BurmaNet News, June 25, 2008

[Editor]

June 25, 2008 Issue #3499

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Reporter arrested for covering cyclone news
Mizzima News: Poet remanded to custody for jeering at junta supreme
Radio Netherlands: Ten million malaria patients in Myanmar
AFP: Myanmar retires top military officers, reshuffles 150 staff
DVB: Farmers left in debt after land seizures

ON THE BORDER
AP: More than 30,000 Myanmar refugees resettled

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: India provides Myanmar with US$84 million in loans and credit
AFP: Thai energy firm signs major gas deal with Myanmar, says official

DRUGS
Reuters: China offers rare praise for Myanmar's drug fight

ASEAN
People Magazine: Pitt, Clooney and Damon push for Cyclone Aid
Bernama: RM2 million in medical aid sent To Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Burmese journalists banned from Asean Press Conference

INTERNATIONAL
Xinhua: Six Myanmar athletes to compete in Beijing Olympics
Irrawaddy: No more aid through Junta: US House

OPINION / OTHER
UN: Preliminary findings of post-Nargis joint assessment confirm need

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 24, Mizzima News
Reporter arrested for covering cyclone news - Nem Davies

A woman journalist covering Cyclone Nargis victims asking for aid from
international NGOs in Rangoon has been detained by for over two weeks,
according to her publication.

Eint Khaing Oo (24) from 'Ecovision' weekly journal was arrested on 10
June while she was covering cyclone victims going to INGOs and asking for
aid, an official from 'Ecovision' who wished not to be named said.

Eint Khaing Oo joined the publication two months ago. She is in custody at
Tamwe police station and will be produced before the Tamwe Township court
on Wednesday.

The police accused her of taking photographs of cyclone victims with the
intention of selling these to foreign based Burmese media organizations,
according to her office.

"The police accusation is fabricated. She has no contact with foreign
media and she had no intention of selling the pictures. She was arrested
while she was performing her work as a journalist," a senior official of
Ecovision said.

"She was inducted to our weekly journal only two months ago. She was very
energetic and active. Like other journalists, she wanted to get a scoop
and couldn't envisage danger," he added.

The 48-page 'Ecovision' was first brought out in a tabloid format on
September 2006. It covered mainly economic issues initially. However, the
journal changed to a magazine style layout and covered not only business
reports but also domestic and international news. Health and opinion
articles also appeared.

A group of cyclone victims, mostly from South Dagon Township, were about
to ask for aid from Rangoon based international NGOs, but some victims
were arrested on their way. But the news of the arrest of the journalist
appeared only today.

According to journalist sources in the former capital, Eint Khaing Oo was
arrested in front of the UNDP office at Natmauk Road, Tamwe Township.

Nargis cyclone lashed Burma on May 2 and 3. Irrawaddy and Rangoon
divisions were the worst hit.

Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu told reporters on 23 June that
the updated official figure was now 84,537 people killed and 53,836
missing.

On June 10, about 30 cyclone victims, mostly from a Rangoon suburb South
Dagon township were looking for aid from NGOs including the UNDP. Refugees
claimed that little aid reached from the government.

The refugees initially came from different quarters of South Dagon
township such as Quarter 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 and gathered at a pre-arranged
place and hired a truck and went to the NGOs. Soon afterwards the police
saw the group. Intelligence personnel arrested some of them. But some were
reportedly released a few days later.

____________________________________

June 25, Mizzima News
Poet remanded to custody for jeering at junta supremo - Phanida

Famous poet Ko Saw Wai, who had jeered at ageing SPDC Chairman Snr.
Gen.Than Shwe calling him 'power crazy' was remanded for the third time by
the Bahan Township court yesterday.

His poem 'February 14' disguised as a 'St. Valentine's Day poem' had
appeared in January this year in the Rangoon-based weekly journal 'Ah
Chit' (Love). The sentence 'power crazy Senior General Than Shwe' appeared
when the first word of each stanza in his poem was pieced together.

This information circulated among the people and finally the authorities
got to hear of it. Then the government, which is over-sensitive regarding
any criticism, arrested the poet immediately.

The prosecutor charged him in court under section 505(b) of the Criminal
Code which says 'with intent to cause harm to any section of the public to
commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility'.
Although the government allowed him a lawyer to defend him, the court
delayed permission for his lawyer to appear and defend him in court, until
today.

