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Battered Burma's Food problems just beginning
Myanmar confirms detention of 14 Suu Kyi supporters
Myanmar journalist arrested for burying cyclone dead: watchdog
Burma aid efforts press on despite blocks
Burma cyclone survivors suffer food shortage
Concerns over UK aid allocation to Burma
Fears for Hmong deported to Laos
UN And Asean Officials Tour Cyclone-affected Areas
Authorities collect money and paddy for rice cultivation

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Battered Burma's Food problems just beginning
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.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/23/national/national_30076225.php

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Myanmar confirms detention of 14 Suu Kyi supporters
AFP
Thu Jun 26, 3:13 AM ET

Myanmar's police chief Thursday confirmed that 14 supporters of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained for nearly one month after protesting against the extension of her house arrest.

Brigadier General Khin Yee, the police chief, also told AFP that six journalists had been deported for entering the country on tourist visas to report on deadly Cyclone Nargis. He did not identify the journalists.

The activists were detained on May 27 after leading a small protest against the military's decision to confine the Nobel Peace Prize winner for another year.

She has already spent more than 12 years inside her Yangon home, where she is kept in total isolation.

The group tried to march from the headquarters of her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), but were stopped just minutes after beginning their protest.

"We told them they can hold a ceremony without harming the state's peace and tranquility," Khin Yee told AFP on the sidelines of a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw, marking the UN's international day against drugs.

"But their act harmed the peace and tranquility, even though we prohibited it," he said. "That's why we are questioning them about why they did it. They were not arrested. They are just being questioned."

His remarks were the first official confirmation of the arrests.

Khin Yee also said the military regime had deported six journalists for entering the country on tourist visas to report on the cyclone that left more than 138,000 dead or missing when it struck southwestern Myanmar nearly eight weeks ago.

"Some people enter the country with tourist visas and don't act like tourists," the police chief said.

"Some people overstep the boundaries by working as journalists. Those who overstep the boundaries were deported. Actually, we should take legal action against them, but we didn't do anything to them," he said.

"About six people were deported because they overstepped the boundaries," he added.

Myanmar maintains tight control over all media in the country and has only granted journalist visas to a handful of reporters covering events attended by international officials, such as last month's trip by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

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Myanmar journalist arrested for burying cyclone dead: watchdog
AFP
Wed Jun 25, 11:41 PM ET

A Myanmar editor has been arrested and his magazine closed after he travelled to the cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta to help bury people killed in the storm, media rights watchdogs said Thursday.

Aung Kyaw San, editor of the Myanmar Tribune, was arrested on June 15 along with 16 other people who had volunteered to help bury the cyclone dead, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said in a statement.

His group of volunteers had buried more than 400 bodies, following Red Cross procedures, but were arrested as they returned to the main city of Yangon to collect more burial sacks, the groups said.

Five of them, including Aung Kyaw San, are being held in the notorious Insein Prison north of Yangon, the statement added.

"It is now essential to get the junta to stop preventing civil society, including the press, from participating in the relief effort," the groups said.

At least 10 journalists and a blogger are now detained in Myanmar, they added.

More than 138,000 people are dead or missing after Cyclone Nargis hit the country nearly eight weeks ago. The United Nations estimates 2.4 million people need humanitarian aid.

In a report released Wednesday, experts from the UN and Southeast Asia said that only 45 percent of survivors are receiving humanitarian aid, leaving most to fend for themselves or seek help from local donors.

Myanmar's military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, sparked global outrage in the weeks after the storm by refusing to allow a major international relief effort.

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Burma aid efforts press on despite blocks
UPI Asia Online
By Khin Ohmar
Guest Contributor
Published: June 26, 2008

Bangkok, Thailand — The patience of the international community appears to be wearing thin as the delivery of aid to cyclone victims in Burma continues to face undue obstacles, democracy advocate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi celebrates another birthday under illegitimate detention, and the usual human rights abuses carry on unchecked.

As the humanitarian effort struggles on in the face of a potentially terminating funding crisis, the focus of the international community seems to have shifted to the wider political and human rights crises in Burma. The National League for Democracy has once again urged the military regime to convene Parliament in order to solve the political and humanitarian crises the country is facing.

