BurmaNet News, June 13, 2008

[Editor]

June 13, 2008 Issue #3491


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Mogok ruby city landslide kills 22, eight missing
Irrawaddy: Storm rumors create panic in Moulmein
AP: US cannot be trusted: junta
DVB: Bogalay schools told to reopen despite setbacks
Los Angeles Times: In Myanmar, a Times reporter worked in secret to cover
the story

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: World day against child labor

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Cyclone nargis hits Burmese economy
DVB: Farmers charged admin fees to receive loans

ASEAN
Xinhua: Experts: All members should be included in ASEAN human rights body

INTERNATIONAL
BBC News: UN fuel appeal for Burma farmers
Irrawaddy: Grant full access to international community: Laura Bush
Irrawaddy: Burmese academic’s letter draws fire

OPINION / OTHER
Washington Post: Burma gives 'cronies' slice of storm relief
Jane’s Intelligence Review: Walk the line
VOA: Burma still refuses aid

STATEMENT
HRW: Burma: New rules further delay relief



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 13, Mizzima News
Mogok ruby city landslide kills 22, eight missing

Incessant heavy rain since early morning of Thursday triggered landslides
in Burma's ruby city killing 22 people. Eight people are missing,
according to residents.

The heavy downpour started in the wee hours of 1 a.m. yesterday and over
flowing water smashed the water bunker along the Yayni creek flooding the
city which is known to produce the finest rubies, about 400 miles north or
Rangoon. Several houses were destroyed; roads were inundated while
landslides were triggered in some places.

Twenty two people were hospitalized, said a medical staff from Mogok
Hospital on condition of anonymity. The eastern part of the town such as
Laypay, Taungni, Thephyuwine, Ohnkine, Laioo quarters are the worst
effected.

A resident who is helping in relief and rescue operations said eight
people are still missing. The downpour continues in the land of the ruby
and residents and volunteers recalled bitter experiences of landslides in
the past.

The New Light of Myanmar, the official mouthpiece published a brief news
on the disaster without even a mention of the death toll and destruction.

The ground where people gather to sell rubies and gems is strewn with
debris. Residents said it will take time for things to normalise.

Floods are not unusual in Mogok town, which is prohibited for foreigners
without special permission from the junta. The last flood occurred in
August last year.

Well-informed residents complained of massive environmental damage due to
mechanized gem mining by business companies.

"Gem miners are using machines which throw out all residuals into Yayni
creek which causes floods easily. Despite building bunkers along the creek
more and more debris from the mines are being heaped," a school teacher
told Mizzima.

____________________________________

June 13, Irrawaddy
Storm rumors create panic in Moulmein – Violet Cho

A storm warning system launched by the Burmese army in Burma’s Mon State
has caused panic among local people, who believe it heralds another
catastrophe on the scale of Burma’s Cyclone Nargis.

Residents of the Mon State capital, Moulmein, say soldiers have been
touring the city during the past two weeks announcing they would wave red
flags if another storm threatened to hit the area.

“We are told to run as quickly as possible if we see soldiers waving red
flags because this means a natural disaster is going to strike,” said one
man.

Rumors circulated that another big storm was about to strike the port city
on the Gulf of Martaban. “Some are gathering their belongings and making
for the mountains,” said a resident of Mudon, near Moulmein. Some complain
of being robbed on their way into the mountains.

One rumor says a storm is expected on June 16. “People living on the coast
and the river are really afraid and getting ready to leave,” the woman
said.

Many residents complain that the local authorities are doing nothing to
quash the rumors and end the panic. No news has come from the state
meteorology department.

“The government and its authorities on the ground are responsible for this
situation,” said a Mudon high school teacher. “They know that people are
afraid but they do nothing. They allow the rumors to create fear among the
people.

“I don’t believe it when I hear a rumor that a new storm is coming,
because I watch the news every day and I’ve seen no warning from the
meteorology department.”

____________________________________

June 13, Associated Press
US cannot be trusted: junta

As individuals and aid agencies around the world dig into their pockets
for funds to help Burma’s cyclone victims, the country's ruling junta on
Friday said that such assistance from the United States could not be
trusted.

In a clear reference to the US, a media mouthpiece for the regime warned
that "the goodwill of a big Western nation that wants to help Myanmar
[Burma] with its warships was not genuine."

The Burmese military government turned down humanitarian aid aboard naval
vessels from the US, as well as from Great Britain and France, which had
sailed toward Burma after Cyclone Nargis struck on May 2-3.

State media has previously said that Burma feared Washington was using the
cover of humanitarian aid to invade the country and steal its oil
reserves.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Friday that aid from nations
who impose economic sanctions against Burma and push the UN Security
Council to take action against it "comes with strings attached."

Despite such regular attacks against Western donor countries by the junta,
celebrities, ordinary people and aid groups have donated generously to
help the cyclone victims.

Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Gates, J.K. Rowling and a clutch of Hollywood
stars have been among the givers.

However, the United Nations said on Thursday that it has received about
half the money it requested for cyclone relief, with some nations
apparently delaying their donations because of concerns about restrictions
imposed by the military government on foreign aid workers.

The UN set a goal of US $201.6 million for its relief efforts, but so far
has received only $88.5 million, or 44 percent, from government donors, it
said. Some $51 million in pledges has not yet been delivered, the UN said.

Funding shortfalls were particularly great for emergency food operations
and education, said the world body.

