BurmaNet News, June 5, 2008

[Editor]

June 5, 2008 Issue #3485


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Top Myanmar comedian, social activist detained
DVB: Monks and students reject junta’s constitution
AP: Rights group – Myanmar exchanging food for labor
Irrawaddy: In rural villages, life is desperate

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: ‘Help Burmese refugee migrants’ plea to Thai government
Mizzima News: Over 100 cyclone victims reach Thai-Burma border

BUSINESS / TRADE
Kuwait News Agency: Indian cabinet approves bilateral investment promotion
pact with Myanmar

HEALTH / AIDS
Bangkok Post: MSF says many Burmese have yet to gain access to relief aid

DRUGS
Mizzima News: Son of top army general arrested for alleged drug trafficking

ASEAN
AFP: Aid team moves into Myanmar cyclone zone: ASEAN

REGIONAL
Kaladan Press Service: Seminar in Dhaka to solve Rohingya issue

INTERNATIONAL
Asian Tribune: US committed to bring relief to Burma

OPINION / OTHER
The Weekly Standard: Burma and the Bush Administration: It's time to
intervene – Benedict Rogers and Joseph Loconte
IHT: A cruel sequel to a cruel blow
The Nation (Thailand): Burma still blocking cyclone aid effort
Al Jazeera: Saving the children in Myanmar




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 5, Associated Press
Top Myanmar comedian, social activist detained

Myanmar's most popular comedian, known for his jibes against the military
regime and recently for helping cyclone victims, has been taken from his
home by police, family members said Thursday.

Maung Thura — better known by his stage name of Zarganar — was taken into
custody Wednesday night by police after they searched his house, the
family said. He had just returned from the cyclone-shattered Irrawaddy
delta where he had been donating relief items to survivors.

Zarganar, who has been imprisoned several times, is known to suffer from
hypertension and other ailments.

In an interview earlier this week, Zarganar said he and more than 400
entertainers in Myanmar had volunteered to aid victims of Cyclone Nargis,
making numerous trips to the delta to help some of the more than 2 million
victims of the May 2-3 storm.

Zarganar, 46, was last arrested and held for three weeks for providing
food and other necessities to Buddhist monks who spearheaded
anti-government protests in Yangon last September.

His comedy routines are banned for their jokes about the junta that rules
Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"Burmese people love to laugh. But if I can't speak, jokes will still
spread. The people will make them up themselves," he told The Associated
Press in a 2006 interview.

Myanmar's military, which has held power since 1962, could not immediately
be reached for comment. The ruling junta brooks no dissent and has
frequently arrested artists and entertainers regarded as opposing their
regime, even those making seemingly innocuous wisecracks.

Two of the Mustache Brothers, a trio of comedians, were sentenced to five
years of hard labor in 1996 after making fun of the country's ruling
generals. A campaign by the London-based rights group Amnesty
International later helped secure their release.

Zarganar, whose name means "tweezers," is also a successful producer,
director, writer and actor. He also works as a dentist to pay bills.

He was first arrested in 1988 for his political activities and again for
helping his mother — a member of the opposition National League for
Democracy — during her campaign for the May 1990 general elections. The
NLD, the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, swept those
elections, but the military regime refused to give up power.

In an interview this week with the Thailand-based magazine Irrawaddy,
Zarganar said that since May 27 he had been to every township in the delta
struck by the cyclone except one.

Some areas, he said, had neither been reached by the government nor
international relief agencies. He and his group distributed food,
blankets, mosquito nets and other emergency aid.

Zarganar said that his group sometimes had "confrontations with
authorities" during the trips.

Earlier, other Myanmar entertainers had complained that authorities want
all aid to be distributed through official channels rather than by private
individuals and groups.

The U.N. has estimated 2.4 million people are in need of food, shelter or
medical care as a result of the storm, which the government said killed
78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.

Myanmar's regime has been sharply criticized by the international
community for its inept handling of the disaster and for barring foreign
aid workers from the delta. The ban was later officially lifted but aid
agencies still report holdups and foot-dragging by the regime.

____________________________________

June 5, Democratic Voice of Burma
Monks and students reject junta’s constitution – Aye Nai

The All-Burmese Monks’ Alliance, 88 Generation Students and All Burma
Federation of Student Unions issued a joint statement yesterday rejecting
the state constitution adopted by the military regime last week.

The organisations also urged the people of Burma and the international
community not to accept the constitution that formally creates a
repressive military class and legalises prolonged military rule in Burma.

Htun Myint Aung, a leader of the 88 Generation Students, told DVB that the
statement was intended to firmly express that the constitution written in
favour of the military and adopted by the junta by force was not
acceptable.

“The constitution drafting process didn’t follow democratic principles and
it was written amid injustices,” said Htun Myint Aung.

“The essence of the constitution doesn’t reflect the public interest or
that of ethnic nationalities; it is just systematically structured to
permit a long-lasting military dictatorship in the country,” he went on.

“Furthermore, it was adopted by force and deception and such a
constitution is impossible to accept.”

The statement stressed that parliamentarians elected in the 1990 election
had not been allowed to participate in the constitution drafting process
and citizens had been threatened and prevented from free participation in
the process by degree 5/96 which mandated a prison term for critics of the
National Convention.

Proposals put forward by ceasefire organisations for a federal system in
Burma were also rejected.

In conclusion, the groups emphasised that the UN and the international
community should not accept the “military constitution”, which they said
does not represent the will of the citizens.

“We have already documented how the national referendum was held amid
gross injustice and deception and we are going to submit our findings to
the UN, foreign governments and the international community,” Htun Myint
Aung said.

“We want the UN and international governments to know that diplomatic
pressure does not work on Burma’s military junta,” he said.

“We want them to take practical and concrete action against the generals
to stop their continuous repression and bring them to the negotiating
table to solve the country’s deep-rooted political impasse.”

