BurmaNet News, June 6, 2008

[Editor]

June 6, 2008 Issue #3486


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Meet the ‘handy youths’ of the Irrawaddy Delta
BBC News: Burma hits out at cyclone reports
DVB: Cyclone refugees threatened with relocation
AP: Cyclone destroys trees in Myanmar's main city

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Cyclone victims migrating to Thailand

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Business booms for some in Irrawaddy Delta
DVB: Group slams environmental impact of dam projects

HEALTH / AIDS
AFP: Cyclone: disease spreads through Burma
DVB: Labutta and Bogalay struggle with dysentery outbreak

ASEAN
AP: Asean can impose sanctions on its members, Malaysia says

REGIONAL
AP: US military extends aid offer to Myanmar
Khonumthung News: Pro-democracy activists protest outside Burmese embassy
in India

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: U.N. envoy pushes Myanmar on prisoners
Irrawaddy: Rights groups report post-cyclone abuses

OPINION / OTHER
Boston Globe: Cruelty and silence in Burma

INTERVIEW
New America Media: Exiled Burmese monk lambastes junta




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 6, Irrawaddy
Meet the ‘handy youths’ of the Irrawaddy Delta – Min Lwin

A group of young people led by a well-known Burmese Internet blogger, Nyi
Lynn Seck, is at the forefront of reconstruction efforts in the
cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta, helping to build simple shelters for
the homeless.

Nyi Lynn Seck calls his group the Handy Myanmar Youths—and they’re
certainly proving to be handymen in the flattened villages of the delta.

They supply the villages with the materials to build so-called “budget
huts,” bamboo structures with tarpaulin walls and roofs. The 200
square-foot “huts” cost 150,000 kyat (US $125) to build.

Handy Myanmar Youths have so far helped construct more than 100 such
shelters in five delta villages. If local villagers build the huts, the
group helps out with food and temporary shelter.

Nyi Lynn Seck and his group took 12 hours to travel to the area from
Rangoon, negotiating bad roads and talking their way through several
checkpoints.

“We build as many huts as we can afford,” he told The Irrawaddy.

The group met farmers in refugee camps who were anxious to return to their
villages and resume work on their spoilt land. “They want to start their
normal lives,” he said.

The farmers wanted to return alone at first, followed later by their
families. “They have long-term plans, even in the midst of disaster,” he
said.

The group found remote villages where people were sheltering in the
remains of their ruined homes rather than relocating to local government
refugee centers in the towns. “I saw groups of survivors who hadn’t
received any relief aid at all. We helped them as much as we could,” he
said.

One village the group visited had lost 400 of its people in the cyclone.
Many devastated villages were still inaccessible, Nyi Lynn Seck said.

Nyi Lynn Seck said his group existed on donations from within Burma and
from abroad.

____________________________________

June 6, BBC News
Burma hits out at cyclone reports

Burma's state-run media has strongly condemned media reports of the
devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis.

An article in a state daily accused "self-seekers" of faking video footage
of the destruction - and foreign media of using it to harm Burma's image.

Reports that survivors were living in dire conditions in the Irrawaddy
Delta were exaggerated, it said.

Burma's leaders have been heavily criticised for their reluctance to
accept help after the 2 May cyclone.

According to official figures, 78,000 people were killed and another
56,000 are missing. More than two million people have been affected, aid
agencies say.

After an initial refusal, the military junta is now allowing some experts
from UN agencies and South East Asian neighbours to help victims of the
storm.

But earlier this week US Navy ships carrying much-needed helicopters and
landing craft left Burma's coastline after 15 failed attempts to convince
the regime to let them in.

'Made-up stories'

Some of the most shocking footage that has emerged from the storm-hit
region has come from video shot by Burmese amateurs and circulated on
DVDs.

In an article, the New Light of Myanmar condemned "self-seekers exploiting
storm victims".

They were, it said, "shooting video films featuring made-up stories in the
storm-affected areas... and sending the videotapes to foreign news
agencies".

"Those foreign news agencies are issuing such groundless news stories with
the intention of tarnishing the image of Myanmar (Burma) and misleading
the international community," it said.

The daily also accused reporters of exaggerating the conditions in which
victims were living, describing the coverage as "despicable and inhuman
acts of local and foreign anti-government groups".

Burma is desperate to prove that it is in control of the relief effort and
that it does not need large-scale foreign help, correspondents say.

It has done its utmost to prevent journalists entering the storm-hit
region, setting up police checkpoints to stop people travelling into the
area.

But aid agencies say they still do not have the unrestricted access they
need to fully implement the kind of relief and reconstruction operation
required.

The story came a day after Burma's most prominent comedian, Zarganar, was
detained after leading a private effort to deliver aid to cyclone victims.

Many Burmese volunteers have been organising their own deliveries to the
delta to help people who have not received any aid.

