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Myanmar's monks regroup after killer storm
Work-shy Myanmar buffaloes add to farmers' woes
Battered Burma's Food problems just beginning
Recent Burma News (23-06-08)
U.N. issues aid plea for Myanmar

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Myanmar's monks regroup after killer storm
AP
23 June 2008

In helping others, Myanmar's saffron-robed Buddhist monks have helped themselves.

The monks' critical role in providing relief after Cyclone Nargis has galvanized their ranks and strengthened their political voice — just months after the junta quashed the democracy uprising spearheaded by the monks last fall.

The monks have channeled aid materials into stricken regions and turned monasteries into soup kitchens and refugee camps since the May 2-3 storm.

Their outreach to survivors — many of whom received little or no government help — highlighted the monks' power and the possibility they could clash again with Myanmar's ruling forces. Some monks are even building secret stashes of makeshift weapons, clerics say.

While Buddhism orders its clergy to shun violence and politics, monks in Myanmar and elsewhere in Asia have a history of militancy. The monk Saya San became a national hero in the 1930s by leading a revolt against the British colonialists who hanged him after fielding 12,000 troops to suppress his peasant army.

In more recent times, monks were at the forefront of a 1988 uprising against the junta and led mass street demonstrations which the military crushed last fall.

An expert on Myanmar affairs, retired Rutgers University professor Josef Silverstein, said the monks' post-storm mobilization is consistent with beliefs of Buddhist in the country.

"These beliefs didn't disappear because the military hit them over the head last year," he said by telephone. "The monks are angry and they're seeing that no one else is stepping forward" to lead relief efforts — or political opposition.

A Yangon monk — one of a dozen interviewed by The Associated Press — said it was impossible to "close our eyes to a government that cares so little for the people that it allows them to suffer and die." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the intense government scrutiny of monks and the sensitivity of discussing anti-government action in this tightly controlled nation.

His monastery has collected and distributed truckloads of blankets, tarpaulins and food to storm survivors. And, like hundreds of other monasteries throughout Myanmar's storm-struck southwest, it also became a temporary shelter for those who lost their homes.

Short and wiry with fiery eyes, the monk spoke in hushed but urgent tones as he blamed the ruling generals for failing to adequately warn people of the cyclone, which killed at least 78,000 and left an additional 56,000 missing.

He also blamed government restrictions on foreign aid and humanitarian workers for putting millions of survivors at risk of starvation and disease.

"As monks, it's our responsibility to fight for a change," said the monk, as he fingered a scar that he said came from a melee with authorities during last September's crackdown.

He displayed part of a secret cache, consisting of a half-dozen slingshots, and said he was working with monks in several cities to collect more weapons for storage at other secret locations. Most of them were rudimentary devices patched together from everyday objects such as bamboo rods and bicycle spokes and chains, he said, declining to give numbers and other details for security reasons.

The extent of the weapons gathering could not be independently confirmed.

But other monks interviewed in Yangon and Mandalay said they had heard of colleagues building weapons stashes, though they stressed they were not hoarding weapons themselves.

Monks are also trying to obtain guns to make any clashes "less one-sided," said the Yangon monk.

At least 31 people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in Yangon last year, according to the United Nations.

The "Saffron Revolution," which took its name from the color of the monks' traditional robes and began as a protest against high prices, was the largest show of dissent against the military regime in nearly two decades.

The junta's response was swift and stern. Monks were dragged from their monasteries in overnight raids, beaten, tortured and imprisoned, monks and human rights groups say. An unknown number remain behind bars, while many fled into exile. Those who stayed kept a low profile.

Inside the region hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis, the low-lying Irrawaddy delta, the homeless streamed into monasteries. Often the sole structures to survive the storm's 120 mph winds and towering waves, monasteries quickly became de facto refugee camps and aid distribution centers.

Even as the government clamped down on the flow of foreign assistance, monks worked to ferry vital supplies into the delta.

"Helping the people makes us stronger," said U Sumana, a 30-year-old monk from Mandalay, hundreds of miles north of the affected areas.

In his dormitory, piles of donated clothing and hundreds of bags of rice sit in neat stacks among bed rolls and clotheslines hung with the saffron robes. His monastery has organized two trips to the delta to distribute donations and a third is in the works, he said.

Since the storm, authorities have tried to play down the monks' relief efforts, even ordering newspapers not to publish stories on the clerics' work with storm victims.

The junta has tried to press individuals to give through government channels. But due in part to the respect monks command in Myanmar society, many donors still opt to give through the monasteries.

A wealthy businessman from Yangon who recently donated hundreds of cooking pans and woks to a city monastery called his choice "a simple matter of trust."

"We know the monks don't steal and that everything we give them will get to the people who need it," said the man, who declined to give his name for fear of government reprisals.

U Tiloka, the monastery's abbot, said the government "is scared of the monks" and has tried to hamper their distribution work. Plainclothes policemen have turned up as monks were distributing supplies, and the monastery's power was cut in apparent retribution for their work, he said.