____________________________________

June 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Bogalay schools told to reopen despite setbacks – Aye Nai

Local military officers in Bogalay township, Irrawaddy division, have been
putting pressure on local schools to reopen despite the damage wrought by
Cyclone Nargis, a township resident said.

A Bogalay resident said that the Education Ministry had announced that the
start of the school term would be postponed in the township due to cyclone
damage.

"The Education Ministry released an official announcement stating that
schools would not reopen in Bogalay for another month because of the
condition of the schools and everything," the resident said.

"But it seems that the local military strategic command wants to make it
look as though the government was right in saying that all the relief
efforts have finished and now is the time for redeveloping and
rehabilitation, and they ordered the schools to reopen by 5 June," he
said.

"They said we have to do whatever it takes to make it happen – but how are
we supposed to do that when there are no school buildings?"

School fees for middle and high school students are the same as in other
years, according to the resident, although many parents lost their
livelihoods in the cyclone and are unable to pay them.

The resident said the military had created schools in two villages to give
the appearance of a return to normal, but other communities had received
no assistance.

"There is no village left and no schools either. The military have set up
temporary schools in Kyun Tharyar and another village to show on TV and to
the international community so that they will think the situation has gone
back to normal,” the resident said.

“But it's only in those two villages. How are students in other villages
supposed to go study when there is no school?"

____________________________________

June 13, Los Angeles Times
In Myanmar, a Times reporter worked in secret to cover the story

Aided by boatmen who risked arrest, the journalist saw what the government
didn't want seen in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.


>From the far side of a murky brown river, the only moving thing visible on

the ravaged landscape was a tattered maroon cloth, fluttering listlessly
atop a tree stripped of its branches.

Two Buddhist monks had torn it from the only material they had, one of
their own coarse robes. Its message was just as plain: "Alive! Please
help."

Tropical Cyclone Nargis killed 300 people in this village, wiping away
almost every trace of the people, their homes and a monastery. Surviving
monks went to a relief camp, but after nearly three weeks, they figured
that what they had fled couldn't be much worse.

So they took some of the meager rice rations they received from the
military, came back and made themselves a tent by stretching tarps over a
frame of fallen trees.

In the two days they had been living in it, our riverboat was the first to
stop. My interpreter went ashore first.

When he confirmed that no soldiers or government officials were there, I
crawled out of my hiding place.

Over the last 16 years, I have reported on famine, massive earthquakes and
a tsunami. Cyclone Nargis is the first natural disaster that required
working undercover to write about the hungry, sick and homeless.

Myanmar's military regime is suspicious of outsiders, fearing they are
spies or that their presence could expose the fallacy of the government's
claim to be an all-powerful provider of development and stability.

The May 2-3 storm killed at least 78,000 people. And 56,000 are missing.

More than a month after the cyclone, the government continues to deny
unhindered access to the disaster zone for foreign experts, such as
medical and water-purification teams, threatening thousands of lives,
especially those of children, pregnant women and the elderly, the United
Nations and other agencies say.

In the cyclone's aftermath, the regime was so determined to keep prying
eyes from a landscape littered with corpses and people begging for help
that it set up checkpoints on the main roads into the Irrawaddy River
delta, which took the brunt of the storm.
The names and passport details of those caught were recorded before the
vehicles were turned back. Local people accompanying them were
interrogated.

But it's much harder to police the boats that ply the delta's labyrinth of
rivers and canals.

The younger of the two monks, U Nya Tui Ka, 53, approached our boat, one
of four I hired to take me to the delta during a month of visits, and was
shocked to see a foreigner poking his head from the hold.

He assumed that help had arrived. His despair gave way to a broad smile,
and then to disappointment as the interpreter explained that I was a
reporter.

There was an unsettling silence. Not a birdsong, a dog's bark or a crying
child could be heard -- only the wind and a few buzzing flies.

Standing in the blazing sun, chewing on a mouthful of betel, the senior
monk, U Pyinar Wata, patiently answered our questions. The monks could
make do with the little food they had, he said. After all, Buddha had
taught that without craving, there is no suffering.

But the monks were worried about a few homeless children in their care.
Together, the monks and boys were the only people on their side of the
river for miles. Without fresh water, the monks feared, the boys might not
last long.

What they all needed most, said Pyinar Wata, 60, was a pump and some
diesel fuel to run it, so they could empty a 150-square-foot reservoir of
seawater and corpses and let it fill with clean rainwater.

He might as well have been asking for a rocket to Mars.

We had traveled with some boxes of antibiotics, bottled water, packages of
cookies and instant noodles to hand out. But those had run out early on
the trip. All I had left was a camera, a tape recorder -- and sympathy.

We were eager to leave to stay out of the military's sight. But the monks
wanted us to take pictures of the reservoir, see where they slept and
cooked on a mud floor.

Most cyclone survivors were the same. They talked for as long as we would
stay, pouring out their souls along with the tea, coconut juice or water
they offered from their meager reserves.

When it was time to move on, the kindest of them said we had lifted a
great weight just by caring enough to stop and listen.

The 30-foot boats I hired normally haul sugar cane, bananas or rice. No
crew was willing to chance two trips, so after each four-night journey, we
returned to Yangon, also known as Rangoon, switched boats and set out
again.

The boats are not built for comfort.

The holds are open to leave room for cargo, which meant my only hiding
place was the cramped space beneath the top deck.

About 15 feet across and 8 feet deep, with a wooden ceiling and peeling
turquoise paint, it was a dark, sweltering cell barely big enough to sit
upright in.