U.S. Senator John Kerry has formally urged U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to investigate whether the junta’s restriction of foreign aid may constitute a crime against humanity under international law. He has requested a legal opinion from the State Department.

The World Bank has donated US$850,000 to ASEAN for disaster assessment and recovery activities in the wake of the cyclone. The grant is further intended to support ASEAN’s leadership role in the humanitarian efforts and to strengthen its capacity in the coordination of international response and senior-level dialogue on recovery planning.

Burmese groups in exile have issued a statement expressing concern that the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank may view the current humanitarian crisis as an opportunity to increase engagement with the junta’s State Peace and Development Council. The Ethnic Community Development Forum and other groups have urged the World Bank and ADB to focus only on facilitating relief efforts and to include community-based organisations advocating real political reform in any decision-making process regarding their activities in Burma.

The World Food Program has made a plea for additional funding for the humanitarian aid effort being carried out in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. Chris Kaye, WFP country director in Burma, warned that the distribution of supplies to distressed communities by boat, truck and air “will all grind to a halt by the end of this month unless we get additional funding now.”

The executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Noeleen Hayzer, called on the international community to donate 1 million gallons of diesel fuel that the regime says is needed to operate the mechanical tillers donated by other countries.

Farmers in Labutta township, Irawaddy division, went to collect hand tractors donated as part of the cyclone relief effort but found that local authorities were demanding payment. Even the down payment far exceeded the means of most farmers.

Reports suggest that so far none of the farmers in the delta region has been provided with any financial or material assistance to enable them to get back to work. An absurdist bureaucracy charging farmers from the cyclone-stricken regions administration fees for defunct contracts has further hindered the distribution of machines in this critical planting season.

Private donors continue to face harassment and obstruction despite the junta’s promises. The Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners states that ten donors have been arrested since the beginning of June.

One of the many civil groups to have formed since the strike of Cyclone Nargis has undertaken the grim task of disposing of the many corpses still lying in the rivers and fields of the Irrawaddy delta. They have given bodies a simple cremation and burial rites. Seven members of the group were arrested on June 14.

Donated food stored in a monastery in Phyar Pon was left to rot instead of being given to desperate cyclone victims because soldiers didn’t receive orders to distribute it. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of children in Rangoon and other cyclone-afflicted areas have been reduced to stealing food in order to stave off starvation.

The junta has warned against the exploitation of children orphaned by the cyclone. Anyone found guilty of trafficking children will be sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison. The authorities have also announced that they will take sole responsibility for the care of orphans, banning all individuals and organisations from doing so. This move threatens the plans of the Free Funeral Service Society to build an orphanage.

The United Nations launched a massive anti-dengue operation in the cyclone-hit areas of Burma this week. The climate and lack of shelter in the Irrawaddy delta has left cyclone survivors at greater risk of succumbing to this disease. Other diseases are on the rise in Labutta, although not at the rate expected.

Celebrations for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 63rd birthday on June 19 took place all across the globe this week. In Washington, an event was held at the Capitol Building, home of the U.S. Congress. Politicians from the U.S. government and the Burmese government in exile, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, along with activists and journalists from the exiled-Burmese and international media attended. U Tin Maung Thaw, board member of U.S. Campaign for Burma, cited the occasion as an opportunity to persuade the U.S. government to take the regime to the International Court of Justice.

Celebrations held in Burma were marred by beatings and arrests. An event held at the National League for Democracy headquarters was disrupted by members of the USDA and Swan Arr Shin. Members of the crowd were beaten and five activists were arrested.

The All Burma Monks’ Alliance called for the U.N. Security Council to safeguard the people of Burma. Citing the raping of ethnic women with impunity, the detention of political prisoners and the handling of Cyclone Nargis, the statement argues that “long-standing tolerance by the international community of human rights violations in Burma made the Burmese military junta believe that they have a license to kill and they have nothing to fear.”

The Free Burma Rangers have published reports documenting the ongoing attacks on the Karen people. The reports detail the destruction of villages, the laying of land mines and the displacement of the Karen.

The regime has announced a reshuffle of two Cabinet positions and the appointment of the navy’s commander-in-chief to a ministerial post. The move comes in the wake of Cyclone Nargis and will allow the minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement to concentrate on this role by relinquishing his post as the minister for immigration and population. Rangoon-based military sources claim that the move is unusual and could signal further changes.

