BurmaNet News, May 17, 2008

[Editor]

May 17, 2008 Issue # 3469

INSIDE BURMA
Reuters: Myanmar death toll soars, diplomats tour delta
Irrawaddy [Special report]: With the refugees in Laputta
DVB: Cyclone survivors forced to work and pay for aid
Mizzima News: Junta rebuffs EU humanitarian Commissioner
AP: 2008 French Navy ship hover near Burma

ASEAN
Washington Post: Neighbors to press Burma on response

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: No time to lose: Ban to General Assembly

OPINION / OTHER
Asia Times: Myanmar's killing fields of neglect - Shawn W Crispin
Irrawaddy: Heal the wounds - Yeni

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 17, Reuters
Myanmar death toll soars, diplomats tour delta - Aung Hla Tun

Yangon - Myanmar's junta took diplomats on a tour of the storm-ravaged
Irrawaddy delta on Saturday as its toll of dead and missing soared above
133,000 people, making Cyclone Nargis one of the most devastating ever to
hit Asia.

In the last 50 years, only two Asian cyclones have exceeded Nargis in
terms of human cost -- a 1970 storm that killed 500,000 people in
neighboring Bangladesh, and another that killed 143,000 in 1991, also in
Bangladesh.

However, with an estimated 2.5 million people clinging to survival in the
delta, and the military government refusing to admit large-scale outside
relief, disaster experts say Nargis' body count could yet rise
dramatically.
A boy watches as a man builds a shelter in a village hit by Cyclone
Nargis, near the Myanmar capital Yangon, May 16, 2008.
REUTERS/StringerView Larger Image Larger Image

British officials say the actual toll may already be more than 200,000.

Cases of cholera, endemic to much of the former Burma, have been found
although the outbreaks are no more than would normally be seen at this
time of year, health officials said.

Meanwhile, the military, which has ruled unchecked for the last 46 years,
continues to insist it is capable of handling aid distribution, seemingly
out of fear an influx of foreigners might loosen its vice-like grip on
power.

With heavy tropical downpours continuing to hamper the aid effort on
Saturday, the generals took Yangon-based diplomats into the delta to see
the army's relief operations, although it was expected to be a
stage-managed and highly sanitized trip.

One envoy who went on a similar tour of a storm-hit district of Yangon,
the former capital, described the neat rows of tents on display as "happy
camps."

In the delta, the junta will have to work much harder to keep the
diplomats away from the destitute.

Near the town of Kunyangon this week, columns of men, women and children
stretched for miles alongside the road, begging in the mud and rain for
scraps of food or clothing from the occasional passing aid vehicle.

"The situation has worsened in just two days," one aid volunteer said as
children mobbed his vehicle, their grimy hands reaching through the window
for something to eat.

Many storm refugees are crammed into monasteries and schools and are being
fed and watered by local volunteers and private donors who have taken
matters into their own hands, sending in trucks laden with clothes,
biscuits, dried noodles and rice.

Death Toll Soars

In a rare sign of agreement with international aid agencies, the junta
sharply raised its toll from the May 2 disaster on Friday night to 77,738
dead and another 55,917 missing.

The news came on state TV, which aside from offering updated casualty
figures has mainly shown footage of generals handing out food at the model
tented villages.

People in Myanmar are snapping up bootleg video discs of bloated corpses,
desperate refugees and ravaged villages to get a fuller picture of the
situation.

"Myanmar television is useless," said one Yangon businessman who bought
the underground VCDs because he wanted to see the raw, uncensored version
of the storm that killed his brother in Labutta, one of the hardest-hit
towns in the Irrawaddy delta.

The generals have been admitting a steady stream of aid flights to Yangon,
including around four a day from the U.S. military, the generals' arch
enemy.

However, aid agencies say only a fraction of the required relief is
getting through to the inundated part of the delta -- a stretch of land
the size of Austria -- and unless the situation improves, thousands more
lives are at risk.

Given the junta's ban on foreign journalists and restrictions on the
movement of most international aid workers, independent assessment of the
situation is difficult.

With international concern and frustration mounting, a parade of envoys
has been flying in to try to coax the generals out of their deep distrust
of the outside world.

The latest is the U.N.' top humanitarian official, John Holmes, expected
to arrive in Yangon on Sunday and meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, the
fourth-highest ranking junta member.

