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HEADLINES
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AP - Children in classrooms without roofs as schools reopen in Myanmar's cyclone zone
AP - Myanmar reopens schools 1 month after cyclone
AP - UN rights chief says long-standing tolerance of Myanmar abuses made aid delays possible
AP - Myanmar democracy campaigner Khin Ohmar gets Anna Lindh award
AFP - UN warns of 'urgent work' to help Myanmar cyclone victims
AFP - Yangon's middle class struggles with cost of living
AFP - Myanmar monks a vital lifeline for cyclone survivors
Reuters - Soaring prices compound Myanmar's cyclone misery
Bernama - Lack Of Funds, Food For Myanmar Maybe Out Of Stock By July, Says UN
Bernama - Work On Bangladesh-Myanmar Road Link To Start Next Year
Bernama - Myanmar workers found slashed to dead
NST Online - Let Asean give more aid, Najib urges Myanmar
IRIN - MYANMAR: Humanitarian air bridge up and running
IHT - Despite promises, Myanmar limits access for aid agencies
Denver Post - Anger fails to faze Myanmar's junta
Asia Times - Second wave economic crisis in Myanmar
Irrawaddy - A Case for Crimes against Humanity
Irrawaddy - Burmese Troops Deployed to Coastal, Border Areas
Mizzima News - Government restrictions hampers aid efforts: WFP
DVB News - Donors face questioning at checkpoints
DVB News - Irrawaddy residents fear spread of disease

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Children in classrooms without roofs as schools reopen in Myanmar's cyclone zone
AP - Tuesday, June 3

THUWANA, Myanmar - As students filed into Middle School No. 1 on Monday for the first day of classes since Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar a month ago, all eyes stared skyward _ at the gaping hole in the roof.

The school in Thuwana, a southern suburb of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, was one of 4,100 schools that were damaged or destroyed by the May 2-3 cyclone, according to UNICEF. More than 100 teachers died in the storm and aid agencies estimate that about a third of the 78,000 victims were children.

The government delayed the June 2 start of the new term for several schools in the harder-hit Irrawaddy delta, where entire villages were wiped off the map.

But around Yangon most schools welcomed students, despite the concerns of teachers, parents and international aid groups about safety risks to students.

At Middle School No. 1, a few remaining strips of rusted corrugated iron roofing hung precariously overhead. The storm's gale-force winds shattered several of the school's windows and punched holes in its flimsy walls. Security guards outside the school shooed away visitors.

Khin Yir, a teacher from the northern Yangon suburb of Hlaing Thar Yar, said she felt it was a "bad choice" to reopen schools so soon.

The storm's 120 mph (190 kph) winds ripped the roofs off two of the three school buildings at her junior high and driving rains flooded the interior, she said, asking that the school not be named for fear of government reprisals against her for talking to a reporter.

So many schools needed repair that the roofs could not all be fixed in time for the resumption of class, she said.

"After Nargis, we teachers tried to salvage what we could, but the rain damaged everything," said Khin Yir, dressed in the standard school uniform of a white shirt and forest-green longyi, the traditional sarong worn by men and women in Myanmar.

"We teachers hand-dried as many books as we could, and it's a good thing we did because we have to use them now," she said. "We haven't gotten any new supplies."

Khin Yir said she feared for her students' safety and was concerned about how to help them cope with the trauma that many of them lived through.

UNICEF, which has been working with Myanmar's government to rebuild schools, was preparing information kits to train teachers to spot signs of trauma.

With the region's infrastructure in shambles and huge demand for basic construction materials, it was unlikely that destroyed schools in the delta will be immediately rebuilt, said UNICEF's representative in Myanmar, Ramesh Shrestha. In that case, classes will be held in temporary facilities like tents or "plastic chairs covered with plastic sheeting," he said.

The government has arranged for some schools that withstood the storm to run morning and evening sessions to accommodate students whose schools were destroyed, several teachers said.

Gary Walker, spokesman for the U.K. charity Plan, said "sending (children) to what can be unsafe buildings with ill-trained and ill-equipped teachers can actually set them back, rather than leading them on a road to speedy recovery."

"What is normally a safe space can become an unsafe space," Walker said.

"Safety First" appeared to be the new slogan at Primary School No. 20, where the words were printed on white paper and posted on the walls of the school in the northeastern Yangon suburb of Dagon.

A gleaming new iron roof topped the one-story schoolhouse, which also opened for classes Monday _ to the dismay of some parents who said they could not afford school uniforms or books.

Most public schools in and around Yangon charge about 7,000 kyat (US$7; �4.50) in fees for the academic year, the equivalent of almost a week's work for laborers in this impoverished country.

"Sending my daughter to school is a burden to me," said Khin Myo, as she dropped her 6-year-old off at Primary School No. 20. The mother said the storm damaged the family's home and destroyed the small shop where she used to make a living selling onions and chilies.

"I still haven't been able to put my life back together," she said. "I would have preferred if school reopened a month later."

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Myanmar reopens schools 1 month after cyclone
AP - Tuesday, June 3

YAW PAR GYI, Myanmar - One month after a cyclone left more than 130,000 people dead or missing, Myanmar's military government reopened many of the country's schools Monday despite worries that the extent of damage could put children in harm's way.

And although the military rulers pledge a speedy rehabilitation, demand and prices have soared for the material needed to rebuild homes. Many survivors say they have been forced to pick through the storm's rubble in search of anything left intact.

In Hlaingthayar Township, fisherman Ko Niang has managed to patch together a rickety lean-to from scavenged bamboo bits and soggy palm fronds.

He said he tried to borrow money from friends and family to build a new shack, "but there was no one to borrow it from. Everyone is in need."

Cyclone Nargis killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing when it struck Myanmar on May 2-3. The military government was criticized for its response, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying the government had acted with "criminal neglect."

Foreign aid workers say the regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is still dragging its feet on allowing quick and full access to survivors of the disaster.

"Access remains problematic both for logistic staff inside Burma to the delta and for staff trying to get in from the outside," said Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of the U.S.-based Refugees International.

Myanmar Deputy Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Aye Myint said at a conference in Singapore that the government moved quickly to rescue and provide relief to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.

In its struggle to return to normalcy, the junta reopened many schools in areas hit by the cyclone in the Irrawaddy delta, though some were scheduled to reopen in July.

The United Nations Children's Fund said more than 4,000 schools serving 1.1 million children were damaged or destroyed by the storm and more than 100 teachers were killed. As a result, the government planned to train volunteer teachers and hold some classes in camps and other temporary sites, UNICEF said.

Anupama Rao Singh, UNICEF's regional director, said reopening schools in the delta "may be too ambitious," since construction materials were still on the way and there was not enough time to rebuild schools and train new teachers.

The Irrawaddy delta region also was Myanmar's center of production for Nipa palm, whose feathery leaves are woven into a low-cost thatch widely used for walls and roofing. The storm destroyed many of the palm plantations and prices have since tripled.

In Yaw Par Gyi, a village on the northern edges of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, villagers were relying on a patchwork of old thatch, cardboard and blue tarpaulin handed out by monks at a nearby monastery to protect them from daily downpours.

One resident, 45-year-old Hla Kyi, is luckier than most. He still has a floor to sleep on, even though the storm plucked most of the thatch off his roof.

