in this referendum result".

Nyo Ohn Myint (NLD-Liberated Area)

"They should win cent percent vote. I wonder why they didn't get such
percentage because they rigged the votes by every means available. This
result showed they have no self-confidence in saying that they got cent
percent votes in their favour".

"They will rig again in second phase of the referendum to be held on 24th
of this month. But it will create a political crisis if I am not wrong.
The anger and wrath of the people far and near in Rangoon will burst after
there being insulted."

"The current result that they have got is enough for the junta. Snr. Gen.
Than Shwe's only wish is to show the whole world that their unilaterally
drafted constitution has been approved in the referendum no matter what
the vote result is. I think they must pay for the consequences of their
action in this referendum in the future".

Tun Myint Aung (88 Generation Students)

"Though they called it the referendum, they dif not need to hold it. We
have predicted a long time ago that they would say they achieved over 90%
'YES' votes. The referendum is a farce and held in the name of a
'nationwide constitutional referendum'. The people know well about this
referendum. They were cheated, they were coerced and they were intimidated
and bullied. The people know well how they had to vote in this referendum
but not as they wished. The people will certainly respond to this
unfairness one day".

"Even if the people had boycotted the referendum, the junta would
certainly claim getting over 90% 'YES' votes. But the 'NO' vote campaign
among the people could produce one result. The junta realized that the
result would not be certain as they wished after hearing about the
campaign among the government staff in their offices, as to  how the
people were  preparing to vote in their wards and villages. Then they had
to choose to rig the votes explicitly".

"For instance, the junta coerced the government employees to cast 'YES'
votes not only by them, but also by their entire family members after
realizing that they would not get the required result if they didn't do
like this. The mindset and phenomenon of the junta has not yet changed,
they are still bullying, intimidating and doing and up to dirty tricks. We
could expose this phenomenon in this referendum. They intimidated and
coerced the people by pointing the families' to pots, prisons and
fetters".
"Our people could expose their true nature to the whole world though they
could claim winning votes. The entire country knew it because the entire
people were cheated by the junta. They wanted to vote 'NO', but they could
not exercise their franchise freely. Moreover the 'NO' votes cast by the
daring voters were later converted to 'YES' votes. The people would
certainly respond to this cheating and unfairness one day".

"The people's struggle cannot be organized and instigated by a single
party and single organization. The people's struggle must be organized and
participated by the people themselves. When the ruling dictators oppress
them by force and repressive laws and orders, when the ruling dictators
ignore their livelihood and basic needs, when the dictators are doing for
their own interest without considering for the people, the people will not
subdue to the mounting pressure unleashed on them indefinitely. They will
certainly revolt against the dictators one day when they feel they have no
way out. The people know well they have to suffer more natural disasters
as long as these irresponsible dictators are in power. The people's
struggle will emerge for their own destiny, for the emergence of the
people's power and people's government which can guarantee the people's
interest. The people's struggle will one day certainly emerge even though
there are no party and organization to lead them.

"The announcement of vote results made the people immensely upset and
frustrated, because they could not vote in the referendum as they wished
to under the tremendous pressure and intimidation. Even though many people
cast the 'NO' vote in the referendum, the result was announced as 92.4%
'YES' votes. The people know well how much unjust the referendum was. The
people will struggle for their own destiny one day certainly".

"Not only our 88 Gen Students and opposition political parties do not
recognize the result of this sham referendum, but the whole people also
not recognize the result. The people have no faith and trust in whatever
the government does. All the actions of the government are not for the
people, they always do evil things to the people. Now, you see how they
handle the current natural disaster and international aid and relief
operations. The storm victims are in deep trouble. But the SPDC PM said to
the Thai PM that they have everything they need. They have no more need.
Though they know well that the people are in hunger and desperately need
assistance, they are blindly saying everything is OK. How can the people
trust the junta?

"We won't recognize their constitution as it is approved by unfair means.
This constitution will not take effect as no one accepted and recognized
it. The people will not show their respect to this constitution. So the
people will not abide by this constitution. The people's struggle will
emerge at a certain time".

Aung Naing Oo (Burma Affairs Analyst)

He said that he didn't believe in the referendum result announced by the
junta and it will lead to a long term crisis in Burma.

"If the government claims more percentage in winning the referendum, the
country will face more crises, some said. On the other hand, they can win
by such margins, say 60%. Moreover, Than Shwe is eccentric. The current
situation is unrealistic. We said that they would claim winning landslide
victory as U Ne Win did in 1974 by claiming 95% 'YES' votes. This claim of
92% win is an intimidation of the entire people. They collected almost
half of the votes in advance in the whole country. It is impossible to
claim such a percentage in the current situation of Burma".