Crimes against Humanity?

Holmes will be carrying a third letter from U.N. Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon to junta supremo Than Shwe, who has repeatedly ignored Ban's
requests for a conversation, a spokeswoman said.

Ban is not the only one loosing patience.

France's U.N. ambassador said the junta was on the verge of a "crime
against humanity," and dismissed claims by his Myanmar counterpart Paris
was sending a warship to sit off the coast.

French envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert said the ship, Le Mistral, was operated
by the French navy but was not a warship. It is carrying 1,500 tonnes of
food and medicine as well as small boats, helicopters and field hospital
platforms.

Three U.S. Navy vessels are already hovering off the coast ready to go in
with relief supplies, but the Pentagon insists it will not do so until it
gets the go-ahead from the Myanmar authorities.

(Writing by Ed Cropley and Jerry Norton; Editing by David Fox)

____________________________________

May 17, Irrawaddy [Special report]
With the refugees in Laputta - Aung Thet Wine / Laputta

A heavy rain falls on the refugees in ragged clothes waiting patiently at
8 am on Wednesday in front of the heavy gate of Thakya Mara Zein Pagoda in
Laputta Township.

They are wet and cold. They rub their hands to stop shivering. Their faces
betray real hunger. Dehydrated and exhausted, they have eyes like people
who have been fighting a war. They stare intently at the people working in
the blue-colored canvas tents.

They represent more than 1.5 homeless Burmese now struggling for survival
in the Irrawaddy delta, victims of Cyclone Nargis. They are gathered at
this temporary camp for food. If they are lucky they will get real rice.

A man with a megaphone announces in a loud voice: "Please don't crowd
around the gate. We will share the rice as soon as we receive it. Please
don't block the road."
The refugees remain motionless at the gate.

One hour later, the man returns: "We have no rice for today. We have
nothing to share at this moment, but we will cook rice soup from rice left
over from yesterday. We will serve it at 11."

The rice soup amounts to one glass of water with low-quality Mee Done
rice, almost nothing. But it was better than nothing.

I entered the pagoda compound as it started raining more heavily.
Thousands of people huddled under pieces of canvas. Children’s lips are
pale and blue. Some people try to build small fires under the canvas. A
mother tries to sooth her crying baby with breast-feeding.

"Thakya Mara Zein Pagoda now has 2,477 refugees from 534 families,” one of
the refugee leaders tells me “There are 221 children under age 5. We’re
one of the biggest camps in Laputta." Stark statistics to describe
suffering people.

Talking with the refugees, I start to piece together a picture of their
lives and routine. Almost everyone lost family members or relatives during
the cyclone. On this, the 12th day following of the disaster, they would
receive a little rice soup, but on other days, if a big army officer or
official comes by to check the camp, they might get a pack of Yum-Yum
instant noodles. For drinking water, they fetch it themselves from
chlorinated ponds and wells in the town, treated by UN Development
Programme staff.

A 35-year-old housewife at another shelter, State High School No 1, says,
"We got two tins of rice yesterday, but we don’t get a rice donation
everyday. If we can't get rice, we have to queue at the place donating
boiled rice water."

The UN World Food Program (WFP) and NGOs arrived in the area a few days
ago. They are coordinating the relief effort in what’s called a “Cluster
Response Plan,” which distributes food, clothing, medicine and drinking
water, under the best of circumstances. It’s unclear how many essential
items such as food, clothing and medicine is actually getting to the
refugees at this point. Many survivors have yet to be contacted by aid
workers.

A UN staffer said, "There are 49 temporary shelters in Laputta Township
and the total population in these camps is 33,887. We provide 36 tons of
rice a day; it means 720 sacks per day. We try to provide 5 kilos of rice
a day (2 tins). We procure most of the rice from Myaung Mya Township and
the surrounding area."

A group of refugees described life at State High School No 1: "Yesterday,
we spent the day and night outside in heavy rain, and we couldn't sleep.
We have no shelter. All our clothes are wet, and we have noting else to
wear. We just sat idle in the rain for the whole night. Some children now
have fevers and colds." They said they urgently need clothing, blankets,
sheltering materials and other food items.