Hla Kyi's tiny dank hut houses his wife, four children and three other relatives. With so many mouths to feed, he said he is not able to put money aside for a new roof.

"It leaks all over when it rains, but what can we do?" said Hla Kyi, a day laborer who earns about $3 a day.

At least 35,000 homes were destroyed, according to an initial estimate by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, or IFRC. Thousands of other buildings will also have to be rebuilt, UNICEF has said.

Ma Myoe We, the owner of a construction material shop in Yangon, said a sheaf of 100 palm sheets, which used to sell for about $6.50 now goes for $17.50.

But she said she has run out of stock and has no idea when more will be delivered.

The price of sturdy bamboo poles, onto which the thatch is anchored, has nearly doubled from 70 cents per pole $1.20.

Ramesh Shrestha, who represents UNICEF in Myanmar, confirmed prices in the country have risen since the cyclone _ not only for construction materials, but also for food, petrol and other essentials.

With bridges smashed and roads impassable, "the supply lines have been severed and nothing can get to market," said IFRC staffer Eelko Brouwer, who heads a group of international organizations and aid groups working to shelter storm victims.

Brouwer said that if thatch prices remain high, aid groups will consider importing palm from neighboring Bangladesh or Thailand in a bid to drive the cost down.

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UN rights chief says long-standing tolerance of Myanmar abuses made aid delays possible
AP - Tuesday, May 3

GENEVA (AP) - The world's long record of tolerating human rights abuses in Myanmar allowed the country's government to obstruct international aid in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the U.N.'s top rights official said Monday.

Myanmar's military government stopped foreign relief workers from distributing aid around the country in the immediate aftermath of last month's devastating storm, which affected some 2.4 million people.

The rules were only relaxed after intense lobbying from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

``The obstruction to the deployment of such assistance illustrates the invidious effects of long-standing international tolerance for human rights violations,' ' U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said.

Arbour, who leaves office at the end of the month, made her comments in a speech to the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council.

In March, the 47-member council criticized Myanmar for its record of violently suppressing pro-democracy groups and extending the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years since her party won a 1990 general election that the junta refused to acknowledge.

Western trade unions and human rights groups have called for sanctions against Myanmar, but governments have so far resisted the idea, partly because of strong opposition from powerful developing countries such as China and India.

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Myanmar democracy campaigner Khin Ohmar gets Anna Lindh award
AP -  Tuesday, June 03

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Exiled Myanmarese democracy campaigner Khin Ohmar has won this year's Anna Lindh prize.

The Anna Lindh Memorial fund says Ohmar received the prize for her hard work and deep engagement in trying to bring democracy to Myanmar.

The 46-year old Ohmar coordinates the Burma Partnership network that works for democracy and sends out weekly reports about the situation in Myanmar.

She has lived in Thailand since 1988 when she took part in a revolt against the junta.

The prize includes a cash award of 250,000 kronor (US$42,000; euro27,000).

The Anna Lindh prize was established to honor Lindh, the Swedish foreign minister stabbed to death in 2003. It supports those fighting prejudice and oppression.

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UN warns of 'urgent work' to help Myanmar cyclone victims
AFP - Monday, June 2

YANGON (AFP) - - A month after Myanmar's cyclone left 133,000 people dead or missing, the UN's food agency chief warned Monday that "urgent work" is needed to help hundreds of thousands of survivors stave off hunger.

The United Nations estimates that around 2.4 million people are in need of food, shelter, clean water or other humanitarian aid, with 60 percent yet to receive any help at all.

Myanmar's isolationist military regime -- deeply suspicious of the outside world -- has limited international help and restricted access for humanitarian workers to the hardest-hit parts of the Irrawaddy Delta, where whole villages were washed away in the storm.

Josette Sheeran, the World Food Programme chief who visited Myanmar at the weekend, said progress had been made in receiving visas for international aid workers, whose expertise is needed to oversee the complex relief operation.

But she said aid workers still faced bureaucratic hurdles in travelling to the delta, which suffered the brunt of Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.

"What we need is a seamless global lifeline of relief supplies," Sheeran said Monday, after her visit.

"Progress has been made, but urgent work remains on the critical last leg."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrapped up a visit here more than a week ago, saying that he had convinced junta leader Than Shwe to allow a full-scale foreign relief effort.

But aid agencies say access to the delta remains spotty, although more visas have been granted.

Myanmar flatly refused to accept help from US, British and French naval ships, which were laden with thousands of tonnes of supplies and helicopters to deliver them.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has accused the regime of "criminal neglect" for refusing their help, saying Myanmar's initial delays could have cost tens of thousands of lives.

"Unless the regime changes its approach, its policy, more people will die," he said after a weekend regional security forum in Singapore.

Malaysia's deputy prime minister Najib Razak urged the regime to allow military helicopters from neighbouring countries to deliver supplies, insisting such help would be purely humanitarian.

"We have proven time and time again that our involvement is strictly humanitarian in nature and there is no other agenda," he told the security forum.

Southeast Asian countries and the United Nations have formed a new coordinating body with junta officials in Yangon in a bid to clear obstacles to the relief effort.

Sheeran said she met with the head of the panel, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister Kyaw Thu, to urge him to do more to speed the relief effort.

So far, the WFP has dispatched enough food to give a first ration of rice to 575,000 people, but many people have not been reached and others are now due for a second ration, the agency said.
WFP says it is trying to reach a total of 663,000 people in the worst-hit parts of the delta.

In the former capital of Yangon , also pounded by the storm, the agency is providing 200,000 people with 50 cents a day so they can buy their own food in local markets, the statement said.

"WFP is committed to being resourceful and finding better ways to reach a large number of people who are struggling to put their lives back together," Sheeran said.

The project in Yangon "allows us to focus our food delivery efforts on the delta, where most food stocks have been destroyed and markets are not functioning properly," she added.

Some ordinary residents in Yangon are trying to deliver supplies on their own to hard-hit regions of the delta, and victims have lined the roadsides to beg for food.

"Stop, just a minute," said an old man named Maung, sitting on the outskirts of the city in tattered clothes and reaching to passing cars with his empty, gesturing as if to eat.

He sat with a young boy carrying a small bag with all that remains of their possessions, staring blankly into space.

"No one here, not even the junta seems to stop to help," he said.

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Yangon's middle class struggles with cost of living

YANGON, June 2, 2008 (AFP) - Cho Cho knows she's fortunate, even after Cyclone Nargis ripped through Myanmar's former capital of Yangon, damaging her family's home and leaving them without running water for the last month.

The storm left a trail of destruction across the city, ripping off roofs, uprooting century-old trees and tossing them onto cars.

But the destruction here was mild compared to the Irrawaddy Delta, where entire villages were washed away and where most of the 133,000 dead or missing lived.

The United Nations estimates that about one million people in the delta are still without international aid, while the poor around Yangon are receiving at least some support.

Cho Cho still has her job teaching English, but says even her middle-class family is worried about how they will survive the months to come in a country that was already among the poorest in the world.

"My father spent all of his money on repairs," said the 29-year-old, who lives with her parents.

Much of the city's water system was damaged by the storm, and without electricity to power the pumps, there's no way to get water into Cho Cho's building.

