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Cyclone Nargis' Aftermath in Insein Prison
UN: Myanmar prison shootings should be probed
The right to food in Myanmar
Myanmar junta slams citizens over cyclone report

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Cyclone Nargis' Aftermath in Insein Prison
Information Release
Date: June 6, 2008

Insein prison, located in Rangoon, suffered damage from cyclone Nargis on May 2 and 3. In Insein prison, the strong cyclone blew away the roofs of multiple buildings, flooded prison wards and tore many trees out of the ground. In addition, a fire which broke out during the storm caused thick smoke to envelope much of the prison.

Furthermore, the roof of the food warehouse was completely blown away so bags of rice were soaked and destroyed by heavy rain. The rice bags became moldy, foul and inedible so ICRC replaced them with new bags of rice as soon as they found out about the situation. Prison authorities used the new rice from ICRC to feed prisoners for three days: 19, 20 and 21 of May. Later they fed the prisoners the wet, foul and inedible rice.

Due to that inhumane act, many prisoners are suffering from diseases related to eating the bad food. Prisoners are mainly suffering from diarrhea, dysentery, vomiting and dizziness, skin allergies (having bumps on the whole body), swollen stomach and typhoid. We have come to know that female prisoners in the women's compound of Insein prison have been suffering even more severely than others. Furthermore, it has been reported that prison authorities haven't provided any adequate medical care for those who suffer.

Tate Naing, the secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) also known as AAPP stated the following, "the health situation of prisoners will worsen and become critical if they are fed that bad and inedible food any longer. Contagious diseases will spread very quickly in a crowded place like prison if authorities do not take appropriate actions promptly.

Myo Yan Naung Thein, who was arrested on December 14, 2007 due to his participation in the 2007 September Saffron Revolution, was severely tortured during interrogation. He is now suffering from wounds received when he was beaten by prison authorities. Moreover, he was accused of being mentally ill and purposefully transferred to a special ward for mentally disabled people since he had a quarrel with prison authorities. Recently, Myo Yan Naung Thein has required assistance to help him walk in order to go to the visiting room to see his family on visiting days.

U Ohn Than was arrested on August 23, 2007 while he engaged in a solo demonstration in front of the United States Embassy in Rangoon. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and detained first in Insein Prison. Later, he was transferred to Mandalay prison, and then to Kalay prison, and finally to Khamti prison. The prison where he is now detained is located in a severe malaria area. Prisoners in that prison are vulnerable to be infected very quickly. U Ohn Than is now suffering from a severe stage of cerebral malaria. The malaria virus has reached his brain. To cover up his critical health situation, prison authorities sent a telegram to his family pretending it was written by U Ohn Than himself, saying that he doesn't need to be visited and his family can transfer money to him instead of visiting him in person.

Tate Naing, the secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) related to the above mentioned situation said, "prison authorities should follow the jail manual which says prisoners should be placed in prisons close to their families. This way, prisoners will have family visits frequently and their needs will be provided for by their families."

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)

Contact: Tate Naing (66) 81 287 8751

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UN: Myanmar prison shootings should be probed
AP
By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 21 minutes ago

Myanmar should investigate reports that inmates were shot to death in a Yangon prison as Cyclone Nargis ravaged the country last month, a U.N. human rights expert said Friday.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the U.N. Human Rights Council's new investigator for Myanmar, said security forces apparently opened fire after prisoners at Insein prison panicked when zinc roofs were blown off during the May 2-3 cyclone.

"The authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation to clarify the facts and identify the perpetrators of these arbitrary killings," he said in a 16-page report to the rights council.

Tate Naing of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) put the death toll at 40, based on several reports the group received about the shooting.

The Thailand-based organization for Myanmar exiles said more than 1,500 prisoners were forced to congregate inside a prison hall and were locked inside until the morning of May 3.

Angry prisoners set fire to the hall and a riot ensued. Guards attempting to contain the situation opened fire and soldiers and riot police were called in, the group said.

However, Myanmar's government rejected the claim that inmates had been shot in the incident.

