Burma Related News - June 12- 13, 2008
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HEADLINES
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AP - UN official says Myanmar urgently needs fuel so tillers can prepare for planting rice
AP - Myanmar says US aid can't be trusted
AP - UN warns Myanmar funds appeal short of target
AP - UN: 35,000 pregnant women need care in Myanmar
AFP - Junta's aid rules delay Myanmar cyclone relief: HRW
AFP - Greece catches illegal migrants from Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar releases relief critics, ASEAN team to have full access in the country
AFP - ASEAN head says team to have full access in Myanmar
Reuters - Myanmar landslide kills 12 ruby miners
MCOT - Myanmar turns down third Thai medic team
The Seattle Times - Junta distributed land soon after Myanmar cyclone
Los Angeles Times - In Myanmar, a Times reporter worked in secret to cover the story
IHT - Fierce purity and the fate of Myanmar
The Nation - Letters to Editor: Cyclone victims must be left to die
Mizzima News - Junta officials seize cameras
Irrawaddy - Obstacles Force Donors to Abandon the Delta
Irrawaddy - Grant Full Access to International Community: Laura Bush
DVB News - Labutta families commemorate cyclone victims
DVB News - Farmers charged admin fees to receive loans
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UN official says Myanmar urgently needs fuel so tillers can prepare for planting rice
AP - Saturday, June 14
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar is in urgent need of diesel fuel to make sure that tilling machines _ brought in to replace water buffalos killed by Cyclone Nargis _ can be used to help plant rice in the storm-devastated Irrawaddy delta, a senior U.N. official said Friday.
The call by Noeleen Heyzer, U.N. under-secretary- general and head of the world body's headquarters for Asia, came as Myanmar's state-controlled press said that relief aid from the United States could not be trusted.
In a clear reference to the United States, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece for the ruling junta, warned that "the goodwill of a big Western nation that wants to help Myanmar with its warships was not genuine."
Myanmar turned down humanitarian aid from naval vessels from the United States, as well as Great Britain and France, that had sailed toward the Southeast Asian nation after Cyclone Nargis struck on May 2-3.
The newspaper said that aid from nations who impose economic sanctions against Myanmar and push the U.N. Security Council to take actions against it "comes with strings attached."
The newspaper has implied in the past that Washington is in league with Myanmar's pro-democracy movement to undermine the military government.
The United States is one of several Western nations that impose economic and political sanctions on the junta because of its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Tens of millions of dollars have been donated to help Myanmar's cyclone victims, but the junta has been reluctant to accept foreign relief experts in large numbers, and has restricted their access to the hard-hit delta area.
The U.N. estimates more than 1 million survivors, mostly in the delta, still need help more than five weeks after the cyclone struck. Cyclone Nargis killed more than 78,000 people in impoverished Myanmar and left another 56,000 people missing, according to the government.
The U.N.'s Heyzer, meanwhile, called for Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors, foreign aid donors and traditional oil suppliers to assist the country by helping supply it with 1 million gallons of diesel.
Myanmar Agriculture Minister Maj. Gen. Htay Oo told Heyzer in a meeting earlier this week that the fuel was needed to operate some 5,000 tillers donated by Thailand, China and other countries to plant rice in time for the next growing season, starting in June and July.
"The window of opportunity is very short, and the need is of the utmost urgency," Heyzer was quoted saying. "The planting season in the delta is June to July, after which it will be too late, with disastrous consequences for food security in Myanmar and the region."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an assessment issued earlier this week that the area affected by the cyclone "normally accounts for roughly 60 percent of (Myanmar's) rice production."
"The outlook for the 2008/09 rice crop is very uncertain, as the planting window will close in late July. Little to no actual progress has been made to restore or rehabilitate damaged lands and infrastructure, while farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement mechanical tillers and fuel," it said.
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Myanmar says US aid can't be trusted
AP - Saturday, June 14
YANGON, Myanmar - As individuals and aid agencies around the world dig into their pockets for funds to help Myanmar's cyclone victims, the country's ruling junta said Friday that such assistance from the United States could not be trusted.
State media has previously said Myanmar feared Washington was using the cover of humanitarian aid to invade the country and steal its oil reserves.
The suspicion continued Friday, when a media mouthpiece for the regime warned that "the goodwill of a big Western nation that wants to help Myanmar with its warships was not genuine" _ a clear reference to the U.S.
Myanmar rejected humanitarian aid aboard naval vessels from the U.S., Britain and France, which sailed toward the Southeast Asian nation after Cyclone Nargis struck May 2-3.
The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Friday that aid from nations who impose economic sanctions against Myanmar and push the United Nations Security Council to take actions against it come "with strings attached."
Despite the junta's regular attacks on Western donor countries, celebrities, ordinary people and aid groups there have donated generously to help the cyclone victims.
However, the U.N. said Thursday it has received about half the money it requested for cyclone relief, with some nations apparently delaying their donations because of concerns about restrictions imposed by the military government on foreign aid workers.
The U.N. set a goal of $202 million for its relief efforts but so far has received only $89 million, or 44 percent, from government donors, it said. Some $51 million in pledges has not yet been delivered, the U.N. said.
Funding shortfalls were particularly great for emergency food operations and education, the world body said.
"Funding is clearly not coming in at the rate we would hope," said Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman in Bangkok for the U.N. relief operations. "Funding is urgently needed to sustain the pipeline for food and assistance."
Other agencies are faring better. The private, Christian-oriented group World Vision, a major international relief agency, says it already has $19 million of the $25 million or $26 million it needs to enable operations for six months.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says it has raised 96 percent of the $51 million it is seeking.
Private agencies _ which play a large part in relief operations _ raise much of their funds from individuals.
Aid donors met late last month in Yangon and agreed to provide some cyclone aid, but many of them warned the ruling junta they would not fully open their wallets until international aid workers are provided access to the hardest-hit areas. The generals promised to allow foreign workers into the Irrawaddy delta, but have continued to hinder access to the devastated area.
Humanitarian and rights groups said the government distributed a new set of guidelines for relief operations at a meeting of U.S. agencies and private aid groups Tuesday that could further complicate and delay recovery efforts.