They can rent a generator, but this costs nearly eight dollars an hour. Pumping water into the building takes about five hours, and the 40 dollars it would cost is more than what some families pay in rent each month.

"We'd need to buy fuel on the black market to make the generator work, because fuel is rationed," she told AFP.

Fuel prices more than doubled after the storm, though the price has eased a little as supplies have resumed again.

For families in top-floor apartments, their bigger priority has been shelter, because many of their roofs were blown away by the storm. The price of corrugated metal has doubled, but people have been forced to buy it because of the daily monsoon rains.

"Those who could not afford metal bought tarpaulins. Those who don't have enough money have gone to live somewhere else, and their apartments have been flooded by rain," Cho Cho added.

To add to this new list of worries, Yangon's residents also have to cope with the high price of rice.

Ju Ju, who works for a medical instrument import company, had to give up good quality rice after the price jumped 50 percent to 45,000 kyats (40 dollars) for a 24-pound bag.

That was unaffordable on her 80,000-kyat salary and her mother's dismal pension of 1,600 kyats, the price of about three packets of cigarettes.

"Even if we have money, here in Yangon, we can't buy the rice that we want. Officials are stockpiling it and waiting to sell it for a higher price," she said.

"Also, we don't know what will happen with the next harvest. Next year rice will be even more expensive," she added.

Crops in the Irrawaddy Delta, Myanmar's most important rice-growing region, were flooded by sea water. Residents there have lost everything and are still waiting for help.

If crops aren't in the ground by the end of June, farmers will have missed the planting season, prompting experts to warn of shortages and even famine.

The delta was also the main source for charcoal used throughout Myanmar for cooking and manufacturing. After the cyclone, the price of charcoal went up 20 percent.

"Even though they aren't considered poor, many people are having huge difficulties, " said Cho Cho.

Despite their struggles, many people in Yangon are still using their meagre resources to buy food and clothing to send into the delta, helping people in even more desperate need.

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Myanmar monks a vital lifeline for cyclone survivors
Sun Jun 1, 12:50 PM ET

YANGON (AFP) - A Buddhist monk in his maroon robe silently guards boxes of noodles, while another monk tries to plot an aid route to cyclone survivors using satellite print-outs of Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta.

These monks at the Sitagu Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Yangon are providing a vital lifeline to the storm survivors, as the United Nations estimated more than one million people have not received any international aid.

"I cry when they tell me their stories," said 71-year-old senior monk Nanissara.

"The situation remains very grim. The government news is just for show," he said, adding that government officials only receive "paper reports" from the the field and have never visited where aid was needed.

"Government figures are heavily edited," Nanissara said. He worries that the true death toll could be far higher than the government numbers of 133,000 dead or missing.

Myanmar's government "is not only materially, and physically poor, they are also mentally poor," he said.

Nanissara has received tonnes of aid from both private groups and foreign governments for distribution to survivors in the delta.

He has silently marshaled his loyal followers in missions across the region for weeks, reaching remote areas still unseen by foreign aid workers and where he said the ruling junta has not bothered to check.

One week ago, Myanmar offered assurances that foreign aid and relief workers would be able to enter the most devastated regions of the Irrawaddy.

But progress remains slow, and international frustration is again mounting at the pace of aid deliveries to 2.4 million cyclone victims who need food, shelter and medicine.

Nanissara said he knows of instances when foreign aid workers with truckloads of supplies were "restricted" and later told to head back. Other witnesses said they have seen the military distribute the aid among themselves.

Nanissara himself has just returned from Bogalay, one of the hardest-hit areas, where he supervised the distribution of 500 sacks of rice and more than 10,000 galvanised iron sheets for roofing.

With heavy rains pounding the delta, the monk said more deaths were possible.

"In my opinion, it is important to rebuild the houses now because the rains are very heavy," he said.

Volunteers have come to Sitagu from around the world, coordinating their work and fanning across the delta to deliver supplies and offer comfort to the grieving and shell-shocked populace.

One foreign monk volunteering here said that in Bogalay, he saw the military forcing hundreds of survivors to leave a school that had been converted into an evacuation camp.

"They were being relocated back to their villages, which remain submerged in water. So how are they expected to live like that?" he said. "And there are so many people that still need to be reached."

One month after the storm, countless human and animal remains lay uncollected, decaying in streams and rivers, he said.

Mar Mar, a 41-year-old Myanmar volunteer who has lived abroad for the past 20 years, said the outside world needs to rally aid to the impoverished country.

"I have been here for four weeks, and there has been no actual help from the government. Basically, we have had to do this on our own. We couldn't afford to just wait," she said.

"It is fair to say that many, many villages have not been reached. That is an undeniable fact," she said.

Mar Mar said she will stay as long as needed, and will continue to raise funds from her contacts privately, after handing over a 10,000-dollar check to the monastery.

The military, she said, should focus on helping rather than playing up a macho image of a tough government.

"This is very cruel," she said. "They are just returning the survivors to the villages now without any proper infrastructure or water or food."

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Soaring prices compound Myanmar's cyclone misery 
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON, June 2 (Reuters) - A large "Happy World" sign hangs above a dilapidated food market in Yangon, but on the streets shoppers are far from content.

A month after Cyclone Nargis scythed a path of destruction through Myanmar's former capital and Irrawaddy delta, leaving 134,000 dead or missing, those spared by the storm are struggling to cope with soaring prices for food and fuel.

"Of course everyone is unhappy, but nobody dares complain," stall-owner Daw Ngee Yee said as her offerings of fruit and vegetables wilted under a hot afternoon sun.

Ordinary life in Myanmar, already tough in one of Asia's most impoverished nations after 46 years of military rule, has become much harder since the cyclone devastated the country's rice bowl.

A 50 kg bag of rice now sells for 38,000 kyat, or about $34.50, up from 27,000 kyat before the storm flooded more than one million acres of arable land with seawater.

Peanut oil, used for cooking, has jumped nearly 40 percent to 5,500 kyat for a 2 kg container.

In a country where government workers earn $30 a month or less, people often spend around two thirds of their income to put meals on the table.

"The rich are okay, but while prices go up, salaries stay the same. We have to eat smaller meals," 27-year-old Ma Oo said as she inspected tied bunches of vegetable greens at the market.

But Ma Oo, who moved to Yangon two months ago in search of a better life, counts herself lucky to have some food to buy in Yangon where life is slowly getting back to what passed for normal before the cyclone.

FOOD AID APPEAL

Four weeks on, Myanmar's reclusive junta is gradually and grudgingly opening up to foreign aid and expertise. It has handed out more visas to foreign experts, but access to the delta remains restricted.

The U.N. World Food Programme said it has given 575,000 people their first ration of rice, "but many people have not been reached, and others are now due a second round of distributions. "

WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said its $70 million food aid programme faced a 64-percent funding shortfall, as did its logistics plan which includes boats, trucks and helicopters.

"With current contributions, we will run out of food by mid-July," Sheeran said after a weekend visit to Myanmar.

With markets back to normal in Yangon, WFP and four NGOs have begun handing out cash, about 50 U.S. cents per person/per day, to help people buy their own food.