The pilots sat on the roof above me. One, to keep his hands free for
frequent bottles of cheap cane liquor, pinched a steel pipe between his
toes, deftly working the Chinese-made 18-horsepower diesel engine that
spun a long-tail propeller sluggishly churning the water.

The machine pounded like a jackhammer. And since the four-man crew felt
safer staying away from land, it thumped day and night, stopping only when
we slipped into storm-ravaged villages.

Their courage braced by the cane liquor, the crewmen felt their way
through the night. They poked at shallow channels with a bamboo sounding
pole, comparing what they could see of the ruined landscape with foggy
memories of trees that once pointed the way.

Sunset was also the signal for the boats' full-time occupants to come
crawling out of the cracks. Cockroaches the size of mice and spiders with
legs as long as crabs' feasted on the crumbs of our food. At times, so
many bugs skittered around that it sounded like a gentle rain.

A green vine snake dropped in one night from an overhanging branch. The
long, thin snakes are agile and only mildly venomous. A bite would be very
painful but not fatal. Just the same, it would have blown my cover pretty
quickly.

A crew member who usually worked the hand pump to clear the constant flow
of bilge water beat the serpent to death. Carefully keeping it at arm's
length, he tossed it overboard with a stick.

The bigger danger was that we'd be found out, which the crew feared would
mean jail time. It almost happened twice.

While we were docked at the delta town of Mawlamyine Gyun, two policemen
on foot patrol questioned the crew. The pilot said he was a rice trader,
which apparently made sense to the officers even though the hold was empty
and the cyclone had wiped out the rice crop.

They didn't bother to look into my hiding place, where I was cringing
under a rough blanket.

Another day, we nearly pulled into a destroyed village to ask directions
as two army officers were ordering people around.

Just yards from shore, the pilot throttled up and made a sudden U-turn as
I ducked back into my cell. No one followed.

Otherwise, authorities were usually nowhere to be seen in the remote
villages where the suffering was most severe.

Largely left to fend for themselves through weeks of living with
decomposing bodies, scant aid and evictions from relief camps, many of the
survivors began to lose something: their fear of speaking out.

Most are no longer afraid to openly criticize the military, to express
anger that they once hid beneath a veneer of loyalty and obedience learned
during 46 years of military rule.

Volunteers asserted new authority. An American aid worker, also working
under cover, told of a local volunteer deliberately stepping on a military
officer's toes to deliver rice directly to villagers instead of following
orders and taking it to the township council.

Tens of thousands of volunteers collected donations in the cities, loaded
supplies into vehicles and boats and headed for destroyed villages. They
came back with photos and stories of what they'd seen, short-circuiting
the junta's propaganda machine.

The regime's English- language newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar,
praised the country's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, for staying away from
damaged areas for two weeks after the storm hit. It said his
"farsightedness and genuine goodwill" let relief efforts proceed faster
without him.

When he did go, his "warm words of encouragement . . . made downhearted
victims happy," according to the report. "While watching the news and
scenes of the Senior General cordially greeting the victims on TV, we, all
the people, were pleased with the efforts of the government."

But in the cities, millions have heard from foreign radio broadcasts and
Internet news sites that weren't yet blocked by the regime that the
generals had refused to allow tons of aid on U.S., French and British
warships to be brought ashore.

And they know that soldiers have forced people into trucks and dumped them
back in ruined villages, and that despite promises to ease restrictions on
entry to the country, their rulers are delaying the arrival of foreign
experts and life-saving equipment.
Villagers are listening too.

One night, when several suggested we would be safer tying up to a tree in
their creek than risking the busier river route, a man heard the crackling
Voice of America and British Broadcasting Corp. on the interpreter's
shortwave radio. He joined him on the roof of my hiding place and listened
for several hours.

At dawn, when the pilot was cranking up the engine to a sputtering start,
the man returned to ask a favor.

He didn't want food, medicine or water. He needed the radio so the whole
village could hear.

So we donated it.

The writer, who recently completed an assignment in Myanmar, is
unidentified to protect those who worked with him.


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 13, Irrawaddy
World day against child labor – Sai Slip

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and Thai authorities organized
activities on Thursday to promote World Day Against Child Labour in the
border provinces of Chiang Rai and Tak.

In Mae Sot district, 1,000 children living on the border of Karen State,
Burma, participated in activities to raise awareness against using child
laborers. A similar activity was organized in Mae Sai district on the
border of Shan State, Burma.

Suvajee Good, the chief technical adviser in Thailand for the
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, said the
majority of child laborers in Tak Province are migrant and stateless
children from Burma who have to work for their living in dangerous jobs,
usually on agricultural plantations.

“To solve the problem, the government should provide educational
opportunities to the risk groups of both migrant and stateless children,”
said Suvajee, according to the Thai Public Relations Department.

An ILO statement said there are 104,253 workers from age 15 to 17 years
old registered with the Thai Ministry of Labour. A study by Mahidol
University found at least 100,000 foreign child laborers from neighboring
countries work in 43 provinces in Thailand and 35 percent are under 15
years old; an estimated 63 percent work more than eight hours a day.

An ILO report on child labor and education based on data gathered in 34
countries estimated that of 166 million working children between ages 5 to
14, 122 million are in the Asia-Pacific region.  Millions are either
denied educational opportunities that would give them a better future or
must balance work with education.  In the Asia-Pacific region more than 27
million children of primary school age are not enrolled in school, out of
a global total of 75 million.