____________________________________

June 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Cyclone refugees threatened with relocation – Htet Yazar

Local authorities in Rangoon division's Shwe Paukkan township are forcing
cyclone victims out of makeshift refugee camps in town and threatening
them with relocation to Arakan state if they refuse to leave.

A refugee living in one of the camps in the township said they had been
told they would be sent to Butheetaung-Maung Taw township if they did not
return to their villages.

"We’ve been at this camp since the day after the cyclone hit our homes. So
far we have received no assistance from the government and now the local
authorities are forcing us to go back to our homes," the refugee said.

"They said those who refused to leave the camp would be relocated to
Butheetaung-Maung Taw township in Arakan state with an allowance of
100,000 kyat," he said.

"We don't want to go and live there but we have no homes left to go to."

An aid volunteer who has been working in Shwe Paukkan said it would be
impossible for the cyclone victims to return to their homes.

"These refugees have no money to rebuild their homes and the places where
their houses used to be are now surrounded by water,” the aid worker said.

“Now they are getting kicked out of the refugee camps, but they have
nowhere to go,” he said.

“The government has provided no assistance for them – they have had to
rely on aid from private donors."

The United Nations has said that forced returns of cyclone refugees are
unacceptable, but authorities are continuing to send victims back to their
villages.

____________________________________

June 6, Associated Press
Cyclone destroys trees in Myanmar's main city

The waiter looks down at the streets of Yangon from the panoramic rooftop
restaurant. He remembers how diners used to be shielded from the noise and
bustle of the city below by a thick green cushion of leaves.

When Cyclone Nargis ripped through Myanmar's largest city last month, its
120 mph winds snapped 100-year-old trees like matchsticks, wiping out much
of Yangon's living link to its colonial past.

"There were green canopies covering the roads below. Now, you only see
taxis and cars," said the waiter, San Myant Myant, as he stood beside a
table on the 20th floor of the Thiripyitsayar Sky Lounge, atop one of the
city's tallest buildings.

"There's no green anymore to soften the hues of the city," he said. "How
long will it take to grow back all the trees? Perhaps a hundred years."

As Myanmar grapples with the tens of thousands of dead and many more
homeless from the May 2-3 cyclone, it is coming to terms with another
casualty: The loss of one of Asia's last colonial-era, leafy cities.

The Yangon Municipal Gardens Department said more than 10,000 trees were
uprooted across Yangon, including at least 530 that were more than 50
years old.

"The cyclone was a terrible shock to me," said 83-year-old Khin Htway, a
retired doctor who has lived her whole life in Yangon. "But to see so many
trees that are older than I am uprooted in one fell swoop was devastating.
They are irreplaceable."

Back when the British built this city over a century ago and named it
Rangoon, they paved wide boulevards lined with stately trees and created
leafy suburbs of lakes and gardens.

Towering rain trees, stately mahoganies, banyan and Burmese rosewoods were
scattered around Yangon's streets and parks, providing much-needed shade
from the sweltering tropical sun.

These top-heavy trees were especially vulnerable to the cyclone's fierce
winds, said conservationist Aung Din, noting that many of those still
standing are teak and eucalyptus, with deeper roots.

Under British rule, Burma — as the country was then called — was one of
the wealthiest in Southeast Asia and the region's biggest producer of
timber and rice.

Over the years, much of Myanmar's colonial past was wiped away by the
military regimes that have ruled since 1962 and transformed the country
into one of the poorest in the world. The current junta renamed the
country Myanmar in 1989 and changed the capital's name to Yangon. In 2005,
they relocated the capital to the newly built, isolated city of Naypyitaw
in the north.

The xenophobic and reclusive generals blocked the outside world's
influence and modernity, leaving Yangon with the dusty tranquility of
another era. Its leafy charm stood in stark contrast to the
traffic-clogged concrete jungles that sprung up in neighboring Southeast
Asian capitals such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila.

World War II-era buses still ply the streets. Peeling pastel paint hangs
from the once grand facades of neglected but sturdy colonial buildings.

The old architecture survived the cyclone, unlike hundreds of the flimsy
wooden homes of the poor, which were flattened.

But with the loss of the trees, Yangon is a changed city.

Many residents who visited the grounds of Yangon University after the
storm came away in tears. The campus, which was full of stately old trees
and was a favorite picnic spot, is now eerily bare.

"We used to sit under the big, shady trees to read and chat. I miss doing
that," said Tin Moe Hlaing, 29, a masters student in international
relations, while reading on a bench in the lobby of the history
department.

Kandawgyi Lake, a large forest-like park across town, is similarly barren.

"There were so many big trees around the beautiful lake," said Tun Ohn,
73, who operates a tour boat that was smashed in the storm. "Now, all
that's left is a lot of fallen trees and debris."

With the cyclone causing most of its death and destruction in the
Irrawaddy delta to the south, life in Yangon has mostly returned to
normal.

Crowds throng the city's markets and sidewalk stalls, and taxis ply the
streets. Police direct cars at intersections because traffic signals are
still broken.