____________________________________

June 5, Associated Press
Rights group: Myanmar exchanging food for labor

Myanmar's military regime has forced cyclone survivors to do menial labor
in exchange for food and stepped up a campaign to evict displaced citizens
from aid shelters, an international human rights group said Thursday.

London-based Amnesty International also said authorities in several
cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite the junta's pledge to
crack down on the problem weeks ago.

"Unless human rights safeguards are observed, tens of thousands of people
remain at risk," Amnesty said in a report released Thursday. "Respect for
human rights must be at the center of the relief effort."

More than a month after the storm, many people in stricken areas still
have not received any aid and the military regime continues to impose
constraints on international rescue efforts, human rights groups say.

U.S. Navy ships laden with relief supplies steamed away from Myanmar's
coast Thursday, their helicopters barred by the ruling junta even though
millions of cyclone survivors need food, shelter or medical care.

The USS Essex group, which includes four ships, 22 helicopters and 5,000
U.S. military personnel, had been off the Myanmar coast for more than
three weeks hoping for a green light to deliver aid to the survivors.

"The ruling military junta in Burma have done nothing to convince us that
they intend to reverse their deliberate decision to deny much needed aid
to the people of Burma," Lt. Denver Applehans said in an e-mail from the
flotilla.

"Based on this, the decision was made to continue with previous
operational commitments," Applehans said.

Adm. Timothy J. Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a
statement Wednesday that the United States had made "at least 15 attempts"
to convince the generals to allow them to deliver aid directly to victims
in affected areas.

The government says Cyclone Nargis killed 78,000 people and left another
56,000 missing.

Amnesty's report cites 40 accounts of Myanmar soldiers or local officials
having confiscated, diverted or otherwise misused aid intended for cyclone
survivors since the storm hit on May 2-3.

Although the junta has granted greater access to the hardest-hit Irrawaddy
delta, "recent incidents of corruption and diversion of aid suggest a
potentially serious threat to effective distribution of aid," the report
said.

Most of the cases that were cited involved authorities confiscating aid
from private donors or arresting them for refusing to hand the aid over.

A major U.N. agency on Monday, however, caught junta officials trying to
divert their aid after the officials insisted on accompanying the U.N.
workers who were delivering it, Amnesty spokesman Benjamin Zawacki told a
news conference in Bangkok. He declqined to give additional details.

The report also cites several cases of forced labor in exchange for food
in the delta.

In mid-May, people near the hard-hit delta township of Bogale were forced
to "break rocks and level a field" to construct a helicopter landing pad
in exchange for biscuits sent by the U.N.'s World Food Program, the report
said.

Others in Bogale were given rice soup and shelter on condition they
cleared debris and built an official camp, the report said, adding that
authorities told displaced survivors in nearby Labutta they would not
receive food unless they worked.

Meanwhile, a campaign to kick homeless survivors out of temporary shelters
in schools, monasteries and public buildings appears to have intensified.

"Movement has been increasingly widespread geographically," Zawacki said.
"It violates the human rights of those people to food, to shelter, to
health and, perhaps, the right to life."

The junta, which explicitly rejected the use of foreign military
helicopters in the relief effort, still has not authorized the entry of
nine civilian helicopters flying on behalf of the U.N. World Food Program,
though they have been sitting in neighboring Thailand since last week.

Restrictions on visa and travel permission for foreign workers, as well as
on entry of some equipment, continue to hamper the aid effort, despite a
pledge made almost two weeks ago by junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe to
U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon to allow foreign aid workers free access to
devastated areas, according to the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.

Of the 2.4 million people affected, only 1.3 million survivors have so far
been reached with assistance by local and international humanitarian
groups, the Red Cross and the U.N., said the U.N's Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

____________________________________

June 5, Irrawaddy
In rural villages, life is desperate – Moe Aung Tin

The shoreline of this island in the Bogalay River is filled with cyclone
debris—fallen trees, pieces of houses, thatch and other household rubble.

I saw a yellow shape and then recognized it—the body of a man—devastated
by sun and water: yellowish-white and bloated, hands across the branches
of a bush.

When a gentle breeze whirls over the river, a putrid odor wafts along in
the wind from other decomposed bodies.

The local name for this area is Pait Taw (Thick Forest). The island,
called  Mein Ma Hla Kyun (Pretty Lady Island), is littered with cyclone
wreckage and decomposing bodies. The odor of death hangs over the island.

This is one island of death and destruction among hundreds in the delta.

The debris covering the island was deposited here from villages as much as
five miles away by the tidal surge and violent winds. People in small
boats moved along the shoreline searching for anything usable: pieces of
wood, furniture, clothes or household items, anything that could be used
to rebuild their lives. Two hungry dogs scavenged for something to eat.

One of the men searching the debris was Myint Than Oo, in his thirties, a
resident of Outer Mayan village in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract on
the western shore of the island. The cyclone killed 13 of his family
members and relatives. He was one of 22 people who survived out of more
than 400 in his village.

Myint Than Oo said that there were 4,000 people living in the Kyein Chaung
Gyi village tract. Of those, about 500 survived.

"Nobody will return to their home village,” he said, taking a break from
scavenging. In his boat, he had a gathered a small Nat statute (a
spiritual figure) and a few pieces of wood.

“People from four or five villages in the tract will join together into a
resettlement village,” he said. “I am looking for house poles and wood to
build a house." Before the cyclone, he had worked as a laborer on a farm.
He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to work again.

My mind was filled with different images, such as pictures of Than Shwe
and other generals handing out aid on television. The generals said the
first phase of the relief effort was completed and that reconstruction
would now begin. The people on this island would say otherwise.

I know millions of dollars have been donated to help the survivors and
thousands of tons of food and other material has poured into Rangoon in
the past weeks, but so far little of it has trickled down to village
tracts like Myint Than Oo’s.