To tackle child labor reform the ILO is urging countries to provide
education for all children up to at least the minimum age of employment
with programs that reach out to working children and other excluded groups
through quality education and skills training programs.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 13, Mizzima News
Cyclone nargis hits Burmese economy – Phanida

Economists and merchants feel that devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis
will slow down Burma's economy.

The cyclone caused unprecedented damage in major rice and fishery
producing Irrawaddy Division and Rangoon the economic hub of the country,
resulting in Burma's economy being severely affected.

"The monsoons and the stagnating economy marks a drastic fall in demand.
Farmland and roads are severely damaged. The most important factor is the
soaring price of staple food, rice. These affect the demand side. This is
the season for growing and planting rice, banana, and tapioca in lower
Burma. But the farmers cannot grow these crops as their fields and even
the ponds are inundated with saline water," Rangoon based economist U Khin
Maung Nyo told Mizzima.

Soaring commodity prices and economic stagnation are usual phenomena of
disasters or drastic and sudden change of situation in a country, U Khin
Maung Nyo said.  There will be fall and rise in prices as the situation is
exploited by the merchants at such times," he added.

The price of rice rose by over 15% in Rangoon. 'Pawsanhmwe' rice rose from
Kyat 36,000 per bag (about 110 lbs) to 42,000, 'Zeyar' rice rose from Kyat
24,000 per bag to 28,000. Even the wet rice, which were damaged rice with
the colour turned yellow fetches Kyat 17,000 per bag.

The price of cooking oil rose by over 40%, from Kyat. 4,200 per viss
(approximately 1.5 Kg) to 4,700.

Fuel price also rose by over 30% from Kyat 4,500 to 6,000 per gallon of
petrol while diesel rose from Kyat 4,200 per gallon to Kyat 4,700.

A leading merchant of the 'Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry'
(MCCI) conceded that Burma's economy is on a downward slide.

"The cyclone made the sale sluggish. A lot of money has to be spent on
relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation. The cyclone left about 2.5
million people homeless. We have to arrange all the necessary things for
the survivors, food, clothing and shelter. It has hit the economy hard,"
he said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by the authorities.

The downfall of the economy affects everybody, both in retail and
wholesale trade and also odd job workers according to economists.

The brokerage firms (wholesale trade) in Theinzaygyi vegetable market are
getting only Kyat 30-40,000, compared to the previous usual sale of Kyat
200-300,000 per day, according to the 'MYO Family' vegetable brokerage
firm.

"Business is not good these days. We rely on our customers from rural
areas. They have suffered a lot in the cyclone and it hit our business
hard. A few customers come and buy from our firms these days. The business
was brisk earlier. Rural people cannot buy when they are in trouble," a
shop owner said.

All the vegetables in this market come mainly from townships in Irrawaddy
Division, mainly Labutta, Bogale and Pathein.

"The number of customers has gone down drastically. Sometimes only one or
two come and buy. We do not know what to do next. Yesterday someone came
and supplied readymade Rakhine Vermicelli but I did not buy as the sale is
sluggish these days. The clothing and apparel shops are worst-hit. Many
shop owners want to sell their shops as the sale is sluggish," a grocer
from Hledan market said.

Apart from soaring essential commodity prices, most of the ordinary people
cannot make ends meet with their meagre income. They have to save while
shopping for food as they want to donate some money for the cyclone
survivors, a housewife from Rangoon said.

"We cannot make both ends meet with our small income. We have to pay
tuition fees and admission fees in schools. My daughters are government
employees and can barely survive. We have stopped buying fish, pork and
chicken after the cyclone. Many people have tried to donate for the
cyclone victims as much as they could. We must share what we have with
those who have lost everything in the cyclone," the housewife from Rangoon
said.

"There are many sale and sale promotions in this monsoon season. But the
customers cannot buy because they have to buy essential commodities first
with their small income. So they must desist from buying unnecessary
goods. Government employees and poor people have to suffer more. They
cannot buy most goods," a housewife in Tamwe Township said.

The school uniform and stationery shop in Latha Township also had poor
sales figures. Sales fell by 50% in the school re-opening season. This
shop usually does brisk sale in this season.

"We must take some time to recover from the economic stagnation and
sluggishness. This is some sort of recession. We must take give at least
six months. We cannot expect foreign aid to help us recover from the
current situation. We need good economic management and good leadership to
recover from the current crisis. We must rely on ourselves. The economy
will improve a little bit when we have such a leadership and management,"
U Khin Maung Nyo said.

____________________________________

June 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Farmers charged admin fees to receive loans – Aye Nai

Farmers in Tharawaddy township, Bago division, have been charged up to
3000 kyat in administrative fees in order to receive their state
agricultural loans, local residents said.

A Tharawaddy resident said farmers in the 69 village groups in the
township had each been forced to pay between 1500 and 3000 kyat towards
their village group’s costs.

"In order to get the agricultural loan, each village group has to pay
20,000 kyat to the agricultural administration manager, 3000 kyat to the
deputy manager, 2000 kyat each to the two administration secretaries, 8000
kyat to the agricultural administration's approval letter and another 8000
kyat for the landmark department's approval letter," the resident said.

"Each farmer has to give an additional 500 kyat for an application form
and 100 kyat more as a form filling fee. And then the village group has to
pay another 15,000 kyat as an account checking fee."