Other monks say authorities have tried to block their access to the delta.

"But the people have too much respect for the monks," said U Sumana of the monastery in Mandalay. "Even if the soldiers have orders to stop us, when they see our robes they wave us through."

International aid agencies, hampered by government rules and red tape, have come to rely on the monks to get aid to those in need.

Christian charity World Vision has set up food and supply distribution points and day care centers at dozens of monasteries in the delta.

"To reach a community, you have to reach its heart and, in Myanmar, the monastery is that heart," said spokesman Chris Webster. "Without the monks, there's no way we would have been able to reach the number of people we've reached."

Though Myanmar's monks often explain their relief work in religious terms, some acknowledge its political undertones.

"Whenever you do things for the people, you are engaging in politics," said U Zaw Ti Ka, an elderly abbot at another monastery in Mandalay. "Here the government is against the people, so if you do something for the people, you are also doing it against the government."

He said he abhors the violence that marred September's protests — but understands those who want to use force against the government.

"To make a Christian comparison, this is a real David and Goliath situation," said the bespectacled monk. "What we need now are not slingshots. What we need are real guns."

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Work-shy Myanmar buffaloes add to farmers' woes
Reuters
By Aung Hla Tun1 hour, 41 minutes ago

With a planting deadline looming, rice farmers in cyclone-hit parts of Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta have hit a problem -- donated oxen and water buffaloes are refusing to work because they are stressed.

"Thanks to donors and arrangements by the government, we are getting buffaloes and oxen, and in some cases small tractors and tillers, almost free of charge," said Ko Hla Soe, a farmer in Dedaye, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Yangon.

"Now, to our surprise, the problem is that most of the buffaloes and oxen will not work hard. They cannot immediately be used effectively," he told Reuters.

As well as leaving 134,000 people dead or missing when it ripped into the delta on May 2, Cyclone Nargis killed around 200,000 farm animals, 120,000 of which were used by farmers to plough fields in the former Burma's "rice bowl."

The military government and U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has identified replacing these draught animals as a priority to allow farmers in the devastated areas to start growing their own food again.

The task has not proved as simple as it sounds.

The few animals that survived the storm are understandably traumatized and reluctant to work, farmers say, and those brought in as replacements are taking a long time to settle in to their new surroundings.

"Animals can get stress too," Ohn Kyaw, a senior official at the Ministry of Livestock Breeding and Fisheries, told Reuters.

"The change of owners and environment is having a psychological impact on them. They've had to travel for days by sea or by land and they are bound to suffer from stress," he said, although he added that they should get over it.

The government had donated 1,971 draught animals as of June 22, and was working on distributing another 600 donated by the FAO as soon as possible, he said.

FAO expert Albert Lieberg said getting enough replacements into the delta was a major logistical operation, especially since working pairs of buffaloes need to be kept together.

"You have to make sure that these two animals stay together up to the very end," he told a news conference in Bangkok last week. "It is a lot of psychological stress for the animals."

Unfortunately for the farmers, who prefer buffaloes to mechanical tillers due to a lack of fuel, time is not on their side.

"Unless our rice is planted by the end of this month, it will be too late," Ko Hla Soe said. "And even if we get it in on time, we cannot expect as big a crop as before."

(Editing by Ed Cropley and Sanjeev Miglani)

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Battered Burma's Food problems just beginning
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/23/national/national_30076225.php
By Nualkaew Burapawat
Special to The Nation
Published on June 23, 2008

Two months after cyclone Nargis struck, the people of Burma are waking up to another shock: the destruction of their food supply may bring terrible long-term repercussions.

For centuries the Irrawaddy Delta has served as Burma's rice bowl, producing more than half its rice crop.

But earlier this month, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation said 1.3-million hectares of paddy, or 60 per cent of rice farms, in the delta had been damaged by Nargis.

Global aid agencies worry about food shortages this year - the storm came at the start of the planting season - and the disruption carries a serious negative impact.

While it killed more than 100,000 people, the storm also swept away huge stocks of grain, seeds, livestock and damaged irrigation systems. Nargis caused rice fields to be inundated with salt water as well.

With the deaths of so many farmers, the country faces a shortage in skilled manpower in its farming industry.

"Food availability will be a major problem for Burma in many years to come," said Shan anthropologist Kursen Heng-on.

"Most farmers who possess the knowledge of rice planting have perished. There may not be enough people now to grow rice to feed the country."

There are farmers in other parts of the country who were not affected by the storm. But according to Kursen, different types of topography require different farming methods for the many types of rice.

The delta's "treasure trove" of indigenous rice varieties that survived the Green Revolution's hegemony of hybrid chemical intensive seeds in the 1970s, may also have been swept away.

"It's inconceivable to bring farmers from the highland Shan State to grow rice in the delta," Kursen said. "I'm afraid the Burmese government will simply take what we produce here in the Shan State and other nearby regions to cope with shortages in the rest of the country."

