BurmaNet News, May 21, 2008

[Editor]

May 21, 2008 Issue #3472


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Cyclone victims suspect officials of switching aid
DVB: Authorities give out food in exchange for ‘Yes’ votes
Irrawaddy: Cyclone survivors don’t want UN chief to visit Delta
Irrawaddy: 8 Burmese journalists arrested in Laputta
Irrawaddy: Children of the cyclone
BBC News: Burma 'still uses child soldiers'

BUSINESS / TRADE
Reuters: People in western Myanmar struggle with shortages

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima News: Junta allows MSF to send staff to delta region

ASEAN
Reuters: Cyclone-hit Myanmar seeks $11 billion in aid: ASEAN

REGIONAL
AP: Myanmar shuns aid from US warships; UN urges more relief

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: UN's Ban says will meet Myanmar junta leader
AP: UN weather agency says Myanmar storm warnings were sufficient, deaths
inevitable
Christian Science Monitor: Europe tries threats to open Burma (Myanmar) to
aid

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Cyclone Nagris has never been ‘natural’
DVB: Did Cyclone Nargis hit the generals’ mindset?
BBC News: Burmese dodge junta to supply aid



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Cyclone victims suspect officials of switching aid – Naw Say Phaw

Survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Maaupin believe that rice donated by the
Swiss government was taken by local authorities and replaced with poor
quality supplies.

A relief worker in Maaupin said the cyclone victims had noticed the
quality of rice when they opened the bags, but did not initially confront
the authorities about it.

"Cyclone refugees in Maaupin were disappointed to find that bags of rice
labeled as being sent by the Swiss government contained only broken rice
grains when they were opened,” the relief worker said.

Some town residents asked the Union Solidarity and Development Association
members who were responsible for distribution for an explanation, the
relief worker said.

“They claimed they had not made any changes to the bags since they
arrived,” he said.

“But no one believes the Swiss government would give cyclone victims bags
of broken rice grains."

The relief worker said Myo Win, a local Ward Peace and Development Council
member, had been seen openly selling rice.

When asked by townspeople for an explanation, he reportedly said that the
community would be able to buy more necessary aid supplies with the profit
he made from selling the rice.

____________________________________

May 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Authorities give out food in exchange for ‘Yes’ votes – Naw Say Phaw

Local authorities in Thingangyun township, Rangoon, have been giving rice
and cooking oil to families who agree to vote ‘Yes’ in the constitutional
referendum, a local resident said.

A Thingangyun resident said people in one ward had been given the basic
goods in return for the whole family voting ‘Yes’.

"People who live in Kyipwaryay ward were asked by local authorities to
votes 'Yes' in the coming referendum,” the resident said.

“Each family who agreed to vote 'Yes' was given 4 pyi of rice and 50
kyattha of cooking oil,” he went on.

“Not everyone in a family necessarily needed to cast their own votes –
just one member of the family could vote on behalf of the others."

An employee of Kyimyintdaing township's High School (2) told DVB that all
school employees living in school quarters had been directed by the
school's headmistress to cast 'Yes' votes in the referendum.

Those who had already voted 'No' in advance were ordered by the
headteacher to vote again in support of the constitution.

The Burmese military regime held its referendum on the draft constitution
in most of the country on 10 May, but polling was delayed until 24 May in
47 townships in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions that were worst affected
by the recent cyclone.

The junta has already announced the results of the 10 May vote, claiming
92.4 percent of voters supported the constitution.

____________________________________

May 21, Irrawaddy
Cyclone survivors don’t want UN chief to visit Delta

Many cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta say they don’t want UN chief
Ban Ki-moon to visit their camps and temporary shelters for fear the
military regime will tighten security and intimidate people who have lost
family members and homes.

Burma’s best-known comedian Zarganar and other Burmese private donors who
visited the cyclone-ravaged delta recently said that many cyclone
survivors are so desperate for food and relief supplies they do not want
the UN secretary-general and his delegation to jeopardize the situation.

Already suffering from fatigue and depression, many of the cyclone
survivors who are now homeless have endured the additional stress of being
part of the regime leaders’ “inspections,” said Zarganar.

In Kungyangone, police and local authorities drove through the streets
using loudspeakers to tell people not to go out begging for food along the
road one day before Snr-Gen Than Shwe visited the town on May 19. They
warned cyclone victims that they would be arrested and punished if they
took to begging in the street.

Local officials in Kungyangone prepared in advance food packages and
relief supplies in front of tents to show Burma’s paramount leaders that
their relief operation was going well.

Private Burmese aid donors who traveled to the delta said that, in spite
of the devastation caused by the cyclone, the regime wanted to portray a
positive image. The philanthropists said that the regime is concerned that
the reality on the ground is in sharp contrast with the propaganda
broadcast on the news in the state-run media.

The military authorities are eager to show that situation is under
control, the Burmese donors said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to meet with Snr-Gen Than
Shwe in Rangoon this week after being snubbed for more than a week by the
reclusive junta leader. He will also visit the Irrawaddy delta, the region
most devastated by tropical cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.

With another high-level visit on the way, cyclone survivors are saying “No
more visits!” said Zarganar, who is now actively involved in the relief
effort.

Before the arrival of any VIP guests, more soldiers are deployed and
security guards clear roads, he said. Meanwhile, cyclone survivors who are
already without sufficient food and relief supplies are now concerned that
their rations will be cut because private donors will be unable to visit
them during the UN secretary-general’s visit.

Ban is scheduled to stay in Burma for several days and plans to attend a
donor conference on Sunday in Rangoon.

