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Thousands Continue to Suffer as Burma Tragedy Slips From the Headlines
Rangoon Explosion Rocks USDA Office
Blast hits pro-junta office in Myanmar
UN chief says will press Myanmar on democracy
Jailed Myanmar journalist in ailing health: media watchdogs
Bombers hit pro-government group in Burma
Thais evacuated as KNU attacked by Burmese army

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Thousands Continue to Suffer as Burma Tragedy Slips From the Headlines
http://www.thecutti ngedgenews. com/
Edge of Disaster
Ben Rogers
June 30th 2008 
Cutting Edge Burma Desk

Burma Victims in Food Line

Almost two months after Cyclone Nargis ripped through Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta region, leaving tens of thousands of people dead or homeless, thousands continue to suffer with little or no relief.
Burma’s military regime followed its initial decision to restrict and obstruct the delivery of aid with new regulations which serve only to further impede humanitarian efforts.

Only 1.3 million of the estimated 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have been reached by international aid agencies, and only a few hundred foreign aid experts have been allowed into the country – and even fewer into the worst-affected areas.

For a few weeks, the crisis in Burma dominated the headlines. For a short time, the US, Great Britain, and France had naval vessels anchored off Burma’s coast, poised to go in with aid supplies. The talk was of whether the UN’s much-trumpeted "Responsibility to Protect" principle could be exercised. For a brief moment, the idea of military intervention on humanitarian grounds looked – for the first time – like a possibility. The British Government said no option was off the table, and the French appeared to be leading the charge.

But then the moment passed and the world moved on. The ships sailed away, complete with their cargo of aid undelivered, and Burma fell off the news agenda. The corpses, however, of people and animals – killed either by the cyclone or as a result of the regime’s inaction – continue to litter the streets and pollute the waters.

The cyclone victims have not gone completely unhelped. Some international aid is now, belatedly, tricking through, and the Burmese people themselves have organised a relief effort. Buddhist monks, Christian clergy, celebrities, and businessmen within Burma pulled together, and churches, monasteries, and schools provided shelter and food. In the words of one church leader, nothing, not even the regime’s obstruction, "deterred them from the sacred duty of saving lives." Churches and monasteries, he described, were turned into refugee camps. "With death and mayhem threatening them in their villages, thousands took refuge in sacred spaces. Even before the government could move in, or the do-gooders and NGOs could move in, spontaneous charity sprang forth with Buddhists feeding Christians and Christians feeding the Buddhists. Nargis broke many things in an evil way. Goodness broke all parochial borders that fateful night when death danced arrogantly across wounding a nation."

Local government authorities, however, did little. In the few villages where the regime made a show of assistance, the supplies were paltry. One village in Rangoon Division received aid from the junta three times in the three weeks following the cyclone. On each occasion, according to eye-witnesses, every family received six cups of wet, rotten rice. The first distribution also included one potato per family. The second distribution resulted in half the families in the village receiving a packet of noodles. On the third occasion, a few fortunate families were given one egg, each, and a tin bowl. They have yet to receive clean drinking water.

The regime’s failure to clean up decomposing bodies has resulted in a chronic deterioration in health and the spread of disease. The price of fish has plummeted, because people are avoiding eating fish that are believed to have been feeding on floating corpses. The costs of pork and chicken, meanwhile, have soared. The police, meanwhile, are reportedly stealing valuables from the dead bodies they find – and the regime has arrested and beaten up Burmese people attempting to help the cyclone victims. The comedian Zargana is now in jail, for criticising the regime’s failure to help its people.

On the political front, the regime is more entrenched than ever. Burma’s democracy leader, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, marked her 63rd birthday on 19 June – and is now in her 13th year of house arrest. The regime declared that she was "a danger to the state" who deserves to be punished with "flogging… as in the case of naughty children." It is difficult to imagine how much worse the behaviour of the junta in Burma can get.

On Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1820 on Women in Armed Conflicts. This follows Resolution 1325 in 2000. According to the Global Justice Center, Burma is clearly violating these resolutions – and is also in breach of the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Convention, and the Rome Statute. The European Parliament has already called for a case against Burma’s Generals to be referred to the International Criminal Court, on charges of crimes against humanity. If the situation in Burma does not change, pressure for such a course of action is only likely to mount.