The local said more than 30 farmers in the township's Sein Na-khwa village
who did not receive their loan have complained to the township and
district authorities.

The farmers speculated that the money they were supposed to have received
had instead been taken by the village authorities.

"The village groups were asked to donate 350,000 kyat for each village to
buy buffalo towards farming redevelopment in the Irrawaddy delta,” the
Tharawaddy resident said.

“But the authorities refused to accept live buffalo, they would only
accept cash."

The developments in Tharawaddy follow two reports over the past month of
farmers in neighbouring Zee Gone township being forced to give a
percentage of their agricultural loans and goods to local authorities.


____________________________________
ASEAN

June 13, Xinhua
Experts: All members should be included in ASEAN human rights body

Most participants from the two-day workshop of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said here on Friday that all the
10-members, including Myanmar, should be included in a future human rights
body for the regional organization.

Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs,
said most people felt that it would be better if all countries could be
part of the future human rights body.

Most experts attending the ASEAN human rights workshop supported the idea
of inclusion of all ASEAN members, but some of them thought that a human
rights body for ASEAN should proceed only with a coalition of the willing,
Tay said.


>From Tay's point of view, the establishment of a human rights body for

ASEAN would be difficult but not impossible.

Meanwhile, Tommy Koh, the city state's ambassador-at-large, admitted that
there existed a division within the regional body between the countries
such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, which have
national rights commissions, and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Founded in 1967, ASEAN cherishes a policy of non-interference in domestic
affairs of members, and under its charter, which was signed here by the
ASEAN leaders at its annual summit later last year, a human rights body
would be set up for the organization in the future.

Singapore's Second Foreign Minister Raymond Lim stressed on Thursday that
ASEAN must not set artificial deadlines for the creation of a new
institution simply in order to establish one.

He also noted that any new ASEAN institution must have the support of all
the 10 member states to reflect the region's complexity, diversity and
realities in all fields.

The results of the workshop here will be reported to the panel drafting
terms of reference for the human rights body.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 13, BBC News
UN fuel appeal for Burma farmers

Burma's cyclone-hit farmers urgently need a million gallons of diesel fuel
to plant rice and ward off future food shortages, the UN has said.

The 2 May cyclone, which hit the country's Irrawaddy Delta, killed
hundreds of thousands of livestock normally used for ploughing.

Donors have provided farmers with small power tillers to replace them.

But fuel to run them is expensive and always in short supply in the South
Asian country.

During a visit to Burma, officially known as Myanmar, a senior United
Nations official appealed to donors for fuel to ensure timely ploughing of
rice fields in the Irrawaddy Delta, the rice-bowl of the country.

"The window of opportunity is very short and the need is of the utmost
urgency," said Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap), a UN body.

"The planting season in the delta is June to July after which it will be
too late, with disastrous consequences for food security in Myanmar and
the region."

The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says it is unclear
where the fuel could come from.

Sourcing locally for all sorts of needs, from rice to vehicles, is often
not an option, he says - either because supplies are limited, or because
of obstacles thrown up by the Burmese government.

Aid agencies say they are still not getting the full access for their
international staff which was promised three weeks ago.

They say they are now required to go through a cumbersome reporting
process for every trip into the delta that could significantly slow down
the relief effort.

____________________________________

June 13, Irrawaddy
Grant full access to international community: Laura Bush – Lalit K Jha

US first lady Laura Bush on Thursday urged the Burmese military junta to
allow international aid workers full access to the Irrawaddy delta to
carry out humanitarian relief work unhindered.

"We urge Burma's ruling generals to allow US and other international
humanitarian relief teams, as well as non-governmental organizations, to
provide assistance in getting supplies quickly and efficiency to areas of
need," Bush said.

The US first lady, who has taken a keen interest in the pro-democracy
movement in Burma and issues related to the welfare of its people, was
speaking at the World Food Programme executive board meeting in Rome.

"Burma's ruling junta has not yet granted full access to the international
community," she said.

Just last week, the US Navy pulled relief ships from Burma's coastline
after 15 separate requests to provide assistance were rejected. However,
while the Burmese regime has rejected offers of international assistance,
many people in areas devastated by the May 2-3 cyclone have still not
received any help, Bush said.

The UN estimates that more than six weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit the
coastal areas of Burma, a significantly large percentage of people in the
affected area remain without any humanitarian relief.

Bush said the US had committed more than US $35 million in humanitarian
assistance in response to the cyclone disaster.

"Of this total, $12 million will go to the World Food Programme (WFP) for
food aid, including 1,600 tons of urgently needed commodities from a USAID
warehouse in Djibouti. These will arrive in the coming weeks," she said.

Bush said she appreciated the work done by the WFP in carrying out relief
work and distribution of food to the people in the affected areas.

"The World Food Programme is playing a critical role in directing aid to
those who require it most. Thank you very, very much for your important
work in Burma. And thank you for putting up with all the challenges of
working there and continuing to figure out ways to get help to the people
in need," Bush said.

Referring to the ongoing global food crisis, Bush said today that as all
nations face a significant increase in global food prices, higher costs
can mean the difference between a daily meal and no food at all for
millions of people across the globe.

Last month President Bush called on the US Congress to provide an
additional $770 million to support US food aid and development programs.
In addition, the administration authorized an estimated $200 million in
emergency food aid in April.

These two actions bring the US response to rising food prices to nearly $1
billion in new funds that will further ongoing US efforts. The US is
projected to spend at least $5 billion to fight global hunger over the
next two years.