Aung Naing Oo, a Burma analyst based in Thailand, said that the regime is
security conscious and more people will suffer because of the UN’s
high-level visit to the area.

“The regime will clear roads and the surrounding areas when Ban is
scheduled to visit,” he said. “People who are begging from dawn to dusk
will not get food or money to survive during his visit.”

Zarganar also expressed concern that Ban won’t see the true severity of
the situation on the ground.

“The regime,” he said, “would project a positive image. But people on the
ground won’t be allowed to say anything and will be punished if they do.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers who took refuge in monasteries and
schools in Bogalay after the cyclone have been forced to return to their
villages by security forces.

Sources in Bogalay also confirmed that a boat carrying cyclone survivors
sank near Bogalay on Monday evening. No further details were immediately
available.

____________________________________

May 21, Irrawaddy
8 Burmese journalists arrested in Laputta – Saw Yan Naing

Eight Burmese journalists who were trying to cover the cyclone disaster in
Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy delta were arrested on Monday night by
Burmese soldiers and detained for one night, according to sources in
Rangoon.

Those arrested included journalists from The Voice journal, Yangon Times
and 7 Day News journal.

A Rangoon-based colleague of one of the detained journalists told The
Irrawaddy on Wednesday: “Soldiers came and arrested them at their hotel
about 11 p.m. The soldiers accused the eight reporters of failing to
inform the authorities of their presence in Laputta and then arrested
them.

“The soldiers deleted all the photographs the journalists had taken,” the
source said. “The soldiers threatened the journalists and swore at them.”

The eight journalists were interrogated all night by the soldiers, who
were reportedly assigned to Light Infantry Division 66, said the source.

The journalists were released the following morning at about 7 a.m. after
signing an agreement with the authorities that they would not return to
cyclone-affected areas again without military authorization.

Since the cyclone of May 2-3, the Burmese military authorities have
further tightened their strict code of censorship and restrictions on
journals and publications in Burma, said the source.

“Only positive stories are allowed. Photos about refugees, victims and
children are always rejected,” said the source in Rangoon. “The censorship
board will only allow propaganda stories and photos, such as
reconstruction projects, to be published.”

All publications are banned from printing the rising death toll from
Cyclone Nargis, added the source.

Meanwhile, owners of guest houses in Laputta and Bogalay have been ordered
to submit their guest registers to local authorities and report any
arrivals of strangers, foreigners or persons from organizations that could
be aid-related.

The Burmese military government announced on May 9 that it would permit
supplies and aid from the international community to the affected regions,
but that no foreigners or persons without permits could enter the
cyclone-affected areas in the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon Division.

____________________________________

May 21, Irrawaddy
Children of the cyclone – Saw Yan Naing

Maung Myo Min Thant is a changed boy. Until Cyclone Nargis tore into his
village in Rangoon Division’s Kawhmu Township he was a normal
three-year-old, who enjoyed playing with his pals in all winds and
weather.

Now he’s afraid to venture out in the rain, and he cries if he hears thunder.

His mother, Khin San Win, 35, said on the UNICEF web site: "My son is
talking now but he hasn’t recovered. He used to play and bathe happily in
the rain, like all children here. Now he refuses to go out when it rains.
When the thunder comes, he cries.”

Yet Maung Myo Min Thant is comparatively lucky—he still has his parents.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children were orphaned by the cyclone, and
the regime has announced it is setting up orphanages to accommodate them.

Junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe ordered the orphanages to be built after
visiting the region, the government newspaper New Light of Myanmar said on
Wednesday.

UNICEF's representative in Burma, Ramesh Shrestha, said the agency
believes the number of children left without guardians is more than 600
and could rise.

"We have no idea as to how many there are, but from the bits and pieces
that we have, there are more than 600 or 700 unaccompanied minors so far,"
Shrestha told The Associated Press. He said they included infants and
children under two.

A volunteer relief worker in Laputta estimated that more than 1,000
children under the age of 13 in Laputta Township alone lost their parents
in the cyclone.

According to The New Light of Myanmar, orphanages will be opened in Pyapon
and Laputta, in the Irrawaddy delta.  The newspaper did not say how many
orphans the government estimated survived in the disaster, or how many
orphanages would be built.

UNICEF estimates that 40 percent of those who died in the cyclone and its
aftermath were children. Children who survived are now threatened by
disease and starvation.

Diarrhea is the most prevalent disease. Aye Kyu, a Burmese doctor in
Laputta, said hundreds of children there were being treated in temporary
mobile clinics.

“Normally, four or five patients come to my clinic every day, but about 15
came to my clinic on Tuesday,” he said. “Most of them are children,
suffering from diarrhea.”

About 20 children sheltering in a school in Gantkaw are suffering from
diarrhea, he said.

The relief worker in Laputta said disease was spreading because of a lack
of health education, insufficient sanitary arrangements and crowded living
conditions.

“There are not enough shelters and toilets for refugees. It is very easy
for disease to spread.”

Shantha Bloemen, a UNICEF communications official, told The Irrawaddy that
apart from suffering illnesses like diarrhea, children were traumatized
because of experiencing the cyclone.

She said UNICEF is working to secure continued education for child
survivors after the cyclone destroyed their schools.

The British-based charity Save the Children estimates that 3,000 schools
were destroyed by the cyclone, disrupting the education of half a million
children.

Save the Children also estimates that 30,000 children under the age of
five living in the Irrawaddy delta region were already malnourished before
the cyclone and thousands of them now face death.

UNICEF workers are setting up “child-friendly” areas where children can
play, paint and draw—a relief program that is intended to help them cope
with the trauma of experiencing the cyclone or losing parents and other
family members.