That has allowed the WFP to focus on delivering aid to the hardest-hit delta where most food stocks were destroyed and few markets survived the storm.

Authorities have pushed ahead with a campaign, condemned by human rights groups and deemed "unacceptable" by the U.N., of evictions of displaced people from government shelters.

The last camp in Kawhmu, a district south of Yangon, was closed on Monday, witnesses said of the closures which appeared aimed at stopping the "tented" villages from becoming permanent.

"We have nowhere to go and we don't know any other life except farming and fishing," U Kyi, who fled to the camp with his wife days after the cyclone, said on Friday.

The evictions came on the heels of last week's official media criticism of foreign donors' demands for access to the delta, saying that cyclone victims could "stand by themselves".

Under fire for its slow response to the disaster, a junta general insisted on Sunday his government had acted swiftly and it remained open to foreign aid "with no strings attached".

But the patience of Western donors is wearing thin.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who accused the regime of "criminal neglect" and causing more deaths by stonewalling foreign aid, said on Sunday U.S. ships cruising near Myanmar could leave in a "matter of days".

Gates, on a regional tour after attending a security conference in Singapore, discussed Myanmar with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in Bangkok on Sunday.

Samak told the Pentagon chief the junta had rejected a big international aid effort partly because the generals feared it could be seen as an invasion, a senior U.S. defense official said.

"That was the clear inference," the official said. "He was not justifying it in any way, he was just saying 'this is what they tell me'".

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Lack Of Funds, Food For Myanmar Maybe Out Of Stock By July, Says UN
By D. Arul Rajoo

BANGKOK, June 2 (Bernama) -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)'s US$70-million (US$1 = RM3.2) operation to deliver food to the over 2.4 million victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar faces a 64 percent shortfall, its executive director Josette Sheeran said.

Sheeran, who completed a visit to cyclone-hit areas over the weekend, said there was a need for robust support to WFP's growing relief operation, adding that the crucial logistics operation which supported the efforts of the entire humanitarian community, was falling short by US$32 million.

"There is so much work to be done which requires sustained support by the international community. With current contributions, we will run out of food by mid-July," Sheeran said in a WFP update on the disaster which struck the Irrawaddy delta and south of Myanmar on May 2, where more than 130,000 were killed or still missing.

She said WFP had six boats and barges running supplies into and around the delta, as well as a fleet of smaller boats shuttling supplies to more remote communities.

A fleet of trucks was running into the affected area from Yangon, and supplies were moving into the country by air, she added.

So far, WFP received about US$22.2 million donations for its food assistance operation, including from the European Commission (US$7.8 million), UN CERF (US$5 million), United States (US$3.4 million), Germany (US$1.56 million), Switzerland (US$963,000) , Australia (US$877,000) , Italy (US$779,000) , Spain (US$779,000) , private donors (US$606,000) , Greece (US$200,000) and Luxembourg (US$195,000) .

The logistics operation has received support from United Kingdom (US$9.9 million), UN CERF (US$4.2 million), Canada (US$2 million), Denmark (US$1.35 million) and Norway (US$972,000) .

On Saturday, Sheeran met with the leader of the new Tripartite Core Group (TCG), Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, ahead of the group's first meeting. The TCG has been established by Asean to coordinate the Cyclone Nargis relief and recovery effort.

During her meeting with the head of the TCG, she was grateful for the swift granting of visas to international staff, and urged that the bureaucracy which delayed deployments into the delta, be lifted.

WFP has managed to dispatch sufficient food to provide 575,000 people with a first ration of rice, but many people have not been reached, and others are now due a second round of distributions. WFP is currently targeting 663,000 people with food assistance in the worst-affected parts of the delta.

She was encouraged by the start of a new WFP project in Yangon which provides cash of about 50 US cents per person/per day for a four-week period for up to 200,000 people severely affected by the cyclone.

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Work On Bangladesh-Myanmar Road Link To Start Next Year

DHAKA, June 2 (Bernama) -- The work on the proposed Bangladesh-Myanmar direct road link is expected to start next year as Dhaka has began the process to carryout the feasibility study for the project, aiming to boost trade links with the military-ruled nation.

A senior Communications Ministry official said the construction work of the 25-km long road is expected to begin by the middle of the next year.

The communications ministry has already started the process of selecting a consulting firm for conducting the feasibility study and making the cost estimation of the project.

Dhaka and Yangon last year signed an agreement for the construction of the highway connecting Bangladesh with its nearest South East Asian neighbour.

"We hope to start the construction works in nine months to one year," the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted the official as saying in a local daily.

Officials earlier said the road link would usher a new era in Dhaka-Yangon ties and pave the way for Bangladesh to subsequently linkup with the Asian Highway through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and also Kunming province of China.

They said China was interested to use south-eastern Chittagong Port to carry products from Bangladesh to its territory by road and therefore a tri-nation Bangladesh- Myanmar-China road link could be established in future.

Myanmar is Bangladesh's third largest export destination for pharmaceutical products, the officials said, adding the country exported pharmaceutical products worth US$1.7 million in 2005-06 against US$1.4 million in 2004-05 to Myanmar.

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Myanmar workers found slashed to dead
Bernama - Tuesday, June 3

SEREMBAN, June 2 (Bernama) -- Three Myanmar plantation workers were found dead with slash wounds on the head and neck in their house in Kampung Bukit, Ulu Jelebu.

Police believe their housemate committed the triple murder on Friday while they were asleep.

Negeri Sembilan CID deputy chief Supt Zazali Hashim said the victims' supervisor went to the house after they did not come to work and found the bodies yesterday afternoon.

"The men were slashed to death while they were asleep in their house -- one in bed, one on the floor and one next to a wall," he told reporters here today.

He said police found the identity card belonging to another Myanmar national but were unsure whether it was the suspect's.

They also found a number of sharp weapons strewn in the compound of the house but none had been used in the murder, he said.

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Let Asean give more aid, Najib urges Myanmar
The New Straits Times - 2008/06/02
By : V. Vasudevan

SINGAPORE: Asean is willing to provide more relief for the victims of cyclone Nargis, and Myanmar should let it, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

"A human tragedy of the highest proportions might fall on the people of Myanmar if the government of Myanmar does not allow greater participation of Asean countries and the world," he said at a press conference here.

"We are going to do more, if we are allowed to. This includes offers of helicopters, boats and even small rubber boats by Asean countries," the deputy prime minister said.

On the possibility of the armed forces of Asean members undertaking disaster relief, Najib said the military was the only organisation found to be effective over time.

"Our (military) involvement is strictly humanitarian in nature and there was no other agenda when we sent our forces to stricken areas in the past."

Najib was here for the 7th International Institute for Strategic Studies and Asia Security Summit.

He said in his speech to the summit that there had been obstacles blocking relief work.

"While we sympathise with the situation in Myanmar, we respect its sovereignty and resort to Asean-led initiatives to deliver humanitarian aid and assistance.

"Malaysia welcomes Myanmar's trust and confidence in Asean's role in co-ordinating the international response.

"Asean has neither been a destablising force in the region nor interfered in the internal affairs of member countries."

He said restoring security in complex emergencies should not be undertaken on the basis of unilateral action.