Women scurry across busy Strand Road, dodging cars and pedicabs, with
rattan trays of dried fish or fresh produce balanced on their heads.

Towering overhead, the golden domed Shwedagon Pagoda — the city's famed
bell-shaped temple atop a hill — gleams in the sun and is spotlighted at
night.

Electricity has been restored in the more affluent city center, although
some residents still lack telephone service.

The city's trendy youth are again enjoying late nights of nocturnal fun.

Leaving their traditional sarong-like longyis at home in favor of baggy
jeans and baseball caps, their weekend nights are spent dancing at the
Pioneer Club, where partygoers drink beer and gyrate to techno music.

For some, returning to normal has meant restoring some of the fallen trees.

At an intersection in northeastern Yangon, residents raised a huge banyan
tree that had been uprooted by the storm and pieced back together a
porcelain-tiled shrine at its base.

Banyan trees are sacred to Buddhists, who believe that Buddha attained
enlightenment while sitting under one. In Myanmar, the venerable trees are
believed to house spirits.

"There were spirits in the trees around here," said Aye Aye San, a
45-year-old laborer who works at Yangon University. "I don't know where
they are now."


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 6, Irrawaddy
Cyclone victims migrating to Thailand – Saw Yan Naing

 “I came to Thailand because the situation back in the Irrawaddy delta was
becoming critical,” said cyclone survivor Ma Win. “We had received no
aid. My child was seriously sick and suffering from diarrhea. I was ill
too; we only had boiled rice to eat for three days.”

As soon as he heard about the disaster, Ma Win’s husband left Thailand
where he was working and headed home to Laputta to look for his wife and
six-month-old son. They had survived the cyclone, but their house was
destroyed. He immediately decided to take them back with him to Mae Sot on
the Thai-Burmese border.

They traveled for nearly two days by bus, truck and foot and had to pay
soldiers 500 kyat (US $0.43) at each army checkpoint along the road to Mae
Sot. They arrived on May 7. Ma Win and her baby are now receiving care and
are regaining their strength.

Ma Win is among some 100 Burmese cyclone victims who have arrived recently
in Mae Sot, which borders the Burmese town of Myawaddy.

Mahn Mahn, a team leader for the Backpack Health Worker Team, a medical
relief group that has been assisting the new arrivals, told The Irrawaddy
on Thursday: “The cyclone victims are arriving separately—nearly 100
people so far. Some are from the Irrawaddy delta and some are from
Rangoon. If they didn’t lose their parents, they lost their sons or
daughters.”

Among the cyclone victims who have arrived recently are orphans. Some are
currently sheltering at the Mae La refugee camp, at Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao
clinic or in the Backpack office. Others are staying with relatives and
friends in Mae Sot town, said sources.

 “Some came here in the hope they would receive aid, said Mahn Mahn. “Most
people have no plan. Some will stay here wherever they can. Others say
they will look for jobs here in Mae Sot.”

The newcomers mostly came from disaster hard-hit regions such as
Kungyangone and Hlaing Tharyar in Rangoon division and Laputta, Myaung Mya
and Ngapudaw in the Irrawaddy delta, according to sources in Mae Sot.

Tin Shwe, who works at the Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, said that 49 new
arrivals are now staying in the clinic and more refugees are expected.

Burmese social workers, such as Mar Mar Aye, are counseling the newcomers
and providing some financial support.

Meanwhile, Thailand-based labor rights groups, Action Network for Migrants
(Thailand) and the Mekong Migration Network, released a joint letter of
appeal to the Thai government on June 4 saying requesting help for the
cyclone victims while stressing: “The people of Burma will only migrate to
Thailand if there is no other means of survival.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, Adisorn Kerdmongkol, from the Action
Network for Migrants, said, “If the survivors and the farmers cannot
cultivate their land, I think most of them will migrate to Thailand.”

The labor rights groups sent the joint letter of appeal to the Thai
ministries of the interior, labor and social development and human
security, calling for Thai authorities to allow Burmese migrants to return
home to visit families who were affected by the cyclone, but then be
allowed to return to Thailand.

The groups also urged the Thai government to ensure that the Burmese
military authorities provide full protection to the cyclone victims in
terms of shelter, food, medical care, reconstruction and restoration of
livelihoods.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 6, Irrawaddy
Business booms for some in Irrawaddy Delta – Aung Thet Wine

The old proverb “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good” sums up the
effect Cyclone Nargis had on the economy of the devastated Irrawaddy delta
region of Burma.

While agriculture, fisheries and the salt industry are struggling to
recover, guesthouses and restaurants in Laputta, a major delta center, are
reporting that business is booming. Buses from Rangoon to Laputta are
packed, and operators are advising travelers to book three days in
advance.

Three of Laputta’s five guesthouses have been contracted to the UN and
international agencies, and the other two are usually full, their few
rooms booked by visitors to the town and individual relief workers.

