BurmaNet News, May 29, 2008

[Editor]

May 29, 2008 Issue #3479


QUOTE OF THE DAY
"People from the Irrawaddy delta can survive on their own, even without
bars of chocolate donated by the international community
 [they can live
on] fresh vegetables that grow wild in the fields and on protein-rich fish
from the rivers." – The Myanma Ahlin (SPDC-run newspaper)

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar enacts new charter as aid trickles to cyclone victims
AP: Cyclone survivors victimized by Myanmar soldiers
Irrawaddy: No more proxies: Myanmar Teleport
Irrawaddy: Junta article attacks ‘open access’
Mizzima News: Censor bans journals from reporting on cyclone
Wall Street Journal: Aid agencies push Myanmar for more access to quake area

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Burmese migrants send funds to Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
Forbes via XFN-Asia: China's CNPC, SKorea's Daewoo Intl tie up for Myanmar
oil/gas exploration
Narinjara News: Border trade resumes after Cyclone Nargis

HEALTH / AIDS
AP: WHO, other agencies launch US$28 million plan for health care of
Myanmar cyclone victims
Bangkok Post: More Thai doctors on way to Burma

REGIONAL
Washington Post: U.S. Navy waiting for junta's permission to deliver Burma
aid

INTERNATIONAL
DPA: EU "strongly deplores" Suu Kyi arrest extension

OPINION / OTHER
The Japan Times: Myanmar's referendum farce
Irrawaddy: Critical need for new initiatives in Burma
IHT: How long must the Burmese wait?

PRESS RELEASE
BCUK: Attacks on Burma’s ethnic Karen continue despite Cyclone




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 29, Agence France Presse
Myanmar enacts new charter as aid trickles to cyclone victims

Myanmar's junta announced Thursday that its new constitution had been
"confirmed and enacted" after a referendum held earlier this month amid
the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.

State television, reading a statement by junta leader Than Shwe, said that
92.48 percent of voters had endorsed the charter.

Voter turnout was 98.12 percent, it said, despite more than one million
storm survivors still languishing without foreign aid after the storm
ripped through the southwest on May 2 and 3, leaving 133,000 people dead
or missing.

"The nationwide referendum confirmed and enacted the constitution of the
Republic of the Union of Myanmar," the statement said.

Earlier, Myanmar had said the constitution would only take effect in two
years, once a new parliament convenes following planned elections.

Myanmar ignored international calls to focus on cyclone relief work and
delay the referendum and ploughed ahead with the polls on May 10 and 24.

Nearly four weeks after Cyclone Nargis pummelled large swathes of Myanmar,
foreign aid has still only reached 40 percent of the 2.4 million needy
survivors, the UN says.

Myanmar's isolated regime had largely barred foreign aid workers from the
southwest Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the cyclone.

Last Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had received
assurances that the regime would grant access to all foreign relief
workers, and aid agencies are slowly moving into Myanmar's cyclone-ravaged
delta.

Richard Horsey, spokesman for the UN's emergency relief arm, said the
situation was "tentatively positive", with international UN staff able to
move into the delta after giving the regime 48 hours' notice.

"We haven't had any problems with visas for the last week to 10 days and
yesterday (Wednesday) we were issued with the last of the 45 visas we were
awaiting," Horsey said.

Several international aid workers have reported receiving travel approval
for the delta in the last week, including six from the UN children's fund
UNICEF, five from World Vision and two from Save the Children.

Other groups were still waiting for the junta to live up to its promises.

"We want to move now. We have to move now. This amount of time after a
disaster we should be providing water. It's absolutely critical," said
John Sparrow, Bangkok-based spokesman for the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"Imagine the stress of a family with children living without proper
shelter, without food and without medical care," he said, adding that most
of their 30 foreign staff in Yangon were waiting for permission to go to
the delta.

"The longer it goes on, the greater the suffering of the people."

And despite an apparent thawing in its stance on foreign aid, the regime
launched a tirade against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party,
accusing the National League for Democracy of stoking unrest among storm
survivors.

"The NLD is attempting to incite the outrage of the victims and problems,
and to make the public outrage go into riots," the state-run New Light of
Myanmar newspaper said in an editorial on Thursday.

The NLD, which won 1990 elections but was never allowed to govern, had
urged people to vote against the new constitution.

The regime has said the charter will pave the way for elections in two
years, but detained Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters say the charter will
only entrench military rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was extended for one more year on
Tuesday, will be barred from running for office under the new
constitution, which reserves 25 percent of seats in parliament for the
military.

The generals will also have broad powers to declare a state of emergency
and seize direct control of the government.

Meanwhile, volunteers returning from cyclone-hit areas said tragic scenes
remained, with dead bodies still rotting in the fields, and villagers
relying on survival skills in the absence of outside help.

"They rebuilt small huts, took off clothes from dead bodies, found
drinking water from the rain or from other villages -- most of the
survival work was done on their own," Myo Thant, who has been delivering
private supplies to the delta, told AFP.

____________________________________

May 29, Associated Press
Cyclone survivors victimized by Myanmar soldiers

It's not much, but the flimsy bamboo lean-to on the side of the road is
all Aye Shwe has to keep his family dry. They lost their home to the
cyclone and may soon be uprooted again — this time by soldiers ordering
them to leave.