The guidelines require repeated contact with national and local government agencies and large amounts of paperwork.
"The government should be streamlining aid efforts to cyclone victims, not slowing down aid with these new rules," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Friday.
Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee _ a consortium of 13 humanitarian aid agencies _ says Queen Elizabeth II and Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling both contributed "significant donations" to Myanmar relief.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $3 million and offered software to help reunite family members separated in the cyclone.
In Hollywood, the nonprofit organization Not On Our Watch _ founded by actors George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and others _ awarded $250,000 to Save the Children and offered to match every additional dollar given to the aid group up to $250,000.
The U.N. estimates more than 1 million survivors, mostly in the delta, still need help. The storm killed more than 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing, according to the government.
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UN warns Myanmar funds appeal short of target
Fri Jun 13, 12:05 AM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Gates, J.K. Rowling and a clutch of Hollywood stars have all given generously to help Myanmar's cyclone victims, but the United Natinons says government donations for its relief effort are falling short.
The United Nations said Thursday it has received just over half the money it requested for cyclone relief in Myanmar, with some nations apparently delaying their donations because of concerns about the junta's restrictions on foreign aid workers.
The U.N. set a goal of $201.6 million for its relief efforts but has received only $88.5 million, or 44 percent, from government donors, it said. Some $51 million in pledges has yet to delivered, the U.N. said.
Funding shortfalls were particularly great for emergency food operations and education, said the world body.
"Funding is clearly not coming in at the rate we would hope," said Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman in Bangkok, Thailand. "Funding is urgently needed to sustain the pipeline for food and assistance."
Aid donors representing dozens of countries and regional organizations met last month in Yangon and agreed to provide some cyclone aid, but warned the junta they would not fully open their wallets until international aid workers are provided access to the hardest-hit areas.
The junta promised to allow foreign workers into the Irrawaddy delta, but continued to hinder access to the area.
Humanitarian and rights groups said the government distributed a new set of guidelines for relief operations at a meeting of U.S. agencies and private aid groups Tuesday that could further complicate and delay recovery efforts.
The guidelines require repeated contact with national and local government agencies and large amounts of paperwork.
"The government should be streamlining aid efforts to cyclone victims, not slowing down aid with these new rules," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Friday.
Other agencies are faring better. The private, Christian-oriented group World Vision says it has raised over $19 million and expects to get at least $6 million more.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says it has raised 96 percent of the $50.8 million it is currently seeking, largely because it is able to tap a network of national agencies in 186 countries.
Private agencies — which play a large part in relief operations — raise much of their funds from individuals.
"Obviously people see images on television of people in great need. I think there's a natural desire to give in that situation," said World Vision spokesman James East.
He noted that the U.N. has different sources for its funds, primarily governments. "What governments are interested in is access and accountability — they want to be sure that their money is going to be spent wisely and that the aid can be monitored."
Celebrities have also played a part in raising money.
Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee — a consortium of 13 humanitarian aid agencies — says Queen Elizabeth II and Harry Potter author Rowling both contributed "significant donations" to Myanmar relief.
The committee, which says it has raised $20.8 million, would not reveal the size of their donations.
In the United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $3 million for relief efforts and offered software to help reunite family members separated in the cyclone.
The donations were given to the private groups Mercy Corps, World Vision and Care "so they can go in there and help as quickly as possible," according to Gates.
Hollywood is doing its part, most notably through the nonprofit humanitarian organization Not On Our Watch — founded by actors Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, producer Jerry Weintraub and human rights lawyer David Pressman.
The group awarded $250,000 to Save the Children, and offered to match every additional dollar given to the aid group up to $250,000.
The U.N. hopes that funding will increase after June 20, when it finishes a comprehensive assessment of the needs of the estimated 2.4 million cyclone survivors.
It estimates more than 1 million survivors, mostly in the delta, still need help more than five weeks after the cyclone. The May 2-3 storm killed more than 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing, according to the government.
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UN: 35,000 pregnant women need care in Myanmar
Thu Jun 12, 2:57 AM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Up to 35,000 pregnant cyclone survivors are in urgent need of proper care in Myanmar, a U.N. expert said Wednesday, as relief agencies again raised concerns about the junta's willingness to accept foreign aid.
Pregnancy and childbirth were already relatively risky before Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest countries, said William A. Ryan, a spokesman for the U.N. Population Fund.
More than 100 women give birth every day in the area affected by the cyclone, he told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand.
"The destruction of health centers and loss of midwives have greatly increased the risks," he said. "It is clear that many pregnant women do not have anywhere to go to deliver with skilled assistance."
Ryan said that wrecked health facilities should be rebuilt and there is also a need for trained midwives.
The maternal mortality rate in Myanmar before the May 2-3 storm was 380 per 100,000 births — almost four times the rate in Thailand and 60 times the rate in Japan, Ryan said.
He said the U.N. Population Fund has provided supplies to Myanmar's Health Ministry for distribution to health clinics in 10 affected townships, including hospital equipment and rubber gloves.
Meanwhile, international aid agencies said the government's new guidelines for delivering relief to cyclone survivors could slow their response.
The rules, distributed Tuesday by the government at a meeting with U.N. agencies and private humanitarian organizations, would require a large amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with government agencies.
"Additional steps for seeking approval may unnecessarily delay the relief response," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a report.
U.N. agencies were assessing the new guidelines, said Amanda Pitt of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The guidelines require most activities by the foreign agencies to be cleared by a government ministry and local authorities. It also requires approval from the so-called Tripartite Core Group, comprising representatives of the government, U.N. agencies and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, of which Myanmar is a member.
The U.N. estimates that Nargis affected 2.4 million people and that more than 1 million of them, mostly in the Irrawaddy delta, still need help. The cyclone killed at least 78,000 people, according to the government.
Foreign aid organizations have faced a series of hurdles in trying to provide help for victims of the storm, starting with the government's reluctance to grant anything but a handful of visas to foreigners.