House rents have soared. “A small hut that can accommodate 10 people costs
100,000 kyat (US $80) a month,” said a Laputta landlord.

Because of the shortage and expense of accommodation, most visitors from
Rangoon stayed in Laputta’s monasteries, he said.

By a bitter irony in a region where thousands are still going hungry,
restaurant owners and grocery stores in Laputta report booming business.
UN and relief agency staff and other foreign visitors are good customers.

“Even a small roadside food shop earns about 100,000 kyat ($80) a day,”
said a local restaurant owner.

Such an income remains a dream for enterprises that depend on the region’s
ruined agriculture and fisheries, however.

Although some official aid has reached the town and a UN Development
Programme (UNDP) reconstruction package is promised, farmers, fisheries
and salt producers face a long haul ahead. There is talk of granting local
authority credits to fishermen, but official confirmation is still
awaited.

Some supplies of farmed crabs have been sent to Rangoon, but one Laputta
entrepreneur described them as “minimal.”

Fishing nets and boats are expected from the UNDP, which is also said to
be prepared to reconstruct damaged piers and bridges.

A UNDP staffer said international agencies that had helped Burma after the
2004 tsunami were still in place and available for post-cyclone
reconstruction work.

The crucial agricultural task now was to desalinate fields that had been
inundated with sea water, the staffer said. “It may take at least two
years to make the soil usable again.”

The authorities had provided ploughs and cattle to two refugee camps near
Laputta, but the staffer said the aid was insufficient for farmers waiting
to work uncontaminated fields.

Laputta Township’s salt pans will take at least six months to recover from
the damage caused by the cyclone, said one salt works owner. A grisly
first task would be to remove the bodies which had been preserved in the
salt.

There was also a pressing need to recruit new workers to replace those
lost in the cyclone, said a salt works owner from Nga Pu Taw Township. “It
is a big headache for me.”

The salt pans of the Irrawaddy delta provide seasonal work, performed by
casual laborers whose names would not appear on official death lists—an
additional administrative problem for one of the hardest-hit industries.

____________________________________

June 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Group slams environmental impact of dam projects – Naw Say Phaw

The Burma Rivers Network has urged foreign companies to reconsider their
investments in dam and gas projects in Burma due to the devastating impact
on the local environment.

In a statement released to mark World Environment Day yesterday, the group
called on companies involved in dam building and extraction of natural gas
in Burma to withdraw their investments.

The secretary of the Burma Rivers Network, U Aung Nge, said steps needed
to be taken to protect against deforestation and air pollution in Burma.

“There are about 25 massive dams in Burma built by Chinese and Thai state
companies and there has been large-scale deforestation around the dam
sites,” Aung Nge said.

“Eighteen percent of Burma’s forests have been wiped out, and that’s
higher than anywhere in the world.”

Aung Nge said that companies investing the dam building and natural gas
projects in Burma needed to be aware of their impact on the local
population.

“It is the Burmese people who are going to have to suffer the detrimental
social and environmental consequences of these investments,” he said.

“So we urge the Thai and Chinese governments and Thai companies who are
involved in these investments to think hard about these consequences and
reconsider their investments.”

The group also pointed out how the loss of mangrove to deforestation
exacerbated the impact of Cyclone Nargis, and warned that such disasters
could become more frequent or more devastating in future if the problem is
not addressed.

Aung Nge said the Burma Rivers Network would continue to advocate for
environmental issues.

“Climate change and global warming issues are major concerns for people
all over the world,” Aung Nge said.

“We are going to keep releasing statements for as long as there are
countries and individuals who don’t protect the environment,” he said.

“And we will work with those who have influence over them to convince them
to change their ways.”


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 6, Agence France Presse
Cyclone: disease spreads through Burma

Dysentery, typhoid and other diseases are spreading through Myanmar's
notorious Insein Prison after Cyclone Nargis destroyed inmates' food
supplies, a Thailand-based watchdog said on Friday.

The cyclone that hit five weeks ago ripped off roofs and flooded wards at
Insein, which holds many of Myanmar's nearly 2 000 political prisoners,
the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in a
statement.

The group said in May that 40 people died in a riot in the prison during
the cyclone after a fire broke out. Security forces opened fire to quell
the violence, while four political prisoners were later tortured to death
during interrogations, AAPP said.

The storm ripped the roof off the prison's food warehouse, leaving most of
its stocks rotting. The International Committee of the Red Cross delivered
fresh food, but these supplies have already run out, AAPP said.

Now prison authorities are giving inmates rotten food, which has caused
outbreaks of disease, hitting female prisoners especially hard, the group
said.

"The health situation of prisoners will worsen and become critical if they
are fed that bad and inedible food any longer," said Tate Naing, AAPP's
secretary.

"Contagious diseases will spread very quickly in a crowded place like a
prison, if authorities do not take appropriate actions promptly."

Myanmar is believed to have at least 1 800 political prisoners, including
700 arrested in 2007 in a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests led
by Buddhist monks.