"Ko Saw Wai has been produced before the court three times, the last time
was yesterday. The court has examined two witnesses, one from the Censor
Board and another from the 'Love' weekly journal. His lawyer could not
represent him as the court delayed granting him a defence lawyer to
represent Ko Saw Wai's case. Ko Saw Wai had to represent himself in his
case," his wife Daw Nan San San Aye, who visited the court, told Mizzima.

The authority arrested the poet on January 22, 2008.

The poem is as follows:-
 14th February

(Paraphrase)

Ehrenberg said
only if deeply feel
only if crazily feel
It's the great art
Pin-up model who could mesmerize!
broken heart at this old age?
Millions of lovers!
laugh by clapping with your gilded hands

Saw Wai
10 January 2008

____________________________________

June 25, Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Ten million malaria patients in Myanmar

According to the World Health Organisation, malaria and AIDS are the two
most devastating global health problems of our time. Together they cause
more than four million deaths a year. They are both diseases of poverty
and both of them cause poverty.

However, according to Professor Willem Takken, one of the pre-eminent
malaria specialists in the Netherlands, the overall effect of malaria is
greater than that of AIDS. This is chiefly because HIV/AIDS has also hit
the western world, so there has been a stronger push to come up with
successful treatments for the disease, which is not the case for malaria.
Professor Takken explains:

"There are five to six million people who get malaria every year. A
million die from it every year, but for those who don't, it still makes
them seriously ill for a couple of weeks which means that they can't
work."

And for people who are living on a daily wage, the loss of a week's wages
has a direct impact on the family's food input.

Médecins Sans Frontières

In Myanmar, malaria is cited by medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
as being the number one cause of death. MSF has been fighting the disease
for years in Myanmar where it now has 30 clinics that treat some 200,000
patients. Dr Frank Smithuis, himself a malaria specialist, is MSF Head of
Mission in Yangon, the country's capital. He says:

"The WHO says that there are 500,000 malaria patients in Myanmar, but I
know for a fact that's not true. I estimate it to be closer to ten
million."

Mr Smithuis backs up the enormous discrepancy with the figures of MSF's
own centre of operations in Rakhine state.

"Previously the clinics in this area used to see 30 patients a month.
Since we started our diagnosis and treatment - which we give at a very low
price of about eight cents per treatment - the number of patients seeking
help in our clinics has increased 30-50 fold. So we saw the numbers of
malaria patients increasing from 30 to 1800 in a month."

Herculean task

The rise was so noticeable that at one stage he was asked jokingly by the
country's Minister of Health "What the hell are you doing here, because
malaria is increasing." Dr Smithuis grins ironically, adding "OK, so we
both agreed that MSF is not increasing malaria, just improving its
identification and treatment."

In a country like Myanmar, where most people live in remote villages,
hours away from the nearest road, treating malaria is a formidable
challenge. MSF dispatches teams of medical staff by boat to the most
inaccessible areas, and they work with government as well as private
clinics, trying to reach people who otherwise wouldn't have access to
treatment.

But it's a Herculean task. 30 clinics don't even cover half of one state
of the country. The national health budget of Myanmar is tiny and despite
the evident need, the country receives the lowest ratio of overseas aid.
Dr Smithuis puts the problem succinctly:

"The people of Myanmar deserve more support from the international
community."

____________________________________

June 24, Agence France-Presse
Myanmar retires top military officers, reshuffles 150 staff

YANGON - Myanmar's military regime has retired five senior generals as
part of a broad reshuffle, possibly laying the groundwork for elections in
2010, a state official and analysts said Tuesday.

A number of military members were also promoted in the first major
reshuffle this year, said one military official who did not give his name
since he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"About 150 posts were changed... Some got promotions, some had to change
to other posts without a promotion," he told AFP.

The five outgoing lieutenant generals were Ye Myint, Kyaw Win, Khin Maung
Than, Maung Bo and Aung Htwe, all of whom are over 60 and held senior
posts in the ruling junta, he said.

Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in Thailand, said some of the older
generals were in ill health and had to retire, while others might be kept
on the sidelines to take possible parliamentary seats after the 2010
polls.

Myanmar's military junta ploughed ahead with a referendum on its
much-derided new constitution in May, despite the death and devastation
caused by a powerful cyclone at the beginning of the month.