____________________________________

May 21, BBC News
Burma 'still uses child soldiers'

Burma has been named as the most persistent user of child soldiers, with
thousands in its armed forces - some as young as 11, Human Rights Watch
says.

The governments of six other countries, five of them in Africa, also
recruit children, the report says.

Overall the number of armed conflicts in which children are involved has
gone down from 27 to 17, it adds.

But it says world consensus that minors should not be used as soldiers has
failed to protect tens of thousands.

Children have also been recruited to auxiliary forces and non-government
armed groups, and are used as spies and suicide attackers.

'Efforts falling short'

Human Rights Watch's 2008 Child Soldiers Global Report, which documents
military recruitment policy, legislation and practice in more than 190
countries worldwide, cites "positive developments" since the last report
four years ago.

Tens of thousands of children have been released from armies and armed
groups involved in long-running conflicts, in sub-Saharan Africa in
particular.

But children remain in the ranks of non-state armed groups in 24 countries
or regions, and deployed by governments in another nine armed conflict
situations.

"The international community's commitment to ending the global scourge of
child soldiering cannot be doubted, but existing efforts are falling
short," said Victoria Forbes Adam, Director of the Coalition to Stop the
Use of Child Soldiers.

"Laws, policies and practices must now be translated into real change to
keep children out of armed conflict once and for all."

Previous reports have documented cases in Burma of forced recruitment of
boys on the streets and in other public places. Recruits were reported to
be frequently threatened with jail if they refused or later deserted.

The 2008 report says that although Burma has taken some steps to end
recruitment of children, a formal demobilisation and reintegration (DDR)
programme has not been put in place and some recruitment is continuing.

The Burmese military is involved in conflicts with several ethnic groups
in border areas. Evidence of the use of child soldiers has also been found
in armed groups both allied to and opposed to the army.

Other countries, including Israel and the US, were criticised in the
report for ill treatment of children allegedly associated with armed
groups.

In Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, teenagers
have been used in suicide attacks, the report said.

Palestinian children have also been used as human shields by the Israeli
army, it adds.

Meanwhile the US and UK are among 63 countries which recruited volunteers
under the age of 18, the report says. Several British minors were deployed
to Iraq up to mid-2005.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 21, Reuters
People in western Myanmar struggle with shortages – Biswajyoti Das

They may have escaped Cyclone Nargis, but people in western Myanmar are
struggling to cope with soaring inflation and food shortages in the wake
of the disaster that struck the Irrawaddy Delta food bowl.

Prices for basic foods have more than tripled in western parts of the
former Burma, heavily dependent on supplies from the delta where the May 2
storm wrecked rice fields, killed livestock and forced thousands of
farmers off the land.

It may get worse.

People have begun hoarding rice, salt and edible oils as they prepare for
the arrival of the monsoon sometime next month, which will make roads
impassable and supplies even scarcer.

"The situation is very bad here," said Myo, a 60-year-old retired teacher
in Taham, a small town about three hours' drive from the Indian border.

"People have no money to buy food, medicine and baby food," she said. "The
government seems completely unmoved by the suffering of the people."

A state pension amounts to a cup of tea a month, but a kilogram of rice
sells for 1,500 kyats, three times higher than before the cyclone. The
price of little more than a litre of edible oil has nearly tripled to
8,000 kyats.

"You can well imagine my difficulty," Myo said.

Many villagers sell firewood, ginger, onions and fish on the Indian side
of the border to earn money to buy food and medicine. But Myanmar's weaker
currency has made it harder to buy Indian goods, residents said.

HELL

"Life has become hell here," said the owner of a ramshackle roadside tea
stall, who asked not to be named because of fears of recrimination from
the Myanmar authorities.

"A family needs a minimum of 150,000 kyats to buy food for the whole
month. Where will they get the money to survive?"

Shopkeepers say they are running their businesses at a loss.

"We are unable to buy stocks as wholesale market prices have gone up to
more than double retail prices," said another grocery shop owner in a
village on the way to Kalaymo, around 140 km (90 miles) from the Indian
border.

Myanmar's military government has appealed for $243 million in
agricultural aid for the delta, the country's main rice- and
salt-producing region.

The disaster has triggered fears there will be no harvest next year unless
delta farmers can quickly plant a new crop.

"We will face a severe food crisis by September as our stocks from this
year's harvest will last for only another three months," said Daw, a
middle-aged housewife and mother of three.

"Once the rain starts there will be no supply coming, prices will further
increase and there will be an acute food shortage here," she said.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 21, Mizzima News
Junta allows MSF to send staff to delta region – Solomon

With the Burmese military junta finally relenting, albeit without an
announcement, an international aid agency said for the first time it has
sent its expatriate aid workers into Burma's cyclone devastated area in
the Irrawaddy delta.

Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF or Doctors without Border) on Wednesday told
Mizzima that the Burmese regime had allowed four of its international
staff members to go into the Irrawaddy delta.

"Four of our staff members left for Irrawaddy division," Frank Smithuis,
MSF director in Burma told Mizzima.

While not giving details as to where the MSF international staff are
heading, Smithuis said the MSF will send four more of its people in the
coming days.

The MSF's international aid workers are the first group of people who have
been legally allowed to enter the Irrawaddy delta, which has been the
hardest hit by the killer cyclone on May 2 and 3, The government of Burma
has restricted all foreigners from entering the Irrawaddy delta since the
cyclone lashed the country.

With the restriction yet to be lifted officially, the MSF is the only
group so far, which is known to have been officially approved by the
government to enter the Irrawaddy region.

Burmese aid workers, who after checking of documents are allowed into the
Irrawaddy delta, said the government had set up several check points along
the road from Rangoon to Irrawaddy division.