Tate Naing said at least two of them are in serious ill health, including
Myo Yan Naung Thein, who was arrested in December for joining the monks'
protests.

He was beaten during interrogation and now requires assistance to walk,
Tate Naing said.

Ohn Than, who was arrested in August after protesting outside the US
embassy in Yangon, is suffering from cerebral malaria, which is now at a
severe stage, he added.

More than 133 000 people are dead or missing following the cyclone, which
struck on May 2-3. The United Nations estimates that one million hungry
and homeless survivors have yet to receive any aid, despite the ruling
junta's promises to speed up the relief effort.

____________________________________

June 6, Democratic Voice of Burma
Labutta and Bogalay struggle with dysentery outbreak – Aye Nai

A severe dysentery outbreak has occurred in Labutta and Bogalay townships
in Irrawaddy division, which were among the areas worst hit by Cyclone
Nargis in May.

Dr Aye Kyu, Labutta's 1990 people's parliament representative who runs a
local clinic, said the disease was rife among the town’s residents.

"I have been receiving a lot of patients at my clinic who are suffering
from severe dysentery,” he said.

“One of my regular patients told me that a child died of the disease in
hospital yesterday."

Dr Aye Kyu said about 20 percent of patients who came to his clinic were
suffering from diarrhoea.

"A lot of Labutta residents and refugees taking shelter in the town have
upset stomachs,” he said.

“The disease is spreading fast and people who live in villages devastated
by the cyclone are having difficulties getting medical attention.”

Members of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters network who went with
a team of doctors to the Aye Yar coastal village in Bogalay township said
about 90 people in the village were suffering from dysentery.

HRDP member Ma Myint Myint Mu said the local medical services were unable
to cope with the outbreak.

"I saw about 90 people in Aye Yar village suffering from dysentery. There
is only one nurse in the village so there is no significant medical care
for the villagers," Myint Myint Mu said.

"There are no proper toilets in the village. People who have diarrhoea
have to use plastic bags," she said.

"The villagers were facing shortages of clean water when we arrived, so we
installed water purifying equipment for them, but we could not afford to
build toilets for them this time because the prices of zinc sheets and
wood are very high now."


____________________________________
ASEAN

June 6, Associated Press
Asean can impose sanctions on its members, Malaysia says

Southeast Asia's main bloc can impose sanctions on members that flout its
charter even though there is no formal provision for penalties, Malaysia's
leader said Tuesday.

The comment by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi indicated the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations is losing patience with Burma, one
of the 10 members of the bloc, for refusing to restore democracy or
improve its human rights record.

Asean is hoping to ratify a charter that would include the creation of a
regional human rights body by the end of the year. The charter does not
mention using sanctions or expulsion in cases of serious breaches by
members.

It says, however, any violations would be referred to Asean heads of state
for a final decision.

Asean members will be taking "a pragmatic approach" in tackling potential
offenses, Abdullah said.

"The charter does not provide for specific sanctions for charter breaches
or noncompliance. But this does not mean that there will be none,"
Abdullah said at a forum on regional security.

National leaders will decide how to deal with violations "as and when the
need arises" at their annual summits, Abdullah said.

For the charter to take effect, it must be ratified by parliaments of
member countries. Since the charter was adopted in November, six countries
have ratified it—Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Abdullah urged the remaining members—the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma and
Thailand—to ratify the charter, saying it should not be rejected simply
"because we are unhappy with a few provisions or omissions."

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has warned that Filipino
legislators could find it difficult to ratify the charter if Burma does
not restore democracy and free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The charter is aimed at turning Asean into a rules-based legal entity,
which means it can sue and be sued, and will be held accountable for all
the treaties and agreements it signs. It will also set up enforceable
financial, trade and environmental rules.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 6, Associated Press
US military extends aid offer to Myanmar – Jocelyn Gecker

The U.S. military has offered Myanmar 22 helicopters that could ferry
relief to the majority of hungry and homeless cyclone survivors within
three days — but the junta hasn't responded yet, military officials said
Friday.

U.S. Navy ships laden with helicopters and emergency supplies sailed away
from the coast of Myanmar on Thursday after being ignored by the junta for
three weeks, but the American offer to help still stands, said Lt. Gen.
John Goodman, commander of Marine Forces Pacific and head of the U.S.
relief operation for Myanmar.

More than one month after Cyclone Nargis battered Myanmar, more than 1
million survivors are still in need of food, water and temporary shelter
in the hard-to-access Irrawaddy delta, the U.N. says.

"Of the 1 million or 1.5 million people in need of relief support, we
think that between 450,000 to 750,000 are in emergency need," Goodman
said, adding that they could be reached "over the course of a three-day
period" by American helicopters and landing craft.

The offer includes 10 helicopters aboard the USS Essex, an amphibious
assault ship currently steaming toward Thailand, and another 12 at a
makeshift headquarters in Utapao, Thailand, said Lt. Col. Douglas Powell,
a spokesman for what has been dubbed operation Caring Relief.