Three weeks after the storm, survivors say they are being victimized
again, by a military regime that has forced some to return to flooded,
collapsed homes and others to labor on reconstruction projects.

Even Myanmar volunteers making the difficult trip into the Irrawaddy delta
to deliver food and supplies to survivors are being stopped and detained
for hours, and the government has started impounding cars.

"Where my house used to be is still filled with water up to my waist,"
said Aye Shwe, pointing to fields of rice paddies in the distance, under
water as far as the eye could see. "How can I build a new house there?"

The 52-year-old rice farmer's mother was killed in the cyclone that left
more than 134,000 people dead or missing, and the water buffaloes that
were a mainstay of his livelihood drowned in the fierce storm surges.

Still, until this week he had more than many: He managed to fashion a
shelter from bamboo poles lashed together with palm fronds laid over one
side as a crude roof. His wife and six children huddled together Monday on
its raised bamboo floor, sheltering from the searing heat and the
downpours that now come daily as monsoon season gets under way.

It's location on the roadside outside the hard-hit delta town of Pyapon, a
four-hour drive from Yangon, had given his family access to the Myanmar
volunteers ferrying donated food, water and other aid from the country's
biggest city.

Then the soldiers came and ordered the family and the hundreds of others
camped out on the roadside to leave.

Myanmar's reclusive government has opened up slightly to the world in the
past week, allowing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to meet with some
survivors living in tents in a refugee camp the military showed off as a
model of its efficient handling of the relief effort.

But the U.N. says as many as 2.5 million people are homeless, facing
hunger and potential outbreaks of disease, especially in the low-lying
areas of the Irrawaddy delta close to the sea, and only a fraction of them
have received any aid.

Hundreds lined the road outside Pyapon this week, squatting in the midday
heat with only propped-up palm leaves or tree branches with pieces of
cloth flung over them as shelter, hoping for handouts from the occasional
passing car.

The government has ordered them not to beg, the refugees said, so only
children rushed up to a stopped car with their hands out; the adults just
waited, looking beseechingly. Military trucks passed by daily shouting
orders over bull horns to leave the road and return home, these people
said, though they have nowhere else to go.

"We live from hand to mouth. We have no buffaloes," said Aye Shwe, adding
that he hoped to get permission to remain with his family in their lean-to
for the next three months until the monsoon rains end. Asked if he thought
that was likely, he looked down and did not reply.

The military junta has declared the emergency relief phase of the disaster
over and announced reconstruction has begun, ordering able-bodied cyclone
survivors to work details, according to aid workers and delta residents.

In the nearby town of Bogalay, where 120 refugees were crammed into the
Sankyaung monastery, filled with the sound of rattling coughs and wailing
children, the abbot said some survivors had been ordered to construction
sites by soldiers.

"Some of the survivors were sent to Ma-ubin last week to build roads now
that reconstruction has started," said the monk, Kawvida, adding he'd
heard they were being paid a day wage of about 1,000 kyats — or $1. "They
have told me that they are being exploited by some generals."

He said survivors were given picks and ordered to break up large boulders
into pieces of rock for road construction.

Inside the temple, volunteers called out names as they distributed bundles
of donated clothing to families sleeping on rattan mats under plastic
sheets strung from the leaky roof. Behind them, a large Buddha statue was
draped with a tarpaulin to protect it from the rain.

"We have received no help from the government," said Kawvida. "The
survivors have been relying on food and other things provided by private
donors."

But some volunteers, especially those affiliated with opposition political
groups, have reported being harassed by police or having their vehicles
impounded.

Daw Kyi Kyi said she was driving back to Yangon Sunday night after
donating slippers, rice and other food to cyclone victims at a monastery
in Dedaye, about 40 miles southwest of the city, when three policemen
ordered her to drive to a military compound.

"We were told by authorities that we were detained because we created
commotion along the route as we delivered relief goods to victims from
cars," the 65-year-old woman said.

She was freed the next morning, but only after authorities took her
driver's license and car registration and charged her with a traffic
violation. She said she saw 40 other cars impounded in the compound.

"We didn't drop food on the road, and we didn't violate any traffic
regulations," said another volunteer, Nyi Nyi Zaw. "I cannot understand
why we were herded into a compound and held there for several hours. This
is absurd and very unpleasant."

In some cases, worried volunteers have abandoned plans to deliver aid. "We
collected 80 bags of rice for the cyclone victims in Kunchangone, but we
aborted the plan after hearing news of cars being impounded," said a
volunteer, Moe Moe.

That means survivors like 93-year-old Khin Mya, whose only shelter was a
red flowered umbrella and a plastic bag, will go without.

"I get very worried every evening because I have to find a place to sleep
— maybe under a tree, or if I can share a hut with someone," the bone-thin
woman said. "I must come to the road to receive food from donors or else I
will starve."

____________________________________

May 29, Irrawaddy
No more proxies: Myanmar Teleport – Saw Yan Naing

Technical changes have been made to prevent Internet users from using
proxy servers to get around government controls, according to an
announcement from Myanmar Teleport, one of the country’s two Internet
service providers (ISPs).

In a notice to customers that was obtained by The Irrawaddy on Thursday,
the company, formerly known as Bagan CyberTech, said that it had upgraded
its service to remove the need for proxies.

 “As part of this upgrade, the use of web proxies is no longer required,”
said the announcement. “Myanmar Teleport would like to cordially request
you to reconfigure your web browser settings not to use proxies.”

