International

Asean and UN held conference concerning aid in Burma .
Security should force regime to allow international aid to cyclone survivors
UN Chief Ban Ki – Moon meet with Gen- Than Shwe

Cyclone survivors scare the visiting of Bang Ki- Moon

Many cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta say they don't want UN chief Ban Ki-moon to visit their camps and temporary shelters for fear the military regime will tighten security and intimidate people who have lost family members and homes.

Burma 's best-known comedian Zarganar and other Burmese private donors who visited the cyclone-ravaged delta recently said that many cyclone survivors are so desperate for food and relief supplies they do not want the UN secretary-general and his delegation to jeopardize the situation.

In Kungyangone, police and local authorities drove through the streets using loudspeakers to tell people not to go out begging for food along the road one day before Snr-Gen Than Shwe visited the town on May 19. They warned cyclone victims that they would be arrested and punished if they took to begging in the street.

Meanwhile, cyclone survivors who are already without sufficient food and relief supplies are now concerned that their rations will be cut because private donors will be unable to visit them during the UN secretary-general's visit.

Aung Naing Oo, a Burma analyst based in Thailand , said that “The regime will clear roads and the surrounding areas when Ban is scheduled to visit,” “People who are begging from dawn to dusk will not get food or money to survive during his visit.”

“Cyclone Survivors Don't Want UN Chief to Visit Delta, Irrawaddy , May 21, 2008

“The soldiers deleted all the photographs the journalists had taken,” the source said. “The soldiers threatened the journalists and swore at them.”

The journalists were released the following morning at about 7 a .m. after signing an agreement with the authorities that they would not return to cyclone-affected areas again without military authorization.  

“Only positive stories are allowed. Photos about refugees, victims and children are always rejected,” said the source in Rangoon . “The censorship board will only allow propaganda stories and photos, such as reconstruction projects, to be published.” All publications are banned from printing the rising death toll from Cyclone Nargis, added the source.

“8 Burmese Journalists Arrested in Laputta, Irrawaddy , 21 May 2008”

A gift for the people who vote “Yes” during the referendum

Local authorities in Thingangyun township, Rangoon, have been giving rice and cooking oil to families who agree to vote ‘Yes' in the constitutional referendum, a local resident said.

People in one ward had been given the basic goods in return for the whole family voting ‘Yes'.

An employee of Kyimyintdaing Township 's High School (2) told DVB that all school employees living in school quarters had been directed by the school's headmistress to cast 'Yes' votes in the referendum.

The Burmese military regime held its referendum on the draft constitution in most of the country on 10 May, but polling was delayed until 24 May in 47 townships in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions that were worst affected by the recent cyclone.

The junta has already announced the results of the 10 May vote, claiming 92.4 percent of voters supported the constitution

“Authorities give out food in exchange for ‘Yes' votes , Democratic Voice of Burma, Friday May 23 2008”

KNU leader Pass away

The chairman of the Karen National Union ethnic rebel group, Saw Ba Thin Sein, 82 died at about 2 am in Pa – an district in Southern Karen State Thursday morning. He suffered from diabetes, asthma and heart disease. 

David Takapaw, a KNU spokesperson, said the death of Saw Ba Thin Sein was a great loss for the Karen people, who have been fighting for autonomy for more than 50 years, but it will not affect KNU policies.

Naw Khine Mar Kyaw Zaw, a KNU member who worked closely with Saw Ba Thin Sein, said, “He wanted Karen people to live in unity,” “He didn't like injustices. He was an industrious revolutionary. He also had deep empathy for other ethnic nationalities.”

“KNU Chairman Dies, Irrawaddy , Thursday 22 May 2008”

Asean and UN held conference concerning aid in Burma .

Asean and the UN will held meeting concerning on international aid pledging conference in Rangoon on Sunday. Both organizations said the meeting was called “in recognition of the outpouring of international solidarity and support.”

A potential dilemma that could arise at the conference is the chasm in concept between the donors and the military regime. While donors, particularly in Western countries, insist on transparency and accountability within a relief mission, the junta strives mainly to control foreign relief workers and to line their own pockets, say critics.

The main thing about the donor conference is for the international community to see the Burma 's relief needs are met in the short, the medium and the long terms, said Larry Jagan, a British journalist in Bangkok who specializes on Burma .    

Asean foreign ministers, including Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win, held a special meeting on Burma 's crisis on May 19 in Singapore . During the meeting, ministers agreed to establish a task force that will closely work with the UN as well as a central coordinating body to be set up by the Burmese regime.

The task force would also “realize the Asean-led mechanism.” At the same time, the regional body called on the Burmese junta to allow more international relief workers into the stricken areas.

“Junta Wants $11 Billion in Aid, Irrawaddy , Thursday 22 2008”

Security should force regime to allow international aid to cyclone survivors

Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said France will wait to hear from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN humanitarian chief John Holmes, who are visiting Burma , and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is in charge of coordinating international aid, "to see if there is some concrete improvement on the access to the victims."

Ban was scheduled to meet Friday with Burma 's junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to press him to fully open up to international aid for 2.5 million cyclone survivors.

Ripert said"We should pass a resolution allowing to go directly to the population ... to ask all the countries in the world and all the members states in a position to do so to deliver aid by all means necessary—the humanitarian aid—in cooperation with the Burmese authorities," he said. "if nothing moves in the next few days" is receiving more support every day from concerned governments.

“ France to Seek UN Resolution on Burma Aid Deliveries, Irrawaddy , Friday 23 May 2008”

UN Chief Ban Ki – Moon meet with Gen- Than Shwe

UN chief Ban Ki-moon headed Friday to the crucial two hours meeting with General Than Shwe on hoping to persuade the country's inflexible Junta leader to fully open up to internationals aid for 2.5 million cyclone survivors. Ban's is urging Than Shwe to allow an unimpeded influx of foreign aid and experts to reach survivors, most of them women and children, at growing risk of starvation, disease and exposure to monsoon rains.

Ban Ki-moon says Burma 's junta has agreed to allow "all aid workers" into the country to help cyclone survivors.

"I'm very upset by what I've seen," Ban told reporters, after a walk through a makeshift relief camp where 500 people huddled in blue tents at Kyondah village in Dedaye township, about 75 kilometers ( 45 miles ) southwest of Rangoon, Burma's largest city.  Burma 's military regime have been keen to show it has the relief effort under control despite spurning the help of foreign disaster experts, and trotted out officials to give statistics-laden lectures to make their point.

But the UN says up to 2.5 million cyclone survivors face hunger, homelessness and potential outbreaks of deadly diseases, especially in the lower-lying areas of the Irrawaddy Delta close to the sea. It estimates that aid has reached only about 25 percent of them.