Democracy activists say the new charter -- which authorities claim passed
with more than 90 percent approval -- will enshrine the military's role in
the country it has ruled since 1962.

The junta, however, insists the constitution will pave the way for
elections and a civilian government.

Under the charter, 25 percent of seats in parliament will be reserved for
the military, while analysts say the army will likely want to populate the
rest of the house with allies.
"What (the junta) might want to do is choose the representatives from some
retired generals," Aung Naing Oo told AFP in Bangkok.

Myanmar's navy chief Vice Admiral Soe Thein, a top official in the
military regime, has already been moved from his post and placed in charge
of an industry ministry, state media said last week.

____________________________________

June 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Farmers left in debt after land seizures

Thousands of acres of privately-owned farmland in Bogalay have been seized
by authorities after the farmers had already received farming equipment
and seeds bought on credit from the government.

The township agricultural department recently supplied the farmers with
the equipment and seeds before the farmers were told their lands would be
seized, according to one local farmer.

“Now we have a debt of about 1.5 million kyat each and we have to repay it
within three years,” the farmer said.
“And now we have tillers but no farmland to use them on, but we can’t
return them to the agricultural department and we can’t sell them.”

The farmer said the authorities had blamed the possibility of another
cyclone for the seizures.

“The authorities told us it was dangerous for us to live on the farmlands
just in case another cyclone hit the area, so they kicked us all off the
land and seized it,” he said.
“We lost all our rice crops from last year and the money we made from them
after the cyclone, and now we won’t be able to do our farming this year
either, and that’s going to cause us a lot of trouble.”

The farmer said Htoo Trading company, which is owned by Tay Za, a Burmese
tycoon with close links to the ruling junta, has now promised to build new
houses near Kyein Chaung Gyi village for the farmers whose lands have been
seized and villagers who have been forced to move out of the area.

Htoo Trading was given a contract by the government for reconstruction
work in the Irrawaddy delta, but local residents worried that the company
would take advantage of the situation for its own profit because of its
close links to the regime.

Another local farmer said farmlands had been seized from Kyarkuyal,
Danyinphyu, Mondinegyi, Mondinelay, Salugyi, Salulay, Tayawchaung,
Myarchaung and Narnapauk villages, all in Bogalay township.

“It seems like they are going to work on the farms themselves,” the farmer
said.
“They have forced everyone out of the villages and seized the land for the
government,” he said.

“Now the farmers have received all the tillers under the credit system and
so they are facing difficulties after losing their land.”

The farmer criticised the government for not only neglecting local farmers
after the cyclone but now also exacerbating their problems by seizing
their land.
A third farmer urged the government to allow farmers to work on the land
again so that they could begin to rebuild their lives.

“We have lost our families, our houses, everything,” he said.

“These farmlands are the only thing we have left, and we will be in deep
trouble if we are not allowed to work on these farms.”

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 25, Associated Press
More than 30,000 Myanmar refugees resettled

More than 30,000 Myanmar refugees living in camps in Thailand have been
sent to third countries in what the United Nations said Wednesday had
become the world's largest refugee resettlement operation.

Most of the refugees are Karen ethnic minority people who had been
sheltered in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said 30,144 refugees have left
Thailand to start new lives abroad since the resettlement operation began
in January 2005. A UNHCR statement described it as the world's largest
refugee resettlement operation.
But the camps remain home to 123,500 refugees and asylum-seekers.

"Some of the refugees have been here for nearly two decades. Some were
born in refugee camps, grew up there and are now raising their own
families in refugee camps," UNHCR regional representative Raymond Hall
said Wednesday. "For them resettlement offers a way out of the camps and
the opportunity for a fresh start in life."

The United Nations and human rights groups say that over the years the
Myanmar military has burned villages, killed civilians and committed other
atrocities against the Karen, who have long fought for autonomy from the
central government.

Some activists have charged that Myanmar's ruling junta is waging a
genocidal campaign against the Karen and other rebellious ethnic groups.

Hall said prospects for the refugees to return to Myanmar or settle
permanently in Thailand were dim.

Nearly 21,500 of the resettled refugees have gone to the United States,
while Australia has received 3,400 and Canada 2,600.