When contacted, a technician at Myanmar Teleport confirmed that the move
was intended to tighten control over access to unauthorized Web sites.

Burma has some of the world’s most restrictive Internet policies, banning
blogs and exiled news providers critical of the country’s ruling junta.
However, access to prohibited Web sites is often possible through use of
proxy servers.

The upgrade was described as a measure to improve service with “more
reliable and robust equipment.”

Burma has two Internet service providers—Myanmar Posts and
Telecommunications and Myanmar Teleport. Myanmar Teleport/BaganNet was
formerly owned by Ye Naing Win, the son of the ousted Prime Minister Gen
Khin Nyunt.

____________________________________

May 29, Irrawaddy
Junta article attacks ‘open access’ – Wai Moe

Several Rangoon newspapers sanctioned by the Burmese junta blasted the
idea of “opening up” to foreign aid workers and criticized refugees who
lined the roads leading to the cyclone-stricken area, saying they made the
country look bad.

The same commentary appeared in two newspapers, Myanma Alin and Kyemon, on
Thursday. The article claimed that “free access” for foreign aid workers
meant they could do whatever they liked in the country without
limitations.

Newspapers in Burma are tightly controlled by the military government and
are used by the ruling generals to publicize their views and changes in
official policy.

The article also criticized the World Bank, which provided a $23 million
loan to aid Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami, for its refusal to provide
monetary aid to Burma.

The World Bank refused to offer Burma a disaster loan, citing the military
junta’s failure to repay previous bank loans since 1998.

The article attacked the United States’ latest economic sanctions against
the junta that were handed down in early May. The US is a powerful country
and it knew the tropical storm would hit Burma, but it increased economic
sanctions anyway, the article claimed.

The article said that military-ruled Burma can survive without foreign
humanitarian aid because it now gets only US $3 annually as development
assistance—the lowest amount among developing countries.

Fish paste curry and vegetables are delicious and offer enough nutrition
for farmers in the Irrawaddy delta, the article said.

Another article on Thursday in a state-run newspaper, the New Light of
Myanmar, criticized homeless, hungry refugees of Cyclone Nargis. Refugees
lining the roads were in a scramble to get donations handed out by
volunteers, and their behavior tarnished the image of the people and the
country, the article said.

The article accused the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD),
which is now working to provide relief aid in the Irrawaddy delta, of
“trying to exploit the situation politically, instead of cooperating with
the people.”

The NLD said on Thursday the party was not using the disaster for
political purposes. Win Myint, the NLD’s secretary for Irrawaddy Division,
said, “The NLD relief effort is based on the party’s members in the
Irrawaddy delta, who are also cyclone survivors. They were aiding refugees
immediately after the storm.”

The government’s disaster committee announced in a press release on
Wednesday that aid donations should be given only to official government
organizations so that aid may be “carried out more effectively”.

“In that regard, assistance may be sought from the National Disaster
Preparedness Committee at different levels,” the press release said.

Responding to the press release, an aid volunteer with a private donation
group, who requested anonymity, said such announcements are usually
ignored, but they can make working more difficult.

“Sometimes top officials say things like that,” she said. “But different
things happen on the ground.”

However, she said a group traveling to the Irrawaddy delta on Sunday in
about 27 vehicles was stopped in Hlaingtharyar Township by local
authorities, and the drivers were taken to a technical college compound in
Insein Township where they were questioned.

“They took driver licenses,” she said, “and the licenses have not been
returned.”

Currently, foreigners working with international nongovernmental
organizations who want to enter the delta area have to get official
documentation from Burma’s ministry of defense, ministry of foreign
affairs and the ministry of social welfare, making the aid process an
extended exercise in bureaucracy while preventing effective aid from
reaching the needy.

____________________________________

May 29, Mizzima News
Censor bans journals from reporting on cyclone – Nem Davies

Burma's censorship board, infamous for its stranglehold on the media, has
denied permission to Rangoon based weekly journals from publishing stories
on the cyclone devastation. In depth stories focussing on cyclone
devastated Irrawaddy delta were cut by the censors, said an editor of a
weekly journal.

"At least one-fourth of the cyclone related reportage was censored by the
board in this week's journal. It was the same in last week's publication,"
said the editor, who requested not to be named.

"We are also not allowed to cover the possibilities of a rise in prices of
rice in the near future due to the cyclone's impact that destroyed seeds
in the delta," he said.

Nearly all news coverage on the cyclone's impact and the lives of the
victims including - urgent relief for villagers in the remote delta, the
need for domestic animals for cultivators, and cyclone survivors' living
conditions - were cut by the censor board.

"They [censorship board] only allow publishing the work of the government
in reconstruction and resettlement programmes in the delta," he added.

The Burmese junta has restricted both local and foreign correspondents
from going into cyclone affected zones and imposed a restriction on
carrying cameras into the Irrawaddy delta.

But several local journalists as well as foreign correspondents have
sneaked into the Irrawaddy delta and filed stories, which are so far the
only information that reveal the picture of the cyclone's devastation for
people outside.

A local journalist working with another weekly publication said, "Our
publication this week was filled with cyclone stories but all of them are
related to the government's work on reconstruction and resettlement."