As the US increases its food assistance, increasing commodity and freight
costs are making it more difficult to provide life-saving emergency food
aid, Laura Bush said.

The US first lady has called on the US Congress to support a proposal to
purchase up to 25 percent of US food assistance directly from farmers in
the developing world.

"This measure would help build local agriculture, and by reducing shipping
delays and costs, it would help us get more food to those in need faster.
I urge the United States Congress to approve this as soon as possible,"
she said.

____________________________________

June 13, Irrawaddy
Burmese academic’s letter draws fire – Wai Moe

A Burmese historian who wrote a letter to the editor of the Workers World
newspaper charging that US foundations were behind the monk-led uprising
last year has drawn critical reactions from Burma observers.

The newspaper is published by The Worker’s World Party, a communist
political party in the US.

In the letter, “Exploiting a Human Tragedy,” published on June 1, Michael
Aung-Thwin, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at
Manoa, alleged US-based foundations, such as the Soros Foundation and the
National Endowment for Democracy (NED), were behind the monk-led mass
demonstrations last September.

As evidence, he cited their awarding grants of US $40,000 to Burmese
monasteries.

“This was to be used for ‘education’ [of] Burmese monks about how to hold
‘democratic’ demonstrations,” he claimed. “Is it any surprise the riots
led by a small group of bogus monks and ‘outlaw monasteries’ occurred
shortly thereafter?

“The US even has a head of the Sangha-Buddhist Church ready to be
installed if there is the regime change it wants,” he said.

Win Min, a Burmese political observer in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said he
disagreed with Prof Aung-Thwin’s unsupported charges that the mass
demonstrations were created by the US.

“The root of the mass demonstrations last September was mass outrage about
the misrule by the Burmese military junta,” Win Min said. “So Prof
Aung-Thwin’s writing on Burmese monks in the letter was quite groundless.”

Nyo Ohn Myint of the National League for Democracy in exile said
Aung-Thwin’s calling the 1988 Burmese student uprising and the 2007
uprising “riots” was “wrong historically and academically.”

Gustaaf Houtman, a Dutch expert on Burma and editor of Anthropology Today,
told The Irrawaddy by e-mail the letter lacked a legitimate “moral
ground.”

“The weakness of his argument is [that it has no] compassionate statement
of concern about the suffering in Burma, [but] is as an argument against
the country he lives in so comfortably,” said the Dutch scholar.

“Why did Aung-Thwin not raise the need for the [Burmese] military to
accept relief efforts from anyone who could remedy the suffering of the
people he says he represents?” he asked.

A Burmese researcher on Burma’s civil society who is based in Rangoon said
if Aung-Thwin thinks the situation in Burma is not bad and Western actions
made it worse, he should come back to Burma and live as a normal Burmese
citizen.

He said Prof Aung-Thwin allegations in an international media outlet
offered support to the junta's claim that the US attempts to directly
interfere in Burma’s internal affairs and those who undertake
pro-democracy activities in Burma are destructive elements.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 13, Washington Post
Burma gives 'cronies' slice of storm relief – Glenn Kessler

Just seven days after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma last month, the
ruling military junta parceled out key sections of the affected Irrawaddy
Delta to favored tycoons and companies, including several facing sanctions
from the U.S. Treasury, according to a Burmese magazine with close ties to
the government.

Some of the most notorious business executives in Burma, including Tay Za
and Steven Law, also known as Tun Myint Naing, were given control of
"reconstruction and relief" in critical townships, under the leadership of
top generals. Tay Za was identified by Treasury as a "regime henchman"
this year when it slapped economic sanctions on hotel enterprises and
other businesses he owns.

All told, more than 30 companies and 30 executives are to divide up the
business in 11 townships in areas affected by Nargis, according to the
report.

The document in the magazine is dated May 9, a time when the United
Nations, aid groups and many countries were pleading with the Burmese
government to allow access to affected areas in the aftermath of the
storm, which killed as many as 130,000 people and left 2.5 million without
homes. Despite promises of greater openness, the Burmese rulers have
continued to impose restrictions on aid relief, including new and onerous
identification requirements for aid workers, according to reports from the
region.

The document, which includes the cellphone numbers for many of the
executives, was published in the Voice, a weekly journal published by Nay
Win Maung. A translation was provided by BIT Team, a group of India-based
Burmese who try to promote information technology in the xenophobic
country.

Nay Win Maung is a son of a military officer and was brought up among
Burma's military elites, giving him good connections to military insiders.
His magazines can access government-related news and exclusive
information.

"The Treasury is targeting the regime's cronies, and the regime wants its
cronies to get the money," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy
director for Human Rights Watch. "They see it as an opportunity to profit
from the international community's compassion. But these are not experts
in providing relief; they are experts in running guns and drugs and making
a lot of money."

Efforts to reach Burmese representatives in Washington last night were
unsuccessful. The cellphone number listed for Steven Law in the Voice was
answered by an associate who said he was not available.

While some of the executives awarded contracts are well known to human
rights activists and financial-crime experts, others are less prominent,
potentially making the document a guide to the individuals currently in
favor with the military leadership.

The government estimated it needed more than $11 billion in reconstruction
aid shortly after the May 2-3 cyclone, a figure that met with a cool
reception at an international donors conference in Rangoon three weeks
ago. Burma, also known as Myanmar, is rich in natural resources, but much
of the country is desperately poor. The junta has enriched itself with
natural gas fields that bring in about $2 billion in annual revenue, as
well as trade in jewels, heroin, amphetamines, timber and small arms.