With only seven Myanmar government helicopters flying, relief supplies are
mostly being transported along dirt roads and then by boat. International
aid agencies say boats able to navigate the delta's canals are scarce and
efforts to import vehicles have been hampered by government red tape.

Myanmar's xenophobic military rulers have allowed Marine Corps C-130 cargo
planes to fly 116 flights, delivering more than 2.2 million pounds of aid
to Yangon, the largest city, Goodman said. But the relief effort lacks
helicopters to access hard-to-reach areas in the devastated Irrawaddy
delta.

The junta is particularly sensitive to letting in U.S. helicopters, which
would highlight the American effort in a country where the people have
been taught to see the U.S. as a hostile aggressor. Myanmar's state media
have hinted that the junta fears a U.S. invasion aimed at seizing the
country's oil deposits.

Goodman said he sought to dispel those concerns during two meetings in
Myanmar, the most recent on Monday, with high-ranking junta official Lt.
Gen. Myint Swe.

"We tried to address each and every one of their concerns in a logical
fashion to help them find a way to say yes," Goodman said in a telephone
interview from Utapao.

The U.S. offered to allow Myanmar officials aboard all American
helicopters to monitor their routes and to unload relief supplies and said
no U.S. soldiers would stay overnight in the country, Goodman said.

"We offered them everything you can logically think of, and they're still
considering it," he said.

The junta official responded by saying "that his government felt they had
the capability and capacity to provide the support for their country,"
Goodman said, adding that the meeting was pleasant and the two exchanged
gifts.

Goodman said he gave the Myanmar official a porcelain candy dish
emblazoned with the U.S. Marine logo.

"He gave me a picture of a man steering a boat through the delta," he
said. "He thought that was appropriate."
____________________________________

June 6, Khonumthung News
Pro-democracy activists protest outside Burmese embassy in India

The Burmese embassy in New Delhi, India saw renewed agitations today when
over 35 Burmese pro-democracy activists staged a demonstration outside the
embassy calling for the immediate release of democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi and other political prisoners.

"We came here to demand the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other
political prisoners in Burma who have been illegally detained by the
junta. We also condemn the regime for arresting social workers who were
involved in helping Cyclone Nargis survivors," Mr. Kim, coordinator of
Shwe Gas Movement (India) told Khonumthung News.

The protesters held aloft anti-junta posters and shouted slogans calling
on the Burmese regime to allow international aid workers and grant them
full access to cyclone affected areas.

The protesters, to drive the point home sprayed the words "Free Aung San
Suu Kyi! Free Burma! And Stop killing!" on the brick wall of the Burmese
Embassy building.

The Burmese demonstrators submitted a memorandum to U Kyi Thein, the
Burmese Ambassador in India, urging him to take up the matter with the
military government in Burma.

"Urgent action needs to be taken by the military regime in allowing and
granting visas for international aid workers and also allow them
unrestricted access into the affected Irrawaddy delta," the memorandum
submitted to the Burmese ambassador said.

The demonstrators also demanded that the Burmese government allow free
movement of political parties inside Burma and asked the Ambassador to
change sides from the military government to the people of Burma.

The demonstration lasted all of 20 minutes. There was no intervention from
Indian police forces.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 6, Reuters
U.N. envoy pushes Myanmar on prisoners – Stephanie Nebehay

The United Nations human rights expert for Myanmar urged the military
junta on Friday to investigate reports that its soldiers shot dead a
number of prison inmates during the recent devastating cyclone Nargis.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, who reports to the world body's Human Rights Council,
also called for aid to be allowed to flow freely to victims of the storm
and said he had heard that critics of a referendum held in its wake had
been arrested.

The Argentine lawyer, making his first report to the Council, said some
1,000 prisoners at the town of Insein had been forced inside a hall after
their jail's zinc roofs were torn off in the storm on May 2, and many
panicked.

"In order to control the situation, it is reported that soldiers and riot
police were called in and opened fire on the prisoners in that area. A
number of prisoners were allegedly killed during the operation," his
16-page report said.

A Thailand-based rights group said at the time soldiers and police had
killed 36 prisoners to quell a riot. Ojea Quintana did not cite any total
for the deaths.

"The authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation
to clarify the facts and identify the perpetrators of those arbitrary
killings," he said.

Ojea Quintana urged the Myanmar authorities to honour an agreement with
the U.N. to "allow international humanitarian workers and supplies
unhindered access to the country and particularly to the areas affected"
by Nargis.

FALSE PICTURE

On Friday, the Myanmar military accused "unscrupulous" citizens and
foreign media of giving a false picture of the effects of the cyclone,
which left 134,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million people in desperate
need of help.

Dozens of Irrawaddy delta villages, some visited by Reuters, have yet to
receive any relief assistance since the storm.

Ojea Quintana, who succeeded Brazilian lawyer Paulo Sergio Pinheiro as
Myanmar investigator on May 1, said people reported detained for
protesting over the constitutional referendum, were among 1,900 political
prisoners in the former Burma.