"They [the security] would immediately look for foreigners on vehicles,
and later ask for documents from the Burmese nationals," an aid worker in
Rangoon told Mizzima.

Besides, foreign tourists, who are mainly confined to Rangoon, said the
authorities seem to be monitoring their movement to prevent them from
crossing over to the delta region.

A foreign tourist in Rangoon said he felt that he was under observation by
the hotel managers.

"The manager is keeping track of where I go during the day and he asks
questions whenever I plan to go out," the tourist said.

Though the MSF was able to send in a few of its international staff
members to the delta region, Smithuis expressed concern that the aid
workers might be confined to a particular town or village restricting free
movement in the delta region.

"Another four will leave today or tomorrow but we have to see how freely
they can move," Smithuis said.


____________________________________
ASEAN

May 21, Reuters
Cyclone-hit Myanmar seeks $11 billion in aid: ASEAN

Myanmar's military government wants more than $11 billion in aid for
cyclone victims, but international donors need access to verify their
needs, a top Southeast Asian diplomat said on Wednesday.

ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan also said a Myanmar cabinet minister told him
that French oil giant Total SA was willing to transfer aid and equipment
from French and U.S. Navy ships waiting in waters near the former Burma.

Minister of Planning and Economic Development Soe Tha "told us Total is
going to do the transfer" of aid from the ships, Surin said in an
interview with Reuters.

Details of how the supplies would be transferred -- by helicopter or other
means -- were not discussed, the Secretary-General of the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said.

Total could not immediately be reached for comment.

The French firm, one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, operates
the offshore Yadana gas field and a pipeline that runs to the shore and
overland to neighboring Thailand.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was due in Yangon on Thursday,
said relief workers had so far been able to reach only a quarter of those
in need among an estimated 2.4 million people made destitute by the May 2
storm and sea surge that left nearly 134,000 dead or missing.

ASEAN is convening a donor conference jointly with the United Nations on
Sunday, amid criticism in the West that too few foreign aid experts have
been allowed into the stricken Irrawaddy Delta to establish aid
distribution networks.

Surin said the military government is seeking $11 billion in pledged aid
from the conference.

"The concern is for the international community to pledge assistance 'How
do we know it's $11 billion? How can we be certain?'," said the former
Thai foreign minister.

"Accessibility is important to guarantee confidence and verify the damage
and needs, otherwise confidence during pledging will be affected," he
said.

Surin said a rapid assessment team of ASEAN members needed to be on the
ground and continue to report to come up with a "credible needs analysis"
trusted by the donors before pledging.

The diplomat said the military government, criticized for a slow and
inefficient response to the disaster, "realized the magnitude of the
damage".

Until this week, the junta's attention appeared to have been on a May 10
referendum on a constitution drafted by the army.

Diplomats said their attitude appeared to change just before an emergency
meeting of ASEAN in Singapore on Monday that established an aid framework
to accommodate the generals' concerns.

(Writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Valerie Lee)


____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 21, Associated Press
Myanmar shuns aid from US warships; UN urges more relief – John Heilprin

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar to focus on saving lives,
not on politics, after the military government on Wednesday shunned a U.S.
proposal for naval ships to deliver aid to cyclone survivors.

The U.N. says up to 2.5 million survivors of Cyclone Nargis face hunger,
homelessness and potential outbreaks of deadly diseases.

"This is a critical moment for Myanmar," Ban told reporters after arriving
in Bangkok, Thailand. "The government itself acknowledges that there has
never been a disaster on this scale in the history of their country ...
The issues of assistance and aid in Myanmar should not be politicized. Our
focus now is on saving lives."

Ban was to fly Thursday to Myanmar on a mission to scale up relief efforts
and lobby the junta to allow more foreign aid workers into the isolated
country. He told reporters his two-day visit would include a trip to areas
devastated by the cyclone and talks with officials, including junta leader
Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

Before leaving U.N. headquarters, Ban said the world body had finally
received permission from the junta to use helicopters to carry aid to
stranded victims.

His announcement was not immediately confirmed by officials in Myanmar.

Myanmar's state-controlled media said that U.S. helicopters or naval ships
were not welcome to join the relief effort.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said accepting military assistance
"comes with strings attached" that are "not acceptable to the people of
Myanmar."

The report cited fears of an American invasion aimed at grabbing the
country's oil reserves.

The United States, as well as France and Great Britain, have naval vessels
loaded with humanitarian supplies off the Myanmar coast, waiting for
approval from the junta. The article did not say whether the French and
British supplies would be allowed.

The four U.S. warships in the region were seen as a major potential boost
for the relief effort with the capacity to deliver supplies to
inaccessible areas of the low-lying Irrawaddy delta, with 14 helicopters,
two landing craft vessels, two high-tech amphibious hovercraft and about
1,000 Marines.

American military aircraft are already sending aid on about five flights a
day from Thailand to Yangon.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday that the four U.S. Navy
ships off the coast of Myanmar will remain there in hopes that officials
of the military junta might yet approve delivery of aid by U.S.
helicopter.

Asked how long the ships would stay, Whitman said: "For now, we think the
need is compelling enough that we ought to keep those ships there."

The New Light of Myanmar gave no explanation why the regime was willing to
accept aid flown on U.S. C-130 cargo planes, with U.S. military personnel
on board, but would not allow the warships and helicopters to deliver
relief supplies.

Myanmar's xenophobic leaders appear to have long feared an invasion by the
United States, a concern that some analysts believe prompted the junta's
abrupt decision in 2005 to move the capital from Yangon to the remote city
of Naypyitaw, which is equipped with bunkers.