"Iraq is a classic example of this. It is of the utmost importance to respect the sovereignty of the affected state to dispel any fear of interference in the internal affairs of that state. Therefore, upon restoring security, there should be a graceful exit by the countries."

He said peace-building in a complex emergency must be based on trust and transparency.

"The mediator should not dictate terms and conditions in cases where there is a need for parties to negotiate settlements.

"Instead, it is important to create a conducive environment for them to negotiate to ensure lasting peace," he said in his address titled "Restoring Peace in Complex Emergencies" .

He said he did not challenge the conventional approach to a complex emergency but was of the view that it should be seen in a wider context to include situations where a state is badly affected by natural disasters.

He said the humanitarian catastrophe unleased by such a disaster was no less severe than in a conflict situation.

The December 2004 tsunami and its impact on Aceh, and cyclone Nargis, which devastated Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, were examples of this.

Najib said he had proposed at the 2006 forum the construction of a regional security community.

"In view of the growing frequency and severity of natural disasters, I had then mooted the idea of setting up a regional humanitarian relief co-ordination centre."

He said since then there had been positive developments , with efforts being stepped up to implement the Asean Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response.

He said following the agreement, an interim Asean Co-ordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management had been set up in Jakarta. It would start operations by year-end.

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MYANMAR: Humanitarian air bridge up and running
02 Jun 2008 12:30:53 GMT

BANGKOK, 2 June 2008 (IRIN) - The usually deserted runways and warehouses of Bangkok's Don Mueang airport have sprung alive as relief supplies for Myanmar rush in from around the globe.

Food, medicine, shelter equipment - as well as cargo helicopters - arrive daily at the airport, destined for Myanmar's cyclone-hit regions, where an estimated 2.4 million people remain homeless and hungry.

Some 134,000 people are either dead or missing after Nargis, a category four storm, slammed into Myanmar on 2 and 3 May.

"The airport is our air bridge into Burma," Paul Risley a spokesman for the World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN in Bangkok. "We have had cargo flights from around the world going through the airport."

Flights now come in daily from around the world to ferry supplies through Don Mueang to Yangon, the former Myanmar capital, having been briefly suspended on 9 May.

Once Thailand's main airport and a major regional hub for Asia, Don Mueang was replaced by the ultra-modern Suvarnabhumi airport in September 2006.

At its peak, Don Mueang handled more than 160,000 flights per year, 38 million passengers and 700,000 metric tonnes (MT) of cargo, making it the world's 18th busiest airport in 2005.

But since Suvarnabhumi opened - aside for a few budget flights, as well as some cargo and military flights - Don Mueang has been largely empty.

Supply chain

"The facilities are ideal for us. Don Mueang used to be a major international airport so there is huge surplus space for us," said Risley.

Within the facility, incoming relief can be stored at the airport's 30,000 sqm warehouse and called in as needed to Yangon.

"This will ensure we don't have a congested airport in Yangon," Matthew Hollingworth, a WFP logistician and head of the logistics cluster, explained, citing the importance of Bangkok as the primary staging ground for getting assistance into the country.

The main logistics hub will be Yangon, but Bangkok will be the staging area to support it, Hollingworth said. It takes a C-17 helicopter transport flight less than two hours to reach Yangon.

In addition to a small army of local staff, there are 10 full-time international staff at the airport loading and unloading relief aid, as well as coordinating the effort. The aid includes food, water, water purification systems and basic supplies such as blankets.

With more aid arriving daily, operations at the airport look set to increase significantly.

Currently, one Ilyushin-76 and one Antonov-12 are serving the air bridge into Yangon, but the capacity can be increased quickly if required. Regular flights continue across the air bridge from Bangkok into Yangon and from other points direct into Myanmar and on 1 June, the Canadian government flew in four MI-8 helicopters to help in the relief operation.

Logistical problems

Despite some signs of progress, Myanmar's military-led government remains reluctant to allow foreign aid workers and foreign aid into disaster-stricken regions, and still refuses to permit foreign military helicopters to fly through its airspace.

Sources at the airport confirm that the restrictions have posed serious logistical problems.

The Australian air force was forced to hire a South African company to provide two Pumas, a medium-sized twin-engined transport/utility helicopter, because its equipment was not allowed to fly in Burmese airspace.

"We could have had this [aid] delivered days ago, but we are having to work with equipment we are not familiar with," Colonel John Baxter, the Australian Embassy's Defence Attaché, explained. "But we are of course very happy that this aid will get to the people who need it most … It is a life or death situation [in Myanmar]," he added.

According to WFP, the helicopters, once operational, will prove key to getting assistance into the Ayeyarwady Delta, where access remains particularly poor.

"The helicopters will play a key role in the relief operations," said Risley. "Many of the hardest-hit areas are almost inaccessible. It can take three to four days to reach them by boat – a helicopter can do it in a few hours," he explained.

As part of the overall logistics strategy, aircraft will fly relief supplies from Don Mueang to Yangon, where they will then be transported by helicopter, trucks or barges to the disaster areas, to be distributed by NGOs on the ground. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Myanmar Red Cross have been stationed throughout Myanmar's delta areas to receive aid shipments from WFP helicopters.

"We rely on the co-operation of NGOs on the ground to hand out the aid – without them, it would be nearly impossible to distribute," the WFP official added.

While access has improved, it is still not seen as sufficient. "What is needed is free and unfettered access and that's not happening," said Mark Farmaner of The Burma Campaign.

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Despite promises, Myanmar limits access for aid agencies
The International Herald Tribune - Published: June 2, 2008
By Seth Mydans

BANGKOK: One month after a powerful cyclone struck Myanmar and 10 days after the ruling junta's leader promised full access to the hardest-hit areas, relief agencies said Monday that they were still having difficulty reaching hundreds of thousands of survivors who are in urgent need of assistance.

Over the past week, they said, the door has opened slightly and a number of foreign experts have been allowed to travel into the Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the May 3 storm. A modest flow of food, medicine and other supplies has begun to enter the delta by truck and barge.

But the agencies said that travel permits for international experts are limited and irregular and that dozens of relief workers remained stranded in the main city, Yangon.

"Several have been able to make essentially day trips to work with our field staff there," Paul Risley, a spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program, said Monday. "But access remains a continuing challenge."

A spokesman for the UN disaster relief agency said Monday that as of two days before, 15 foreign experts representing UN agencies were in the delta.

Analysts of Myanmar said they feared that the junta was playing a game of hints, promises and deception that it has used successfully over the years to deflect criticism from abroad.

"In all these crises that the Burmese face, there always is the teaser to take the pressure off the government," said Josef Silverstein, an expert on Myanmar at Rutgers University. "They seem like they are going to cooperate, and just as soon as comment dies down, anything that is going to be useful dies with it," he said. "Look back at the 'saffron revolution,' when they made all kinds of promises about what they were going to do and nothing happened."

He was referring to a peaceful uprising led by monks that was crushed in September. The junta's promises included a dialogue with the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but it dropped the idea after international attention had moved on.

In Geneva, the outgoing United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, said the failure of the world to pressure Myanmar more strongly on human rights issues made it easier for the junta to keep out cyclone relief. "The obstruction to the deployment of such assistance illustrates the invidious effects of long-standing international tolerance for human rights violations," she said.