"Our country may face a long term crisis after claiming such a percentage
win while many people are on the brink of death in the aftermath of the
cyclone".

Win Min (Burma affairs analyst)

"It's going too far claiming 93% supporting votes. It's unrealistic and
going too far. We can understand if they had claimed 60%-70% vote. The
vote rigging is obvious when they claim such a high 93% vote".

"There's no free and fairness in the referendum. It seems a voter could
cast two to three votes in referendum. First, as advance vote, second at
the polling station, and at other polling stations for the third time".

"Now there's no need to hold referendum in the remaining cities and towns
after getting 93% 'YES' votes. They don't need to hold the referendum in
the remaining places. There will be no difference. I would like to say to
them to focus only on the storm victims and give these survivors food
instead of ballot boxes".

A NLD-Youth member (NLD-Lower Burma)

"According to the observations taken by the Lower Burma NLD Youth and
Upper Burma NLD Youth, it is obvious that the referendum was not free and
fair in which violated their own Referendum Law and human rights. So we'd
like to say this result doesn't reflect the people's will and desire".

"Holding the referendum in the remaining cities and towns in Rangoon and
Irrawaddy Divisions will not make much difference to the current
referendum result. But let the ruling officials know what the real
people's will and desire is by holding referendum in these remaining areas
even though these officials dare not show the result to the voters. The
people are in abject poverty and hunger. It is very much unkind and brutal
to forcibly hold the referendum in these areas at this time".

A local resident (Kyauktada Township, Rangoon Division)

"I don't want to vote anymore. My vote will be useless after they have
claimed to have got 92.4% votes. There's no fairness at all in this
referendum. We could see the easily collecting advance votes in our
neighbourhood. This is sheer unfairness. The votes of the remaining five
million voters can make little difference to this 92.4% 'YES' votes. The
people have no interest at all in this referendum. Their minds are with
the storm victims".

"But they will hold this referendum again on 24th May as pre-planned. I
have made up my mind not to go to the polling station on that day. My vote
can produce nothing. I'll try to express my will and desire in other
ways".

A local resident – 1 (Mandalay)

"I was one of the 10 witnesses in vote counting at the Polling Station
(1), No. 704, Maw Hla Gyi Ward, Chanayetharzan Township, Mandalay
Division. There's no fairness at all. They could even make 100% 'YES' vote
and not leave it at 92%".

"The government did as they wished. The ladies of the USDA forced my
nieces when they votes by insisting they tick 'YES' even in the voting
room which is supposed to be meant for secret voting. This is just one
example of how they rigged the votes. Whichever vote we cast, it will
certainly be turned to 'YES' vote. I think they don't need to hold the
second phase referendum on 24th May".

A local resident – 2 (Mandalay)

"This is not a real referendum, just a farce. They have collected advance
votes in many areas, and then these votes were turned to 'YES' votes.
Moreover the polling station officials forced the voters to cast only
'YES' votes openly in the presence of other voters. Some were forced to
cast 'YES' votes by 'Maternity and Children's Welfare Association'. The
government backed organizations such as USDA, 'Federation of Women's
Affairs' and other women organizations intimidated the voters by wearing
their uniforms. These activities made the polling unfair. They don't need
to hold the next referendum on 24th May".

___________________________

May 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
Monks prevented from working with other donors – Naw Say Phaw

A Mandalay abbot involved in aid efforts in Rangoon said the authorities
have tried to prevent his group working with non-governmental
organisations, and have said all aid must go through local officials.

In more than ten days since Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, the military
regime has still not provided effective assistance to cyclone victims.

Social services, celebrities from the Burmese film industry and monks have
been helping people in the worst-affected areas by donating food and other
supplies.

However, those who work on relief efforts have been told by the
authorities not to cooperate with the monks and donors have been directed
to channel their financial contributions through the division commander.

In an interview with DVB, the abbot from Mandalay’s Maha Gandaryon
monastery gave details of the current aid operation and urged the regime
not to place any restriction on relief efforts.

Abbot: We have stockpiled aid (clothing, rice, noodle, sugar, etc.) in
Rangoon already but we haven’t started the distribution. We have heard
about some difficulties with regard to aid distribution. Some people told
us that we couldn’t distribute supplies by ourselves but some said we
could. So, we will see how it goes. We are now getting trucks to take aid
to different places.

DVB: We have heard that any cash donations for cyclone survivors must be
channelled through the division commander. How you are going to donate the
cash you have collected?

Abbot: We will donate the cash to survivors ourselves. We don’t have any
plans to channel our donation through the division commander. As for
relief supplies, local authorities will send them to our destinations
without taking any charge. I think they will do so with permission from
the division commander.