Other resettlement countries are Britain, Finland, Ireland, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

Myanmar refugees are now leaving Thailand for resettlement at an average
rate of more than 300 a week, the UNHCR said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 25, Associated Press
India provides Myanmar with US$84 million in loans and credit

India agreed to provide Myanmar with US$84 million in loans and credits to
build power transmission lines and an aluminum plant, state media said
Wednesday.

Four agreements related to the loans were signed Tuesday during the visit
to Myanmar by India's Minister of State for Commerce and Power Shri Jairam
Ramesh, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The agreements covered a loan of US$64 million to finance three power
transmission lines and a US$20 million credit line to build an aluminum
wire plant.

Myanmar is making a push to develop its hydroelectric potential, with
India, China and Thailand the biggest foreign investors.

The two countries also signed an agreement to facilitate banking. India is
one of Myanmar's major trading partners, with the balance of trade
consistently in favor of Myanmar.

Relations between the two nations, which share an 830-mile (1,330
kilometer) border, turned cold when Myanmar's military took power in 1988
by suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations. Ties have improved
significantly since 2000 with mutual visits by government leaders.

The second-highest ranking member of Myanmar's ruling junta, Vice Senior
Gen. Maung Aye, visited India in April to witness the signing of a US$120
million project to upgrade waterways and highways along Myanmar's Kaladan
river and develop the port of Sittway in northwestern Myanmar.

____________________________________

June 25, Agence France-Presse
Thai energy firm signs major gas deal with Myanmar, says official

A Thai energy firm has signed a major deal to drill for natural gas in
military-ruled Myanmar, an official with the company said Wednesday.

The agreement -- to develop the M9 block in the Gulf of Martaban -- was
signed by PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) with Myanmar's junta in
the country's remote capital Naypyidaw on Monday, the official told AFP.

The official declined to reveal the value of the deal, but Thailand's The
Nation newspaper reported it would entail an investment of about two
billion dollars.

Under the deal, PTTEP will work with the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas
Enterprise to develop the field, the Thai firm's CEO Anon Sirisaengtaksin
said in a statement to the stock exchange.

The field is expected to produce 300 million cubic feet of gas per day,
with 80 percent exported to Thailand and the rest supplying Myanmar, the
statement said.

Thai energy minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said in a statement that the
deal "is very important and beneficial for Thailand to obtain natural gas
to supply its rising energy needs, and to enhance the country's long-term
energy security."

Energy-hungry Thailand imports about 20 percent of its gas from Myanmar
and is vying for a bigger share of its vast natural resources.

State media in Myanmar previously estimated the M9 block contained 8.0
trillion cubic feet of gas.

Myanmar, one of the world's poorest nations, is under a series of US and
European economic sanctions imposed over the junta's human rights abuses
and its crackdown last year on pro-democracy protests.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as neighbours such as
China, India and Thailand spend billions of dollars for a share of
Myanmar's energy resources to solve energy problems at home.

According to 2006 official figures, 13 foreign oil companies are working
on 33 projects in the country.

____________________________________
DRUGS

June 25, Reuters
China offers rare praise for Myanmar's drug fight - Ben Blanchard

China praised Myanmar's efforts to fight drugs on Wednesday, lauding the
actions of a military government often criticized in the United States and
Europe for not doing enough to tackle the problem.

Yang Fengrui, head of the Ministry of Public Security's Narcotics Control
Bureau, said the amount of drugs entering China from the Golden Triangle,
which includes Laos and Thailand, had fallen.

In 2004, China seized 10.8 tonnes of heroin from northern Myanmar, but
that had dropped to just 4.6 tonnes last year, leading to a resulting rise
in the drug's street price due to its growing scarcity, Yang told a news
conference in Beijing.

That area under cultivation has dropped from a high of 165,300 hectares
(about 390,000 acres) to 18,600 hectares (45,961), Yang said.

Last September, Washington said that the former Burma had "failed
demonstrably" to fight illegal drugs and that it had been "very
lackluster" in interdiction and fighting corruption.

The country was also Asia's largest source of methamphetamine pills,
production of which was being ramped up as opium cultivation fell, the
report added.

The United States and Europe have been fierce critics of Myanmar's human
rights record and continued detention of Nobel Peace Prize winner and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to wide-ranging sanctions.