I soon began to hear contradictory stories, depending on if I was talking
to refugees or relief workers. A Burmese UN staffer in Laputta said, "We
provide as much as we have. But one of the difficulties is that some
refugees tell people they get nothing and don't receive even rice. Their
attitude is bad. They seek food from strangers, thinking they can help.
The closer you get to the coastal area, the refugees’ attitudes are worse
and worse."

The man who spoke those words was a senior Burmese official working for
the UN. I was shocked. How could a UN worker have such an attitude
following the devastation and suffering of his fellow citizens?

I saw several private aid groups in Laputta, including UNDP, the UN World
Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, UNHCR, Marlin, Malteser International, MSF
(Holland) and a few other INGOs. As always happens in a disaster area, the
lives of the refuges and the lives of the aid workers were significantly
different. Refugees by the thousands walked along the roads and lived
outdoors. Aid staff rode in air-conditioned vehicles and wore badges and
T-shirts with their organization's symbol, living in the town's best
hotels.

The 49 temporary camps for cyclone victims in Laputta included Tha-Baik
Kyo Monastery, Set Taw Yar Monastery, Lay Htat Kyaung Monastery, Tha-Yet
Taw Monastery, State Hight School (SHS) No 1, SHS No 2, Min Kyaung
Monastery, Nanda Wun Monastery, Myo Lel Kyaung Monastery, Kyaik Htee-Yoe
monastery, Su Taung Pyi Pagoda campus are lack with proper shelter for
refugees.

Clearly, the UN, the NGOs and the Burmese authorities were all struggling,
unable to deliver adequate food and supplies to the refugees.

The 100 blue-colored tents set up on the outskirts of Laputta Township
were put up when Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein visited Laputta. The
Burmese media showed images of the tents, but it failed to show the tens
of thousands of homeless survivors without any shelter.

There are approximately 35,000 refugees in Laputta and another 40,000 in
Maung Mya Township, located in 26 refugee camps. Some refugees are not
allowed to group up in families and are separated into groups of men or
women. Some are not allowed to leave the camps after 6 p.m.

"Some refugees are kept on a football field at Myaung Mya,” said a former
refugee there. “Family members can meet each other during the day.”

Laputta Township used to have 508 villages and 59 village tracts,
including, Yae Way, Tha-Bay Chaung, Hlwa Sar, Sa Lu Seik, Bine Tauk
Chaung, A Hmat (Su Paung), Yae Twin Seik, Kamala, Naung Bin Tha, Thin Gan
Gyi, Thin Gan Lay. A village tract is usually composed of at least 20
villages.

In one village tract, the population can range from 3,000 to 10,000 people.

If the estimate of Laputta authorities is accurate, the cyclone’s death
toll will increase dramatically.

According to a confidential list put together by local authorities 12 days
after the cyclone, of Laputta’s 450,000 population, approximately 120,000
died in the cyclone, a township staff worker told me.

The Red Cross estimates that up to 128,000 have died in the cyclone and
2.51 million were affected.

A local administrative officer told me: "For example, Pyin Sa Lu used to
be a village tract of Laputta. Last year, it was upgraded as sub-township
of Laputta and during that time, it population was more than 4,000. After
the disaster, we could find only 358 people alive from Pyin Sa Lu. The
others were dead.”

The authorities and NGOs stopped search and evacuation operations 10 days
after the cyclone. However, many people still live in the devastated area.

"There are still many refugees stranded in Bi Tut village of Laputt,” a
crewman on a boat told me. “When our salt boat passed that area, people
from the shore asked us for water. We dared not to stop, since there was a
big crowd. We were afraid they might rob us, and we speed up. We saw many
bodies in Byan Hlwar River, which has a strong flow. Thousands, a rotten
smell covered the place."

Bodies still float around the Laputta jetty and surrounding shoreline,
residents said.
"There are a lot of bodies and nobody dares to eat fish and prawns."

Many Laputta refugees suffer from trauma and psychological problems.
Refugees looked at me with hope. When I gave a biscuit pack, which I
brought from Rangoon, to a child, about 50 people surrounded me. Then they
began telling me about their terrible experiences and feelings.

Refugees urgently need food and shelter. They also need people who can
show them sympathy and who understand their feelings. They need people who
can listen to their stories.