Although helicopters have been allowed — with some delay — to fly supplies to the delta, aid agencies say the government has continued to stall visa applications and delayed allowing foreigners access to the most devastated areas.
Also Wednesday, a state-controlled newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, said the military rulers were breaking no laws by holding democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for a sixth straight year.
The junta's recent decision to extend her detention by one year sparked international outrage, with the Nobel Peace laureate's party and foreign defense lawyers arguing she could legally be held for only five years.
A commentary in the newspaper said detentions are permissible for as long as six years under a 1975 law.
Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the last 18 years at her home in Myanmar.
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Junta's aid rules delay Myanmar cyclone relief: HRW
AFP - Friday, June 13
BANGKOK (AFP) - - New guidelines adopted by Myanmar's ruling generals are further delaying emergency efforts to deliver aid to regions ravaged by the cyclone, human rights experts said.
The rules, issued on Monday, require UN and other aid groups to receive formal permission from Myanmar authorities to travel and to distribute aid.
Bureaucratic delays in the issuing of humanitarian visas and official roadblocks across the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta region have already led to criticisms the Myanmar government was obstructing relief.
It had been hoped that assurances given to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon three weeks ago had eased the passage of aid.
"The government should be streamlining aid efforts to cyclone victims, not slowing down aid with these new rules," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"Once again the generals are placing control of the population over the needs of the population."
Human Rights Watch says the new rules require humanitarian workers to obtain permission from both Myanmar government ministries and the core group -- including the United Nations, the regional bloc ASEAN and Myanmar governent -- coordinating the aid effort.
The local authorities, known as Township Coordination Committees, must also be kept informed, it said.
The watchdog said its sources in the former capital Yangon also claimed that further permissions are necessary from regional and local military commanders, and that government officials must accompany all travel by foreign aid workers to the delta.
Six weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit, leaving more than 133,000 dead or missing, more than one million survivors have still not been reached by foreign assistance, according to the United Nations.
"Clearly international staff do require much more sustained access to the delta areas, particularly for key skilled technical staff so they can really establish more systematic operations," said Amanda Pitt, spokeswoman for the UN's emergency relief arm.
"The reality on the ground often differs sharply from government promises to allow aid," Adams said. "Diplomats, the UN, and ASEAN need to keep a close eye on aid delivery and sound the alarm if the government improperly interferes."
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Greece catches illegal migrants from Myanmar
AFP - Friday, June 13
SALONIKA, Greece (AFP) - A Greek border patrol at the frontier with Turkey intercepted a truck hiding 45 illegal migrants, of whom 15 had fled Myanmar, police said in a statement on Friday.
The police said they had very rarely found people from Myanmar among illegal migrants entering Greece.
Also crammed into the vehicle were 23 Pakistanis and seven Iraqis.
The 29-year-old Albanian driver -- and presumed trafficker -- tried to escape the border control and then to flee on foot once the truck was stopped.
Greek police said that among thousands of migrants crossing through their country each year en route to western Europe, the majority have been from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
Large parts of Myanmar were devasted on May 2-3 by Cyclone Nargis, which left 133,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million in need of food, shelter and medicine.
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Myanmar releases relief critics, ASEAN team to have full access in the country
by Bernice Han
Thu Jun 12, 3:15 AM ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) - Sixteen survivors of Myanmar's deadly cyclone have been released one day after they were arrested for complaining about delays in delivering aid, an official said on Thursday.
Most of the group were women, accompanied by their young children, who on Tuesday went with two interpreters to the offices of the UN Development Programme to complain about the slow pace of the relief operation.
News of the release comes as a team of aid experts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have gained full access to parts of cyclone-devastated Myanmar, ASEAN's secretary general said on Thursday.
"Now we have 250-plus of our, what we call our post-Nargis assessment teams, in the Delta, in the Yangon division, in the south and they will be doing the full assessment and they will have full access to the affected region," Surin Pitsuwan told reporters in Singapore.
"I think if we look at that, it's already a great achievement and we will try to maintain that momentum", he said.
Cyclone Nargis pounded the southwest Irrawaddy Delta and the main city of Yangon on May 2-3 leaving more than 133,000 people dead or missing.
ASEAN said one week ago that the Emergency Rapid Assessment Team had begun to deploy in the delta region to start a long-awaited examination of the needs of millions of people affected by the storm.
It said then that its advance teams, ferried by UN World Food Programme helicopter, would compile a first-hand "progress report" for an ASEAN Roundtable meeting in Yangon on June 24.
Surin said there were no doubts that the team would be able to do its job adequately and with credibility, "coming up with a report that would be taken up by all parties in order to be the basis of rehabilitation and reconstruction later on."
Inciting international outrage, Myanmar's isolated military regime had largely barred foreign aid workers from gaining access to the delta, which bore the brunt of the cyclone.
Relief workers slowly moved into the region in late May after the junta started to ease restrictions on access, and asked fellow ASEAN nations to coordinate the international relief effort
But the United Nations estimates that while 2.4 million people need emergency aid, about one million have not yet received any foreign assistance.
The ASEAN team is working under a tripartite arrangement with the United Nations and the Myanmar government.
One Southeast Asian diplomat in Yangon said last week that the team would finish its work by month's end, although ASEAN says its findings will only be released in mid-July.
"We expect them to meet a lot of difficulties, with many parts of the delta remaining physically difficult to reach by road or boats," the diplomat said.
"We are hoping we may be able to fill in the gaps, although we realise there is a big void in terms of aid to be filled."
Surin said things had been going "very well" on the ground.
"Certainly there are rooms for improvement but we are working on that and we have been assured that, yes, we will work together until the mission is accomplished, " he said on the sidelines of a meeting about human rights in ASEAN.
The deployment of the ASEAN team last week came a day after the United States gave up trying to convince the junta to allow aid-laden warships stationed off the delta to deliver their vital supplies.
ASEAN has often been criticised for failing to act firmly against its member Myanmar, which has frequently embarrassed its neighbours with its refusal to shift towards democracy.