____________________________________

May 29, Wall Street Journal
Aid agencies push Myanmar for more access to quake area – Tom Wright

International aid agencies have sent scores of foreign experts in to the
most ravaged areas of cyclone-hit Myanmar in the past few days. But many
organizations are urging the nation's military rulers to allow even wider
access.

Last weekend, Myanmar's government reversed course by allowing foreign aid
workers in to the Irrawaddy River delta, where as many as 134,000 people
were left dead or missing after Cyclone Nargis struck in early May. The
military had previously banned foreigners from traveling to the sensitive
area, home to as many as 2.4 million survivors of the cyclone in need of
food, water and shelter.

Since Myanmar's opening to more relief workers, the United Nations has
obtained visas for all its aid experts and many are working in the delta
region to expand operations, said Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the UN's
disaster-coordination body. The Myanmar government, he added, is issuing
permits for foreign workers to travel to the delta within 48 hours.

Doctors Without Borders, an international medical relief organization,
said it has been able to get more than a dozen expatriates -- including
sanitation experts, doctors and coordinators -- in to the delta area so
far. The group estimated it has distributed rice, canned fish and plastic
sheets to 120,000 affected people.

Despite such signs of opening, Myanmar's military still requires aid
workers to present detailed travel plans in advance and to acquire permits
each time they enter the delta area, conditions which aid groups say is
hindering a quick response.

The regime has so far refused to allow foreign aid groups, including the
U.N., to use key military air bases in the delta as supply hubs.

"We would like to see complete and unfettered access," said Greg Duly, the
regional director in Asia for Save The Children, a humanitarian
organization, which has got two expatriates in to the delta this week.

Aid workers also have to deal with a shortage of four-wheel drive jeeps,
trucks and boats. One problem is that the military allow only a few
thousand cars to be imported each year. Many vehicles on the streets of
Yangon are aging, with relief agencies competing to hire those that are
road-worthy.

The World Food Program, a U.N. agency, said it has redeployed six vehicles
from its programs in other parts of Myanmar, but has so far been blocked
from importing extra four-wheel drives. "We need the government to change
its position and allow us to import new vehicles," said Chris Kaye, the
WFP's representative in Myanmar.

Myanmar's military, which took power in a 1962 coup, are also continuing
to refuse aid from four U.S. navy ships sitting just 60 miles off the
Irrawaddy delta. The vessels, which are packed with water, high-energy
biscuits and blankets, have no plans to leave the area in the short term,
said a U.S. military spokesman in Bangkok.

As many as 2.4 million people could have been displaced by the cyclone,
the U.N. and aid groups estimate. Victims continue to crowd in to
makeshift shelters alongside roads and inside Buddhist monasteries a month
after the disaster. Many remote areas have not yet been reached by aid
workers.

Doctors Without Borders said its staff are seeing an increase in
respiratory illnesses because many people are without shelter at a time of
heavy rains in Myanmar. Diarrhea is common but as yet has not become an
epidemic, the group said.

The U.N.'s World Health Organization has so far not reported any outbreaks
of cholera or other waterborne diseases, but aid workers are yet to survey
many remote areas of the delta.

Meanwhile, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations said on Thursday
that Myanmar has appointed Kyaw Thu, the nation's deputy foreign minister,
as its liaison with the U.N. and Asean during the relief operations.
Asean, a 10-member grouping which includes Myanmar, has worked behind the
scenes to get the country to open up to aid efforts, U.N. officials said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 29, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese migrants send funds to Burma – Maung Too

Burmese migrant workers in southern Thailand's Phan-nga district have
collected over 200,000 baht in donations from the migrant community to
help victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma.

Many migrant workers in Phan-nga were themselves affected by the 2004
tsunami.

One of the migrants who contributed to the collection said he had been
pleased to be able to help.

"I felt so sad when I heard the terrible news about Cyclone Nargis in
Burma,” he said.

“But we are happy that we have an opportunity to give a donation to
support our fellow people."

Another migrant working in Phan-nga agreed.

"We are happy to be able to support the cyclone victims with the small
amount of money we have earned from our labours," he said.

One of the organisers of the collection said the community wanted to do
something to help the victims in Burma.

"After we heard the news about Cyclone Nargis in Burma, we discussed with
migrant workers here how we could contribute to help the victims,” he
said.

“So far we have collected over 200,000 baht."

Another organiser said the money would be sent to cyclone victims through
local aid groups.

"We are going to channel the money for the victims through aid groups that
are working inside Burma on Monday," he said.

Phan-nga has a population of over 10,000 Burmese migrants who mostly work
in the fishing industry and on rubber plantations.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 29, Forbes via XFN-Asia
China's CNPC, SKorea's Daewoo Intl tie up for Myanmar oil/gas exploration

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the parent of PetroChina, said it
has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea's Daewoo
International for joint oil and gas exploration in Myanmar.

The deal was signed during the state visit to China by South Korean
President Lee Myung-Bak.

The company did not provide further details.

CNPC, the country's top oil and gas producer, signed production sharing
contracts in January 2007 with the Myanmar Ministry of Energy covering
crude oil and natural gas exploration projects in three deep-sea blocks
off western Myanmar.