A volunteer doctor told me most refugees are suffering from pneumonia,
acute lung infection or diarrhea. The children are most vulnerable.

"There is no proper latrine in the refugee camps,” he said. “They go out
and defecate here and there. Later, it could be worse if we have a cholera
outbreak. Pneumonia is quite common since they have no proper shelter."

Larger amounts of relief aid are arriving at Rangoon airport daily. I hope
the Burmese authorities allow the world’s humanitarian aid to continue.
They should also allow foreigners to enter the country, because the scale
of the disaster is beyond their ability to cope. The military government
must expedite aid delivery to the Irrawaddy delta, where hundreds of
thousands of refugees still wait for the most basic elements of survival.
The health of thousands of refugees deteriorates daily.

So far, relief aid has reached a small number of survivors. Much remains
to be done for many more months before we can say we have met our duty to
help people who are living on the brink of a natural and man-made
disaster, many suffering silently and without hope.

____________________________________

May 17, Democratic Voice of Burma
Cyclone survivors forced to work and pay for aid

Cyclone victims in Bogalay township, Irrawaddy division, have had to pay
for relief supplies provided to them by the international community,
according to a private donor who just visited the area.

The donor also told DVB that local authorities had switched international
aid with products from Industry-1 before distribution.

“On 10 May, local authorities in Ngabyayma village in southern Bogalay
forced cyclone survivors to buy petrol for 1000 kyat a gallon,” he said.

“Villagers also had to buy canvas sheets marked ‘UNICEF’,” he went on.

“According to an eye witness, authorities there switched international aid
with products from Industry-1 and then distributed it to the people. I
heard they even switched food.”

He added that people in a temporary camp in Bogalay had been asked or
forced to cut trees and reconstruct roads destroyed by the cyclone.

“I have learnt from those who just came back from Bogalay and Bassein that
people in Bogalay camp have been forced by the authorities to collect
trash and cut trees,” the donor said.

“They are paid 2000 kyat a day and asked to survive themselves,” he said.

“Food distribution in the camp is insufficient. People in the camp are
ordered to provide unpaid labour as well.”

The donor also said authorities in Bogalay township were reportedly
stockpiling some of the relief supplies from the international community
in warehouses, and would distribute the rest of the supplies only if
people voted ‘Yes’ in the 24 May referendum.

____________________________________

May 17, Mizzima News
Junta rebuffs EU humanitarian Commissioner - Larry Jagan

Bangkok - 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.

____________________________________

May 17, Associated Press
2008 French Navy ship hover near Burma

A French navy ship carrying aid material idled near Burma's coast
Saturday, awaiting permission from the ruling military regime to dock in
the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta.

Also Saturday, Burma's junta took a group of foreign diplomats on a tour
in the delta, after announcing that the death toll from Cyclone Nargis has
nearly doubled to 78,000 with about 56,000 missing.

Aid groups have said the toll is probably about 128,000, with many more
deaths possible from disease and starvation unless help is provided
quickly to some 2.5 million survivors of the May 2-3 cyclone.

But despite possessing little means to deliver aid quickly and
efficiently, the isolationist government of this desperately poor country
insists it does not want international aid groups to manage relief
operations. It says all foreign aid must be delivered to the government,
which will distribute it further. It has also barred foreigners from
leaving Rangoon, the country's main city.

A French government statement said navy ship Le Mistral was waiting 13
miles (22 kilometers) outside Burma's territorial waters, and there were
hopes it could go in and unload its cargo of 1,000 tons of food—enough to
feed 100,000 people for 15 days. The aid also includes shelters for 15,000
people, the statement said.

"The specifics of the delivery of this aid have not yet been defined," the
statement said, adding that such details "will be the subject of
negotiations" with Burmese authorities, who have yet to authorize it to
dock either in the delta or in Rangoon, Burma's largest city.

"The Mistral is sailing close to the area most affected by Cyclone Nargis,
where the needs are greatest and access the most difficult," the statement
said.

France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert warned Friday that the
government's refusal to allow aid to be delivered to people "could lead to
a true crime against humanity."

In Rangoon, news of the approach of the French ship created an excited
buzz among residents who were phoning each other to ask how far the ship
was and when it would arrive.