Military trucks and privately owned vehicles pass daily on the roads
leading to Laputta, Bogalay, Kwan Chan Kone, Pyar Pon and Mawlamyaing Gyun
townships. Relief aid piles up in compounds in Laputta, Dedaye and
Bogalay. Will the next phase include a major effort to get reconstruction
and aid to the villagers who live far away from the big cities? If so,
when?

UN statistics say assistance has reached 1.3 million people out of 2.5
million affected by the cyclone. However, there are several million people
here in the delta who seem to desperately  need on-going assistance.

One example: Hla Win of Taw Kyaung village in Kwan Chan Kone Township. She
said:  "My entire betel vine plantation was destroyed in the cyclone. I
have nothing left to replant. Some say I could buy betel vine sprouts, but
the price has gone sky high. A thousand sprouts of betel vine now costs
55,000 kyats (US $40). It is incredible, and I can't afford to buy at that
price. Now I can do nothing but rely on rice assistance from donors. The
hardest time was a week after the cyclone. I cooked rain-soaked rice and
at it with green mangoes. I thought it would have been better to die.
Then, all my troubles would be over."

Many refugees in this area spend hours trying to receive food from donors
who drive into the delta from Rangoon, some even reaching remoter areas
like this. Some people all their time near the roads. The authorities have
assigned military and police to patrol the roads leading into the major
cities and village areas. The guards at the checkpoints try to prevent
refugees from lining up to receive food.

In many villages, the majority of the residents are Buddhist Karen who
work rice paddy, betel vine or betel nut farms. They have only a few days
to plant crops before the monsoon begins. Only a few lucky ones will be
able to farm this growing season.

One of the unlucky ones is Hlaing Tun, 24, of Hayman Latar village, about
a one hour boat trip from Bogalay.

"My family owns 10 acres of paddy,” he said, “and I used to work it with
four buffalo. Now all our buffaloes are dead. All our seeds are gone. I
can't afford to buy a mechanical plow, and I can’t afford diesel and
seeds. I have no help from anywhere. If I can't start right now, it’s too
late."

The burden of many people who have lost their loved ones and their
livelihood in the cyclone is hard to bear. Maybe more aid will eventually
reach into the distant villages, but it will take time.

Meanwhile, the struggle to eat and to stay healthy grows more difficult
for many people who have lived under unimaginable conditions for more than
one month.

During the night as I drove between Bogalay and Pyapon, I saw families
huddled under under bamboo mats on the side of the road. Others sat under
plastic sheets and pieces of corrugated metal.

Many people also stood silently next to the road in the dark, their eyes
searching the cars for signs that they might stop and offer a little food.


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 5, Irrawaddy
‘Help Burmese refugee migrants’ plea to Thai government – Sai Slip

Two Thailand-based human rights groups have called on the Thai government
to ease restrictions on migrants from Burma as a humanitarian response to
the cyclone disaster there.

The Mekong Migration Network and Action Network for Migrants (Thailand)
issued the call in a joint letter to the National Human Rights Commission
of Thailand and the three ministries of the interior, labor and social
development and human security.

The letter urged Thai authorities to stop the arrest and deportation of
Burmese workers for immigration irregularities for a period of 12 months,
the opening of a new temporary residence registration for all migrants
followed by an emergency work permit registration, and a temporary policy
allowing Burmese migrants to return home to visit their families affected
by the cyclone and the right of return to Thailand.

The groups said such concessions “would be in the interests of the economy
of Thailand and the economy of the Burmese people and would also
contribute to the international humanitarian response to the effects of
the cyclone.”

They also appealed to the Thai government to provide shelter, essential
services and livelihoods to cyclone refugees crossing from Burma.

In addition, they also called on Thailand, as current chair of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to ensure that its Asean
co-member, Burma, provides full immediate protection for cyclone
survivors, including temporary shelter, food and medical care, followed by
full reconstruction, permanent shelter, restoration of livelihoods and
environmental rehabilitation.

“The people of Burma must be able to receive Asean and international
assistance in the form of relief, experts and volunteers, and we call on
the Thai government to monitor the distribution,” the groups’ appeal said.

A 200-strong “Emergency Rapid Assessment Team” of the Asean-UN-Myanmar
Tripartite Core Group was to be deployed on Thursday to the Irrawaddy
delta area after two days of intense briefing.

“We will begin with two advance teams being ferried by World Food
Programme helicopters to the two main townships of Laputta and Pyapon”,
said Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.

They are expected to cover the entire cyclone-affected areas and compile
first-hand information and raw data for a joint assessment report by mid
July.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization and its partners set up a system
on Wednesday to detect and report potential disease outbreaks in
cyclone-affected areas. The “Early Warning Reporting System” is intended
to support the Burmese Ministry of Health in providing rapid and accurate
information on disease outbreaks.

____________________________________

June 5, Mizzima News
Over 100 cyclone victims reach Thai-Burma border – Nay Thwin

Over 100 cyclone victims arrived in Mae Sod, the Thai-Burma border based
cyclone victim's assistance group said.

The 100 cyclone victims belong to the worst hit Irrawaddy Division. They
are being helped by the 'Emergency Assistance Team-Burma' (EATB) which was
formed on the border after the killer cyclone lashed Burma.

"Eight cyclone victims arrived here this morning. They were given food for
a month and 1,000 Baht each in cash," Saya Mann Mann, spokesperson of EATB
told Mizzima.

EATB said that they would contact and coordinate with UN agencies and NGOs
to get more assistance for the cyclone victims who are arriving on the
border.

"Some said they left their children in their home towns and villages and
they came alone. They said that they would go back home if we provide them
necessary assistance," Saya Mann Mann said.