But China has been a steady friend of the generals who have ruled for
decades, standing by them after they crushed a pro-democracy uprising in
1988 and swept aside a 1990 election won by Aung San Suu Kyi and her
National League for Democracy.
Yang said the sanctions on Myanmar, toughened following last autumn's
bloody suppression of renewed pro-democracy protests, would not affect
China's cooperation with Myanmar.

"We will keep cooperating on intelligence exchanges, fighting drug
traffickers, eradicating drugs, personnel training and helping the Myanmar
government with substitution programs."

Over the past few years, China has spent around 700 million yuan ($101.9
million) on crop substitution programs in Myanmar to get people to stop
farming opium poppies, Yang said.

($1=6.866 Yuan)

(Editing by Nick Macfie and David Fox)

____________________________________
ASEAN

June 25, People Magazine
Pitt, Clooney and Damon push for Cyclone Aid - Sara Hammel

They're known for their love of pranks and practical jokes, but good
friends Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon have come together for
something far more serious.

The Ocean's 11 stars – all past or present winners of PEOPLE's Sexiest Man
Alive title – helped launch an advertising campaign aimed at getting more
aid into Myanmar, whose ruling regime has made access to the country
difficult for aid agencies and relief workers in the wake of last month's
cyclone Nargis.

The ad campaign is sponsored by the activist group Not On Our Watch,
headed up by Pitt, Clooney, Damon and other Hollywood heavy-hitters. On
Wednesday, the group bought a full page in the Indonesian English-language
newspaper, the Jakarta Post, reports the Agence France-Presse.

"Burma's neighbors have the power to help victims who remain desperately
in need," reads the ad, which was signed by the likes of former Philippine
president Corazon Aquino, East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and former
Czech president Vaclav Havel.

The cyclone ravaged the country May 2 and 3, leaving around 138,000 people
missing or dead. The ad claims Myanmar's ruling junta is putting in danger
thousands of more lives by resisting foreign aid since the storm hit.

____________________________________

June 25, Bernama
RM2 Million in medical aid sent to Myanmar

Malaysia has sent medical aid worth RM2 million to help the victims of the
Nargis cyclone disaster in Myanmar.

Nargis, which struck on May 3, killed about 78,000 people in the Asean
member country.

The aid was sent via two Hercules C130 airplanes owned by the Royal
Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), from its base in Subang, Wednesday.

National Disaster and Crisis Management Division's assistant secretary,
Mohamed Fauzi Mohamed Abdullah, said the aid was an addition to
humanitarian assistance sent by the government on May 12.

"The medical aid can last for the next two weeks. Wednesday's mission was
joined by 25 staff from various government agencies," he added.

____________________________________

June 25, Irrawaddy
Burmese journalists banned from Asean Press Conference - Wai Moe

More than 20 Burmese journalists were banned from a press conference
organized by
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Rangoon on Tuesday.

Rangoon-based journalists told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that Burmese
journalists including correspondents with international news agencies were
not allowed to attend a press conference on the Cyclone Nargis disaster
that was hosted by Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.

It was unclear if the ban was the result of a decision by Asean officials
or Burmese government officials. An Asean official told the Burmese
journalists to get permission from the Burmese Ministry of Information.

Although Burmese journalists were prevented from attending the press
conference, four news organizations from Asean countries—Channel News Asia
of Singapore, Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), Indonesia’s Kompas
newspaper and The Straits  Times of Singapore—were allowed to cover the
event, said Rangoon journalists. The four agencies had non-Burmese
correspondents.

The press conference, held at the Chatrium Hotel on Rangoon’s Natmauk
Road, followed a meeting of the Asean Roundtable with the Post-Nargis
Joint Assessment for Response, Recovery and Reconstruction team (PONJA).
The PONJA group is made up of UN, Asean and Burmese representatives.

“The roundtable [meeting] started at 9 am on Tuesday. When Burmese
journalists asked to cover the roundtable, officials there told them the
press conference was at 6 pm,” said a Burmese journalist who is a
correspondent for an international news agency.

“When it was time, [Burmese] journalists returned. But officials told us
to leave, but the four news agencies from Asean countries were allowed to
attend the press conference.”
Rangoon journalists said a woman who said she was Surin’s secretary told
them only reporters invited by officials could attend the press
conference.