DVB: Do you think you may face restrictions when you go along with your plan?

Abbot: We are still in the preparation stages. We have contacted some
private organizations and services, and found out that they were told by
the authorities not to work with us in aid distribution. They said we
can’t go with them. We can only give them our supplies and they will
distribute them for us but we don’t want to do it that way. We want to go
on the ground and give supplies to people in person. They said they dare
not go with us.

DVB: So what are you going to do?

Abbot: We will try our best to distribute aid according to our plan.

DVB: Where will your main focus areas be for distributing aid to cyclone
victims?

Abbot: We have started small-scale distribution today in Daydaye township.
We sent five boxes of clothing, four big packs of noodle and one pack of
water purification liquid for one village in Daydaye where half of the
village was destroyed and about 30 people got killed. Monks took those
supplies to the abbot in that village and the distribution was taken care
by months. For us we don’t know where we are going, still preparing for
our trip. We may visit Maaupin township though.

DVB: Could you please tell me about the monks’ involvements in the current
relief efforts?

Abbot: We have heard that U Nyarneikthara and other monks have been in
Bogalay working on aid distribution. Dr U Kawwita, U Kawthanhla
(Dhammayanzaydi) and other months are also working on relief efforts. We
were informed about the work of monks in Myingyan and Pakokkhu but we
still don’t know exactly what they are doing.

DVB: We have heard that famous abbots have not been permitted to offer
Buddhist teachings in public since the aftermath of the September 2007
protests. Now you are organizing public gatherings to offer Buddhist
teachings and collect donations for cyclone victims, although donations to
needy people are supposed to be sent through the division commander. So
what do you think of the fact that the authorities allow such gatherings
at the moment?

Abbot: Well
we think those gatherings are allowed may be because they
(authorities) think that monks are helping those who are in trouble as
much they can. We have heard that some gatherings were organized by the
arrangement of division commander but we don’t know exactly about the
proceedings. In most cases, we think monks collected donations as if they
were going to give them to needy people themselves but we don’t know if
they might hand them over to the division commander later. We can’t say
anything about the government’s permission on gatherings at the moment.
Since we won’t hand over any donation to government officials, we don’t
know if we will be allowed to organize public gatherings. It will be
obvious why others were permitted to organize Buddhist gatherings when we
actually organize our own.

DVB: Any news on Buddhist gatherings that are being held? Do you think the
regime will stop them?

Abbot: We haven’t heard any reports that the authorities will stop the
gatherings. We think they can’t bring themselves to ban the gatherings
since no one is trying to relate the events to politics and neither are
we. Our focus is simply on humanitarian efforts, trying to help needy
people as much as we can. We think relief works shouldn’t be restricted.
So far, we haven’t heard that people in temporary camps have been given
international aid.

Yesterday, we visited Dala area and people there told us that they had
received only a small amount of supplies, mostly coming from private
donors and not from the government. They told us many stories they have
encounterd. They told us how authorities have cheated on aid, how people
are listed in the camp (authorities put the names of their relatives at
the beginning of the list so whenever aid is distributed their relatives
will be first and the rest will receive either smaller amounts or
nothing.), and so on.

DVB: As you have heard that authorities are exploiting and selling aid
that are meant for people in trouble, what do you think of that kind of
act according to Buddhist teaching?

Abbot: This is something no one should do. It is inappropriate and very
sinful to exploit the misfortunes of others.

DVB: Last September, the chief abbot of Bago’s Kyakatwai monastery said
that the way monks took to the street was against Buddhist rules and
regulations. Now monks are on the streets clearing roads and trees
devastated by the cyclone, and working on relief efforts. Do you think
that is against Buddhist rules and regulations? Abbot: Monks are not
supposed to cut trees or branches that are still alive but novices can.
For example, the branches of the Banyan tree can grow even when the tree
itself has been deracinated so monks cannot cut those branches. Of course
monks can clear or carry away trees or branches that have already been cut
down either by novices or monastery assistants, and this is not against
the rules and regulations.

DVB: Anything else you want to say?

Abbot: We believe the monks’ involvement in relief efforts can give some
support to the current aid distribution carried out by the government and
the international community. So the authorities shouldn’t impose any
restriction on monks and should allow them to carry on with their
activities freely. We just don’t distribute aid to people via the
authorities but that doesn’t mean that we won’t cooperate with them. Of
course, we will work with them in terms of getting the list of those who
are in need and arranging for aid distribution. We will directly give aid
to people in person, that’s all.

The people’s current troubles can only be alleviated if free access for
relief efforts is granted, so we implore the government not to put any
restrictions on relief work.