Some of the conglomerates given business in the delta, such as Law's Asia
World and Tay Za's Htoo Trading, were also tasked with building the
country's new capital at Naypyidaw, more than 200 miles from the old
capital of Rangoon. With little notice three years ago, the junta uprooted
the capital to a remote area, requiring massive construction of new
government buildings, hotels and housing for civil servants.

Much of the country, in fact, is a forced labor camp, with more than 60
prisons, labor camps and detention centers, according to a report this
year by the Burma Fund, an anti-government activist group. People forced
into construction are paid minimal wages, if at all.

Hlaing Sein, an officer with the London-based Burma Campaign UK, said that
Htoo Trading, which was given control of Heingigyum and Ngaopudaw
townships, forced cyclone victims to work for 800 kyat a day, roughly 70
cents, in order to meet a government order to reopen schools by June 2.
But a quart of water in the delta now costs the equivalent of $1.50, she
said.

The Treasury sanctions against Tay Za, Law and other junta cronies -- and
some of their companies -- freezes their assets and prohibits all
financial and commercial transactions by U.S. entities with the designated
companies and individuals, as part of an effort to break up their
financial networks. The Treasury has released detailed charts about the
financial links among the junta and Tay Za, Law and related associates.

Tay Za, whose businesses include timber, palm oil and aviation, is said to
be close to Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the junta leader, in part because of
his habit of hiring the children of powerful generals. The Bangkok Post
recently reported that though no public warnings were made about the
approaching cyclone, air force fighters and private passenger planes from
Bagan Air -- believed to be a joint venture between Tay Za and Than Shwe's
family -- were moved the evening before the storm from Rangoon airport to
Mandalay, which was not in its path.

____________________________________

June 13, Jane’s Intelligence Review
Walk the line

Myanmar opposition group backs constitution.  Former separatist group the
Kachin Independence Organisation is backing Myanmar’s controversial new
constitution. One of the group’s vice-chairmen, Tu Ja, tells Jane’s why.

“Something is better than nothing,” says Tu Ja, the third ranking member
of Myanmar’s Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), when asked why the
group is supporting the Myanmar government’s controversial constitution.
Speaking to Jane’s about the former separatist organisation’s endorsement
of Myanmar’s draft constitution, the KIO’s second vice-chairman states:
“The constitution is not final, it is the starting point of a federal
union.”

At first glance, the KIO’s decision to support the referendum seems
unusual for a former ethnic separatist organisation. Yet Tu Ja claims the
constitution is in line with the KIO’s current goals.

While acknowledging that it lacks a framework for ethnic federalism, he
insists this will come later. He told Jane’s: “The State Peace and
Development Council [SPDC] is focused on change for the whole country, not
just for the ethnics. They want to take steps towards a full democracy.”

The KIO launched an armed uprising in 1961 to attain an independent Kachin
homeland in eastern Myanmar, later altering its demand to an autonomous
state within a democratic federal government. In 1994 the KIO concluded a
ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government. Myanmar’s May referendum
marked the conclusion of the SPDC’s fourth step in its ‘roadmap to
democracy’, and followed a National Convention (NC) in which
regime-appointed delegates rubber-stamped constitutional principles. Tu Ja
has earned the nickname NC Tu Ja for his steadfast determination to see
the process through to the end, despite the absence of any substantive
deliberation within the body.

The next ostensible steps towards democracy will be the formation of
political parties and multi-party elections in 2010.

The KIO’s support of the constitution has placed it at loggerheads with
the democratic opposition, who oppose the government’s roadmap. Tu Ja
makes no apologies for breaking ranks with the opposition, claiming the
KIO’s policy to be the only pragmatic route. He explained: “Decades of
struggle were unsuccessful. Ultimately we decided to do [it] for
ourselves.”

He faults the opposition for failing to “play flexibly, cleverly and
without dogma” and for being focused on toppling the regime. “Regime
change is far away. People have been trying to topple the military
government for 40 years. But we cannot push the military to the edge. They
are far from the edge. We need to think about political reform.” Despite
international and opposition concerns that the constitution is merely a
legitimisation of the military’s influence in politics, Tu Ja believes
otherwise. He said: “With the

holding of elections and the convening of parliament the situation will
not be so different from other parliamentary systems. Eventually a true
democracy will emerge.”

Dictating the way

The KIO’s decision to support the constitution was not straightforward.
The organisation initially intended to be institutionally neutral toward
the referendum, asking its members to refrain from voting. However,
according to Tu Ja, the KIO “later realised that everyone has a duty to
participate in the process, and decided to allow its members and
supporters to participate in the referendum and to choose freely”.

However, on 7 May the KIO’s Executive Committee ordered its staff to cast
votes in support of the draft constitution. The order was barely passed by
the nine-member body, with only three votes of support coming from Tu Ja,
first vicechairman Gauri Zau Seng and vice-commander in chief of the
military wing Nban La. Two members abstained and two were absent,
including President Zawng Hra. The decision was opposed by Chief of Staff
Gam Shawng and Sumlut Gam, the longest serving member of the KIO.

The six brigade commanders of the KIO’s military wing, the Kachin
Independence Army (KIA), were reportedly infuriated by the order, as were
enlisted soldiers who regarded it as a betrayal of the group’s
revolutionary principles.  One senior KIA officer told Jane’s: “Tu Ja and
Gauri Zau Seng are the only Executive Committee members who understand
politics so they are able to convince the other members to follow them.”