The Singapore ambassador to Burma, Robert H K Chua, and Daniel Baker, a UN
official, met with a group of Burmese journalists in a separate room in
the hotel and discussed the Asean Roundtable briefing.

“It was like a separate press conference for the kicked-out journalists,
but not with the secretary-general of Asean,” said a Burmese reporter for
a Rangoon journal. “I feel it was discrimination between Burmese
journalists and media personnel from Asean countries by Surin Pitsuwan.”

Surin has strongly advocated greater press freedom and freedom of speech
throughout Asean countries. “We can help people understand the importance
of human rights, and we should,” he said in January.

On June 18, he urged the Thai press to pay more attention to transnational
issues that affect Asean citizens and to help promote press freedom and
professionalism in Southeast Asia, according to The Nation newspaper in
Bangkok.

Debbie Stothard of the Alternative Asean Network (Altsean) said that [the
treatment of local journalists] is a serious issue and a challenge for
Asean.

“The secretary-general is trying to be relevant,” she said. “But it
[Asean] has to follow that principle. They make a general principle, and
then when they arrived in Rangoon, they forgot the principle. They
undermined their own credibility.”

At the Asean Roundtable press conference, Surin said the basic needs of
the cyclone refugees are being met, but there is a need for more
humanitarian work to sustain a medium and long-term recovery, according to
the Asean Web site.

Stothard said Asean is trying to build “a relationship” between the
military junta and the international community.

Asean must be mindful of the needs of the Burmese people and not just
helping the military junta during the humanitarian crisis, she said.
According to an interim report released by the PONJA team, only 45 percent
of survivors are getting food from international aid agencies.

"We know Mr Surin Pitsuwan wants to be diplomatic,” Stothard said. “But he
has to be careful that he isn’t too diplomatic.”

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 25, Xinhua
Six Myanmar athletes to compete in Beijing Olympics

Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

Six Myanmar athletes will compete in four sports in the upcoming 2008
Beijing Olympic Games in China in August, local media reported Wednesday.

The six athletes -- four men and two women -- will take part in track and
field, swimming, archery and rowing events in the Olympics which will be
held 44 days later, the 7-Day News quoted the Myanmar Olympic Committee
(MOC) joint-secretary U Khin Maung Lwin as saying.

The MOC selected the six athletes to participate in the world summer games
in China from the athletes who grabbed medals in the 24th Southeast Asian
(SEA) Games in Thailand in December last year, U Khin Maung Lwin said,
adding that Myanmar will satisfy if its athletes win their respective
sports in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Two Myanmar athletes competed in two sports in 2004 Athen Olympic Games in
Greece, one women's archery and the other in women's weightlifting.

____________________________________

June 25, Irrawaddy
No more aid through Junta: US House - Lalit K Jha

In amendments to the Supplemental Appropriations Act 2008, the US House of
Representatives has passed a bill that says US agencies should seek to
avoid passing humanitarian relief through the military junta to cyclone
victims in Burma.

Supplemental Appropriations Act 2008, passed on June 19 by the US House of
Representatives—which approves the spending of the Bush administration for
the fiscal year ending September 30—made specific reference to the cyclone
disaster last month that resulted in the death of more than 130,000 people
in the Irrawaddy delta.

Stating that the Burmese junta, or State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC), has compounded the humanitarian crisis in Burma by failing to
respond to the needs of the Burmese people in the wake of Cyclone Nargis
and by refusing offers of assistance from the international community,
Supplemental Appropriations Act states: “The Department of State and USAID
should seek to avoid providing assistance to or through the SPDC.”

The bill must now be approved by the US Senate.

Even though the Bush administration has little or no alternative but to
route all of its relief material through the Burmese military junta, the
House mentioned twice in the bill that the government should avoid giving
aid through the regime.

Under a sub-section on Food Security and Cyclone Nargis Relief , the
amended text on Section 1414 (a) now reads: “For an additional amount for
‘International Disaster Assistance,’ [US] $225 million to address the
international food crisis globally and for assistance for Burma to address
the effects of Cyclone Nargis: Provided, that not less than $125 million
should be made available for the local or regional purchase and
distribution of food to address the international food crisis: Provided
further, that notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the
funds appropriated under this heading may be made available for assistance
for the State Peace and Development Council.