Before leaving New York, Ban welcomed the junta's "recent flexibility" in
saying it will allow relief workers from the 10-country Association of
Southeast Asian Nations — of which Myanmar is a member — to begin
distributing aid.

He warned that relief efforts to save cyclone survivors had reached a
"critical moment."

"We have a functioning relief program in place but so far have been able
to reach only 25 percent of Myanmar's people in need," he said Tuesday.

So far, the few foreign aid workers allowed inside the country have been
banned from the areas of the worst devastation in the delta.

At least 78,000 people were killed in the May 2-3 storm and 56,000 remain
missing. European Union nations have warned that Myanmar's junta could be
committing a crime against humanity by blocking aid.

Ban also planned to attend a meeting of aid donors in Yangon on Sunday.
Myanmar, one of the world's poorest nations, claims losses from the
disaster exceeded $10 billion.

Myanmar's leaders began three days of mourning for the dead and missing
Tuesday.

The U.N. weather agency said the storm warnings issued by Myanmar to alert
its population about Cyclone Nargis were sufficient and heavy loss of life
as the storm hit was inevitable.

Warning times of five to seven days would have been necessary, said Dieter
Schiessl, director of the U.N. agency's disaster risk reduction unit. Such
early notice is beyond the current state of weather prediction technology,
he added.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 21, Agence France Presse
UN's Ban says will meet Myanmar junta leader

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday he would meet Myanmar's
reclusive junta leader during a high-profile trip to convince the country
to accept a full-scale cyclone relief operation.

Ban landed in neighbouring Thailand on the eve of a visit aimed at getting
the regime of Senior General Than Shwe to welcome more outside help for
two million needy survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

There has been an international uproar over the limits on the aid
operation imposed by Myanmar since the storm, which has left at least
133,000 people dead or missing in the country's worst natural disaster
ever.

Ban had also failed to get Than Shwe to take his calls in the wake of the
May 2-3 storm, but said he now expected to meet him during the three-day
trip -- and stressed that the issue of aid for Myanmar should not be
politicised.

"Our focus is on saving lives," he said. "This is a critical moment for
Myanmar."

Ban reiterated a UN warning that only 25 percent of those in need had been
reached by international aid. "I hope we will be able to scale up these
relief efforts," he said.

Before leaving New York on Tuesday, Ban said the junta had agreed to let
nine UN helicopters work in remote regions hit hard by the storm.

But the United Nations and aid groups say the relief operation has been
far short of what is required. Many survivors are still without enough
food, water, shelter or medical care nearly three weeks after the storm
hit.

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party said relief work in
the hardest-hit areas had not "been performed competently" and called on
the UN to take a greater role in delivering aid.

"The secretary general is also requested to try his utmost to assist the
people of Burma, who are in great trouble," the National League for
Democracy said in a statement.

The secretive country has welcomed thousands of tonnes of donations but
has rejected most foreign aid workers, including specialists in disaster
zones needed to run a major relief operation.

Ban said he wanted a logistics hub inside Myanmar, which has reportedly
agreed to a joint mechanism between the United Nations and the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to coordinate the emergency effort.

The secretary general of the 10-nation bloc, Surin Pitsuwan, met Wednesday
in Myanmar with Prime Minister Thein Sein to explain how the new aid
mechanism would work, ASEAN said.

The junta's English-language mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar paper,
said earlier that the regime would not take aid coming from US military
ships  and helicopters because of unspecified "strings attached."

The United States, one of the regime's most vocal critics, has repeatedly
said its aid is unconditional, and Ban will try to get the generals to
open up to more help to prevent further lives being lost.

In its latest internal report on the situation, the United Nations said
"transport and access constraints" had kept food aid from reaching some
villages.

Cyclone Nargis wiped out vast swathes of the country's Irrawaddy Delta,
leaving vital rice paddies in ruins and washing away entire villages.

Despite the scope of the destruction, the World Bank said Tuesday it could
not provide any financial assistance to Myanmar because the country was 10
years behind in its debts.

Myanmar, once a prosperous British colony called Burma that was one of the
world's major exporters of rice, has been run by the iron hand of the
military since 1962.

The country has earned the scorn of the international community due to a
snail's pace "road map" to restore democracy that critics call a sham.

It has held Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of
the time since 1990, when her party won the country's last national
elections, but was not allowed to take office.

The generals have often turned their back on the outside world -- and are
going ahead Saturday with the second round of a referendum on a new
constitution even though the country is still in the midst of tragedy.

Ban will not be on Myanmar soil during the vote. He will visit Thursday
and Friday, and then return on Sunday for an international conference of
donors in the main city, Yangon.
____________________________________

May 21, Associated Press
UN weather agency says Myanmar storm warnings were sufficient, deaths
inevitable

The storm warnings issued by Myanmar to alert its population about Cyclone
Nargis were sufficient and heavy loss of life was inevitable, the U.N.
weather agency said Wednesday.

Even rich countries would have struggled to cope with the type of storm
that hit the Southeast Asian country on May 2-3, resulting in at least
78,000 dead, an official with the World Meteorological Organization said.

"Enhanced warnings would not have made a big difference," said Dieter
Schiessl, director of the U.N. agency's disaster risk reduction unit.

Warning times of five to seven days would have been necessary, Schiessl
told journalists in Geneva. Such early notice is beyond the current state
of weather prediction technology, he added.

Myanmar's location on the eastern Bay of Bengal, the path the storm took,
the heavy rains that accompanied it and the country's limited
infrastructure all contributed to the scale of the disaster, Schiessl
said.