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ASEAN head says team to have full access in Myanmar
by Bernice Han
Thu Jun 12, 2:44 AM ET
SINGAPORE (AFP) - A team of aid experts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the UN will have full access to parts of cyclone-devastated Myanmar, ASEAN's secretary general said Thursday.
"Now we have 250-plus of our, what we call our post-Nargis assessment teams, in the Delta, in the Yangon division, in the south and they will be doing the full assessment and they will have full access to the affected region," Surin Pitsuwan told reporters in Singapore.
"I think if we look at that, it's already a great achievement and we will try to maintain that momentum", he said.
Cyclone Nargis pounded the southwest Irrawaddy Delta and the main city of Yangon on May 2-3 leaving more than 133,000 people dead or missing.
ASEAN said one week ago that the Emergency Rapid Assessment Team had begun to deploy in the delta region to start a long-awaited examination of the needs of millions of people affected by the storm.
It said then that its advance teams, ferried by UN World Food Programme helicopter, would compile a first-hand "progress report" for an ASEAN Roundtable meeting in Yangon on June 24.
Surin said there were no doubts that the team would be able to do its job adequately and with credibility, "coming up with a report that would be taken up by all parties in order to be the basis of rehabilitation and reconstruction later on."
Inciting international outrage, Myanmar's isolated military regime had largely barred foreign aid workers from gaining access to the delta, which bore the brunt of the cyclone.
Relief workers slowly moved into the region in late May after the junta started to ease restrictions on access, and asked fellow ASEAN nations to coordinate the international relief effort
But the United Nations estimates that while 2.4 million people need emergency aid, about one million have not yet received any foreign assistance.
The ASEAN team is working under a tripartite arrangement with the United Nations and the Myanmar government.
One Southeast Asian diplomat in Yangon said last week that the team would finish its work by month's end, although ASEAN says its findings will only be released in mid-July.
"We expect them to meet a lot of difficulties, with many parts of the delta remaining physically difficult to reach by road or boats," the diplomat said.
"We are hoping we may be able to fill in the gaps, although we realise there is a big void in terms of aid to be filled."
Surin said things had been going "very well" on the ground.
"Certainly there are rooms for improvement but we are working on that and we have been assured that, yes, we will work together until the mission is accomplished, " he said on the sidelines of a meeting about human rights in ASEAN.
The deployment of the ASEAN team last week came a day after the United States gave up trying to convince the junta to allow aid-laden warships stationed off the delta to deliver their vital supplies.
ASEAN has often been criticised for failing to act firmly against its member Myanmar, which has frequently embarrassed its neighbours with its refusal to shift towards democracy.
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Myanmar landslide kills 12 ruby miners
13 Jun 2008 11:21:56 GMT
YANGON, June 13 (Reuters) - Torrential rains caused a landslide that killed 12 miners in Mogok, military-ruled Myanmar's "Valley of Rubies" gem zone, a source with relatives living in the area said on Friday.
"At least a dozen ruby miners died in the landslide," the source said, adding that four members of one family were also swept away in flooding caused by Thursday's monsoon season downpour in the foothills of the Shan Plateau.
Mogok, about 650 miles (1,000 km) north of Yangon, is the source of the former Burma's famed "pigeon's blood" rubies, said to be the world's finest.
Experts estimate that 90 percent of all rubies come from Myanmar although since September's bloody crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks, anti-junta campaigners have been lobbying for tighter sanctions to stop their international trade.
Rubies, sapphires and jade are important sources of foreign exchange for the military, which has ruled with an iron fist since seizing power in a 1962 coup. The United States said the junta made about $300 million from the gem trade in 2007.
Conditions in the mines around Mogok, which is off-limits to foreigners, are said to be horrendous, with workers toiling for a pittance at the bottom of make-shift pits hewn out of the hillside.
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Myanmar turns down third Thai medic team
MCOT
BANGKOK, June 13 (TNA) - Myanmar authorities said the country no longer needed Thai medical assistance in treating victims of Cyclone Nargis as the Myanmar authorities are now able to bring the situation under control, according to a senior Thai official.
Dr. Surachet Satitniramai, secretary-general of the Institute for National Emergency Medicine, said Myanmar's announcement of its self-reliance cancelled the third Thai medical team mission, which was set to enter the affected area to carry out their mission.
The Public Health Ministry has so far received good cooperation from leading state hospitals—including Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Ramathibhodi Hospital and Siriraj Hospital and other hospitals under the Ministry—in dispatching two Thai medical teams into the area where medical assistance is needed.
Each team -- working on behalf of the Royal Medical Unit under the patronage of HRH Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn -- consists of 30 staff and whose tenure lasts for 14 days.
The second team of Thai physicians and other personnel currently operating in Myanmar would return to Thailand on 15 and 16 June.
Thailand is the first country whose doctors were allowed to operate in some of the areas devastated by Cyclone Nargis. The areas include Myaungmya and Laputta,160 km southwest of Yangon. (TNA)
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Report: Junta distributed land soon after Myanmar cyclone
The Seattle Times - Friday, June 13, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Just seven days after Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar last month, the ruling military junta parceled out key sections of the affected...
By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Just seven days after Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar last month, the ruling military junta parceled out key sections of the affected Irrawaddy Delta to favored tycoons and firms, including some facing sanctions from the U.S. Treasury, according to a Myanmar magazine with close ties to the government.
Some of the most notorious business execs, including Tay Za and Steven Law, also known as Tun Myint Naing, were given control of "reconstruction and relief" in critical townships, under the leadership of top generals.
Treasury identified Tay Za as a "regime henchman" this year when it sanctioned hotel enterprises and other businesses he owns.
All told, more than 30 firms and 30 execs are to divide up the business in 11 townships hit by Nargis, the report said.
The document is dated May 9, a time when the United Nations, aid groups and many countries were trying to reach areas affected by the storm, which killed as many as 130,000 people and left 2.5 million homeless. Despite promises of greater openness, Myanmar's rulers have continued to impose restrictions on relief, according to reports from the region.
The document, which includes the cellphone numbers of many execs, appeared in the weekly Voice, a journal published by Nay Win Maung. A translation was provided by BIT Team, an India-based group that tries to promote information technology in the xenophobic country.