A consortium led by Daewoo owns stakes in blocks that include the Shwe,
Shwephyu and Mya fields off western Myanmar.

kelly.zang at xfn.com

____________________________________

May 29, Narinjara News
Border trade resumes after Cyclone Nargis

Border trade between Burma and Bangladesh resumed this week after being
stalled in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis in Burma, said a businessman.
He said, "The border trade that was stalled after Nargis struck Burma
became normal this week, and many goods from Burma have entered Bangladesh
through the Teknaf border point."

Burma usually exports many raw materials to Bangladesh, including fish,
timber, rice, and bamboo through the cross-border trade, but all export
goods from Burma were stopped until several days ago after the cyclone hit
Burma's Irrawaddy Delta.

A trader from Teknaf said that at least ten machine cargo boats loaded
with fish and timbers entered Bangladesh in one day this week from Burma.

According to a border source, in Bangladesh the price of fish and rice
increased in the border area near Burma last week as Burmese traders were
unable to export the food products to Bangladesh after the cyclone.

Burma exports raw materials to Bangladesh in the border trade, and
Bangladesh produces finished products such as medicine, fertilizer,
cement, and iron, which is used for constructing buildings in Burma.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 29, Associated Press
WHO, other agencies launch US$28 million plan for health care of Myanmar
cyclone victims – Alexander G. Higgins

The World Health Organization and other agencies on Thursday launched a
US$28 million (euro18 million) plan to curb disease outbreaks and improve
medical care in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar over the next six months.

"We must help repair and revitalize Myanmar's health services and replace
the damaged medical equipment in affected facilities," said Eric Laroche,
WHO assistant director-general who is heading the coalition of more than
40 organizations.

The May 2-3 cyclone destroyed about 50 percent of health facilities in
Myanmar, Laroche said. The joint plan intends to replace the destroyed
facilities and "build a health care system that can withstand any future
natural disasters," he said.

It still has to be determined what equipment and buildings need to be
replaced or repaired first, but it is clear that a top priority is to
resume immunization of children against polio and measles, he said.

The cyclone left an estimated 2.4 million people in desperate need of
food, shelter and medical care. Myanmar's government says the storm killed
78,000 people and left 56,000 missing.

Health workers also are on the lookout for an outbreak of cholera or other
infectious diseases.

"The main fear of everyone is any start of an epidemic, be it cholera or
dengue fever or whatever," Laroche told reporters.

Although some non-governmental organizations have reported cases of
cholera, the government has told WHO there are no confirmed cases. Laroche
said isolated cases of cholera were less significant.

"For us what is important is to have antennas everywhere to see if there
is any beginning of a small outbreak," Laroche said, adding that health
officials would respond with a containment action to keep the virus from
spreading.

Malaria infections are expected to increase in coming weeks because of
mosquitoes breeding in standing water left by rains, and there is a need
for bed nets to prevent that disease, he said.

Another fear following floods in Myanmar is snakebite, Laroche said. "So
two weeks ago we sent 2,000 vials for vipers, the main variety."

He said it is "much easier" for relief workers to obtain visas since the
early days after the storm and that he had been assured they will have
access to the field so that they can work where needed.

"It's likely that we will get hundreds of medical teams" from Myanmar's
Southeast Asian neighbors who will be deployed in the effort, Laroche
said.

Already some 500 tons of medical supplies have been sent into the country,
Laroche said.

An appeal for donations to pay for the new joint plan will be made later,
said Laroche.

____________________________________

May 29, Bangkok Post
More Thai doctors on way to Burma

Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab will lead a team of medical experts
to help victims of cyclone Nargis in Burma again.

The new team of assistants sent over to Burma comprise physicians,
paediatricians, psychologists, dentists and engineers. They are expected
to provide assistance to the victims of the cyclone for 14 days and will,
together with Burma’s public health officials, lay down future strategies
to cope with the aftermath of the disaster.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

May 29, Washington Post
U.S. Navy waiting for junta's permission to deliver Burma aid – William
Branigin

The United States is prepared to step up deliveries of relief supplies to
Burma from Navy ships off the coast of the cyclone-ravaged nation but
cannot wait much longer for permission from Burma's military rulers, the
commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific said today.

Adm. Timothy J. Keating, who heads the U.S. Pacific Command, told
reporters at the Pentagon that sailors and Marines aboard the USS Essex
and three other Navy ships in the Bay of Bengal are "desperate to provide
help" but are growing increasingly frustrated by the Burmese junta's
refusal to accept aid from U.S. and other foreign naval vessels.

Keating said the ships could remain in position for only a matter of days
before they must move on to other missions if they are not allowed to
help. He said that he had not heard of a reported proposal to have Burmese
vessels come out to the Essex to receive relief supplies, but that
"certainly we'd consider that." If the Burmese were to propose such a
solution, he said, "I would think we'd look favorably on that."

However, a senior Philippine relief official and political leader, Sen.
Richard J. Gordon, said he would be "very surprised if that happened."
Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, headed that
nation's delegation to an international pledging conference held Sunday in
Rangoon.

Burmese authorities made clear at the conference that they did not want
foreign military personnel providing aid, particularly those from Western
countries, Gordon said in a telephone interview from Manila.

"They won't let the military in," he said. "They were very emphatic about
that."

But Burmese authorities have allowed at least 70 relief flights into
Rangoon by U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo planes in the past two weeks,
Keating told Pentagon reporters today.

"We're moving five C-130 loads a day," and the flights are continuing, the
Pacific Command chief said. So far, U.S. aircraft have flown in 1.4
million pounds of supplies, including material carried on behalf of
nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies, Keating said.