“These funds should be used to respond to urgent humanitarian requirements
worldwide, including Burma, Bangladesh, the People's Republic of China,
and countries severely affected by the international food crisis,” it
said.

The amended bill also includes another $5.3 million in assistance for
humanitarian programs along the Thai-Burmese border.

Meanwhile, Carl Gershman, president of the Washington-based National
Endowment for Democracy (NED), urged Thailand and India to start thinking
about what is going to be needed for a transition in Burma.

“We have to start thinking about the transition now, and to show that
there is an alternative. We should also build political support for the
Burmese movement now because it answers the argument of the people in
Thailand and elsewhere that they have to deal with this government because
there is no alternative,” he said.

For more than a decade now, the NED has provided support to many of the
pro-democracy Burmese groups in exile, as well as ethnic groups inside
Burma. The NED also funds several Burmese publications, including The
Irrawaddy.

“Without neglecting the present, we have to start thinking about the
future and start building a core of people who can think about the
economy, who can think about how to organize a civil-military
relationship, who can think about the constitution, think about minority
rights and how to organize Burma as a multi-ethnic society with federalism
and decentralization," Gershman told The Irrawaddy.

Now of course, he said, the immediate issues before the international
community and the Burmese leaders in exile are the crushing of the saffron
revolution last year, the “phony” referendum and the humanitarian crisis
in Burma. However, there are also more long-term issues, he said.

Developing an alternative constitution, developing a plan for the economy
and a plan for governance should be some of the top priorities, Gershman
said.

“The need is to bring people together to begin thinking about the future
and to do it in an active way, without neglecting the current political
and humanitarian crisis,” he said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

Myanmar: Preliminary findings of post-Nargis joint assessment confirm need
for continued relief assistance

Preliminary findings based on 50% of the data from the Village Tract
Assessment (VTA) component of Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA)
indicate that more immediate, life-saving relief needs remain to be
provided. These findings were revealed at the ASEAN Roundtable meeting in
Yangon on 24 June. Humanitarian relief efforts should continue to cover
unmet needs.

In compliment to what the Government, private sector, local communities
and NGOs have provided, international community have reached 730,000
people through the distribution of 9,200 MT of food. Another 7,800 MT are
in the pipeline. VTA findings show that 45% of households receive food
through humanitarian assistance, while 56% obtain food from the markets.
Considering that 42% of all food stocks were destroyed, continued food
assistance is required.

60% of households admitted that access to clean water is inadequate,
especially as they have shifted from use of ponds (now salinated) to rain
water catchments system. The international community has provided and
installed 50 water treatment units to supply 250,000 people with 3 liters
of clean water per person/day.

Findings show that 22% of households suffer from psychological stress,
pointing to the need for appropriate support strategies. Although there
has been no major disease outbreak to date, the preliminary findings show
that open defecation has more than doubled, which poses serious risks for
disease propagation.

With 59% of houses being severely damaged, VTA enumerators expressed
concern that those being rebuilt with bamboo using traditional design will
only be adequate for a maximum of 2 years. Shelter designed in the spirit
of ‘Build Back Better’ would be an important form of longer-term recovery
activities.

Regarding livelihoods, preliminary findings reveal a large increase in
unemployment because less people are currently active in the agriculture
and fishery sectors. 60% of village leaders suggest that there are not
enough seeds for the next planting season. In addition, 78% of households
report on lack of access to credit, which may impede community self-help
efforts.

Minimizing disrupting to the education of children has been considered a
priority. The humanitarian community has repaired 425 primary schools to
date, and provided 135 temporary learning spaces. Essential learning
packages have also been distributed to some 94,000 children, while
provision of School-in-a-Box and Recreation kits has benefited some 65,000
students.

The results of VTA will inform the revised Humanitarian Appeal, which is
set for early July. The Flash Appeal requested some $200 million and is
currently funded at 66%.
The presentation on VTA preliminary findings is available in Myanmar
Humanitarian Information Centre website:
http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org/Pages/home.aspx

For further information please contact:
Yangon: Laksmita Noviera, United Nations Coordination Office Myanmar,
Tel: +95 1 544 500 # 808, Email: noviera at un.org
Bangkok: Amanda Pitt, OCHA Regional Office for Asia & Pacific, Tel:       
+ 66 2288 1195 , Mob: +66 81 374 1035, Email: pitta at un.org