EATB comprises the 'National Health and Education Committee' (NHEC), Mae
Taw clinic of Dr. Cynthia Maung, 'Human Right Education Institute of
Burma' (HREIB), 'Burma Medical Association' (BMA) and other volunteers and
charity organizations. EATB is now delivering aid to about 40,000 cyclone
victims in the affected areas.

EATB was formed after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma on an emergency basis
and is now working with 40 networks inside Burma and focusing on
delivering aid to remote cyclone-hit areas.

"EATB is comprised of education, health and social organizations based
here. This team is seeking fund for cyclone victims from the international
community and distributing the funds to all religious organizations from
all faiths – Buddhists, Christians among other religious and social
organizations. These organizations will deliver aid to the cyclone victims
in affected areas," Naw Phaw Re, Chairman of NHEC said.

Though the team was first intended for about 40,000 victims, now it can
access about 120,000 to 150,000 people, the team's report said.

The cyclone victim's fund is estimated at about 18 million Baht and so far
it has delivered 10 million Baht.

The fund will be used not only for emergency relief, but also for long
term reconstruction and rehabilitation work, Saya Mann Mann said.

"It will be more convenient for them if we can provide them with
assistance for sustainable survival in their home towns and villages
rather than coming to the border," he added.

The killer Cyclone Nargis which struck on May 2 and 3 left over 130,000
people dead or missing and 2.5 million homeless in Rangoon and Irrawaddy
Divisions.

UN agencies which are delivering aid to cyclone victims said that over 1
million people have not yet received any assistance and aid even one month
after the cyclone.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 5, Kuwait News Agency
Indian cabinet approves bilateral investment promotion pact with Myanmar

India Thursday approved Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreement with neighbouring Myanmar as part of efforts to boost business
ties. "A meeting of the Indian Cabinet here today presided by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh gave its approval to Bilateral Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreement with the Government of the Union of
Myanmar and ratification thereof," according to an official statement
issued after the meeting.

"The objective of Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements
is to promote and protect the interests of investors of either country in
the territory of the other country," the statement said, adding, "The
Agreement will increase investment flow between India and Myanmar." The
Agreement shall remain in force initially for a period of 10 years. To
protect existing investments, it has been provided that in respect of
investments made before the termination of the Agreement, its provisions
shall continue in effect with respect to those investments for a period of
15 years after the date of termination. (end) dr.bz.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 5, Bangkok Post
MSF says many Burmese have yet to gain access to relief aid – Achara
Ashayagachat

One month after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, the country still badly needs
emergency relief aid as some of the survivors have yet to gain access to
assistance, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

The agency directed its call to the international community, asking it to
be more generous and stop thinking that aid would go to Burma's military
government rather than to cyclone victims.

MSF was one of the first organisations to provide large-scale assistance
directly to Nargis victims, but after a month the MSF teams are still
finding villages where survivors live in dire conditions and have not yet
received any significant aid, said Frank Smithuis, head of MSF Myanmar.

The agency, with 250 trucks, 30 boats, 250 local doctors, nurses,
paramedics, logisticians as well as some 25 international staff, has been
providing food, roof sheeting, water and sanitation material and medical
consultations in the areas of Bogale, Laputta, Ngaputa and Pyapon in the
Irrawaddy delta.

The agency has just set up a mental health support unit as trauma remains
prevalent among the survivors.

Kaz De Jong, a mental health specialist, said MSF was training local
counsellors who were instructed to target vulnerable groups such as
orphans and old people who have been left alone.

Mr Smithuis said some MSF teams have seen high numbers of respiratory
tract infections and cases of diarrhoea, which could be linked to a lack
of access to clean water, absence of shelters, and exposure to heavy
rains.

However, he noted that so far no disease outbreak or alarming rates of
malnutrition have been reported by 36 MSF mobile teams operating in the
delta.

What concerned the MSF was a lack of interest to pledge and press for more
support for the cyclone victims, he said.

Mr Smithuis also downplayed criticism about the junta's blockade of
international aid, saying limitations were still there but his
organisation has tried many channels including through military officers.
''It is true that our headquarters is also concerned that the aid relief
will be in the wrong hands, but we have a team to provide direct aid and
another team to check if the aid is really delivered. Certainly, donors
need guarantees that the aid will not be used for the military or the
government purpose but for the victims,'' he said.

He called for more generous pledging at a conference to be held in New
York on June 12.

''Aid relief deliveries in other countries sometimes go to the wrong
hands. It happens not only in the case of Cyclone Nargis but also in the
countries hit by the tsunami and elsewhere. We just need to do things
right,'' he said.

The United Nations Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Assistance
stated that despite the more flexible access for international aid workers
over the past two weeks, there was still a need for better and specific
access for those workers into the affected areas.

The World Food Programme was concerned with the rising cost of aid
delivery while the Food and Agriculture Organisation was worried about
late and inadequate farming as some villagers did not want to return to
their land.

Sixty per cent of rice farms in Burma were hit by the cyclone and 16% of
them were severely damaged.


____________________________________
DRUGS

June 5, Mizzima News
Son of top army general arrested for alleged drug trafficking

The son of a top Burmese Army general was taken into custody on charges of
drug trafficking.

Aung Zaw Ye Myint, son of Lt- Gen Ye Myint, the Chief of Bureau of Special
Operation I was arrested last Saturday after a joint force of the military
intelligence and police raided his office in Kyi Myin Dine township.

He is being suspected of selling drugs to Burma's movie celebrities,
police sources said.

The accused owns the Yetagun Construction Company located in Yetagun
Tower, at the corner of Pan Hlaing Street in Kyi Myin Dine Township.

Aung Zaw Ye Myint (29) s believed to have been detained by the Rangoon
division military command.

An actress was also arrested for involvement in his drug trafficking ring
but Mizzima is yet to identify her.