Nay Win Maung, the son of a military officer, was raised among Myanmar's military elites, giving him good connections, and his magazines can access government-related news and exclusive information.
"The Treasury is targeting the regime's cronies, and the regime wants its cronies to get the money," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.
Efforts to reach Law or Myanmar representatives in Washington on Thursday were unsuccessful.
While some of the execs awarded contracts are known to human-rights activists and financial-crime experts, others are less prominent, making the document a possible guide to the individuals now in favor
with the junta.
The government estimated it needed more than $11 billion in reconstruction aid shortly after the May 2-3 cyclone hit.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is rich in natural resources, but much of the country is poor. The junta has enriched itself with natural-gas fields that bring in $2 billion annually, as well as trade in jewels, heroin, amphetamines, timber and small arms.
Some of the conglomerates given business in the delta, such as Law's Asia World and Tay Za's Htoo Trading, were also tasked with building the country's new capital at Naypyidaw, more than 200 miles from the old capital of Yangon. With little notice three years ago, the junta uprooted the capital to a remote area, requiring massive construction of new government buildings, hotels and housing.
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In Myanmar, a Times reporter worked in secret to cover the story
Los Angeles Times
From a Times Staff Writer
June 13, 2008
KONG TAN PAAK, MYANMAR -- From the far side of a murky brown river, the only moving thing visible on the ravaged landscape was a tattered maroon cloth, fluttering listlessly atop a tree stripped of its branches.
Two Buddhist monks had torn it from the only material they had, one of their own coarse robes. Its message was just as plain: "Alive! Please help."
Tropical Cyclone Nargis killed 300 people in this village, wiping away almost every trace of the people, their homes and a monastery. Surviving monks went to a relief camp, but after nearly three weeks, they figured that what they had fled couldn't be much worse.
So they took some of the meager rice rations they received from the military, came back and made themselves a tent by stretching tarps over a frame of fallen trees.
In the two days they had been living in it, our riverboat was the first to stop. My interpreter went ashore first.
When he confirmed that no soldiers or government officials were there, I crawled out of my hiding place.
Over the last 16 years, I have reported on famine, massive earthquakes and a tsunami. Cyclone Nargis is the first natural disaster that required working undercover to write about the hungry, sick and homeless.
Myanmar's military regime is suspicious of outsiders, fearing they are spies or that their presence could expose the fallacy of the government's claim to be an all-powerful provider of development and stability.
The May 2-3 storm killed at least 78,000 people. And 56,000 are missing.
More than a month after the cyclone, the government continues to deny unhindered access to the disaster zone for foreign experts, such as medical and water-purification teams, threatening thousands of lives, especially those of children, pregnant women and the elderly, the United Nations and other agencies say.
In the cyclone's aftermath, the regime was so determined to keep prying eyes from a landscape littered with corpses and people begging for help that it set up checkpoints on the main roads into the Irrawaddy River delta, which took the brunt of the storm.
The names and passport details of those caught were recorded before the vehicles were turned back. Local people accompanying them were interrogated.
But it's much harder to police the boats that ply the delta's labyrinth of rivers and canals.
The younger of the two monks, U Nya Tui Ka, 53, approached our boat, one of four I hired to take me to the delta during a month of visits, and was shocked to see a foreigner poking his head from the hold.
He assumed that help had arrived. His despair gave way to a broad smile, and then to disappointment as the interpreter explained that I was a reporter.
There was an unsettling silence. Not a birdsong, a dog's bark or a crying child could be heard -- only the wind and a few buzzing flies.
Standing in the blazing sun, chewing on a mouthful of betel, the senior monk, U Pyinar Wata, patiently answered our questions. The monks could make do with the little food they had, he said. After all, Buddha had taught that without craving, there is no suffering.
But the monks were worried about a few homeless children in their care. Together, the monks and boys were the only people on their side of the river for miles. Without fresh water, the monks feared, the boys might not last long.
What they all needed most, said Pyinar Wata, 60, was a pump and some diesel fuel to run it, so they could empty a 150-square-foot reservoir of seawater and corpses and let it fill with clean rainwater.
He might as well have been asking for a rocket to Mars.
We had traveled with some boxes of antibiotics, bottled water, packages of cookies and instant noodles to hand out. But those had run out early on the trip. All I had left was a camera, a tape recorder -- and sympathy.
We were eager to leave to stay out of the military's sight. But the monks wanted us to take pictures of the reservoir, see where they slept and cooked on a mud floor.
Most cyclone survivors were the same. They talked for as long as we would stay, pouring out their souls along with the tea, coconut juice or water they offered from their meager reserves.
When it was time to move on, the kindest of them said we had lifted a great weight just by caring enough to stop and listen.
The 30-foot boats I hired normally haul sugar cane, bananas or rice. No crew was willing to chance two trips, so after each four-night journey, we returned to Yangon, also known as Rangoon, switched boats and set out again.
The boats are not built for comfort.
The holds are open to leave room for cargo, which meant my only hiding place was the cramped space beneath the top deck.
About 15 feet across and 8 feet deep, with a wooden ceiling and peeling turquoise paint, it was a dark, sweltering cell barely big enough to sit upright in.
The pilots sat on the roof above me. One, to keep his hands free for frequent bottles of cheap cane liquor, pinched a steel pipe between his toes, deftly working the Chinese-made 18-horsepower diesel engine that spun a long-tail propeller sluggishly churning the water.
The machine pounded like a jackhammer. And since the four-man crew felt safer staying away from land, it thumped day and night, stopping only when we slipped into storm-ravaged villages.
Their courage braced by the cane liquor, the crewmen felt their way through the night. They poked at shallow channels with a bamboo sounding pole, comparing what they could see of the ruined landscape with foggy memories of trees that once pointed the way.
Sunset was also the signal for the boats' full-time occupants to come crawling out of the cracks. Cockroaches the size of mice and spiders with legs as long as crabs' feasted on the crumbs of our food. At times, so many bugs skittered around that it sounded like a gentle rain.