The United Nations estimates that 2.4 million people were severely affected by the cyclone and said last week that 1.4 million of those remained in desperate need of food, clean water, shelter and medical care. The government says that 134,000 people died or are missing.

International relief agencies have complained strenuously that the junta that rules the country was barring foreign aid and foreign relief workers from the worst-affected areas and endangering the lives of the survivors.

On May 28 in Yangon, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, said the junta's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, had promised free access to foreign aid workers. Two days later, at a donor conference in Yangon, foreign nations pledged about $150 million in aid but most said it was contingent on access by foreign relief workers.

Returning to New York, Ban said that the government "appears to be moving in the right direction" and that "I hope, and I believe, that this marks a new spirit of cooperation between Myanmar and the international community."

But relief workers said it was precisely the spirit of cooperation that was missing. After a 10-day delay, the junta allowed the first of 10 World Food Program helicopters to carry supplies from Yangon into the delta. The other nine were in Thailand en route to Myanmar, Risley said. He also said that barges and smaller craft were delivering supplies to hard-hit areas.

The government has allowed U.S. aircraft to land with relief materials but has barred American workers from leaving Yangon Airport to deliver them. It has turned away U.S., French and British naval vessels loaded with supplies.

In defiance of the views of the international community, the junta insists the emergency phase of the disaster has passed and according to various accounts has begun forcing survivors from shelters back into the devastated countryside.

According to Human Rights Watch, thousands of displaced people have been evicted from schools, monasteries and public buildings.

Anupama Rao Singh, regional director of the UN Children's Fund, warned after a visit to the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta that any resettlement would be premature, even if it was voluntary.

"Many of the villages remain inundated with water, making it difficult to rebuild," she said. "There is also a real risk that once they are resettled, they will be invisible to aid workers. Without support and continued service to those affected, there is a risk of a second wave of disease and devastation. "

The government also said it would reopen schools with the start of the new term this week, though many school buildings were destroyed and many teachers were swept to their deaths. Unicef said that more than 4,000 schools serving 1.1 million children were damaged or totally destroyed by the storm and more than 100 teachers were killed.

"I think the generals are doing what they do best, taking charge of everything, trying to keep themselves in complete control," said Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst who lives in Thailand.

"The military has this colonial trauma," he said. "They say, 'Under the British for more than a hundred years we were enslaved.' They view the pressure as a new form of neocolonialism."

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Anger fails to faze Myanmar's junta
The rulers extol their cyclone response, but groups say survivors are forced out of shelters.
Denver Post
By The Associated Press
06/01/2008 11:05:54 PM MDT

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's ruling junta, faced with global outrage about its low-key response to last month's deadly cyclone, said Sunday that recovery from the catastrophe will be speedy and extolled top leaders for their actions in the crisis.

But criticism of the military junta's response to the storm continued, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying the government had acted with "criminal neglect."

The regime has limited the number of foreign relief workers and added conditions to their movement despite agreeing more than a week ago to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's request that they be allowed into the worst affected areas in the Irrawaddy delta.

The junta has not allowed military ships to bring aid.

Deputy Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Aye Myint, attending an international security meeting in Singapore, praised the government's relief operations as authorities pushed ahead with plans to open schools today in battered areas, which aid groups fear could put kids in harm's way.

The comments came a day after the junta came under sharp criticism for kicking homeless cyclone survivors out of shelters and sending them back to their devastated villages. Cyclone Nargis killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced people have recently been expelled from their temporary shelters in schools, monasteries and public buildings, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.

Some international aid agencies said their staffers were still meeting survivors deep in the delta who have not received any help since the storm hit.

Gates, who attended the Singapore conference, said a Myanmar representative did not seem interested in speaking with him.

Speaking Sunday in Thailand, Gates said Myanmar's reluctance to allow a free flow of foreign assistance and aid workers meant that many more people would die. He was referring particularly to the refusal of the junta to allow U.S., British and French military ships off Myanmar's coast to bring in aid.

Gates told reporters he will make a decision within "a matter of days" about withdrawing U.S. Navy ships off Myanmar because "it's becoming pretty clear the regime is not going to let us help."

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Second wave economic crisis in Myanmar
Asia Times - Jun 3, 2008
By Larry Jagan

BANGKOK - While Myanmar counts the cost of the Cyclone Nargis disaster and international aid agencies struggle to get relief supplies to an estimated 2.4 million homeless and desperate victims, time is running out for the country's rice farmers to plant new crops and help the country stave off famine.

If seeds are not sewn within the next 30 says in the worst-hit Irrawaddy Delta - Myanmar's rice bowl - rice production will be dangerously reduced, United Nations food and agriculture specialists warn. Meanwhile, analysts specializing in Myanmar's economy say that other food sectors have also been decimated, raising the risk of food shortages at a time the ruling military junta for political purposes continues to obstruct aid shipments and distribution.

Myanmar's economy was already one of Asia's worst performers, due to decades of economic mismanagement by successive military-run governments. After the cyclone disaster, the risk is rising of a full-blown economic collapse, some contend. "The damage to the economy is serious indeed, both in the short and longer term," said Sean Turnell, a specialist on Myanmar's economy at Macquarie University in Australia. "Rice and agriculture is only part of the picture," he said.

Agricultural experts warn that the cyclone disaster could soon shift the country from being a net rice exporter to importer, which will put new pressures on the country's already strained balance of payments. One week after the cyclone hit and the extent of the devastation was not yet known, Myanmar continued to export rice. Because of the damage "food stores have been lost, seeds have been destroyed, and other assets needed have all been swept away", said Diderik de Vleeschauwer, a spokesman for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

"Farmers have until the end of June to replant their seedlings, otherwise food production will be sorely reduced," he said. "In the lower [Irrawaddy] Delta, they just do not have the capital to replace the seeds, livestock and tools needed to start replanting rice in the next few months."

The usual planting season starts now in the Irrawaddy Delta, which usually produces as much as two-thirds of Myanmar's annual rice crop. About a quarter of the rice paddy in this area is still flooded with salty sea water carried inland by the cyclone and is littered with decaying animal carcasses and human corpses, which experts say will have to be cleared before planting can begin.

Meanwhile, irrigation channels need to be repaired, paddy walls restored and water pumps replaced to restore what was already an extremely low level of production efficiency, say food and agriculture experts. More than half of the delta's livestock, much of which was used for plowing, reportedly perished in the storm or has since starved.

"This is going to prove a very high opportunity cost for the government in the coming months, particularly given the present and likely future international demand and high prices for rice," said Turnell.

As relief efforts focus primarily on saving human lives, so far little if any agricultural rehabilitation has taken place. "They've got to put their houses back together first," said Paul Risely, a regional spokesman for the UN-affiliated World Food Program (WFP). "Even then the farmers will need to be supported with food supplies until their crops are harvested." The WFP expects to have food-for-work programs in place in the delta area for at least the next six months.

Even if a limited amount of rice is planted this year, the quality and yield is likely to be severely reduced, experts say. "We can certainly count on very meager crops for an indefinite future. The next two harvests will be greatly affected," said Turnell. "Before the cyclone this area was performing way below potential, mainly because of the regime's willful neglect and terrible policies towards agriculture. "

Forced rehabilitation
Now there is a risk the military regime aggravates the humanitarian and economic crisis by forcing farmers prematurely back onto their land. UN officials warned the government on Friday that the forced resettlement of thousands of victims could launch a second wave of deaths, through disease outbreaks and deprivation in areas that lack proper drinking water and food supplies.