He said distribution of the supplies is being handled to some degree by
private aid groups and to a larger extent by the Burmese military.

"Do I know where they're going? I do not," Keating said. But he added, "We
have reasonable confidence, but not 100 percent confidence," that the
relief supplies are going to the civilians who most need them. He said he
has "no information" that the Burmese military is hoarding high-value gear
such as mosquito netting and plastic sheeting needed for shelter.

"There's a certain amount of faith that it's getting downrange" to
destitute Burmese in the devastated Irrawaddy Delta region, Keating said.
Civilian relief workers who have been to the delta "say some of it is
getting there," he said.

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hammered the low-lying delta area on May 2 and 3
with 120 mph sustained winds, torrential rains and a 12-foot storm surge.
The disaster left more than 134,000 people dead or missing, and foreign
relief officials have warned that thousands more could die of disease or
famine unless the Burmese government opens its doors to more help.

When Keating and other U.S. officials flew into Rangoon on May 11 with the
first American planeload of supplies, he said, he informed Burmese
authorities that the United States was capable of moving 250,000 pounds of
supplies a day by helicopter to the disaster zone.

"I assured our Burmese colleagues that we would do this without
fingerprint," he said. That is, the operation would be "entirely
self-sufficient," there would be no need for fuel, food, lodging or other
provisions, and U.S. personnel could come in at first light and leave the
country in the evening if necessary, he said. He also invited the Burmese
to put military or civilian officials on U.S. planes or helicopters and to
observe operations aboard the Essex, a 40,500-ton amphibious assault ship
that can carry as many as 36 helicopters.

Keating said he assured the Burmese that "we had no military intentions"
in Burma and that once the relief operation was completed, "we will leave
[and] you will not know we were here." Burmese officials said they
understood but could not give approval and had to take the proposals to
higher authorities. Since then, however, there has been no indication of
any intention by the ruling junta to allow in greater quantities of U.S.
relief.

"All it would take is a yes, and significant material would be going
ashore in an hour," Keating said. He said there is still a need for relief
supplies, including food, water and shelter, and that the United States
could help to a much greater extent if asked.

"We believe there is still a mission for us," he said.

In contrast, Keating said, China has been responsive to U.S. offers of
help in the wake of the earthquake that struck Sichuan province two weeks
ago, leaving more than 88,000 people dead or missing. Chinese authorities
have been much more open about the disaster and more receptive to foreign
help than in the past, he said.

The admiral said there has been a "night-and-day difference" between the
Burmese and Chinese governments' attitudes toward foreign relief efforts.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 29, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
EU "strongly deplores" Suu Kyi arrest extension

The European Union on Thursday condemned the extension of the house arrest
of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, at the same time
criticizing the Myanmar regime's recent referendum on constitutional
reform.

"The EU strongly deplores the decision of the authorities of Myanmar to
extend the house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," the Slovenian
government, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said in a
statement on behalf of the 27-member bloc.

"In clear breach of international norms, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate
has now been under house arrest without charge for five years and has
spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in detention," the statement said.

"The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees would
have been an opportunity to begin a process of national reconciliation and
genuine democratic transition, which Myanmar needs now more than ever,"
the statement said.

On Tuesday Myanmar's military regime decided to extend Suu Kyi's house
arrest for another six months - just days after concluding a referendum on
constitutional reforms aimed at reinforcing the army's political power.

"The EU regrets that the authorities of Myanmar conducted the
constitutional referendum on 10 and 24 May in an overall climate of
intimidation and with results that lack credibility," the EU statement
said.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 29, The Japan Times
Myanmar's referendum farce – Vaclav Havel, Desmond Tutu and Richard von
Weizsacker

The enormous suffering of the Burmese people caused by the recent cyclone,
which has caused tens of thousands of deaths, deserves the sympathy of the
entire world. But more than sympathy is needed, because the Burmese
military junta's incompetence and brutal oppression are further
aggravating the tragic consequences of this natural disaster.

In the midst of the cyclone's devastation, Burma's ruling generals went
ahead and held a referendum on a new constitution. But, according to
Burma's Constitutional Referendum Act, members of religious organizations,
those subject to criminal prosecution, and members of ethnic groups that
have not agreed to a ceasefire with the government were barred from
voting. Thus, all current and former political prisoners, about 500,000
Buddhist monks, and more than twice as many members of ethnic minority
groups living close to the borders were banned from the vote.

Moreover, according to the new constitution that was supposedly "approved"
by the "referendum," Aung San Suu Kyi, who has never been prosecuted and
still remains under house arrest, is barred from standing in the 2010
general elections under the pretext that her deceased husband was British.
Is the world really willing to accept such an absurdity?

We strongly support the Burmese opposition's campaign calling on the
country's citizens to reject the constitution, which does not promote
human rights, but only confirms the military's political role. Many
democracy activists have been arrested throughout the country. The
regime's Draconian "law" (5/96) prohibits participants from criticizing
the draft constitution; those who dare to challenge the regime face a
20-year prison sentence.

Given the violent suppression of last September's mass demonstrations (the
"Saffron Revolution") led by Burma's Buddhist monks, and the constant
repression in the country, it is not surprising that the military junta
tries to shroud its despotic tendencies in pseudo-democratic measures such
as the sham electoral process of the referendum.