The excitement reflected the frustrations felt by many of Burmese people,
who have watched their government reject international help every
day—ignoring pleas from the United Nations, foreign governments and aid
agencies.

In an effort to demonstrate its relief efforts, the junta flew a group of
diplomats to the Irrawaddy delta Saturday, diplomats and UN officials
said. It is not clear if the diplomats would be allowed to see anything
more than the stage-managed relief camp the junta was expected to put on
display.

The diplomats were expected to return to Rangoon later Saturday.

Their trip was a huge concession by the junta, which has kept a tight lid
on information. It has put up a security cordon around Rangoon to restrict
foreign aid workers from going to the Irrawaddy delta, where scenes of
devastation were rife and corpses were rotting where they died.

In another concession, the junta has agreed to allow 160 foreign aid
workers from countries it considers friendly, including Thailand, India
and Bangladesh. A 32-member Thai medical team left for Rangoon Saturday.

Aid groups say survivors are crammed into makeshift refugee camps, schools
and monasteries, living on food donations from private citizens who are
ferrying rice, noodles, biscuits and other aid material in their cars or
trucks. Torrential monsoon rains have lashed the delta for the last two
days, further slowing relief operations.

Lack of clean water is becoming a major problem, with the Red Cross
warning that it could lead to many deaths in coming days.

The US military flew four more flights of emergency supplies into Rangoon
on Friday, raising its total to 17 since Monday. Two of the flights were
filled with aid provided by the Thai government. India was also readying
flights.

____________________________________
ASEAN

May 17, Washington Post
Neighbors to press Burma on response - Glenn Kessler

SE Asian Bloc seeks lead relief role to avert regional crisis

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the nation's largest city and rice-producing
delta on May 3, 2008. More storms headed toward the country as the U.N.
warned that inadequate relief efforts could lead to rising death tolls.

Southeast Asian countries are scrambling to demonstrate that they can lead
the international effort to assist cyclone victims in neighboring Burma,
with a meeting planned for Monday at which foreign ministers will confront
their Burmese counterpart over the government's response to the crisis.

Burma this week finally allowed a disaster assessment team from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations to travel to the Irrawaddy Delta
region, where more than 100,000 people are dead or missing and more than 2
million lost their homes. The team will make recommendations to the
foreign ministers when they gather in Singapore on Monday.

"I think it is a defining moment for ASEAN," said Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN
secretary general, in an interview yesterday in Washington. "We have to
demonstrate that we are relevant, that we can help each other, that we can
solve the problems that occurred in our landscape."

Surin said he was concerned that, if action is not taken soon, disease and
illness will spread from Burma to its neighbors, making the cyclone
tragedy a regional problem. The World Health Organization warned this week
that a plague epidemic could easily break out among the people displaced
by the cyclone.

ASEAN, which is made up of Burma and nine of its neighbors, including
Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, has struggled to achieve prominence as a
regional body. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has snubbed it,
skipping two of the past three annual meetings.

The group, which also includes countries with less-than-stellar human
rights records -- such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos -- has been reluctant
to criticize member states, though last fall it broke precedent and issued
a statement noting its "revulsion" over Burma's crackdown on monks.

"We are hoping the ASEAN foreign ministers will deliver a very firm
message to the Burmese representatives that they need to let the world
save Burmese lives," said a senior State Department official, speaking on
the condition of anonymity so that he could speak more frankly. "They need
to push the Burmese to be more open."

After the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, ASEAN members agreed to work
together in future humanitarian disasters. Surin said he is drawing on the
pledges and resources committed under that plan to create a "coalition of
mercy." But he acknowledged that the junta that runs Burma has been
reluctant to accept assistance, making it necessary to tread carefully.

"We have a problem, and that is why we have to go through all this effort
and exercise," Surin said. "The point is how to get what we want without
affecting or destroying the cooperation and support you need. It is
cumbersome."

Surin said that calls for direct intervention that bypasses the government
reflect the "very, very, very high-level frustration" with the Burmese
government.

Diplomats said that ASEAN and U.N. officials are discussing a combined
effort, which they hope will make assistance more acceptable to the
government than would a broader international rescue mission that included
the United States.