These included monks rounded up after protests last September. All should
be freed, he said, starting with Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leader and
Nobel laureate under house arrest or in prison for nearly 13 of the last
18 years.

"Given her responsibility as National League for Democracy (NLD) General
Secretary, her arrest affects the political rights of many other members
of the NLD and of the people of Myanmar," his report added.

Ojea Quintana noted that his predecessor Pinheiro had reported after a
rare visit to Myanmar last November that at least 31 people had died in
the crackdown on monk-led protests.

The new investigator urged the authorities in Yangon to set up a mechanism
to trace people reported missing since then and voiced hope he would also
be allowed to visit the country soon.

In March, the Council unanimously condemned Myanmar for what it called
"systematic violations" of fundamental freedoms.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Robert Evans)

____________________________________

June 6, Irrawaddy
Rights groups report post-cyclone abuses – Wai Moe

Burmese and international human rights groups have accused Burma’s ruling
junta of committing serious rights violations in the wake of Cyclone
Nargis, heightening concerns that the regime’s refusal to allow an open
and transparent international relief effort is endangering the safety of
victims of the deadly storm.

In a statement released on Friday, the Thailand-based Assistance
Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP) said that inmates of
Rangoon’s Insein Prison were being forced to eat spoiled rice, even after
the International Committee of the Red Cross replaced “moldy, foul and
inedible rice” damaged by exposure to rain.

AAPP said that a few days after prison authorities received the new rice,
they reverted to using rice that had been stored in a warehouse when
Cyclone Nargis ripped the roof off the building.

According to the group, the spoiled rice was causing intestinal problems
such as diarrhea and dysentery, as well as other symptoms, including
vomiting, dizziness, rashes and stomach swelling.

Meanwhile, leading international human rights advocacy group Amnesty
International (AI) claimed on Thursday that the Burmese military junta has
been misusing international aid and forcing cyclone victims out of
emergency shelters.

In a report titled “Myanmar Briefing: Human rights concerns a month after
Cyclone Nargis,” AI said that the ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) began evicting homeless cyclone survivors from government
and unofficial relief camps after it declared an end to the rescue and
relief phase of its disaster response on May 20.

The report also details cases of local officials “obstructing or misusing
aid.” Despite statements against such conduct by senior leaders,
corruption continues to go unpunished, according to the report.

The group said that it had received over 40 reports or accounts of aid
being confiscated by government officials, diverted or withheld instead of
being handed to cyclone survivors.

AI’s Burma researcher, Benjamin Zawacki, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that
the report aims to alert the donor community of ongoing human right abuses
and “ideally, to ensure that they will stop.”

The main human rights concern after the cyclone was displacement in the
affected areas, he said.

Zawacki also said that claims by the United Nations that its agencies had
provided relief goods to one million survivors needed to be put into
context.

“Even if it is correct that one million people have been reached, that
simply means that they have received some formal assistance.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that it has been comprehensive or
sufficient. Some formal assistance—that could be a single bottle of water
for a single person,” he said.
He also noted that more than 2.4 million were affected by the cyclone.

“So even if the UN’s one million figure is correct, that is still less
than half of all the people who need to have assistance,” he said. “That
is a really huge concern, as it shows that access to the Irrawady delta is
still not what it should be.”

Zawacki described the arrest of Burmese comedian Maung Thura, also known
as Zarganar, on Thursday as a “message of intimidation” directed at
political activists.

“By detaining him, the SPDC is seeking to send the message that political
dissidents and people who are politically active should not be involved,”
the AI researcher said.

He added that by arresting Zarganar, the junta was contradicting an
announcement it made on May 27, when it declared that individual donor
were free to carry out relief work.

AI also published another Burma-related report on Thursday.

“Crimes against humanity in eastern Burma” deals with the Burmese army’s
ongoing military offensive against ethnic Karen civilians.

The offensive, which began two years ago, has involved widespread and
systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,
according to the report.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 6, Boston Globe
Cruelty and silence in Burma

MORE THAN a million victims of the May 2 cyclone in Burma are still
without food, water, shelter, and medicine. Yet the ruling junta refused
15 requests to let the USS Essex and three support ships in the Bay of
Bengal deliver aid to uprooted villagers. Finally, tragically, the four
ships steamed away from Burma on Thursday, along with 22 helicopters and
four amphibious landing craft that are ideally suited to bring relief
supplies directly to stranded survivors. "Should the Burmese rulers have a
change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering
people," Admiral Timothy Keating said, "we are prepared to help."

Keating and his 5,000 sailors were eager to take on a mission of mercy,
one that the American public would be sure to support and all of Asia
would appreciate. What the admiral has learned - and what the rest of the
world has witnessed in the past five weeks - is that the Burmese generals
who deny life-saving succor to their people can have no change of heart.
They are heartless.