Film stars in Burma are known to use illicit drugs such as Ecstasy, Yaba
or Yama and Heroin among others.


____________________________________
ASEAN

June 5, Agence France Presse
Aid team moves into Myanmar cyclone zone: ASEAN

A 200-strong team of aid experts from the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and the UN started deploying in Myanmar's cyclone-hit Irrawaddy
delta on Thursday, ASEAN said.

The Emergency Rapid Assessment Team was "now ready to move into the
cyclone stricken remote delta areas" to start a long-awaited examination
of the needs of millions of people affected by the May 2-3 storm, ASEAN
said in a statement.

"We will begin with two advance teams being ferried by the World Food
Programme's helicopter to two main townships of Labutta and Pyapon," ASEAN
Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said.

The team would "cover the entire cyclone-affected areas" and compile a
first-hand "progress report" for an ASEAN Roundtable meeting in Yangon on
June 24.

That meeting would be followed by a meeting of the ASEAN Humanitarian Task
Force a day later as the regional grouping steps up its efforts to
coordinate the international aid response in cooperation with the Myanmar
junta.

The deployment of the assessment team comes a day after the United States
gave up trying to convince the junta to allow aid-laden warships stationed
off the devastated southern delta to deliver their vital supplies.

Cyclone Nargis left more than 133,000 people dead or missing when it
smashed into the country formally known as Burma, but the secretive
military regime has severely limited access for foreign relief workers.

Buddhist monks and volunteers are the most visible leaders of the relief
effort, ferrying sacks of rice, clothes and medicine into the delta.

Myanmar's most famous comedian, Zaganar , who has been leading deliveries
of aid to survivors of Cyclone Nargis, has been arrested at his Yangon
home, a relative said Thursday.

The United Nations estimates that of the 2.4 million survivors in need of
food and shelter, 1.1 million have received no foreign aid.

Surin said the assessment team would be made up of representatives from
the 10 ASEAN member countries, including Myanmar, and the United Nations.
He did not provide a breakdown of those numbers.

It would be backed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

The ASEAN chief said the next two weeks would be "crucial for building
international confidence in this joint mission," although it would not
provide a full report on its findings until mid-July.

International relief agencies have been desperately appealing to the junta
to remove obstacles and allow them to do their job amid fears of many more
deaths from disease and hunger in the months ahead.

ASEAN has also come under criticism for its slow response to the storm and
its apparent unwillingness to pressure Myanmar's generals over a
humanitarian issue in the face of such a catastrophe.

Foreign relief groups have been given limited access in recent days but
say it is nowhere near enough. Aid agencies also complain that staff are
only being given permission to travel to the hard-to-reach delta for one
week at a time.

The UN's World Food Programme has said boats and helicopters are now
needed to reach survivors in the remotest regions, but the one WFP
helicopter in the country was only given permission to leave Yangon on
Monday.

Nine more helicopters are sitting on the tarmac in Thai airports. They are
due to fly into Myanmar later this week but it remains unclear if and when
they will be allowed into the delta.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 5, Kaladan Press Service
Seminar in Dhaka to solve Rohingya issue

A seminar was held at the National Press Club in Dhaka on June 3 to try
and resolve the contentious Rohingya problem. It was organized by Neeti
Gobeshona Kendra (NKG), says our correspondent.

The seminar was chaired by Professor Anwar Hossain of Dhaka University.

Professor Mahabubul Haque, director and trustee of NGK presented the
keynote paper at the seminar. Professor Mahabulbul addressing the seminar
said that Human Rights organizations, the UN, Burma and Bangladesh should
step forward to resolve the problem not only for political reasons but
also on humanitarian grounds. The Professor added that the Rohingya
community in Burma has been struggling to get recognition as a race in the
country but to no avail.

"The Rohingya issue is not merely a refugee crisis, it might turn out to
be a serious geopolitical crisis in the future for south and Southeast
Asia," Professor Mahabulbul observed.

The other speakers at the seminar also said that people of the country
(Burma) were not aware of ethnic cleansing that is afoot there.

The speakers also urged the people to be vocal so that the government   
of   Bangladesh resolves the Rohingya issue as it can cause unrest in the
country.

The speakers at the seminar on ethnic conflict in Burma and the Rohingya
issue said the Rohingya problem should be addressed immediately for the
sake of the security of this region.

"Bangladesh should take the initiative along with neighbouring countries
immediately to solve the problem otherwise we will suffer most because of
the Rohingya problem," the speakers added.

Apart from UNHCR, other human rights bodies should come forward to deal
with the Rohingya issue, the editor of 'Weekly Probe' Ayesha Kabir said.
'The issue would not be resolved till the restoration of democracy and
establishment of the rule of law and a federal government in Burma.'

Pointing a finger at western countries, journalist Maruf said "they took
the responsibility of upholding human rights but didn't utter a word about
the Rohingyas. The international community kept silent on the repression
by military rulers of ethnic communities in Burma".


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 5, Asian Tribune
US committed to bring relief to Burma – Daya Gamage

The United States is committed to bringing relief assistance to the
victims of Cyclone Nargis, and to work with ASEAN countries, the United
Nations, and non-governmental organizations to do so, a statement issued
by White House press secretary states.

The statement further reads “to date, the United States has provided more
than $26 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Burma, and
the United States Agency for International Development and the Department
of Defense, as part of the ongoing airlift, have completed a total of 106
airlifts of emergency relief commodities that will benefit at least
417,000 people.”

“As the Pacific Command announced June 3 , the USS Essex group and U.S.
Marine Corps 31 Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will move from the waters
off Burma and continue their previously-scheduled operational commitments
on June 5, 2008. These assets were immediately deployed to Burma in the
spirit of goodwill to offer extensive and life-saving assistance to the
victims of Cyclone Nargis. Tragically, the Burmese authorities refused to
accept this assistance.”