A green vine snake dropped in one night from an overhanging branch. The long, thin snakes are agile and only mildly venomous. A bite would be very painful but not fatal. Just the same, it would have blown my cover pretty quickly.
A crew member who usually worked the hand pump to clear the constant flow of bilge water beat the serpent to death. Carefully keeping it at arm's length, he tossed it overboard with a stick.
The bigger danger was that we'd be found out, which the crew feared would mean jail time. It almost happened twice.
While we were docked at the delta town of Mawlamyine Gyun, two policemen on foot patrol questioned the crew. The pilot said he was a rice trader, which apparently made sense to the officers even though the hold was empty and the cyclone had wiped out the rice crop.
They didn't bother to look into my hiding place, where I was cringing under a rough blanket.
Another day, we nearly pulled into a destroyed village to ask directions as two army officers were ordering people around.
Just yards from shore, the pilot throttled up and made a sudden U-turn as I ducked back into my cell. No one followed.
Otherwise, authorities were usually nowhere to be seen in the remote villages where the suffering was most severe.
Largely left to fend for themselves through weeks of living with decomposing bodies, scant aid and evictions from relief camps, many of the survivors began to lose something: their fear of speaking out.
Most are no longer afraid to openly criticize the military, to express anger that they once hid beneath a veneer of loyalty and obedience learned during 46 years of military rule.
Volunteers asserted new authority. An American aid worker, also working under cover, told of a local volunteer deliberately stepping on a military officer's toes to deliver rice directly to villagers instead of following orders and taking it to the township council.
Tens of thousands of volunteers collected donations in the cities, loaded supplies into vehicles and boats and headed for destroyed villages. They came back with photos and stories of what they'd seen, short-circuiting the junta's propaganda machine.
The regime's English- language newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, praised the country's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, for staying away from damaged areas for two weeks after the storm hit. It said his "farsightedness and genuine goodwill" let relief efforts proceed faster without him.
When he did go, his "warm words of encouragement . . . made downhearted victims happy," according to the report. "While watching the news and scenes of the Senior General cordially greeting the victims on TV, we, all the people, were pleased with the efforts of the government."
But in the cities, millions have heard from foreign radio broadcasts and Internet news sites that weren't yet blocked by the regime that the generals had refused to allow tons of aid on U.S., French and British warships to be brought ashore.
And they know that soldiers have forced people into trucks and dumped them back in ruined villages, and that despite promises to ease restrictions on entry to the country, their rulers are delaying the arrival of foreign experts and life-saving equipment.
Villagers are listening too.
One night, when several suggested we would be safer tying up to a tree in their creek than risking the busier river route, a man heard the crackling Voice of America and British Broadcasting Corp. on the interpreter' s shortwave radio. He joined him on the roof of my hiding place and listened for several hours.
At dawn, when the pilot was cranking up the engine to a sputtering start, the man returned to ask a favor.
He didn't want food, medicine or water. He needed the radio so the whole village could hear.
So we donated it.
The writer, who recently completed an assignment in Myanmar, is unidentified to protect those who worked with him.
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Fierce purity and the fate of Myanmar
International Herald Tribune - Published: June 12, 2008
By Seth Mydans
Perfect Hostage A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's Prisoner of Conscience By Justin Wintle 464 pages. $27.95. Skyhorse Publishing.
There are not many countries whose stories are so intensely bound to the character of a single person, much less a person with no tangible power, not even the power to leave her house or receive a visitor or make a telephone call. Yet for nearly two decades, events in Myanmar (formerly Burma) have revolved around the condition, the policies and most of all the victimization of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, now 62, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years. Hers is a symbiotic power, as Justin Wintle describes it in his aptly titled "Perfect Hostage," bestowed by the almost cartoonish thugs who have made her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless," in the words of the former Czech president Vaclav Havel.
The State Peace and Development Council is a stereotypical military junta, brutal and efficiently repressive. But the generals, in a way, are as much hostage to Aung San Suu Kyi as she is to them. Their control of the country and its destiny has been constricted by her moral authority and personal magnetism, and by the continuing allegiance she inspires from people both inside and outside the country. Aung San Suu Kyi, though, is not simply an icon, and the sway she holds over her oppressors - and her supporters - is more complex than simple victimhood. This thoroughly researched biography sets out to explicate the personality of a leader who found herself by chance (though also by birth) at the head of her country's struggling pro-democracy movement. By delving into her childhood and her years as a student at Oxford University, Wintle, a journalist and the author of books on Vietnam, finds the seeds of her commanding personality, her straight-backed moral certainty and a "fierce purity" that gave her, as one friend said, "the knack of putting one on one's best behavior."
Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of U Aung San, the independence hero of Burma (which was renamed by the current military junta). Though she was only 2 years old in 1947, when he was assassinated, she has described him as her model and inspiration. And it is this family connection that brought her - the nonpolitical wife of a British academic - to the forefront of the opposition in August 1988, when the nation was convulsed by a popular uprising and massacres by the military. The opposition coalesced around her in a political party named the National League for Democracy. It overwhelmingly won an election in 1990 that was annulled by the generals. Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest even before the vote was held, and since then has been released for only brief periods.
"Perfect Hostage" suffers in places from the awe this brave woman inspires in those who write about her. Wintle sometimes employs jarring turns of phrase - he speaks of the Burmese people's chances of having "the generals' guts for garters" and suggests that if Aung San Suu Kyi is killed, "her sainted blood might trickle into Inya Lake." But the book presents readers with the complexity of Myanmar's history and its present tensions, and of Aung San Suu Kyi herself, who is described as both flexible and inflexible, ready to cooperate with her oppressors but unbending in calling for international sanctions against them.
The most provocative section comes at the end of the final chapter. Though it seems a bit of an after-thought, it attempts to explain what Aung San Suu Kyi has meant for the fate of Myanmar. Have her idealistic vision, her personality, her fortitude and her perseverance been a positive force, or have they held her nation back from the possibility of change? It is a difficult question to answer, both because Aung San Suu Kyi is so charismatic and her story so morally unambiguous, and because of a sort of political correctness that has come to characterize support for her.