As the world focuses now on the crisis in Zimbabwe, the parallels between Robert Mugabe’s reign of terror in that failed state and the disaster unfolding in Burma are stark. Both countries, former British colonies, were once the most prosperous in their regions – Zimbabwe, the "bread basket" of Africa and Burma, the "rice bowl" of Asia. Both are now ruled by paranoid tyrants who have ruined their economies and terrorised their people. In both countries, there is a legitimate democratic opposition that has won elections but been denied their rightful place in government. The rulers of both nations remain in power illegitimately, having stolen their elections through intimidation, harassment, and rigging – or simply by ignoring the real result. And in both countries, the regimes are guilty of the same sad litany of human rights violations: torture, rape and murder, and the refusal to allow international aid organisations to help their people. And yet, so far in both countries the world’s politicians and media watch, report, and condemn – and then move on.

Benedict Rogers is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004), and has visited Burma and its borderlands more than 20 times. He also serves as Deputy Chairman of the UK Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission.

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Rangoon Explosion Rocks USDA Office
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

An explosion at dawn on Tuesday rocked a Rangoon office of the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), whose members have been accused of attacks against Burma's pro-democracy opposition, witnesses said.

The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal, said the blast occurred at the USDA office in the northern Rangoon suburb of Shwepyithar. No casualties were reported.

Residents in Shwepyithar said riot police and security officials swarmed into the area after the explosion.

No further details were immediately available, and there were no immediate claims of responsibility. The government has not blamed any group for the bombing.

The USDA, a social welfare organization formed 15 years ago, claims to have more than 23 million members out of a national population of 57 million. Its members often have been accused of involvement in attacks against supporters of the pro-democracy opposition.

The organization, headed by junta chairman Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is to be transformed into a political party when general elections are held in 2010. Currently, the USDA is engaged in a wide range of social activities, from organizing health care in rural areas to planting trees.

The last explosion in Rangoon, the country's largest city, occurred in April when two bombs damaged some parked cars but caused no casualties.

The government often blames such attacks on anti-government dissident groups and ethnic rebels seeking autonomy.

Terrorism is rare but not unknown in Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962.

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Blast hits pro-junta office in Myanmar
AP
1 July 2008

An explosion at dawn Tuesday rocked the office of a government-backed social welfare group whose members have been accused in attacks against Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition, witnesses said.

The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal, said the blast occurred at the office of Union Solidarity and Development Association office in the northern Yangon suburb of Shwepyithar. No casualties were reported.

Residents in Shwepyithar said riot police and security officials swarmed into the area after the explosion.

No further details were immediately available, and there were no immediate claims of responsibility. The government has not blamed any group for the bombing.

The USDA, a social welfare organization which was formed 15 years ago , claims to have more than 23 million members out of a national population of 57 million. Its members often have been accused of involvement in attacks against supporters of the pro-democracy opposition.

The organization, headed by junta chairman Senior Gen. Than Shwe, is to be transformed into a political party when general elections are held in 2010. Currently, the USDA is engaged in a wide range of social activities, from organizing health treatment in rural areas to planting trees.

The last explosion in Yangon, the country's largest city, occurred in April when two bombs damaged some parked cars but caused no casualties.

The government often blames such attacks on anti-government dissident groups and separate ethnic rebels seeking autonomy.

Terrorism is rare but not unknown in Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1962.

In 1990, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a general election but was not allowed to take power by the military, which continues to tightly control the country.

Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

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UN chief says will press Myanmar on democracy
AFP
1 July 2008

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pledged on Tuesday to press Myanmar to bring "genuine freedom" to its people after he struck a deal to bring in international aid after a devastating cyclone.

Ban in May became the first secretary general in 44 years to visit Myanmar where he persuaded junta leader Than Shwe to accept foreign disaster experts.

The junta, suspicious of the outside world, had waited weeks before letting in significant international help to cope with the disaster, which left more than 138,000 people dead or missing.

"If and when it is necessary, I am going to broaden and deepen this process in my dialogue with the Myanmar authorities," Ban told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo.

"You have my firm commitment and assurances that I will work very hard to help the Myanmar people to enjoy genuine freedom and democracy," he said.

A UN envoy, former Nigerian foreign minister Ibrahim Gambari, has made little visible progress on his missions to Myanmar since the junta clamped down on mass protests in September last year.

The junta in May extended the house arrest of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last 18 years confined to her home.

Ban said that despite the delay in accepting international aid teams, the junta has largely lived up to its word in allowing access.