Sadly, the international community did not respond to last autumn's mass
arrests of human rights defenders. The 88 Generation leaders, including
Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, women activists like Su Su Nway and others,
bravely expressed their grievances time and again in letters, statements
and public demonstrations prior to the Saffron Revolution. Their
courageous calls fell on deaf ears; they now remain imprisoned.

It is time to strongly condemn the exclusion of a considerable number of
people from voting and to insist on the release of Burma's political
prisoners. The United Nations and the European Union should be ready to
reject conclusively the result of the referendum and strengthen sanctions
against the regime. Burma's neighbors in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations should stop looking the other way as Burma's rulers trample
on Burma's citizens.

The U.N. Security Council should consider introducing a universal arms
embargo, and the EU should adopt banking sanctions that target the regime
and its cronies.

Moreover, the U.N. should not only condemn, but without further delay put
a stop to today's greatest atrocity: the regime's obstruction of foreign
assistance to victims of the cyclone. Their deaths are the sole
responsibility of the military junta, which deliberately and with
knowledge of the likely consequences has closed the door to humanitarian
aid and workers from all over the world.

Their actions represent an appalling crime against humanity.

The military-run referendum will not bring democracy to Burma, nor will it
help the Burmese people, who now are suffering not only from the
authoritarian regime and poverty, but also from a grave natural disaster
and its totally inept handling by the cynical generals. Burma's rulers
have failed in their duty to protect the Burmese people, but active and
decisive political action by the international community toward the regime
may yet do so.

Vaclav Havel is a former president of the Czech Republic, Desmond Tutu is
a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and Richard von Weizsacker is a former
president of Germany.

____________________________________

May 29, Irrawaddy
Critical need for new initiatives in Burma – Kjell Magne Dondevik

The people of Burma are now victims of both a humanitarian and a political
tragedy. It is nothing less than grotesque how the military government
has, for such a long time, obstructed relief to the suffering population.

The main focus must of course be the humanitarian assistance to the
victims of the cyclone. However, recent incidents have revealed the need
for new political initiatives in order to put a more coherent and
efficient pressure on the military rulers of the country.

The UN secretary-general should now take the initiative for a high-level
roundtable conference on Burma with the most important actors.

The military junta in Burma has once again shown its true face by the
brutal handling of its own people. Thousands of people were struck by a
natural catastrophe, but the regime refused the rest of the world the
right to bring relief to the victims. At the same time, the junta carried
out its planned referendum on a new constitution for the country, albeit
with a certain deferment in some of the hardest hit areas. And we still
remember how the junta last year cracked down mercilessly on peaceful
monks demonstrating for freedom.

The house arrest of the leader of the National League of Democracy, Aung
San Suu Kyi, has recently been extended, in violation of the country’s own
laws, which forbid sentencing anyone to more than five consecutive years’
house arrest.

Faced with this kind of inhumane behaviour, the international community
feels powerless. Ever since the military refused to cede power to the
winner of the 1990 election, the National League of Democracy, the
international community has reacted in very different ways. In the UN and
other international organs, resolutions have been adopted demanding
democracy and respect for human rights. Western countries have introduced
various sanctions, while Asian countries believe in a policy of
“constructive engagement.” The UN Security Council has remained hamstrung
and weak in this situation. Nothing has worked as intended. Or could it be
the differing strategies themselves that cause the failure, because the
junta can play on the dissension?

Could the hesitant opening for international relief personnel over the
last few days represent something new? only time will tell if there will
be any lasting effect.

In a situation like this there is a need for new initiatives. We cannot
give up the struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights for the
Burmese people.

The central actors must come together and discuss a more coherent strategy
for a Burma policy. The UN secretary-general should take the initiative.
China and India are key countries: both have considerable economic
cooperation with Burma and can therefore wield influence. Asean has Burma
as a member and is therefore centrally placed. In the West, the EU and the
US are, of course, the most influential players.

Sanctions, “constructive engagement” and other means must be debated
freely and without prejudice, in the hope of agreeing a more coherent
strategy. In doing so, contact should be maintained with the relevant
stakeholders, as it is important that the policy be conducted in
understanding with those most concerned.

Who will take the initiative for a new, coherent and hopefully more
efficient Burma policy? The challenge goes out to the UN
secretary-general. The letter has been mailed.

The author is former Norwegian prime minister and current president of the
Oslo
Centre for Peace and Human Rights. He contributed this article exclusively
to The Irrawaddy.

____________________________________

May 29, International Herald Tribune
How long must the Burmese wait? – Jared Genser and Meghan Barron

On Tuesday, the Burmese junta extended the detention of the pro-democracy
leader and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung
San Suu Kyi, for an additional year. This marks the fifth consecutive year
that Suu Kyi's house arrest has been prolonged and a new low for General
Than Shwe, who regularly runs roughshod over the rule of law - even
draconian national security laws of the regime's own creation.

Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 out of the last 18 years under house arrest
since she and her allies won 82 percent of the parliamentary seats in
Myanmar's 1990 elections.

Myanmar's State Protection Law permits house arrest without charge or
trial for up to five years total, renewable for up to one-year increments
at a time. On Saturday, the final extension allowable by law expired.
Notwithstanding the UN's four prior findings that the application of
Burmese law itself is a violation of international law, let alone that it
has no legal basis to continue to detain her, the junta decided to flout
its own law and keep her in custody.