Reports suggest that rumors of a national uprising on Aug. 8 are flying in Burma. Flyers being distributed in the country appeal to the dispossessed and poorly paid soldiers of the Burma Army to turn on their overseers on the 20th anniversary of the massacre of students across Burma and on the day that the Olympics open in Beijing.

The idea of military coups has lost popularity in today’s global-political climate, but it may be the only form of justice the leaders of the Burmese military regime can understand.

(Khin Ohmar is coordinator of the Asia Pacific Peoples' Partnership on Burma, based in Thailand. She can be contacted at appartnership@gmail.com. Her blog may be found at http://apppb.blogspot.com.)

http://upiasiaonline.com/Politics/2008/06/26/burma_aid_efforts_press_on_despite_blocks/5365/

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Burma cyclone survivors suffer food shortage
By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok
Published: June 25 2008 19:14 | Last updated: June 25 2008 19:14

Burmese survivors of cyc­lone Nargis are trying to rebuild their battered lives but their situation remains precarious, with many families struggling to get enough to eat each day, according to a new international study.

Almost a third of households in the cyclone-hit Irra­waddy delta say they have no food stocks, while a further fifth say they have just enough for a day, highlighting the urgent need for continuing food aid.

The widespread shortage of food is one of the crucial findings to emerge from the first systematic assessment of conditions in the region since cyclone Nargis struck nearly two months ago.

More than 300 foreign and Burmese staffers of the United Nations, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the Burmese government, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, along with civil society volunteers, spent 10 days talking to rural villagers about their lives before and after Nargis.

While the data are still being tabulated and analysed, early results indicate that about 60 per cent of households lack adequate access to clean water and 22 per cent are experiencing psychological stress. Three out of five villages say they do not have enough seeds to plant rice in the forthcoming monsoon season.

“The findings tell a story of a shaken rural economy,” Richard Blewitt, a project manager for the assessment, told the Financial Times. “People are living precariously. It’s not famine, but they are on the edge and there is a need for continued relief.”

When completed, the assessment – whose preliminary findings were obtained by the FT – is intended to give aid agencies and donors an independent picture of conditions on the ground. It also aims to serve as a common reference point for discussions between Burma’s military rulers and the international community.

So far, fundraising for the relief effort has been sluggish, with just 66 per cent of the UN’s emergency appeal funded. The World Food Programme has warned it could be forced to ground 10 helicopters ferrying food into the delta unless it receives more money within days,.

International aid agencies’ fears of a “second wave” of deaths from disease have not been realised, despite the Burmese military’s resistance to the initial relief effort. But while Burmese villagers are coping with the aftermath of the disaster, Mr Blewitt said, they still faced severe hardships.

Although many families have rebuilt shelters, the new structures are less sturdy than the wooden homes destroyed in the storm. Mr Blewitt said diets had also changed, with people eating less protein.

International agencies are also concerned that rural families might be forced to borrow from moneylenders at high interest rates to buy rice seeds for planting and other supplies. About 78 per cent of households reported they had no access to credit.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9abba80-42d2-11dd-81d0-0000779fd2ac.html

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Concerns over UK aid allocation to Burma
By Andrew Jack
Published: June 6 2008 22:04 | Last updated: June 6 2008 22:04

The two British aid charities with the greatest direct presence in Burma appear likely to receive only a small portion of the £9m raised from the public in recent weeks to help the cyclone Nargis relief operations.

Merlin and Save the Children, which were among the very few international non-government organisations to have extensive operations in Burma before the cyclone hit, may receive only a tenth of the total donations distributed by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

Other groups, which do not have formal arrangements with the authorities and are only now sending in their own teams, are likely to receive larger sums in a distribution to be finalised in the next few days.

The split in funding raises questions over whether the British public’s donations will be spent in the swiftest and most effective way.

Decisions on the division among the DEC’s 13 member charities are linked to their spending in other disasters over the past three years. The committee pointed out that a number of its members worked indirectly via local partners.

In line with standard procedure, it said the split might be modified in three months if members had been unable to spend allocations, although organisations say aid is urgently needed over the next few weeks.

Burma’s military junta has sharply restricted foreign aid and access by expatriate staff, although it has begun to open its borders in recent days following a deal negotiated with the United Nations late last month.