"No one was killed or injured during the event," said Wunna Maung Lwin, Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. office in Geneva. "The prison security, as well as the police and the military, had not in any circumstances used arms against the prisoners."

Questioning Quintana's impartiality, Lwin added that "human rights issues must be addressed with respect for national sovereignty."

Quintana, who took up his post May 1, has yet to visit the country himself.

In his report, he touched on aid delays related to the cyclone, but stopped short of blaming the junta for causing additional suffering to the 2.4 million people affected by the storm. Many could not be reached by international relief agencies because of government-imposed restrictions.

Beyond the cyclone, Quintana said he was greatly concerned the country's rulers had made no improvement on important issues such as the treatment of political prisoners, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

"The situation of human rights in Myanmar ... has not changed for the better," said Quintana, a rights expert from Argentina.

"The reported number of political prisoners and detention conditions continue to be appalling," Quintana said, adding he had been informed that some 1,900 people are imprisoned on political grounds.

He called on the government to release the country's most prominent political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

The Southeast Asian country faced international condemnation last September after security forces violently suppressed pro-democracy protests, killing dozens.

Last month's referendum on a new constitution meanwhile lacked transparency because international observers were blocked from attending, he said. The vote was held May 10, about a week after the May 2-3 cyclone.

Critics say the constitution is designed to perpetuate the military's decades-old grip on power and have questioned the fairness of the referendum.

The government reported that 98.12 percent of the 27.3 million eligible voters cast ballots and that 92.48 percent of them approved the charter.

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The right to food in Myanmar
by Jamie van Wagtendonk and Dave McGuire
06-06-2008
Click to listen to the report

More than a month after Cyclone Nargis wreaked destruction throughout Myanmar, survivors and aid workers tasked to rebuild the country are facing a new, perhaps more devastating problem: the country is running out of food.

The outlook for the new growing season is dire. On a recent tour of the affected areas, a Radio Netherlands reporter saw firsthand the grim state of food supplies in Myanmar: "The government had already exported double the amount of rice of all of last year, so the stocks were already low." When the storm struck, destroying an estimated 95 percent of all buildings in the Irrawaddy Delta and killing over 130,000 people, the reclusive, hard-line government was completely unprepared.

Photos of the aftermath of Nargis on display on a Yangon hoarding, encouraging people to show charity to those with nothing

Planting season

Now, farmers are on the cusp of missing the rice planting season. Another missed crop may mean an even steeper climb in the price of rice and a dependence on international help - aid that has often been turned away by the Burmese government. Our correspondent visited Yangon airport twice, and saw but one aid plane - being unloaded by hand. Our correspondent adds, "Normally after a disaster of this scale, the airport would be clogged with aid planes. This is not the case."

Exorbitant prices

It will be a near impossible task for Burmese farmers to rebuild their land in time for planting. One Burmese writer notes that "a major problem is the lack of traditional tools for farming, while most of the cows and buffaloes, 47,000, have been killed by the storm." The ruling junta has offered tractors to many of the affected farms, but not cheap fuel.

This story was approved by and featured on: The State We're In, Radio Netherlands programme on human rights and human wrongs

This resource is heavily rationed by the government and prices for petrol are exorbitant on the black market, ensuring that many of these government tractors will sit idly by the spoiled rice paddies. Thus, just as the Burmese start to rebuild, they are facing staggering food prices that will affect the entire country. Our correspondent explains the knock-on effects of high food prices:

"A 50-kilo bag of rice costs about 25 euros; it can keep a family of six for a month, but even a middle-class person like a teacher or a government clerk only makes about thirty to forty a month. So they can just barely afford the rice for their family and that's not counting the vegetables, meat, or electricity."

Working with the junta

There are stories, many substantiated by local journalists, that rice delivered by foreign nations are being hoarded in government warehouses. This worry has led many groups and governments to be wary about how they are delivering aid. But according to Frank Smithuis, head of the mission of Doctors Without Borders, the worry is overstated. He cites that out of 65,000 bags of rice, a mere sixty have gone missing - and even those bags may not have been taken by corruption.