His pessimism is not unfounded. Instead of trying to restore farms in the delta, the Burmese military government is now milking for "donations" in cash and cattle from poor villagers from the Shan area and other unaffected states to help the Nargis victims.

A source from the rebellious Shan State Army (SSA) said the Burmese government has so far moved 550 cows and buffaloes from farms in the Shan State to the delta.

"But nobody believes the cattle can survived the long journey. We think they have all been killed by now to feed the Burmese army," he said.

Watching Burma's food supply with concern in Thailand is rice expert Daycha Siripatra, chairman of Khao Kwan Foundation in Suphan Buri.

Daycha has been to the delta and is now assessing how Thai farmers can help.

"Judging from the vegetation, the types of soil in some parts of the delta is similar to that of Chachoengsao, where jasmine is grown," Daycha said. "I think Thai farmers are ready to chip in when they know what kind of help is needed."

Making rice seed donation is easy, Daycha said. But obtaining government approval to take rice seeds out of the country is not.

Thai law today allows for the export of rice but not seeds, for reasons of internal food security.

However, he believes exceptions can be made for humanitarian cases.

Despite strained historical relationships among countries in the region, they often extend aid to each other in times of crisis.

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U.N. issues aid plea for Myanmar
http://www.cnn. com/2008/ WORLD/asiapcf/ 06/22/myanmar. ap/index. html#cnnSTCText

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- The United Nations warned Friday that it will be forced to ground helicopters that have been ferrying critical aid to Myanmar's cyclone survivors unless the international community urgently provides more funding.

The U.N.'s World Food Program said it was facing a critical shortage of funds for its logistical operation in the country, including 10 helicopters that have so far delivered lifesaving materials to 60 locations in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

The use of helicopters, trucks and boats will "grind to a halt by the end of this month unless we get additional funding now," Chris Kaye, WFP's country director in Myanmar, said in a statement.

The U.N. estimates that 2.4 million people were affected by Cyclone Nargis and has warned that more than 1 million still need help.

The WFP issued an appeal for $50 million to fund its logistical operation, of which the helicopters are the most expensive to run, but has so far received pledges and funding to cover just 60 percent, the statement said.

Myanmar's junta faced worldwide criticism after the May 2-3 storm for failing to speed aid to cyclone survivors and initially barring foreign aid workers from the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta.

Two weeks after the cyclone hit, the reclusive regime authorized the U.N. to use 10 helicopters inside the country.

The helicopters, which were chartered from South Africa, Uganda and elsewhere, provided a crucial boost to aid workers who had been unable to reach hundreds of remote villages in the Irrawaddy delta.

"Of those several hundred villages, we have now reached 60," said WFP spokesman Paul Risley. "We still have many more villages to reach."

The cyclone killed 78,000 people and left an additional 56,000 missing, according to Myanmar's government.

Separately, EU leaders appealed Friday for the regime to drop its restrictions on international aid agencies seeking to help the victims of the cyclone.

The declaration criticized Myanmar for holding a referendum on a new constitution just after the cyclone hit.

It also called on Myanmar's military leaders to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

UNICEF needs help 4:54
CNN's Anjali Rao speaks with UNICEF's Michael Bociurkiw about the need for more funds in Myanmar.

• CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News

Source: CNN | Added June 22, 2008
************ ********* *********
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- The United Nations warned Friday that it will be forced to ground helicopters that have been ferrying critical aid to Myanmar's cyclone survivors unless the international community urgently provides more funding.

The U.N.'s World Food Program said it was facing a critical shortage of funds for its logistical operation in the country, including 10 helicopters that have so far delivered lifesaving materials to 60 locations in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

The use of helicopters, trucks and boats will "grind to a halt by the end of this month unless we get additional funding now," Chris Kaye, WFP's country director in Myanmar, said in a statement.
The U.N. estimates that 2.4 million people were affected by Cyclone Nargis and has warned that more than 1 million still need help.

The WFP issued an appeal for $50 million to fund its logistical operation, of which the helicopters are the most expensive to run, but has so far received pledges and funding to cover just 60 percent, the statement said.

Myanmar's junta faced worldwide criticism after the May 2-3 storm for failing to speed aid to cyclone survivors and initially barring foreign aid workers from the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta.
Two weeks after the cyclone hit, the reclusive regime authorized the U.N. to use 10 helicopters inside the country.

The helicopters, which were chartered from South Africa, Uganda and elsewhere, provided a crucial boost to aid workers who had been unable to reach hundreds of remote villages in the Irrawaddy delta.

"Of those several hundred villages, we have now reached 60," said WFP spokesman Paul Risley. "We still have many more villages to reach."

The cyclone killed 78,000 people and left an additional 56,000 missing, according to Myanmar's government.

Separately, EU leaders appealed Friday for the regime to drop its restrictions on international aid agencies seeking to help the victims of the cyclone.

The declaration criticized Myanmar for holding a referendum on a new constitution just after the cyclone hit.
It also called on Myanmar's military leaders to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

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