Myanmar told the United Nations it issued a total of 33 warnings to local
officials and national media that were then passed on to the public
including through hourly radio broadcasts.

"For two days national radio and television continuously warned the
people," Ambassador Wunna Maung Lwin from Myanmar told a global health
meeting in Geneva on Monday.

The country, which is also known as Burma, has faced international
criticism for its response to the storm, including the restrictions
imposed on foreign aid workers and journalists seeking to enter the
country during the aftermath.

The U.N. weather agency was unable to independently verify the frequency
and content of the warnings, Schiessl said.

Neighboring Bangladesh, which is frequently hit by severe storms during
the monsoon season, has managed to reduce its death toll in recent years
by building raised storm shelters and instructing its people what to do in
case of a cyclone, he said.

Although heavy storms are much less frequent in Myanmar, Schiessl said the
country should consider similar measures to prevent massive loss of life
from future cyclones.

____________________________________

May 21, Christian Science Monitor
Europe tries threats to open Burma (Myanmar) to aid – Mark Rice-Oxley

Leaders hope their charges of a crime against humanity will push the junta
to expand relief efforts.  European leaders have accused Burma (Myanmar)
of a crime against humanity for its stubborn response to cyclone aid
relief, in a tactic to pressure the regime and save lives.

While also using "soft power" diplomacy to pry open channels to the
leadership and persuade the generals to relent, ministers from France to
Finland have been brandishing the strongest possible language – which
comes with subtle legal undertones.

A "crime against humanity" is one of four scenarios which, under a 2005
United Nations doctrine, can trigger forcible international humanitarian
action. Strictly speaking, it only applies to cases of war. But if the UN
agreed that such a crime was being perpetrated, the case for UN-backed
intervention would become compelling.

In practice, both sides know this is a last resort, but the Europeans are
brandishing the threat to coerce the regime into action.

The tactic may be working. The military junta ruling Burma has softened
its stance somewhat in recent days, agreeing to more humanitarian help
from regional powers – and to a visit by UN chief Ban Ki Moon, who is
expected to arrive in the country Thursday.

But they are still balking at the kind of large-scale foreign intervention
that Europe and the US want to see across the Irrawaddy Delta, where aid
groups fear more than 130,000 have died since the May 3 cyclone. The
generals say the rescue effort is over and now it's time for
reconstruction. The UN by contrast says 1.4 million people still need
urgent help.

"All different forms of pressure have been voiced in the last days and
weeks," says John Clancy, spokesman for European Union (EU) humanitarian
aid commissioner Louis Michel, who visited Rangoon last week. "If all of
this pressure manages to open up [the country] even a little bit and allow
in aid to save lives, then it will be important."

If Europe is adopting a good-cop, bad-cop approach, then Mr. Michel was
the good cop. His visit – during which he reassured the junta there was no
political subplot at play – paved the way for visits by the UN's top
humanitarian aid official, John Holmes, the British minister Mark
Malloch-Brown and now Mr. Ban.

Ban will meet the junta head Gen. Than Shwe, tour the stricken delta area,
and return to Rangoon on Sunday to co-chair an aid-pledging conference.

But back in Europe, key figures are playing bad cop. France's foreign
minister, Bernard Kouchner, was the first to invoke a "crime against
humanity" and said failure to act by the UN Security Council would be
"cowardice."

Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, characterized the regime's
response as "inhuman." Ministers from Spain and Finland also resorted to
the "crime against humanity" label. And EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana said the UN charter "opens up some avenues" to get aid in "if
things cannot be resolved."

A European diplomat based at the Security Council in New York says: "We
haven't ruled anything out and will consider all options. Our focus isn't
on the labels we attach but on getting aid in. We think the Security
Council can lend its voice to political pressure on the government to
improve access."

Tying Burma's response to a crime against humanity has legal implications:
A 2005 UN doctrine committed the international community to a
"responsibility to protect" (R2P) doctrine. It would have to intervene
"should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are
manifestly failing to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes,
ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."

Technically, the legal principle only applies in cases of war. But Donald
Steinberg, vice president of the International Crisis Group, says that in
Burma's case it could apply because "a government that sees a situation
where tens or hundreds of thousands are likely to die because of inability
to provide relief and says no to international humanitarian aid is itself
committing a crime against humanity."

Gareth Price, head of the Asia program at the Chatham House think tank in
London, adds that "it's not clear whether [R2P] applies to a natural
disaster. The assumption has to be it applies whenever it would work, but
where do you draw the line?"

Yet two major problems face those who want to trigger R2P. First, they
would need approval in the Security Council – where efforts to even
discuss Burma have foundered on the objections of China and Russia, who
insist that sovereignty takes precedence over humanitarian concerns.
Second, even if the UN were to approve a forcible humanitarian mission
(which it has done with mixed results in the past in Bosnia, Somalia, and
Iraqi Kurdistan), it would face hostility in carrying out its mission.

"If you intervene militarily against the wishes of a host government – and
one that has hundreds of thousands of troops under arms – it is virtually
impossible to set up the kind of distribution systems, transport systems,
medical support in order to save massive amounts of lives," says Mr.
Steinberg.

Sean Keogh, an aid worker who just returned from a week in Burma, says
airdrops must be a last resort. "If you airdrop without staff on the
ground it means the most vulnerable people will get missed. It can cause
conflict and tension in communities," he says.

But if the Europeans aren't holding a strong hand, neither is the junta.
"They somehow believe the biggest threat is the entry of all these foreign
relief experts, " says Steinberg. "The biggest threat is that they screw
this up so badly that tens of thousands more die and the people of Burma
rise up and say enough is enough."