Still, U.S. officials reported yesterday that two of four shipments
delivered Friday by American C-130 aircraft were handed over directly to
nongovernmental organizations -- the first time the government has not
demanded it first receive the goods and supplies.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 17, Irrawaddy
No time to lose: Ban to General Assembly

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday told the UN General Assembly
there is "no time to lose" in Burma because the country faces an imminent
outbreak of infectious diseases because of the slow relief and rescue
operation in the Irrawaddy Delta which was virtually devastated by Cyclone
Nargis.

"More than two weeks after the event, we are at a critical point. Unless
more aid gets into the country—quickly—we face the risk of an outbreak of
infectious diseases that could dramatically worsen today's crisis," Ban
told the General Assembly in an informal meeting.

With revised Burmese government figures indicating that nearly 78,000
people died and more than 55,900 people are missing, Ban said
international relief agencies report far higher figures and the estimates
of those at risk run as high as 2.5 million people.

"There is no more time to lose," Ban said as he urged the Burmese
government to open up in letting in international aid workers. Even those
humanitarian workers who have been admitted are not being allowed to
travel to the affected areas outside the capital.

Ban said all his efforts to reach Sen-Gen Than Shwe over the telephone and
by mail have failed and he has received no response over the past week. He
will send Under Secretary- General John Holms to personally deliver a
third letter to Than Shwe this weekend.

Holms is expected to be in Burma on Monday. "He will deliver a third
letter from me and attempt to establish contact with the Myanmar [Burmese]
leadership with a view toward discussing how the UN can assist the
government's immediate and longer term relief effort," Ban said.

"We also need to establish a logistics hub near Myanmar to better manage
and co-ordinate international relief efforts," he said.

Pinning high hopes on the upcoming foreign ministers meetings of Asean
countries, Ban said he has proposed a high-level pledging conference for
May 24-25 to mobilize resources for Burma. His proposal will be discussed
by the Asean countries at the meeting.

Meanwhile, surprising many diplomats, the French and Burmese ambassadors
to the United Nations had a verbal clash on Friday during the informal
session of the General Assembly wherein the secretary-general briefed
members on the humanitarian crisis.

Though other issues including the earthquake in China and world food
crisis were discussed, Burma dominated the proceedings that lasted for
more than 150 minutes.

Briefing correspondents mid-way through the meeting, the French
Ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said his Burmese counterpart, Kyaw Tint
Swe, objected to him using the word Burma and charged that France is
sending a warship to his country.

"That the ship in question is operated by the navy is true, but it is not
a ‘warship’, it is a ship on board of which we have 1,500 tones of food,
drugs and medicine," Ripert told reporters at the UN.

This ship is equipped with small boats, which could allow France to go
through the Irrawaddy delta to regions where no one has accessed yet. It
also has small helicopters which could drop food. "We have doctors, and we
have platforms for medical intervention," he said.

The ship is expected to be in international waters near the delta region
by tomorrow. France is still negotiating with the Burmese regime in this
regard, he said.

"I had to explain in front of the whole General Assembly that for the
moment it was very clear that those means were refused to their own
population by the government of Myanmar [Burma]," he said.

"This is purely unacceptable, and we think we are shifting from a
situation of refusal of assistance to people in need or in danger to a
situation that could lead to a true crime against humanity, if we go on
like that," Ripert said.

Refusing to make any comment on this issue after the meeting was over,
Kyaw Tint Swe told The Irrawaddy: "Let him say what he wants to say."

At the same time, he argued the name of his country is Myanmar and not
Burma. "We are not Burma, we are Myanmar. Burma is a colonial name," Kyaw
Tint Swe said.

Observing that time is running out fast, the French ambassador argued that
it is not time to go into academic discussions. Immediate action is
required as people are dying every day.

"The responsibility to protect was adopted by 150 heads of states. We
think it is applicable. We do not care about the words. It is true,
though, that natural disasters were not included because at the time
nobody thought that any government would dare to refuse help to its own
population in case of a natural disaster," he said.

When asked if France would deliver aid without Burma’s authorization,
Ripert said: "I cannot answer this question right now. For the moment, we
are in the international waters, and we are still negotiating with the
government of Myanmar."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 16, Asia Times
Myanmar's killing fields of neglect - Shawn W Crispin

With an estimated two million people at risk of death by disease,
deprivation or starvation and the scant amount of foreign aid that has
entered the country diverted from those most in need, Myanmar's worst case
humanitarian scenario is now playing out in full view of the international
community.