Myanmar-based aid workers and relief volunteers who had worked in the delta areas in recent weeks doubt that many rice farmers will be able to plant their monsoon crops on time - despite the government's forced resettlement policies.

"They are more concerned about surviving and getting food for their families than returning to their farms," said a Thai volunteer, who has just spent a week in the worst-affected areas of the delta. "Everywhere outside the towns, the fields and waterways were full of rotting animal carcasses and bloated bodies."

Other food sectors have similarly been affected, including the crucial fishing industry, which was largely based in the delta area. More than half of the fishing industry has been wiped out by the cyclone, according to a government official in the Agriculture Ministry. More than 20,000 fishermen are reportedly dead and another 6,000 are missing in the delta, he estimated.

Most of the country's fishing fleet has been destroyed or is missing, according to local government officials. There were an estimated 26,000 small- and 2,000 medium-sized fishing vessels that operated off-shore before the cyclone hit, according to official statistics. Meanwhile thousands of fish ponds, which helped supplement farmers' food and incomes, have also been rendered useless by the salt water.

Many of the shrimp and prawn farms near Yangon and in the Irrawaddy Delta have been destroyed or badly damaged by the cyclone, a businessman involved in the export of prawns to Thailand said on condition of anonymity. "The cyclone is likely to have reduced this to a fraction of last year's output and will severely dent the country's export trade," said the Burmese fisheries exporter.

Marine fisheries in the area produce more than half of the country's fish supply, while coastal aquaculture, including shrimp, crab and grouper farms, accounts for nearly 20% of production. Both of these sectors generated significant export earnings in recent years and represented one of the few viable growth industries in the country.

The Myanmar government on May 25 requested US$11.7 billion from international donors for purposes of reconstruction and rehabilitation. So far, it's not clear the international community is willing to foot that huge bill. The junta's request included an estimated $243 million to restore the rice industry and an additional $25 million to replace livestock production. The rehabilitation bill for the fishing industry, if fully restored, will be much higher, experts say.

All told, the economic impact of the cyclone disaster could prove to be even more devastating than the loss of lives, officially estimated now at around 133,000, though some estimate that figure much higher. The cyclone will compound the country's already deep economic woes and put further pressure on government coffers.

"Imports of basic commodities and foodstuffs, all at very high international prices, will certainly increase and exports will fall dramatically, especially from the fisheries sector, putting increased pressure on the country's foreign exchange reserves," said Turnell.

While energy exports, including to Thailand, India and China, are expected to be unaffected by the cyclone disaster, the revenues they previously provided for government coffers will in future be swallowed up by the cost of rehabilitation- related imports, he said. Expensive imports will inevitably add inflationary pressures to a dire humanitarian crisis, raising the economic risk of more human suffering in the months ahead.

Larry Jagan previously covered Myanmar politics for the British Broadcasting Corp. He is currently a freelance journalist based in Bangkok.

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A Case for Crimes against Humanity
The Irrawaddy - Monday, June 2, 2008
By WAI MOE

The Burmese military regime’s failure to respond effectively to Cyclone Nargis, its refusal to allow foreign relief workers access to the affected areas and its forcible eviction of refugees from shelters and health facilities amounts to crimes against humanity, according to Burma’s opposition and several prominent international figures.

Under international law, a “crime against humanity” is an act of persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people, and is the highest level of criminal offense. The term was first used in relation to the post-World War II Nuremburg Trials when Nazi leaders were tried for war crimes.

In 1996, the UN General Assembly recognized the racial persecutions of the former South African government’s Apartheid system as crimes against humanity.

The terminology was broadened in 1998 when the International Criminal Court (ICC) was set up in The Hague and a treaty known as the Rome Statute was introduced.

Under the Rome Statute, “Crimes against Humanity” was described as acts “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.”

Those acts include systematic murder, rape, enslavement and imprisonment. According to US-based rights group Human Rights First, the case against the Burmese junta would also incorporate crimes against humanity in terms of: forced displacement of ethnic minorities; forced labor; recruitment of child soldiers; extrajudicial killings; and torture.

As of June 2008, 106 member nations had ratified the Rome Statute; however, most notably, the US, China and Burma have refused to ratify the treaty.  

Thein Nyunt, a member of the legal panel on Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the Burmese authorities had committed a crime against humanity by ignoring the crisis caused by Cyclone Nargis.

Tropical cyclone Nargis hammered lower Burma, including the Irrawaddy delta, and the country’s largest city, Rangoon, on May 2-3. The cyclone has claimed as many as 134,000 deaths and affected about 2.4 million people. Survivors claim that no immediate relief was provided by the state in the aftermath of the disaster. 

“From a legal point of view, blocking aid for cyclone victims was not only breaking international law, but also Burma’s own criminal code,” said the NLD lawyer. “Under Burmese criminal law, failure to save lives in a disaster situation is noted under criminal laws 269 and 270.”

Last week, cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta were forced to return to their villages which were totally destroyed and uninhabitable, according to numerous independent reports. 

Thein Nyunt said that by forcing cyclone survivors to return to their villages is also a form of crime as it breaks the Burmese military government’s agreement with the International Labor Organization (ILO) on banning forced relocation in Burma.

“The SPDC’s (the State Peace and Development Council, the official title of the junta) refusal to allow more aid to the delta has contributed to a large number of fatalities,” said David Mathieson, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch in Bangkok.

He said it was still too early to determine whether the junta’s actions constitute a crime against humanity. However, the crisis is “suddenly, a very serious situation,” Mathieson said, which “should be investigated by the UN Security Council.” 

Human rights advocates and legal groups in Canada and Europe also say the military regime’s blocking of aid to cyclone victims has cost tens of thousands of lives.

Advocates of prosecuting the junta say that they must go through the UN Security Council first before filing a motion with the ICC.

Mathieson said that although China and Russia would probably veto any motion against Burma at the Security Council, the issue of crimes against humanity should be pursued. 

Burma watchers also accuse the Burmese regime of being preoccupied with holding a national referendum on May 10 at a time when it could have been saving lives in the delta.

Meanwhile, several prominent exiled Burmese groups and international bodies lined up to condemn the Burmese junta. The words “crimes against humanity” were never far from their lips.

Bo Kyi, the joint- secretary of a Burmese human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said the Burmese military regime knew that a massive number of people had died in the wake of the cyclone.
 However, the top generals ignored the death and destruction and went ahead with its constitutional referendum, he said. 

Robert Gates, the US Secretary of Defense, said on Sunday that the Burmese regime was guilty of “criminal neglect” for blocking large-scale international aid to cyclone victims.

And the European Parliament stated on its Web site that the Burmese military junta’s behavior with regard to relief work during the cyclone disaster was a “crime against humanity,” and suggested that the Burmese leadership face international justice.

“Blocking food and medicine for cyclone survivors is extermination,” said Aung Htoo, the secretary of the Burma Lawyers’ Council. “If this case does not go to the ICC, then many more people will die.”