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 21, Irrawaddy
Cyclone Nagris has never been ‘natural’ – Sai Soe Win Latt

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC last week that Cyclone Nagris had
been turned into a "man-made catastrophe" from a natural disaster because
of the negligence of the ruling generals.

While Mr. Brown is right that Cyclone Nagris has been turned into a
“man-made catastrophe,” it may also be the result of man-made economic,
political and historical
factors.

Cyclone Nagris should also be viewed in light of the 2007 report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that clearly warned that
as a result of global warming, tropical cyclones “will become more
intense, with larger peak wind speeds and more heavy precipitation
associated with ongoing increases of tropical sea surface temperatures.”

Global warming is largely caused by emission of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases. Roughly 75 to 80 percent of carbon dioxide emission
results from burning fossil fuel such as diesel, petrol and gas as well as
emissions released into the air by various industries and factories. The
United States, the world’s largest consumer of energy, is the biggest
polluter, emitting about 6,000 million tones in 2005, according to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The US’s rate of
emission was about 25 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

The US is followed by China, western European countries, Russia, Japan and
India, respectively.

Failing to take more effective actions against global warming, these
countries have even increased their rates of emission in the past five
years.

Cyclone Nagris is a political problem because of the isolationist,
xenophobic views of Burma’s military government.

The junta misinformed the people about the cyclone, and also failed to
take appropriate action before and after the storm. According to M.
Maharatra, the director of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD),
regular advisories were issued, starting on April 26, to the Burmese
authorities that a strong cyclone would strike Burma.

Ignoring the IMD warnings, Burma’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology
(DMH) issued inaccurate and inadequate information, failing to inform
residents in the storm’s path.

Cyclone Nagris, however, was not only about winds and tides. It’s also
about history. Burma’s military governments have never had a disaster
relief plan for just such an event as Cyclone Nargis.  The area is home to
hundreds of rivers and tributaries and only about 3 meters above sea
level. The 2004 tsunami should have been taken as a warning.

When the winds and tides of the cyclone were over, the politics of aid
began to unfold. Regardless of the dead and homeless, the junta refused to
allow international communities to help the victims. The New Era, a
Bangkok-based Burmese language newspaper, reported on May 8 that the
Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the embassies around the
world not to issue visas to international aid workers and experts, saying
Burma would only accept money and aid supplies and it already had its own
experts. Shamelessly, the junta seized the World Food Program’s aid
supplies and deported some aid workers.

Moreover, there were reports that the army and the junta’s Union
Solidarity and Development Association hijacked aid packages.

China, India and the Asian countries have also contributed to the present
problem by their hands-off policies which have in effect reinforced the
regime’s hubris, leading up to the current international stand off.

These are some of the man-made problems at the local, regional and global
levels. Unfortunately, the cost of this “unnatural” disaster is being paid
by the people of Burma.

Sai Soe Win Latt is a graduate student in geography at York University in
Canada.

____________________________________

May 21, Democratic Voice of Burma
Did Cyclone Nargis hit the generals’ mindset? – Htet Aung Kyaw

Although the deadly Cyclone Nargis did not strike the generals' new jungle
capital Naypyidaw directly, it may have struck a blow against the mindset
of the generals and changed their way of thinking.

But it remains to be seen how hard it was hit and how long it will take
for any real change to come about.

For the second time since last September's saffron revolution, our office
is crowded with foreign media crews. As the junta has denied journalists
visas for Burma, many Europe-based media groups come to our office in
search of first-hand information, video footages and comments.

As well as questions about the latest information, I was frequently asked,
"Do you think the junta will fall soon?" But there are no demonstrations
on the streets of Rangoon to urge regime change this time. Never the less,
journalists still asked, "Do you think Cyclone Nargis can bring about any
change in Burmese politics?"

I was surprised and unprepared for this question as I had thought of the
cyclone as just a natural disaster, not a political issue. "Please don't
get your hopes up, guys. This is just a disaster," I told them.

But now, almost three weeks after the cyclone struck, I think I need to
reconsider my answer.

In Rangoon, the junta announced that 130,000 people are dead or missing
while over 1 million people need urgent help. But they are still delaying
the delivery of foreign aid to survivors and denying visas to allow
foreign aid workers into the country.

In response to the junta's inhumane treatment, some warships carrying
emergency food supplies from the US and France are in position near the
delta coastline and there were strong warnings of humanitarian
intervention if relief access continued to be denied.

After a 20-day stand-off, the junta agreed to allow hundreds of ASEAN aid
workers into the country at a meeting in Singapore, and invited United
Nations chief Ban Ki-moon to visit. His deputy John Holmes, the UN
undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, is currently visiting the
hard-hit delta region.

In addition, they allowed dozens of World Food Programme helicopters into
the disaster zone. The junta has now also agreed to hold an
international-level donor meeting in Rangoon on Sunday.

So is this a sign that the generals’ mindset is beginning to change?

While the junta has seemed to be relaxing some of its restrictions on
foreign aid donations and relief workers, on other issues in Burma it is
business as usual.

Despite the small steps it has now made, the junta will still go ahead
with its referendum on Saturday in the 47 townships of the
cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon division where the vote was
postponed for two weeks.

Following the 10 May vote in the rest of the country, the regime announced
that 92.4 percent of voters supported the military-dominated constitution,
even as the majority of Burmese people were crying over the tragedy of the
cyclone.

Moreover, they have shown no signs of releasing opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, student leader Min Ko Naing and other 88 Generation Student
leaders, or the monk leader U Gambira who played a key role in last
September’s saffron revolution.