"Things seem to be moving in the right direction," Ban said.

"As far as I know as of today, international workers and UN staff have been able to carry out their humanitarian assistance as has been agreed," he said.

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Jailed Myanmar journalist in ailing health: media watchdogs
AFP
Tue Jul 1, 12:40 AM ET

Media watchdogs on Tuesday condemned the prolonged detention of Myanmar journalist Win Tin, saying his health has seriously deteriorated in recent days.

The 78-year-old was imprisoned 19 years ago by Myanmar's ruling junta for spreading "anti-government propaganda".

Reporters Without Borders and the exiled Myanmar media group, Burma Media Association, say Win Tin has lung problems and severe asthmatic attacks which prevent him from sleeping and eating properly.

"It will be exactly 19 years on July 4 since Burma's military arrested Win Tin," the groups said in a joint statement, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

"The government, which has a responsibility to protect the life of its citizens, should now release him. He should be moved to a hospital as quickly as possible."

Win Tin was sentenced to 20 years in Myanmar's infamous Insein prison where other political prisoners are kept.

The watchdogs said he has not been allowed any visits from the International Committee for the Red Cross since 2006, because he refused to work during his detention.

They say at least ten journalists and one blogger are imprisoned in Myanmar.

In June two editors were arrested for travelling to the cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta to help deliver relief supplies and bury the dead.

Aung Kyaw San, editor of the Myanmar Tribune, was arrested along with 16 other people, while sports writer and editor Zaw Thet Htwe was detained during a visit to his ailing mother, the organisations said.

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Bombers hit pro-government group in Burma
Bangkok Post
1 July 2008

Rangoon (dpa) - In a rare show of defiance, a bomb was detonated Tuesday at an office of the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), witnesses and security personnel said.

The explosion, which occurred at 6:30 am (7am Thailand time) at the USDA's Shwe Pyi Tha office in Rangoon, destroyed some tables but caused no casualties.

The USDA, which boasts millions of members, is expected to be transformed into a proxy political party for the military to contest a general election scheduled in 2010.

Acts of violence against the USDA are rare in Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962.

Growing frustration with the junta's rule flared up in September, last year, when tens-of-thousands of Burmese took to the streets of Rangoon to protest the country's worsening economic plight and lack of democratic progress.

The army brutally cracked down on the monk-led demonstrations, killing at least 31 people and leaving dozens missing.

The regime's callous handling of relief efforts for victims of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma's central coast on May 2-3 leaving up to 139,000 dead or missing, has added to the discontent, sources said.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=128646

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Thais evacuated as KNU attacked by Burmese army
Bangkok Post
1 July 2008
SUPAMART KASEM
NORTHERN BORDER

TAK : More than 100 Thais were evacuated from Phop Phra district bordering Burma yesterday after Burmese troops sealed off and attacked a Karen stronghold. A resident of Ban Padi said he heard gunfire from 5am. The battleground was opposite the village, just across Padi stream, he said.

Thai soldiers and rangers provided safety for the evacuees and stood by to prevent any intrusion by foreign troops.

A ranger said about 100 Burmese soldiers from the 409th Light Infantry Regiment joined the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army's (DKBA) 907th Battalion. The joint force sealed off and attacked the Karen National Union (KNU) at Valeki, opposite Ban Padi.

The source said the KNU's 102nd Battalion were out-gunned by the joint force, which had more manpower and weapons. One KNU soldier died and two others were injured, he said. Burmese casualties were not known.

Later in the day, Col Nerda Mya led KNU forces in a counter-strike against the joint force from behind, hoping to reclaim their stronghold.

Meanwhile, 23 Burmese petitioned staff of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the province, claiming they had not been registered as refugees and received no food or aid in the two years since the UNHCR's Bangkok office sent them to Mae La refugee camp in Tha Song Yang district.

Thet Oo, 25, said: ''Our group of 100 Burmese stay in a refugee camp but have not received any food or basic necessities because we have not been registered as refugees. We have made a living as hired labourers.''

An official in Tak said the group were illegal immigrants travelling to Thailand to work as illegal workers in Bangkok and other provinces.

The government wants Burmese who were given UNHCR registration slips and People of Concern status to stay in a refugee camp, pending the provincial administration board's decision on whether to grant them ''asylum seeker'' status.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/010708_News/01Jul2008_news09.php

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