Next steps

Tu Ja’s political awareness allows him to be in the vanguard of the
challenges facing the KIO in the run-up to the proposed elections in 2010.
He concedes that the KIO will be operating in an uncertain and precarious
environment. “We are like a man holding a candle and running in a race,”
he said. “We need encouragement to run.”

Nonetheless, Tu Ja believes the KIO’s Political Working Committee, which
he formed in April 2006 and of which he is currently chairman, will “take
the initiative in challenging the government in the 2010 elections by
helping the Kachin to form one unified political party”.

This is a significant statement, since KIO policy currently prohibits the
organisation from forming its own political party. Tu Ja was agnostic
about whether he would resign from the KIO to lead a Kachin party, but
acknowledged he might do so if he were needed.  With these lofty goals, it
is perhaps unsurprising that Tu Ja is eager to prevent any return to
military conflict, more than a decade after the KIO signed a ceasefire.

Although the KIA has recruited heavily during the past decade, Tu Ja
warns: “Confrontation can destroy our society so we must avoid it as much
as possible. We are a military organization so if we confront the SPDC
there is a danger that it will lead to war.

Differences of opinion should be solved by peaceful political means.” This
explains the KIO’s current policy of support for the constitution and
hands-off monitoring of the government’s roadmap, a policy that is likely
to continue in the future. As Tu Ja explains, despite the democratic
opposition’s resistance to the process, the KIO should let the government
“go to the end and not disturb the process or be involved in it”.

____________________________________

June 13, Voice of America
Burma still refuses aid

The United States is committed to bringing relief assistance to the
victims of Cyclone Nargis. To date, the U.S. has provided more than
thirty-five million dollars in humanitarian assistance to the people of
Burma. The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of
Defense, as part of an ongoing airlift, have completed over
one-hundred-thirty-six airlifts of emergency relief aid that will benefit
well over four-hundred-forty-five-thousand people.

But many more Burmese are in desperate need of assistance. According to
the United Nations, there are still over one million people who have not
yet been reached.

That's why it is unfortunate that the Burmese military junta continues to
limit access to the cyclone-affected areas, despite their commitment to do
so. Over a month after the cyclone hit the shores of the Burmese Delta,
killing an estimated one-hundred-thirty-thousand, hunger and disease
remain serious threats due in part to insufficient access for relief.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Burmese regime's
restrictions on assistance have put cyclone survivors at greater risk:


"Our difference regarding politics and the Burmese regime are well-known.
That said, we put those aside in the interest of trying to save people's
lives. We continue that effort. We think that, to the extent that there
has been significant loss of life, that we as well as others could have
reduced that number had we been allowed to more quickly act with a
large-scale intervention."

"The Burmese regime," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, "must
permit all international aid workers the access necessary to provide the
urgently-needed assistance. There is no time to waste."


____________________________________
STATEMENT

June 13, Human Rights Watch
Burma: New rules further delay relief

New Burmese government guidelines on humanitarian agencies will further
hamper the delivery of aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis, Human Rights
Watch said today.

“The government should be streamlining aid efforts to cyclone victims, not
slowing down aid with these new rules,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at
Human Rights Watch. “Once again the generals are placing control of the
population over the needs of the population.”

The new guidelines, issued on June 9, state that all United Nations
agencies and international and domestic relief groups must receive travel
permission and aid distribution clearance from several layers of
authority. Permission is required from relevant government ministries, and
the joint Burmese, UN, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Tripartite Core Group, which is acting as a coordinating agency. Township
Coordination Committees, which act as a local bureaucracy to direct aid
deliveries, must be kept fully informed. Sources in Rangoon say that
permission also must be sought from divisional and local level military
commanders, and that Burmese officials must accompany all travel by
foreign aid workers to the Irrawaddy Delta.

Responding to a meeting held on June 10 in Rangoon announcing the
guidelines, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies said the humanitarian community was expressing concerns that
“additional steps for seeking approval may unnecessarily delay the relief
response.”

Nearly seven weeks after Cyclone Nargis, only 1.3 million people of an
estimated 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have been reached by
international humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations. By June
10, the government had granted 195 visas to UN staff. The World Food
Programme still has only two international staff in the area to coordinate
operations. A 250-person assessment team, comprised of Burmese, ASEAN and
UN officials, has started its work to coordinate health, food and shelter
needs, but will only make a report at the next meeting of the Tripartite
Core Group on June 25.

Since it made its commitments to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the
Burmese government has been inconsistent in its approach to aid, allowing
some aid and workers into the delta region while blocking others,
including some Burmese individuals and groups. According to the United
Nations, some international aid organizations have reported being turned
away at police checkpoints despite possessing authorization documents,
which were then withdrawn without explanation. Other agencies have
reported few difficulties in their areas of operation.

Human Rights Watch said that it continues to receive reports of official
interference in the delivery of aid. One foreigner who recently visited
affected areas south of Rangoon told Human Rights Watch that he counted
three police and military checkpoints on a river searching boats, with
soldiers taking rice and cooking oil as bribes to permit the boats
through. All of this aid was from local civil society organizations, much
of it being distributed with the supervision of Buddhist monks.

“The reality on the ground often differs sharply from government promises
to allow aid,” Adams said. “Diplomats, the UN, and ASEAN need to keep a
close eye on aid delivery and sound the alarm if the government improperly
interferes.”