On balance, we can see that the small changes in the generals’ way of
thinking following Cyclone Nargis have not translated into any change in
attitude in the area of politics and power-sharing.

Now ASEAN and the UN must do more as they take their first steps on
Burmese soil after the disaster, especially Surin Pitsuan, ASEAN’s new
secretary-general who has a good knowledge of Burmese politics over the
last two decades.

Although it is not the time for talking about politics in this early
stage, Surin and Ban should not miss the opportunity to test the water for
political dialogue and power-sharing and change the generals' mindset
before the 2010 election.

Htet Aung Kyaw is a senior journalist for the Oslo-Based Democratic Voice
of Burma radio and TV station

____________________________________

May 21, BBC News
Burmese dodge junta to supply aid – Samanthi Dissanayake

As the UN calls for relief efforts to be scaled up to avoid more deaths in
Burma's cyclone-hit delta region, the BBC News website's Samanthi
Dissanayake has been speaking to local residents about their attempts to
get aid to the devastated areas.

Names have been changed to protect people's identities.

Driving through a watery wasteland handing out food to desolate storm
survivors is something Win will never forget.

Local Burmese people were the first on the scene after Cyclone Nargis
brought destruction to the fertile landscape of the Irrawaddy Delta.

Win was one of those who filled up a car with food and blankets and made
the journey down south.

"People in that area need everything. They have no shelter. They stand by
the road like beggars asking for food," Win told the BBC News website.
"I'll go down there again," he said. "But there are many difficulties."

It was not just the lashing rain but a fear of the ruling junta that
impeded his progress.

Junta obstruction

A number of private donors from Rangoon told the BBC News website that
they have met with hostility from the military in their attempts to
distribute aid.

After close questioning by soldiers, some had been ordered to turn back to
Rangoon with their aid. Others claim that the military confiscated their
goods, saying that only the central authorities could distribute aid.

Tun Tun, another Rangoon resident who got together with friends to
distribute aid down south ran into recalcitrant authorities in the Bago
district.

"When we arrived in the first village, the police came to us and said not
to distribute to the villagers. We all were very upset."

Tun Tun and his team of private volunteers simply moved on to the next
village. Here the village head approached Tun Tun and said that he could
not distribute aid there.

At this point, according to Tun Tun, "the villagers angrily confronted the
village head".

The situation became clearer when the village head explained his
predicament. He was ordered, on receiving aid from volunteers, to first
make a list of the aid, then to report this to the township council, which
would then report to the division council, which would then decide how and
who to distribute aid to - but only after 24 May, the date of the
postponed referendum.

"The villagers were very angry, very angry when they heard this. You know,
they have been eating coconut, bamboo shoots and the inner stems of a
banana for a week, " said Tun Tun.

After this experience Tun Tun was left bitter but with a greater resolve
to channel aid down south.

Dodging the junta

Like Tun Tun, the other drivers of the private aid train from Rangoon to
Irrawaddy have persisted in their efforts and people have found ways of
bypassing the junta.

In the first chaotic week after the cyclone, as Burma struggled to grasp
the enormity of the disaster, it became quite easy for people to slip past
military checkpoints and head down south to the areas ravaged by the eye
of the storm.

Due to the disruption, the normal rules of travel - Burmese people usually
need official permits to visit other parts of the country - were relaxed.

But as the junta has gradually regained control, it has become more
difficult for volunteers.

Volunteers do get through. One said it was important to make the journey
in small convoys of one or two cars as these aroused less suspicion.

Others have said that having connections with somebody in the military is
an advantage. Travelling with a monk of some standing or with somebody who
has a relative in one of the affected regions also increases chances of
getting through.

People have also been moving aid by boat through the waterways - partly
because these are policed less, and partly because the remoter islands of
the delta are best accessible this way.

Aid needed

Aid agencies have also been channelling aid to the south, using
established Burmese contacts.

"We have an existing operation within the country, we have an existing
relationship with the government. They understand how we work and have
allowed us to mount an operation in the delta," said a spokesperson for
the World Food Programme.

Many aid agencies have pre-existing local networks which have been
providing aid to the worst-hit areas. But most agree that much more aid is
needed and that the aid provided by private citizens can be critical.

Moira Reddick, head of disaster management for the British Red Cross said:
"Local people are best placed to help local people who are vulnerable."

A doctor for the Merlin medical relief charity who has been to the
badly-hit Laputta township told the BBC that there is a huge shortfall of
aid.

"One village said it had received rice supplies that only met 20% of its
needs... [and] many of those affected by the cyclone are at risk of
malnutrition," said Dr Sean Keogh.

Horrific tales

So many of the Burmese private donors are asking why the authorities seem
so concerned to obstruct their progress when the need is so obvious.

Part of the problem for the junta is that many of these citizens were the
first people to reach the remoter regions hit by the cyclone. They
returned to Rangoon with tales of horrific destruction and of survivors
left with no home, no food - and, more worryingly for the generals - no
aid.

As the junta prevaricated over accepting offers of international aid,
stories and images filtered through of the desperation fermenting in the
south.

Tin Htar Swe, head of the BBC Burmese service, says there are a myriad of
reasons to explain the junta's attitude.

"Among the benefactors could be journalists, and there could be
non-genuine benefactors who want to collect information. They want to stop
information coming out of the region.

"The juntas want to be seen as if they can control the country. All along
they have said that the country would disintegrate if the military was not
taking care of it. They need to be able to show people they can do that.
They are paranoid of losing control," she said.

Win, the private donor from Rangoon, witnessed this paranoia when he saw
the military shifting storm survivors from the side of the road and
temporarily out of sight as a UN truck rolled down an ostensibly deserted
route.