Other aid workers say that it is important to remember that relief agencies must work with the current government in order to help and should leave politics behind when attempting to prevent further devastation in the country. According to our correspondent, who spoke with hundreds of Burmese citizens in the past weeks, the wish of the people is to not be forgotten, and that the outside world "not punish our people for our government's mistakes."

 http://www.radionetherlands.nl/thestatewerein/otherstates/tswi-080607-myanmar-food

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Myanmar junta slams citizens over cyclone report
Reuters
By Aung Hla Tun / Fri Jun 6, 8:14 AM ET

Myanmar's junta attacked "unscrupulous" citizens and foreign media on Friday for presenting a false picture of the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis as experts began mapping the extent of the disaster.

The New Light of Myanmar, the mouthpiece of the ruling generals, said people had been selling video footage "of invented stories" to foreign news organizations which tarnished the country's image.

"The people who are in touch with the situation feel that the despicable and inhumane acts by local and foreign anti-government groups and self-centered persons and their exploiting of the storm victims are absolutely obnoxious," the newspaper said.

Bootleg copies of DVDs showing the devastation in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta have been snapped up on the streets of the former capital Yangon and smuggled out of the country.

Police detained famous activist/comedian Zarganar on Wednesday night and seized his computer, several banned films and records of the cyclone damage.

Newspaper, television and radio are tightly controlled by the military government, which also severely restricts international media access to the former Burma.

The New Light of Myanmar accused foreign media of running "groundless news stories with the intention of tarnishing the image of Myanmar and misleading the international community into believing that cyclone victims do not receive any assistance."

The first major criticism of foreign media coverage of the disaster followed a recent report on a satellite television network of bootleg video footage being sold at a Yangon market.

On Friday, police swooped on satellite television suppliers in Yangon, ordering them not to sell or install new receiver dishes.

Many such dishes, which provided one of the few conduits into the isolated country, were destroyed in the cyclone.

"Thanks to a tip-off given by an official, we were able to hide the things we had on sale," said one dealer.

In January, the government hiked the annual license fee from around $6 to $909 in an apparent bid to curtail satellite access.

RIGHTS PROBE DEMANDED

In Geneva, the United Nations human rights expert for Myanmar urged the junta to investigate reports its soldiers shot dead at least 36 prison inmates during unrest in the country's most infamous prison at the height of the May 2 storm.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, who reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council, also called for the free flow of aid to the delta.

Dozens of delta villages, some visited by Reuters, have yet to receive any relief assistance since the May 2 cyclone swept over the area and Yangon, leaving 134,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million people in desperate need of help.

The newspaper report accused media organizations and local people of "luring naive storm victims" with leading questions on their living conditions a week after the junta began evicting thousands of people from state-run camps out of apparent fear the tented villages could become permanent.

A team of 200 international disaster and aid experts fanned out across the delta to assess the extent of the cyclone destruction and gauge whether farmers would be able to plant crucial monsoon rice crops by the end of July.

"They have begun looking at areas today and will report back in the middle of next month," a spokeswoman for the ASEAN-UN "Emergency Rapid Assessment Team" told Reuters.

Plans to accelerate the delivery of aid to the delta were delayed on Friday when poor weather grounded seven U.N. World Food Programme helicopters in neighboring Thailand.

The helicopters, part of a fleet of 10 approved by the junta two weeks ago, are urgently needed by relief workers, but only one has so far arrived in Yangon.

A top U.S. military commander said on Friday the United States continued to extend its offer to help with the delivery of aid to the delta, but the regime had not replied so far.

Lt. Gen. John Goodman, commander of the joint task force Caring Response, said 22 heavy-lift helicopters were on standby in Thailand if Myanmar's generals gave the green light.

"We offered them to ride on our helicopters, to prescribe routes. I did everything that I thought was diplomatically and logically feasible to find a way for them to say yes," he told Reuters after his talks with a Myanmar general on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in GENEVA and Darren Schuettler in BANGKOK; Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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