However, a handful of international organisations long present in the country, which had won the respect of the regime, have proved able to provide rapid help and operate effectively with minimal interference from the authorities.

Merlin responded quickly because it had already been operating for three years in the Irrawaddy delta, the region hit worst by last month’s cyclone, following work linked to the 2004 tsunami catastrophe. It appears set to get only 3 per cent of the committee’s funding.

Save the Children’s office in Burma was the largest of all its international operations, and was able to shift staff quickly into the delta. It will receive about 7 per cent. Christian Aid, which said it would receive at least 8 per cent of donations, was not present directly, but said it had worked unofficially in Burma for 20 years through local NGOs.

Islamic Relief, which has never worked in Burma and has only just sent in specialists, said it expected to receive 4.1 per cent, although it might scale back demands after an assessment in the next few weeks.

Oxfam and Concern are considering waiving part of their usual proportion because they have less capacity in the country.

None of the charities would criticise the DEC system. Merlin said: “We will accept the DEC secretariat and member agency decisions on how any funds will be re-allocated.”

Brendan Gormley, DEC chief executive, said their formula – under which allocation not spent by one agency could be offered to others – had been “tested and improved over many appeals and many years”. There was confidence that it “gives us an equitable and appropriate mechanism”.

He added: “The alternative models would take longer, be more labour-intensive, costly and bureaucratic.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f277f76-33e8-11dd-869b-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=6a365390-7032-11dc-a6d1-0000779fd2ac.html

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Fears for Hmong deported to Laos
By Jonathan Head
BBC News, Bangkok

Thai authorities insist the Hmong in Thailand are economic migrants

Aid agencies in Thailand have expressed grave concern over the fate of around 1,000 ethnic Hmong refugees who have been deported back to Laos.

The refugees were returned across the border last weekend after taking part in a protest over their living conditions in Thailand.

The Thai authorities say that the refugees went back voluntarily.

However, human rights groups believe some, who face possible persecution in Laos, were forced to return.

Rebel army

Thailand's reputation for generous hospitality towards tourists does not extend to refugees.

Hundreds of thousands of people have come here over the years, fleeing war and poverty, from Cambodia in the 1970s and 80s, and more recently from Burma and Laos.

They are accepted - but confined to squalid camps.

UN agencies and journalists are usually denied access to them and at times the refugees are thrown back over the border.

In the 1970s, thousands of Cambodians are thought to have died after being forced back through minefields by Thai troops.

Now aid agencies fear for the safety of the ethnic Hmong refugees who were sent back at the weekend.

The authorities here insist they are just economic migrants who went back willingly but among them are remnants of the rebel army that fought communist forces with US-backing during the Vietnam War.

Some 8,000 Hmong have been living for years in a sealed-off camp in northern Thailand.

The UN's refugee agency has expressed concern that the deportation was carried out in secret.

Some families have reportedly been split up, and little is known about how the deportees are being treated in Laos, which has a record of harsh repression of any anti-government forces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7475731.stm

June 26, 2008 21:52 PM

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UN And Asean Officials Tour Cyclone-affected Areas
BERNAMA
From D. Arul Rajoo

BOGALE, June 26 (Bernama) -- The United Nations' (UN) top official in Asia, Noeleen Heyzer and Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan Thursday toured three areas which were severely-affected by 'Cyclone Nargis' which left close to 140,000 people dead in south of Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta on May 2 and 3.

The duo, accompanied by Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu Thu who chairs the Asean Humanitarian Task Force, took a 40-minute helicopter ride from Yangon to Bogale, as well as Satsan and Kyein Chaung Gyi.

Here, they got an insight of the humanitarian and reconstruction efforts currently underway.

In a six-hour tour, Asean and United Nations officials were briefed on the Myanmar Government's relief work on the ground, as well as support from UN agencies like Unicef and the World Food Programme which deployed 10 helicopters to deliver food and equipments.

Aerial view showed thousands of padi fields still submerged in water, seven weeks into the cyclone which affected 2.4 million people, while only pockets of farmers are seen ploughing the land as the planting season ends next month.

There was hardly any land transportation visible in the flat land as dozens of rivers and canals seemed to be the only mode of travelling

However, Heyzer and Surin noted that schools were re-open and children were back in temporary schools, but without many familiar faces as thousands of students were killed.