The White House statement concludes: “Furthermore, the generosity and
compassion of the United States and the wider international community are
impeded by the unwillingness of the Burmese authorities to provide full
access to the cyclone-affected areas, despite their commitments to do so.
Over a month after the cyclone hit the shores of the Burmese Delta, tens
of thousands have died and over a million victims have yet to receive any
assistance. The Burmese regime must permit all international aid workers
the access necessary to provide the urgently-needed assistance. There is
no more time to waste.”


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 5, The Weekly Standard
Burma and the Bush Administration: It's time to intervene – Benedict
Rogers and Joseph Loconte

THANKS LARGELY TO THE INHUMANITY of Burma's military dictatorship, the
cyclone that devastated the country a month ago has left about 133,000
people dead or missing. Delayed and obstructed by the ruling junta,
international assistance has yet to reach about a quarter of a million
people affected by the storm. While the hopes and livelihoods of many have
been swept away, there remains a lingering delusion: the notion that the
"international community" retains either the moral sensibility or
political will to confront the most despotic of regimes. The crisis in
Burma confirms the indispensable need for American leadership.

The Burmese regime is guilty of atrocities far worse than the "criminal
neglect" Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ascribes to them. It is guilty
of crimes against humanity. Prior to the cyclone, the regime received
dozens of warnings from India that the storm was on its way--yet did
nothing to prepare its citizens. When the cyclone struck, the government
sat on its hands and refused international help. Neither material aid nor
aid workers were allowed to reach the victims, causing the needless deaths
of tens of thousands. A trickle of assistance has gotten in, but aid
workers are still restricted and much relief has been seized and sold on
the streets. The junta now declares the relief phase is over: Its military
thugs are forcibly evicting thousands of people from their shelters, even
though they have no homes to return to. An estimated 2.5 million people
have been displaced by this crisis.

While the United Nations has mostly ignored Burma, the Bush administration
has put a spotlight on the regime. Apart from some helpful actions by the
European Union, though, the United States has acted virtually alone in
opposing the regime and supporting democratic resistance groups. The Bush
White House has applied targeted sanctions against the government and
brought numerous resolutions before the U.N. Security Council. In 2005,
Bush met with a Burmese democratic dissident, Charm Tong, for 40 minutes
in the Oval Office, to show solidarity and discuss the human rights
situation in her country. Last September, in his annual address to the
United Nations, Bush announced a new round of U.S. sanctions. Last month
he again called for the release of all political prisoners and
negotiations with democratic leaders. Meanwhile, First Lady Laura Bush has
spoken out in defense of the Burmese people. She has written op-eds, held
press conferences, hosted U.N. briefings, and pressed U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take a harder line. The United States has
the toughest and, in reality, the only meaningful foreign policy to
confront the Burmese government.

Few nations match Burma for its record of atrocities. The ruling junta has
carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against its ethnic minorities,
involving the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, the forcible
conscription of child soldiers, human minesweepers, torture, murder, and
the destruction of over 3,200 villages. More than a million people have
been internally displaced by military offensives aimed almost exclusively
at civilians. Hundreds of thousands have fled to camps in Thailand or into
India and Bangladesh.

While U.N. human rights bodies have given lip service to the cause of
democracy, the Burmese leadership has assaulted its nation's fledgling
democratic movement. The National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections
in 1990 with more than 82 per cent of the parliamentary seats, but the
junta rejected the results and imprisoned the victors. Aung San Suu Kyi,
Nobel Laureate and leader of NLD, has spent more than 12 years under house
arrest. Last month her detention was extended yet again--a fact loudly
criticized by the Bush administration. More than 1,800 Burmese languish as
political prisoners.

President Bush's "democracy agenda" is widely criticized for its failings
and inconsistencies: Oil-producing autocrats, for example, get little
attention. Yet the White House has made a significant, and surprising,
investment in Burma's struggle for democratic freedom. It is surprising
because Burma represents little strategic value to the United States.
Domestic political pressure for U.S. engagement is, at best, minimal.
Indeed, until the "Saffron Revolution"--in which peaceful demonstrations
by Buddhist monks were brutally put down--Burma seldom received media
attention.

The spectacle of Burma's self-induced catastrophe may yet prod political
and media elites to admit an unpleasant possibility: There may be a
certain moral necessity to Bush's democracy agenda after all.

Given the unflinching paralysis of the U.N. Security Council over Burma,
what should the United States do? The United States, with a democratic
coalition that could include Great Britain and France, should prepare
immediately to intervene in Burma to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the
tens of thousands of cyclone victims whose lives are still at risk.
Defense Secretary Gates recently ruled out such action, but President Bush
could overturn his judgment, given the ongoing humanitarian disaster.

U.N. apologists would decry a U.S.-led intervention as a breach of
international law--but only by ignoring the "responsibility to protect"
doctrine adopted by U.N. member states nearly three years ago. Under the
U.N. doctrine, nations agree to take all possible measures--including the
use of force--to protect civilians from gross human rights abuses. If the
deliberate and calculated failure to protect and assist its own population
in the face of a devastating catastrophe does not invoke the U.N. mandate,
what does?

An intervention of this kind, even with its humanitarian objective, would
not be without its risks. Yet the costs of inaction--the deaths of
thousands of people, the emboldening of a murderous regime, the perception
of American weakness--must also be weighed.

"Intervention will be seen as divine intervention by the Burmese people,
not only to help the cyclone victims but also to finally free the entire
nation from the military yoke," wrote a coalition of Burmese democracy
groups to President Bush. "Please do not compare Burma with Iraq, because
Buddhist monks, students, Burmese patriots will happily assist you with
whatever you need to go inside Burma and help the cyclone victims and
entire nation Many concerned Burmese citizens are willing to join the
intervention. Please do not waste precious time."