As a result, Aung San Suu Kyi is to spend yet another year illegally
confined to a solitary existence in Yangon in her dilapidated home, which
lost part of its roof and electrical power in Cyclone Nargis. One would
have hoped the junta had more pressing matters to address.

In the aftermath of the cyclone, some 134,000 Burmese are now dead or
missing - over 40 percent of which are believed to be children. And the
United Nations reports that only 42 percent of the storm's 2.4 million
affected victims have received any humanitarian relief. Although foreign
aid workers have begun reaching remote areas of the country, it would come
as no surprise if the junta backs away from fulfilling the commitment Than
Shwe made to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, to allow "all
foreigners" in to provide relief to the Burmese people.

Over the years the junta has made many commitments to the UN that have
been broken. For example, under immense pressure after last fall's Saffron
Revolution, Myanmar committed to engage in meaningful negotiations with
Suu Kyi. After she participated in a series of meetings with the regime's
interlocutor, Than Shwe imposed unworkable conditions as a prerequisite
for direct talks, including an abandonment of her party's call for
sanctions. By then the world's attention had waned and the talks fizzled,
both because the regime has no desire to engage in talks and it feels no
pressure to make real concessions.

While the UN secretary general, the Burmese regime, and allies of the
junta have urged that the question of humanitarian aid not be
"politicized," the regime itself is taking every advantage of the cyclone
to make permanent its grip on power to the exclusion of helping its own
people. As is often the case, distraction and delay in discussing the
fundamental issues in Myanmar only serve the interests of the regime.

The extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest is just one example. In the days
following the cyclone, the junta saw no need to delay its sham
constitutional referendum. Postponing the vote only in the two areas hit
hardest by the storm, the results obviated the need for those in the
cyclone-ravaged regions to also cast ballots. Nevertheless, the junta
rescheduled the vote in those areas for last Saturday. The junta has now
made the extraordinary claim that 98.1 percent of the population had
turned out to vote, with 92.48 percent endorsing the junta's proposal.

It is deeply regrettable that Ban Ki Moon played right into the junta's
hand by declining to raise the fraudulent election result or Suu Kyi's
expiring house arrest in his meeting with Than Shwe, both of which
occurred after Cyclone Nargis hit the country. In so doing, he sent a
clear signal to the junta that as long as they held their own people
hostage, they could press ahead with their campaign to consolidate power
and be assured the United Nations would relax any pressure for political
reform.

The secretary general's fundamental error was to focus exclusively on the
suffering of the Burmese victims of Cyclone Nargis and to fail to
recognize the political situation is equally unconscionable.

How long is the world willing to wait for the release of Suu Kyi and other
political prisoners in Myanmar and for a real, time-limited process of
national reconciliation? Until the international community unites to press
for this outcome, any relief provided will be only temporary.

Jared Genser and Meghan Barron are lawyers with Freedom Now in Washington
who represent Aung San Suu Kyi.


____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 29, Burma Campaign UK
Attacks on Burma’s ethnic Karen continue despite Cyclone

The Burma Campaign UK today called for international action to protect
ethnic Karen villagers in Eastern Burma who are still being attacked by
the Burmese Army despite the devastating cyclone that has struck the
country.

On May 10th, just a week after Cyclone Nargis struck, the Burmese Army
attacked Mu Li Khi village burning 11 houses and looting food and
supplies. Villagers escaped with their lives, but will struggle to feed
their families as their rice and livestock was stolen.

Information about the attack was smuggled out of Burma by the Committee
for Internally Displaced Karen People, a grassroots organisation that
provides aid to Karen people who have been driven from their homes by the
Burmese army.

The attack also took place on the day the regime held a referendum on a
new constitution that enshrines military rule, but which the generals
claim is part of a roadmap to democracy.

“This shows the true nature of the regime,” said Zoya Phan, International
Coordinator of Burma Campaign UK. “They continue their campaign of ethnic
cleansing while at the same time blocking aid to those in the delta. For
years they have been blocking aid into eastern Burma, but Ban Ki-Moon and
governments have been silent about this. If aid restrictions had been
challenged before, perhaps we would not have the problems we do now about
getting aid into the delta.”

Burma’s brutal military dictatorship is engaged in ethnic cleansing in
Karen, Karenni and Shan state in Eastern Burma. More than 3,000 villages
have been destroyed in the past 12 years, and half a million people are
internally displaced. The United Nations has accused the regime of
breaking the Geneva Convention by deliberately targeting civilians in
Eastern Burma. Levels of poverty and disease in conflict zones are as high
as in the worst conflict hit African countries. The regime uses slave
labour, rape as a weapon of war, and tortures and mutilates civilians. The
regime also refuses to let aid agencies and the UN into these areas.

“The denial of aid is as effective at killing my people as a bullet,” said
Zoya Phan.

“The situation in Eastern Burma is one of the worst human rights and
humanitarian crises in the world, yet the world has done little to
challenge the regime or get aid to my people. The UN can’t have double
standards, saying aid must reach the delta but accepting aid being blocked
in Karen State. The principle of aid being delivered on the basis of need
must be adhered to. The regime’s restrictions on aid are unacceptable,
wherever they are applied.”

For more information contact Zoya Phan on 020 7324 4710.