"It's very, very sad to see that the extent of the damage and destruction was very far and wide. I am encouraged to see the determination of the local community to bounce back and carry on with their lives," Surin told Asean media, the first group of foreign journalists allowed by the Myanmar Government since the deadly cyclone.

Surin said their visit today was to send a clear message that the people of Asean and the world community would continue to deliver assistance, adding that the government's support was crucial.

His view was echoed by Heyzer, the Executive Secretary of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, who said the local community had shown strong courage, despite losing their homes, livelihood and many loved ones.

"In Satsan, 300 people, including 200 children, died but they managed to re-open the school. We will continue to support and make sure Irrawaddy will once again, be the rice bowl of the region," she said.

U Myint Thein, chairman of Bogale Township Adminstration said almost 8,500 houses in 12 villages, with a household of 30,000 people were damaged, and that currently, 4,226 people were still in three relief camps.

"They were given tents, plastic shields, three sets of clothes each, ration for two weeks, fishing nets and 10,000 kyats (US$10) to buy necessities," he said.

The cyclone damaged over 350 schools, but most of them were re-opened at temporary sites or monasteries, while 22 of the 44 hospitals were partially destroyed.

Among the worst affected were monasteries where out of 359 before the cyclone, 182 were totally destroyed and the rest damaged. There were also mosques and Hindu temples in the township.

He said the irrigation system spanning 84 miles was also badly damaged and so far, they had repaired 28 miles while seeds, tillers and fuel were alo provided to farmers whose main source of food and income was rice.

U Myint said that as much of the 270,000 acres of padi field were flooded with salt water from sea about 50km away, salt resilient seeds from other areas were brought in.

Besides farming, the Bogale area also depends on fishing but almost 980 boats for inland fishing were destroyed while salt production is recovering, he said.

In Satsan, where there are 13,000 people, Unicef has provided water purification units for temporary schools which used to have 1,250 students. However, 200 of them perished in the disaster.

As the township's 36,000 acres of padi field were flooded, farmers are rushing to plant at least 10,000 acres by next month. Fishermen are also facing hardship as 224 boats were destroyed.

Preliminary findings based on 50 per cent of the data from the Village Tract Assessment (VTA) carried out by the Asean-led Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) indicate that more immediate, life-saving relief needs remain to be provided.

The international community has reached 730,000 people through the distribution of 9,200 metric tonnes of food while another 7,800 metric tonnes are on the pipeline.

But as 42 percent of all foodstocks were destroyed, UN agencies have said that continued food assistance was required.

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_world.php?id=342217

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Authorities collect money and paddy for rice cultivation
Jun 26, 2008 (DVB)

On the pretext of helping cyclone-affected farmers resume their rice cultivation, authorities have been collecting money and paddy in Irrawaddy division and other areas, locals said.

A resident of Ain Mae township told DVB that township Peace and Development Council chairperson Thein Win was collecting money and paddy from farmers living in 97 village tracts and 5 wards.

“Chairperson Thein Win ordered each village tract to give 100 tin of paddy (approximately 6,400 kg) and a buffalo for cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy farmers,” said the resident.

“According to that directive, village PDC chairpersons are collecting 2 tin of paddy and 5,000 kyat from each farmer and 7,000 kyat from non-farmer,” he continued.

A farmer from Thanatpin township in Bago division said that authorities there were also collecting money from local farmers for the same reason by making deductions from agricultural loans.

“The subtraction varied based of the number of households in village and the size of paddy field farmers possessed. Some villages had 100,000–200,000 kyat deducted,” said the Thanapin farmer.

“In terms of paddy land, some farmers has 200–400 kyat deducted for each acre while some has 2–3,000 kyat subtracted no matter how many acres of paddy they were growing,” explained the farmer.

Another resident from Thanapin added that authorities had also collected money from businessmen and domestic buses.

“Some of the shops have to pay 10,000–20,000 kyat but others only have to pay 5,000,” the resident said.

“In Kamarsae, a boat owner has to pay 5,000 kyat. In Thanapin, domestic bus owners have to pay as much as 10,000 kyat, otherwise they are not allowed to take passengers,” he went on.

Based on the type of business they own some have to pay 3–400,000 kyat.”

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet
http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=1477

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