This is the gist of a report this week from Amnesty International decrying
the junta's forcible evictions of cyclone survivors from schools and
monasteries where they had taken shelter. It is the basic message of a
United Nations report lamenting "a serious lack of sufficient and
sustained humanitarian assistance for the affected populations."

The crucial lesson of these alarms is that today a million people in Burma
are endangered not by the vagaries of nature but by the cruelty of a
military dictatorship. In other words, the cause of all that unnecessary
suffering is political. Nobody should know this better than the other nine
countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Yet ASEAN
officials speak blithely about issuing a report on relief and recovery -
at a meeting more than two weeks from now. Enough dithering. ASEAN should
use its influence to push the junta to stop letting Burma's people die.


____________________________________
INTERVIEW

June 6, New America Media
Exiled Burmese monk lambastes junta – Viji Sundaram

Editor's Note: Chairman of the International Burmese Monks Organization -
81-year-old U Pannya Vamsa - speaks to New America Media about the way
Burmese monks are organizing to give aid to cyclone victims in Burma. Viji
Sundaram is an editor for New America Media.

The world community has been watching in shock and amazement as Burma’s
military government continues to watch the victims of Cyclone Nargis
starve while relief just waits offshore. The May 2 cyclone left some
133,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million survivors. Latest reports from the
United Nations indicate that about 60 percent of the survivors have still
not received any food, water or shelter.

On June 1st, U Pannya Vamsa – the co-founder and chairman of the
International Burmese Monks Organization – a group of exiled monks who
came together last October following the brutal crackdown on peaceful
demonstrators in Burma, was in the San Francisco Bay Area to raise
awareness about Burma’s tragic situation. In the three days the group
spent here, they raised $100,000 to help the cyclone victims.

The 81-year-old Vamsa, who has been living in exile in different parts of
the world for almost 50 years, talked to New America Media about what he
thinks Burma’s neighbors – especially India, which has strong economic
ties to Burma – should do, to force the junta to end human rights
violations against its own people.

You say you are here in the United States to point out the failings of
your government and raise awareness of what’s happening in Burma. Do you
think that some good will eventually come out of this tragedy that has
struck your country?

Not until neighbors like China and India end their economic relations with
Burma. Burma’s economic ties with India and with so many (ASEAN) countries
is helping the generals become very rich. But all the money that the
Burmese junta gets from those ties is kept in the hands of the top
leaders, and no money reaches the people, not even the soldiers. The
soldiers stay on in the military because they are uneducated and have
nowhere else to go.

The people of India and the people of Burma have been brothers and sisters
since colonial times. India should be supporting Burmese democracy, not
helping the junta, through trade deals. (That aside), how can India forget
that the roots of Buddhism are in India? It should take a leadership role
in this crisis. It should promote democracy in Burma.

After the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ’s visit to Burma last week,
did the junta not relax at least to some extent its ban on foreign aid and
allow foreign relief workers into the country?

A German NGO told me that all the foreign aid (given in kind) is being
sold by the government and what the victims, especially those in rural
areas, are getting are biscuits made in Burma.

The U.N. has failed us. They support the junta.

Within hours after the cyclone hit, the monks swung into action and began
distributing relief supplies to the victims. Where did they get these
supplies from?

We have our own methods. The $100,000 we have collected during this visit
to the Bay Area we will deposit in a bank in Singapore and then get the
money across the border.

The junta has been doing its utmost to gag all news sources and isolate
the country from the rest of the world. How are you able to stay on top of
what is happening back home?

(Firstly), the borders are very porous. That aside, the monks have their
own way of communicating with each other, and it’s not through cell phones
or the internet.

What then?

(Laughs) We have our own technology. It’s beyond your imagination.

Are the junta leaders Buddhists?

Yes, all the generals are Buddhists. In fact, 80 percent of the Burmese
population is Buddhist. The Burmese people respect the monks so much that
wherever the monks go, the people will follow. We have moral authority.

Since belief in the law of karma is such an integral part of Buddhism, you
would think the junta leaders would be more careful in how they conduct
themselves. Allowing men, women and children to die without food, when it
can easily be avoided, is criminal.

Ahh, but you see the generals are Buddhists only in name. And remember
what the Buddha said: Foolish people are never afraid of the law of karma.
Killing a Buddhist monk is an unthinkable crime in Buddhist culture. These
generals, they have no human feelings.

There have been two uprisings by the monks, one in 1988 and the other last
September. It seems like neither one was successful. It must be
discouraging for you. What is your next plan of action?

You know, after the last crackdown on the monks, some of them left Burma.
Hundreds have gone missing and we don’t know if they left the country or
were killed. Before September, there were 30,000 monks in Yangon (formerly
Rangoon). Today, there are only 6,000.

We know that thousands are in labor camps, forced to give up their
(maroon) robes and wear civilian clothes.

The military government is a mighty force controlling our monasteries. But
it’s difficult to control our souls and our determination. The monks will
continue to speak out.