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Burmese Troops Deployed to Coastal, Border Areas
The Irrawaddy - Monday, June 2, 2008
By MIN LWIN

The Burmese military has been deploying infantry battalions and air defense artillery battalions close to the Thai-Burmese border area of Mon and Karen States and Tenasserim Division since late May, according to sources in the area.

“Burmese troops are on high alert in Mon State,” said Aue Mon of the Human Rights Foundation of Mon Land. “The Burmese military government has deployed additional troops along the coasts of Mon State and Tenasserim Division.”

He said that he believed the reinforcements were a precaution against a possible military intervention.

“Military Operation Command 19, which consists of 10 battalions, has been stationed in Kawzar Village, in Mon State’s Yee Township,” he said.

Mon sources also said that an artillery battalion with radar and air defense capabilities has been stationed in Anankwin Village, about 60 km from Three Pagoda Pass, since late May. The battalion belongs to Artillery Division 606, based in Thaton Township.

Analysts say that after border tensions arose between Burma and Thailand in 2001, the Burmese military increased its deployment of air defense artillery battalions in southern Burma. There are also 12 artillery battalions in Tenasserim Division under the command of Artillery Division 505, headquartered in Mergui Township, and 11 artillery battalions in Mon and Karen States, under the command of Artillery Division 606.

Meanwhile, the Burmese military government has also increased its deployment of light infantry battalions in cyclone-affected areas of Irrawaddy Division, since late May.

A resident of Laputta Township said some 3,000 Burmese soldiers from Light Infantry Divisions 66 and 11 were sent to areas hit by Cyclone Nargis last week. LID 66 is based in Pegu Division’s Prone Township, and LID 11 is based in Yemon Village, in Rangoon Division’s Hlegu Township.

The resident said the light infantry battalions were stationed in at least 6 outposts in Laputta Township and were responsible for the distribution of rice and other supplies to survivors of cyclone.

Ohn Kyaing, a spokesperson for a relief team sponsored by the opposition National League for Democracy, returned from Pyinsalu, Laputta Township on Sunday and told The Irrawaddy on Monday that security forces, including riot police, are also stationed along the Rangoon-Dedaye road in Kungyangone Township.

Htay Aung, a Burmese defense researcher based in Thailand, said that the Burmese military government deployed the troops along the coastal region and in the delta because it fears humanitarian intervention by the international community.

“Another possible reason the Burmese troops are being deployed along the border is political instability in a neighboring country,” he said, referring to recent rumors of a possible coup in Thailand.

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Government restrictions hampers aid efforts: WFP
Mizzima News - Monday, 02 June 2008 20:29
Solomon    

New Delhi: Global body-- the World Food Programme (WFP)-- has said it was yet to get permission from the Burmese government to allow the use of a chopper to airlift aid to remote areas in the Irrawaddy delta.

 "We have one helicopter available for use now in Rangoon, but it has not been deployed yet," Paul Risley, WFP spokesperson in Bangkok said. "However, It is ready to be pressed into service," he added.

Risley said it was important for them to be able to use the helicopter as several villages in remote areas in the delta were inaccessible due to difficulties in transportation.

The WFP, which has been supplying aid to the cyclone victims, said it has nine more helicopters in Bangkok, awaiting permission from Burma's military rulers--- to be sent into Burma.

Risley said, "We have another nine helicopters currently in Thailand and within a number of days they will be ready to transfer to Burma from Bangkok."

The WFP, which so far has been able to supply an estimated aid to 575,000 cyclone victims, said their aid operation had been delayed due to the government's restrictions on their international aid workers. These workers had to stay for a while in the delta region.

"We want the staff to stay and work in the delta area but we cannot get the requisite permission," Risley said. "This remains a challenge for our work in the delta," he added.

Meanwhile, United States defence officials said four of its naval ships carrying aid supplies and several helicopters would be ordered to leave soon, after failing to obtain permission from the Burmese junta for the past two weeks.

US Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates, during an Asia Security conference in Singapore on Sunday said, "No decision has been made at this point, but the ships obviously have been out there going around in circles for a long time. At this point, it is becoming pretty clear that the regime is not going to let us help."

Last week, the French Navy ship--- 'The Mistral', which had been waiting off the coast of Burma for permission from the ruling junta to allow them to help the cyclone victims, withdrew to Thailand and off-loaded its supplies.

On Saturday, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, who visited the cyclone-hit regions in Burma, urged the Burmese government to do away with the red tapism, which was delaying deployments into the delta.

In a release issued on Sunday after her return from Burma, Sheeran said, the government procedures for clearing the deployment of aid workers remained a constraining factor, reducing effectiveness.

The WFP said while it was able to supply aid to 575,000 people of its target of  6,63,000 with a first ration of rice, "many people have not been reached," adding that the others are now due for a second round of distribution.

An aid worker in Rangoon, who returned from the Kun Chan Kone Township in Rangoon division said, though aid is reaching refugees and cyclone victims in the towns, several villages have been left out due to transportation and communication problems.

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Donors face questioning at checkpoints

Jun 2, 2008 (DVB)–Authorities have put more checkpoints in place on the way to cyclone-affected areas and are questioning donors as they pass, according to a member of a youth relief team from Rangoon.

Despite the military regime’s recent announcement that donors could travel freely to cyclone-hit areas, Pyi Sone Kyaw, a youth team member, told DVB that he was still questioned on his way to Irrawaddy division.

“Security forces – immigration, police and riot police – are everywhere. I had to go through three checkpoints to reach my destination,” Pyi Sone Kyaw said.

“I was asked where I was going and if any foreigners were accompanying me. There was a sign saying free passage at every checkpoint but I was still questioned,” he said.

“As for our truck driver who was transporting the aid, his name and car registration were recorded.”

Pyi Sone Kyaw and his close friends formed a youth relief team to help cyclone victims, and collected money from other friends and relatives to purchase relief supplies.

They recently went to remote villages in Pyar Pone township in the Irrawaddy delta on Sunday to distribute aid to villagers.

On 27 May, the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee of the military regime issued News Release No. 8 saying donors could go right down to storm-hit areas of their choice.

Reporting by Yee May Aung

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Irrawaddy residents fear spread of disease

Jun 2, 2008 (DVB)–Cyclone victims in the coastal areas of Irrawaddy division are worried about the spread of disease from dead bodies which have still not been collected, according to a donor.

A private donor from Mandalay, who has visited around 90 villages in the coastal areas, said residents were still in desperate need of help, with bodies of humans and animals still lying on the streets a month after the cyclone hit.

"There are human corpses still floating around in creeks and drains in the area as well as dead animal bodies," the donor said.

"According to an elderly farmer in one of the villages, a lot of cows and buffalo are continuing to die from diarrhoea after drinking from lakes and ponds filled with salt water," he said.

"Local residents are really scared that they might catch diseases spread by flies bred from the dead bodies."

The donor said aid workers had still not reached some villages that were badly hit by the cyclone.

"Some villages in Daydaye township, such as Ywar Thar Aye village, have not received any aid yet and villagers are only surviving by eating the wet rice and drinking rain water," he said.

"They are running out of food – if they don't receive help within a few weeks, they will starve."

Reporting by Nan Kham Kaew

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