But it is just this determined support, Wintle suggests, that may have inhibited the kind of moral and political compromises sometimes needed for history to move forward. Rather than embracing what he calls "Aung San Suu Kyi's strategy of highest principle," he says Western nations could have pursued a policy of economic and political engagement that might have drawn the generals out of their shells.
"Counterproductive sanctions," he says, include "instances where rightly principled positions have turned into inflexible dogma - a charge sometimes leveled at Aung San Suu Kyi herself." This is a surprising finale to an admiring biography of one of the most attractive personalities of our time. But even if Aung San Suu Kyi fails as a democratic pioneer, even if she may have drawn her country and its critics down an unproductive path, Wintle says, she is one of the rare figures who have shown us what is good in ourselves as human beings. "Without her kind," he says, "we are all impoverished. "
Seth Mydans covers Southeast Asia for The New York Times.
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Cyclone victims must be left to die
The Nation
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published on Jun 14, 2008
Why did the Burmese generals refuse desperately needed aid that was offered for the victims of Cyclone Nargis from American, British and French warships anchored just inside territorial waters off Rangoon?
The Burmese generals would have gladly accepted the aid, from any source, simply because it would enrich them. They would take the aid and sell it to their relatives and closest associates, who would sell it at high prices to the victims or to anyone else willing to buy it. The dying cyclone victims would, in fact, see little of it.
Representatives of the American military-industrial complex are in the pay of the Burmese generals. They enjoy the big bribes and kickbacks. Less than 17 years ago, American and French oil and gas companies enslaved tens of thousands of Burmese people to construct the Yadana gas pipeline in the same cruel and inhumane way that the Imperial Japanese Army enslaved Asians and Allied prisoners of war to build the Burma-Siam "Death Railway" in World War II.
American business interests and stupid politicians like George W Bush are not concerned about the Burmese people or about human rights. They are interested only in money and power.
Dick Fabius
Holland, Michigan
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Junta officials seize cameras
Mizzima News - Thursday, 12 June 2008 21:16
Nem Davies
New Delhi – Local Burmese military junta authorities in cyclone-hit Kungyankone, Rangoon Division have begun seizing video and still cameras. At least 10 have been confiscated so far.
The seizure of video and still cameras came in the wake of news appearing in state-run newspapers that anti-government elements and self centred people were making money from concocted and fabricated news and by filming video footage of cyclone relief efforts and reconstruction work.
"The authorities seized four digital video cameras and at least six still cameras in Kungyankone. They are seizing the cameras even from people's homes," a person who returned from Kun Chan Kone told Mizzima.
They took away the cameras from video shops and studios which make documentary videos and are into still photography at weddings and other social and religious functions. Though the authorities said they were taking the cameras just for a while, the cameras have not yet been returned to the owners, he added.
The authorities detained famous actor and comedian Ko Zarganar on June 4 evening. He was helping cyclone victims with relief materials.
The authorities also seized Cyclone Nargis documentary videos and song albums sung on the cyclone by children from his home.
The documentary VCDs and photographs of the killer cyclone which lashed some townships in Rangoon and Irrawaddy Divisions on May 2 and 3 were very popular among local people and were selling briskly. The video footage captured scenes of bodies strewn around, uprooted trees, collapsed houses and lampposts and debris heaped on the streets.
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Obstacles Force Donors to Abandon the Delta
The Irrawaddy - Friday, June 13, 2008
By MIN KHET MAUNG / BOGALAY
Sayadaw Kawvida, the abbot of Sankyaung Monastery in Bogalay, sighs and shakes his head as he ponders the uncertainties that lie ahead for the more than 100 refugees who have been staying at his monastery since Cyclone Nargis struck on May 2-3.
“I’m afraid their main source of food has almost disappeared,” he says sadly. “There are fewer and fewer private donors coming these days.”
The abbot is not alone in his concern about the declining number of private donors. Other shelters for displaced storm victims are also facing an increasingly precarious situation, now that the flow of food and other necessities that has sustained them for the past month has slowed to a trickle.
The vast majority of refugees interviewed said that they hoped to continue receiving aid from private donors, as they felt they had been completely neglected by the country’s ruling military regime.
There are already several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the area, but refugees say they fear that the junta’s inflexibility will force them to leave, too.
For many cyclone survivors, the private donors who came to help them deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis did more than just provide food and clothing.
By coming and sharing what they had, they were more like caring relatives than aid workers. By speaking with the cyclone victims and listening to their stories, they also provided much-needed counseling to help them deal with the shock of their loss.
“It’s not only food that they need,” said one monk who has cared for thousands of refugees at Kyaikhamwan Pagoda in Pyapon. “They also need smiling faces that can heal their pain to some extent.”
Khin San Myint, a Pyapon resident who lost her five-year-old son and all of her property in the cyclone, said she would have gone mad if not for the words of consolation she received from donors.
“When they asked me, ‘How are you, Ama [madam]?’ I felt some relief from the pain of my loss,” the forty-two year old woman said.
But now the storm victims are seeing fewer private donors, and they are not sure if local NGOs will be able to do much to help them.
Observers say that many private donors have been discouraged from continuing with their relief efforts by obstacles created by local authorities.
Donors say that they have to pay unfair fees to use roads and bridges to transport goods to the delta. They also complain of being subjected to interrogation at checkpoints along the way.
In some cases, donors’ vehicles have been turned back or seized by local authorities, while other donors have been forced to exchange their goods for products of inferior quality.
A volunteer for the local NGO Myanmar Egress reported that last week, en route to Laputta, the group was stopped at a checkpoint and forced to hand over sacks of high-quality rice in exchange for low-quality rice.
“They [local authorities] told us that if we did not obey their order, we would have to go back right away,” the volunteer said. “We had no alternative.”
Some private donors have also complained that their goods were confiscated after they tried to bypass the checkpoints.
Even some popular monks, including Sitagu Sayadaw U Nyanissara, have had to deal with harassment by local authorities.
In the third week of May, two trucks loaded with sacks of rice donated to the revered monk for distribution to cyclone victims were stopped for inspection at the checkpoint near Panhlaing Bridge, which links Rangoon to the delta. Police said that only one truck would be permitted to pass, and the other would have to be impounded.