Burma represents an opportunity not only to save lives, but to rescue the
principle of humanitarian intervention from the forces of cynicism and
moral cowardice. That may not amount to a final vindication of the Bush
doctrine. But it could prove to be one of the most important legacies of
his administration.

Benedict Rogers is a human rights officer with the London-based Christian
Solidarity Worldwide and author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the
Genocide of Burma's Karen People. Joseph Loconte is a senior fellow at
Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy and a frequent contributor
to The Weekly Standard.

____________________________________

June 5, International Herald Tribune
A cruel sequel to a cruel blow – Tony Banbury

The woman was frail and looked to be about 80, although like many people
who have toiled all their lives in rice paddies she may have looked older
than her years.

She approached me and moved her hand to her mouth three or four times, the
sign for eating. Aya is one of the fingertips of the Ayerwaddy Delta where
it juts into the Bay of Bengal, and she needed food.

More than three weeks had passed since Cyclone Nargis whipped through
southern Myanmar, leaving death, destruction, misery and overwhelming
human needs in its wake. Coming face to face with that woman in those
circumstances, I felt the same way most people in the world would - I had
an overwhelming desire, even a need, to try to help.

No one has good numbers, but it is estimated that Cyclone Nargis killed
about 120,000 people and left about 2.5 million needing some form of
assistance. For comparison, the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004
killed about 190,000 and left more than 3 million needing help in six
countries.

Flying in a helicopter over the Ayerwaddy Delta, I thought, this is like
the tsunami - something I never expected to experience again.

We flew over village after village that was 100 percent destroyed. Totally
gone. Only bamboo and thatch detritus scattered on the ground remained as
evidence that people once lived there; parents who worked hard for a
better life for their children, children who ran and laughed and dreamed,
grandparents who enjoyed the respect and affection that accrue to the
elderly in this culture.

Legions of aid workers await permission to enter Myanmar and join the
nascent relief effort now underway. Some have made it as far as Yangon,
the largest city in Myanmar, also known as Rangoon, but few have been
allowed to travel to the hard-hit delta, and fewer still to stay there and
work night and day to help the cyclone's victims.

The Myanmar government says that the relief phase is over, that the
national authorities are responsible for providing assistance, that only
national staff from the United Nations and international non-governmental
organizations can work in the Delta, that international staff will be
allowed in under certain circumstances, and that the residents of the
Ayerwaddy Delta are resilient and self-sufficient.

Substitute "rescue" for "relief" (the words are the same in Burmese) and
these assertions are largely true. But that does not soften the harsh,
unbending reality that hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of human
beings - fellow citizens of our planet - are in desperate need of
assistance for their survival and well-being, and that they are not
getting it.

The town of Bogale, which lay directly in the path of the storm and took a
vicious beating, is now one of the primary staging areas for relief
operations by the World Food Program and other aid agencies.

WFP brings food by barge from Yangon to Bogale, where it is off-loaded on
to smaller river boats - those still afloat - for distribution down river.
I spoke to a doctor from Doctors Without Borders, one of the few
international aid organizations allowed to spend several days working in
the area, who estimated that 80 percent of the people living south of
Bogale lost their lives to the 12-foot-high surge of water that Cyclone
Nargis blew up the delta and over land on the night of May 2 to 3. After
flying over the delta for hours, and stopping in five towns and villages,
that estimate horrified me, but did not surprise me.

It is the beginning of the monsoon season in Myanmar, and the fields
should be ready for planting rice. The Ayewarddy Delta is the rice bowl of
Myanmar and used to be a major source of rice for the region and beyond.

As I flew over the traditional Southeast Asian patchwork of rice paddies I
tried to estimate how many had a farmer and a water buffalo preparing for
planting. It was about one in 400, maybe one in 500.

This suggested to me that the food problems of the frail, elderly lady I
met in Aya are far from over.

As we were finishing our walk around Aya, we came to a rickety pier
jutting into a small river that runs behind the town.

A boat had just pulled up with workers from the Myanmar Red Cross and 689
50-kilogram sacks of rice from WFP. The elderly woman whom I so urgently
wanted to help would soon have food to eat, together with the rest of the
town.

I felt almost overjoyed. But the food would only be enough for about a
week. What about the weeks and months ahead? What about the thousands of
the woman's fellow citizens who were as desperate as she was for food,
shelter, water, medical care?

Nature had dealt the people of the Ayerwaddy Delta a cruel blow. Would
mankind deal them another?

Tony Banbury is the Asia regional director of the United Nations World
Food Progam


____________________________________

June 5, The Nation (Thailand)
Burma still blocking cyclone aid effort

Asean needs to force the junta into seeing reason and opening up to
international relief agencies

With hundreds of thousands of suffering people waiting for food, shelter
and medicine, the Burmese junta continues to play cat and mouse with the
international relief agencies. Thousands of lives could be saved if
General Than Shwe really does what he promised to UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon when the two met in mid-May. Although visas for UN-related relief
officials were given, others faced delays. Journalists are unable to gain
access to Burma. There are no reports from and no cameras allowed inside
the affected areas. So, the outside world does not know what is going on,
except from the government-run media and word from international relief
officials passing through Bangkok.

After Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta, the US, UK and
France dispatched warships loaded with food, water and makeshift shelters
to help the victims. But the junta leaders stopped them from coming too
close to land. So the French ships had to dump the supplies in Phuket for
later trans-shipment into Burma. The UK also decided to withdraw its
ships, which were in position to provide for the most needy victims in the
area. The US finally decided to move its ships away, knowing full well
that more lives could be saved. Already, several Western countries are
commenting that the junta leaders are guilty of criminal neglect.