As the death toll mounts and the United Nations futilely negotiates with
the country's ruling generals to open Myanmar's borders and allow a
multinational response to the Cyclone Nagris disaster, the moral case for
a unilateral US military-led humanitarian intervention has grown.

Certain US officials have argued behind closed doors for a military
response to the disaster, one that would allow the US navy and marines on
standby in nearby waters to bypass the diplomatic dithering at the UN
Security Council and distribute aid directly to desperate storm victims.
Myanmar ally China has predictably blocked the global body from invoking a
"right to protect" principle, underscoring the cynicism of Beijing's
commercially driven foreign policy.

Yet so far the UN and US have played by the junta's rules, sending aid in
by air force cargo planes to Yangon airport and allowing military
officials to handle in-country distribution. It's altogether unclear what
percentage of that limited amount of aid has actually reached victims, and
how much has been diverted for political purposes to junta loyalists.

Despite the belated shipments, European Union officials say that famine is
a growing possibility for the worst-hit areas, what some are beginning to
characterize as "Myanmar's killing fields of neglect". The official
understated death toll is now up around 38,500, with an additional 27,800
considered missing; one United Kingdom official and aid agencies have
revised up that statistic to around 200,000, double the UN's previous
100,000 dead and missing estimate.

It's unclear how many of those new estimated deaths could have been
avoided with a rapid international response to the crisis. Disaster relief
experts earlier estimated that they had a 10-day window to reach victims
with assistance to avoid a massive second wave of deaths. That assessment
was predicated on the misguided notion that foreign aid and emergency
personnel would be allowed into the country, which until now they have
not.

On Thursday, the junta provisionally agreed to allow 160 Asian - not
Western - relief personnel into the country, though their movements are
expected to be tightly restricted to Yangon and its outlying townships.
The junta has throughout the crisis insisted it has the situation under
control, which by any humanitarian measure it woefully does not.

Authorities have simultaneously bid to cover up the scale of the disaster,
both by cynically understating official casualty counts and through a
Tuesday directive from Prime Minister Thein Sein to bar foreigners from
entering the delta's worst-hit areas. It has by now become woefully
apparent that the brutal regime is willing to allow potentially hundreds
of thousands more to die rather than lose face in admitting the necessity
of UN-led and US-delivered disaster assistance.

Instead, the military government continues to monopolize aid delivery,
despite its utter lack of expertise and hardware to manage what if handled
properly should be a massive search-and-rescue operation. One Western
military official told Asia Times Online that Myanmar's military possesses
only six sometimes functioning helicopters, nowhere near the size of the
fleet needed to reach all those stranded in the delta's inaccessible
coastal areas.

Death by corruption
There is a more troubling question of political will. As the death toll
mounts, the regime advertently continues to prioritize aid delivery to
regime loyalists, soldiers and their family members, apparently to avoid a
possible revolt among the rank and file.

Foreign assistance earmarked for delivery to cyclone victims, including
food, water and mosquito nets, have been hijacked and sold at inflated
prices in local markets, according to a Western diplomat tracking events.

He said that some foreign aid, particularly high-quality Western-made
mosquito nets and blankets, have been diverted and are now on sale in
neighboring southwestern China, where consumer purchasing power is
stronger than in Myanmar. "The government is stealing aid on arrival,"
said the diplomat. "Many ministers see this as a pay day, a godsend, for
greasing their patronage networks."

While profiteering from the sale of supplies, the junta is handling the
disaster more as a security than humanitarian crisis. Thousands of storm
survivors have been rounded up in makeshift camps, where they are being
treated more like prisoners than victims. The US Campaign for Burma, an
advocacy group, says that those who have entered the military-run camps
have subsequently not been allowed to leave or meet with outsiders.

Some say there is also an emerging ethnic dimension to the junta's
lackluster response. One well-placed Western diplomat says that the junta
has prioritized Buddhist Burmans over other ethnic and religious groups in
its aid distribution. That skewed distribution, he contends, has been
aimed in particular at the ethnic Karen, which made up a large percentage
of the delta's population and through the Karen National Union have for
decades waged a guerilla war for independence in nearby border areas.