While many observers attribute the sudden decline in the number of private donors in the delta to official obstruction, others note that there are also economic reasons for the change.
One economic analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that middle-class donors have probably done as much as they can afford to do.
“They have certain limits,” he said, noting that even the relatively well off were struggling with rising costs, as the country’s mismanaged economy continues to push more Burmese into poverty.
“Now they have almost nothing left to share with the refugees,” he said.
He added that the largely spontaneous response to the needs of cyclone victims was driven by what he called a “humanitarian mindset,” and did not reflect any economic abundance in Burmese society—just as the regime’s less than generous response did not indicate that the country’s ruling generals were short of cash.
Zin Zin, a university student who organized a drive to collect old clothes for needy cyclone victims, said that it has become more difficult to find clothes to send.
“People we contact really want to help, but they have nothing left to share,” the twenty-two-year- old student said.
“I also have just three sets of clothes,” she added.
“Private donors have done their best,” said one journalist. “Now it is time for international organization to take charge.”
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Grant Full Access to International Community: Laura Bush
The Irrawaddy - Friday, June 13, 2008
By LALIT K JHA
US first lady Laura Bush on Thursday urged the Burmese military junta to allow international aid workers full access to the Irrawaddy delta to carry out humanitarian relief work unhindered.
"We urge Burma's ruling generals to allow US and other international humanitarian relief teams, as well as non-governmental organizations, to provide assistance in getting supplies quickly and efficiency to areas of need," Bush said.
The US first lady, who has taken a keen interest in the pro-democracy movement in Burma and issues related to the welfare of its people, was speaking at the World Food Programme executive board meeting in Rome.
"Burma's ruling junta has not yet granted full access to the international community," she said.
Just last week, the US Navy pulled relief ships from Burma's coastline after 15 separate requests to provide assistance were rejected. However, while the Burmese regime has rejected offers of international assistance, many people in areas devastated by the May 2-3 cyclone have still not received any help, Bush said.
The UN estimates that more than six weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit the coastal areas of Burma, a significantly large percentage of people in the affected area remain without any humanitarian relief.
Bush said the US had committed more than US $35 million in humanitarian assistance in response to the cyclone disaster.
"Of this total, $12 million will go to the World Food Programme (WFP) for food aid, including 1,600 tons of urgently needed commodities from a USAID warehouse in Djibouti. These will arrive in the coming weeks," she said.
Bush said she appreciated the work done by the WFP in carrying out relief work and distribution of food to the people in the affected areas.
"The World Food Programme is playing a critical role in directing aid to those who require it most. Thank you very, very much for your important work in Burma. And thank you for putting up with all the challenges of working there and continuing to figure out ways to get help to the people in need," Bush said.
Referring to the ongoing global food crisis, Bush said today that as all nations face a significant increase in global food prices, higher costs can mean the difference between a daily meal and no food at all for millions of people across the globe.
Last month President Bush called on the US Congress to provide an additional $770 million to support US food aid and development programs. In addition, the administration authorized an estimated $200 million in emergency food aid in April.
These two actions bring the US response to rising food prices to nearly $1 billion in new funds that will further ongoing US efforts. The US is projected to spend at least $5 billion to fight global hunger over the next two years.
As the US increases its food assistance, increasing commodity and freight costs are making it more difficult to provide life-saving emergency food aid, Laura Bush said.
The US first lady has called on the US Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to 25 percent of US food assistance directly from farmers in the developing world.
"This measure would help build local agriculture, and by reducing shipping delays and costs, it would help us get more food to those in need faster. I urge the United States Congress to approve this as soon as possible," she said.
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Labutta families commemorate cyclone victims
Jun 13, 2008 (DVB)–A Buddhist commemoration service for those who died when Cyclone Nargis struck Burma on 2-3 May was held in Labutta township in Irrawaddy division yesterday.
The ceremony was held at Sakyar-Marazein pagoda in downtown Labutta and was attended by family members of the cyclone victims who donated a meal, money and items to 46 monks.
U Kyi Win, a people's parliament representative in Labutta, said the commemoration ceremony was sponsored by the local National League of Democracy and was organised by a high-profile monk known as the Kyaik Htee Yoe abbot.
"We invited family members of the victims who were killed by the cyclone. People from about four villages attended the ceremony and their faces looked so sad," said U Kyi Win.
"In Buddhism, if you die suddenly, you can end up in the wrong place in the afterlife as you probably wouldn't have had time to get your mind into a peaceful state. That's why we are making merit today; to help them reach somewhere good."
Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet
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Farmers charged admin fees to receive loans
Jun 13, 2008 (DVB)–Farmers in Tharawaddy township, Bago division, have been charged up to 3000 kyat in administrative fees in order to receive their state agricultural loans, local residents said.
A Tharawaddy resident said farmers in the 69 village groups in the township had each been forced to pay between 1500 and 3000 kyat towards their village group’s costs.
"In order to get the agricultural loan, each village group has to pay 20,000 kyat to the agricultural administration manager, 3000 kyat to the deputy manager, 2000 kyat each to the two administration secretaries, 8000 kyat to the agricultural administration' s approval letter and another 8000 kyat for the landmark department's approval letter," the resident said.
"Each farmer has to give an additional 500 kyat for an application form and 100 kyat more as a form filling fee. And then the village group has to pay another 15,000 kyat as an account checking fee."
The local said more than 30 farmers in the township's Sein Na-khwa village who did not receive their loan have complained to the township and district authorities.
The farmers speculated that the money they were supposed to have received had instead been taken by the village authorities.
"The village groups were asked to donate 350,000 kyat for each village to buy buffalo towards farming redevelopment in the Irrawaddy delta,” the Tharawaddy resident said.
“But the authorities refused to accept live buffalo, they would only accept cash."
The developments in Tharawaddy follow two reports over the past month of farmers in neighbouring Zee Gone township being forced to give a percentage of their agricultural loans and goods to local authorities.
Reporting by Aye Nai
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