The US ships have the capacity to deliver huge amounts of emergency relief
materials, at least 800 tonnes per day, which far exceeds the junta's own
capacity. The US vessels are well-equipped with helicopters that can carry
food and water to inaccessible areas. But the regime fears that these
military vehicles would be used to dislodge them from power. How can you
overthrow a government with helicopters flying around with food supplies
ready to be dropped?

Even Asean is annoyed by Burma's behaviour. Malaysia is adamant that more
cooperation from Rangoon is needed. Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
urged Burma to allow military helicopters from Asean to get in to help
with the relief effort. So far, there has not been any answer. The
200-member Asean Assessment Team, along with international experts, is
carrying out  a much-needed assessment in Labutta and Pyapon that will be
a basis for future recovery efforts.

If Burma continues to drag its feet, the UN Security Council must take up
the issue and work out ways to save thousands of Burmese lives. A
resolution that enables air drops should be considered. It is unfortunate
that the responsibility to protect, which the UN agreed in 2005 as one of
the principles governing international relations in the 21st century, does
not explicitly include the effects of disasters. But the aftermath of
Cyclone Nargis and the junta's heartless reaction should be a case study
for further action or amendment to the principle. Otherwise, every time
there is a crisis, no action can be taken.

Gen Than Shwe knows how to take advantage of the UN and Asean. So far, the
general has been able to play the two leading organisations against each
other. Of late, representatives from the UN and Asean have been working in
tandem to ensure there is no misunderstanding. In press conferences,
foreign relief workers have complained that in the weeks to come an
operational quagmire will start and the Burmese people pay the price.
Asean needs to push Burma for more access. As a regional organisation,
Asean has already served as a facilitator that has won some concessions
from Burma. But that is not enough to save lives. Asean has a
responsibility to see to it that its rogue member cooperates fully,
without discrimination. The grouping has to back its secretary-general
Surin and his work with a full mandate.

The next few months will be decisive for the future of Burma and Asean.
Any delay will further jeopardise the rescue operation and will destroy
the goodwill that Asean needs.

____________________________

June 5, Al Jazeera
Saving the children in Myanmar – Shaista Aziz

I have been in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, for two weeks but I have
lost all track of time as the hours and days have become a hazy blur.

My eyes are stinging due to a lack of sleep and the debilitating effect of
the persistent humidity.

My colleagues who have been responding to the humanitarian needs of the
people since the cyclone hit on May 2 are beyond feeling exhausted – they
are running on empty.

But the aid workers here are motivated by the immense need on the ground
and this is at the forefront of our concerns every day.

Save the Children's relief teams are slowly getting aid into the eastern
and western Irrawady Delta in southern Myanmar, the region worst hit by
the cyclone.

A few days ago a team of seven Burmese aid workers returned to Yangon
after spending several days accessing remote villages by boat in the
western delta with vital aid supplies.

Scenes of horror

My colleague looked visibly moved describing the scenes of horror that he
found. He said entire villages along the delta were now empty of people.
Survivors in some villages described in detail how the awesome power of
Nargis had sucked in people and communities and spat them out into the
rising waters of the delta.

They did not stand a chance. Another team of Burmese aid workers - the
real unsung heroes of this disaster - are due to return from the delta
tomorrow.

The team has been delivering water, food, medicines, blankets and plastic
sheeting to survivors.

We are scaling up the aid operation as more aid supplies are purchased in
the country and more aid arrives from outside the country.

At present we have 260 Burmese aid workers working in the delta. Some
international aid workers, including a health specialist and a logistician
responsible for getting aid supplies into the affected areas, have been
granted visas to work in the delta.

It is very challenging getting aid into the worst affected areas as they
can only be reached by boat and the heavy monsoon rain makes working
conditions for us and living conditions for the survivors difficult.

Focusing on children

Almost half of Myanmar's population are children and in the aftermath of
Nargis, they make up some 40 per cent of the deaths. They also account for
nearly half of the survivors.

For Save the Children, it is these youngest victims that have been the
focus of our work and as in most emergencies they are the most vulnerable.

At the same time aid workers are gathering detailed information about the
needs of children. We estimate that 30,000 children were acutely
malnourished before the cyclone struck in the delta.

We are distributing emergency food rations but we are also working out how
we will meet the long-term needs of survivors. Our initial assessments
tell us that at least 2000 children have become separated from their
families – this could be because their parents have died or because they
have temporarily lost them in the aftermath of the disaster.

This makes children incredibly vulnerable and our child protection experts
are in the field working out how we can set up systems to ensure that
children remain safe.

In the coming weeks aid workers will try and locate the parents and
reunite them with their children. This is one of the happy endings that we
are always hoping for.

Save the Children is particularly concerned about reports of lower
respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea and the high risk from malaria and
dengue fever that make children particularly susceptible. We expect that
pregnant women survivors are very vulnerable with poor access to safe
deliveries and neonatal care.

We have estimated that our response to cyclone Nargis will continue for at
least three years.

Cocooned from disaster

As a foreigner I am confined to Yangon where I am supporting the work that
my colleagues are carrying out in the field. It has been hard to get a
feel in Yangon of how much devastation Nargis has wrought elsewhere in the
country, but there are reminders everywhere with trees that were ripped
out of the ground and overturned in the cities parks and advertising
boards dangling off mounted frames.

I have worked on in Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami, the
earthquake in Pakistan and the 2006 war on Lebanon, but in all these areas
I had the freedom to move around and work with aid teams on the ground.

Here in Yangon I have been forced to adapt to working in a different
method and it is humbling listening to the frontline aid workers as they
come back from the field and update us on how Save the Children's response
is developing.

Unfortunately, in the midst of tragedy, enterprising locals have made some
logistical planning for aid workers rather challenging. A local mobile
phone sim card, which is extremely valuable for aid workers in the field
comes, at a premium price - $3,000.

Save the Children is a charity organisation working to improve the
conditions of children around the world.