At least one Western government is now considering in response to the
junta's lame response - and potential passive ethnic cleansing policies -
to deliver aid and supplies to border areas in Thailand, where several
international relief organizations are already established. If done, it
would inevitable lead to a mass migration of storm victims out of Myanmar
into Thailand, a scenario Bangkok is clearly trying to avoid, not least
through its well-publicized and early food aid donations to its allies in
the junta.

By now, several diplomats, politicians and commentators have pointed to
the UN's "responsibility to protect" principle as possible grounds to
violate Myanmar's sovereignty and force aid upon the country, either
through military air drops or supplies landed through offshore ships.

Unfortunately that won't happen any time soon due to China's intransigence
and veto power on the Security Council. During a UN session earlier this
week, China's deputy ambassador made a spirited case against invoking the
principle to force aid on Myanmar, arguing preposterously that nobody
invoked the principle when France suffered from a recent heat wave which
killed thousands of its citizens.

Some now claim that the UN is playing a cagey "good cop, bad cop" routine
with the junta, where some member states like France publicly argue for
invoking the "right to protect", while other UN officials negotiate with
the hard-line regime to allow in more international aid and workers,
including apparently the 160 Asian relief workers the junta agreed to give
visas to on Thursday.
Clearly that response is too little, too late, considering the huge scale
of Myanmar's now intensifying humanitarian crisis. And as the military
government pilfers and diverts an unknown but likely large proportion of
the foreign aid so desperately needed by its own citizens, it's more
readily argued that it's the junta that is playing the UN - not the other
way around.

As the international community looks on in stunned disbelief, Myanmar's
junta has again invoked it's own perceived "right to kill", which the
ruling generals have historically and frequently used against its own
citizens to maintain their brutal grip on power. As the UN dithers, the
fact remains that only the US military now has the power to avert a wider
human catastrophe.

If ever there was an opportunity for the US to make moral use its military
might, a humanitarian intervention in Myanmar is it.

Shawn W Crispin is Asia Times Online's Southeast Asia Editor. He may be
reached at swcrispin at atimes.com.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JE17Ae01.html

____________________________________

May 17, Irrawaddy
Heal the wounds - Yeni

Day by day, world leaders have condemned the Burmese regime's handling of
the Cyclone Nargis humanitarian aid effort.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there is "deep concern and immense
frustration."  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the generals’
intransigence "utterly unacceptable." French President Nicolas Sarkozy
found the inaction "utterly reprehensible," and George Bush declared the
regime "either isolated or callous."

In the wake of the cyclone that destroyed Burma's rice bowl in the
southwestern Irrawaddy delta and heavily damaged its commercial hub,
Rangoon, the international community has shown its generosity by sending
humanitarian aid to desperate victims.

However, a tiny amount of aid has reached the huge numbers of homeless two
weeks after the devastation because the military rulers, insisting they
can handle the emergency alone, have repeatedly rejected growing
international pressure to open the door to a foreign-run relief effort.

Meanwhile, Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein announced on state
television on Friday, two weeks after the cyclone hit, that the initial
relief effort was over.

"We have already finished our first phase of emergency relief. We are
going onto the second phase, the rebuilding stage," he said.

This means that rescue teams on the ground have stopped searching for
survivors in the most remote areas and the bodies of victims are no longer
picked up for identification or burial; some cyclone survivors sheltering
in monasteries and schools in disaster areas have been forced by local
authorities to return to their flattened homes or to regime-organized
refugee camps.

In some areas of the Irrawaddy delta, cyclone victims are reportedly being
used as forced labor on government projects to repair the damaged
infrastructure and some supporters of the regime get special favors and
stay in the best-run international refugee camps.

In the meantime, the military regime is hijacking large portions of
international aid at the Rangoon international airport.
In general, the criminal callousness of the Burmese generals is
unprecedented in recent natural disasters. Their negligence is creating a
new, man-made disaster whose toll may well be greater than the number of
victims who died in the cyclone.

The United Nations has warned that Burma faces a "second catastrophe"
unless the junta immediately allows massive air and sea delivery of aid.

First, we must save lives. Second, we must focus on healing the physical
and mental wounds of the survivors. Finally, we must rebuild the
devastated area, a long-term project that will take years.

The Burmese people deserve the right to grasp the helping hands of the
international community.