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UK Government to give additional aid to relief efforts in Burma
FT-Singapore feels heat of anti-Burma drive
I on global trends-Burma: Refugees flee to Thai-Burma border
Nine MSN-Red Cross seeks more money for Burma
Cellular-3G Network Launched in Burma
BBC-Burma aid tents through at last
Newsscotsman. com-Burma junta approves visas for 1670 cyclone aid workers
USA TOday-UNICEF: Burma cyclone recovery proceeding well
Ilo.co.za-Burma outlaws 1990 poll results
Bangkok Post-Surin says Burma, food crises strengthen Asean
 News info shop-Burma: Labour activist Su Su Nway held in isolation
Irrawaddy-Report Slams Beijing’s Burma Policy
Irrawaddy-Regime Asks UN to Stop Press Conferences in Bangkok

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UK Government to give additional aid to relief efforts in Burma
Source: United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID)
Relief Web-Date: 09 Jul 2008

Over two months since Cyclone Nargis caused devastation across southern Burma, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander has announced that a further £17.5 million will be made available in response to the disaster. The funding means the UK has provided £45 million to the relief effort, the largest contribution from any donor.

The International Red Cross estimates the number of dead or missing from the catastrophe to be up to 128,000. Another 2.4 million people have been severely affected. These figures make it comparable to the 2004 tsunami in South Asia.

Douglas Alexander said:

"While access has improved and the rate of delivery of relief goods continues to increase, we believe that around 300,000 people are at quite serious risk if they do not get more help soon.

"The UK stands ready to respond to the UN’s revised Flash Appeal, which the UN plans to issue in New York tomorrow, 10 July. Many of the agencies bringing aid continue to face funding gaps, and our £17.5 million will help enhance logistics capacity for aid delivery and bring much needed food, shelter, water and sanitation, health, nutrition and protection to some of the heaviest hit areas.

"Support to early recovery and livelihood regeneration activities will also be a priority, with more needing to be done to ensure that the vulnerable - including landless farmers, day labourers and fishermen - are able urgently to restart their livelihoods. "

DFID assistance has so far reached over 1 million beneficiaries, including support to local and international NGOs delivering food, shelter, health services and improved water and sanitation.

Notes to editors

1. Cyclone Nargis made landfall on 2 May as a category three cyclone in the Irrawaddy Delta region, before tracking inland and hitting the capital Rangoon.

2. DFID announced £5 million in the aftermath of the disaster, an additional £12 million on 15 May and a further £10.5 million following the ASEAN/UN conference which Douglas Alexander attended in Rangoon. Funding has been delivered through the UN, Red Cross, international and local NGOs and community-based organisations to provide water, sanitation, healthcare, emergency shelter and early recovery activities.

DFID funding has been delivered through the UN, international aid agencies, local and international NGOs and community-based organisations: £9 million of this has been allocated to the initial UN Flash Appeal, including £5 million to WFP to provide urgent logistical support for the growing relief operation. More than £10 million has been allocated to aid agencies to provide clean, fresh drinking water, sanitation facilities, basic healthcare and emergency shelter. Other funding has helped cover the cost of relief flights carrying emergency relief items - the UK sent 22 flights carrying water containers, shelter materials, blankets and flat-bottomed boats to provide access to the Delta.

3. A DFID humanitarian response team arrived in Burma shortly after the cyclone and continues to provide support from Rangoon and to make needs assessments.

4. Along with the huge efforts DFID are making to respond to the Cyclone crisis, it has an ongoing country assistance plan in place. This will see DFID spend £12 million this year increasing to £18 million by 2010/11.

5. The International Red Cross estimates that between 69,000 and 128,000 people were killed by Cyclone Nargis. The Burmese Government figures put the number of dead as 84,537 and 53,836 missing.

For further information please contact David Leslie on 020 7023 0311 or d-leslie@dfid. gov.uk
http://www.reliefwe b.int/rw/ rwb.nsf/db900SID /EDIS-7GDT53? OpenDocument

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Singapore feels heat of anti-Burma drive
By John Burton in Singapore and Amy Kazmin in Bangkok
Published: November 11 2007 17:29 | Last updated: November 11 2007 17:29

With Burma’s state-controlled banking system crippled by stifling regulations, Burmese business people – and others with access to hard currency – have for yearslooked to Singaporean banks to hold their assets.

Singapore has a much more developed financial services sector than other south-east Asian countries.

The city-state, as an international finance centre, is relatively open to deposits from overseas, and its banks have an enviable reputation for service and efficiency. “Leading entrepreneurs in Burma regard Singapore as their refuge from the chaos of Burma’s monetary and financial system,” says Sean Turnell, a professor at Australia’s Macquarie University and Burma specialist.

But as the US leads efforts to increase the financial pressure on Burma’s ruling military junta and its supporters, that practice has put Singapore in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Visiting the region last week, a senior US official called on Singapore and its south-east Asian neighbours to crack down on Burmese funds parked in their banks.

“We believe that there are [Burmese] regime officials with accounts in Singapore and other countries and we hope that governments will ensure that their financial institutions are not being used as sanctuary,” said Kristen Silverberg, the assistant secretary of state in charge of co-ordinating US diplomatic policy with the UN and other international organisations.

The statement was one of the most explicit the US has made about the possible role of Singapore, its closest ally in south-east Asia, in sheltering the assets of Burma’s military leadership.

Bank secrecy laws prevent the Monetary Authority of Singapore from commenting on whether Burmese officials have accounts in the city-state, but it has said that any suggestion that junta leaders may be using it as a “financial haven” are “completely baseless”.

It says it acts strictly against money-laundering of illicit funds, such as earnings from “criminal conduct”, and funds linked to terrorist groups or regimes targeted by UN sanctions – which Burma has not been.

But Prof Turnell says the source of the generals’ money – if not actually illegal according to Singaporean law – is still of questionable legitimacy. For years Burma’s generals have been accused by opposition groups of exploiting a monopoly on profits from Burma’s extensive natural resources.

“If anyone looks at any of the entrepreneurs, or any business in Burma that makes any money at all, it makes money in rent-seeking on the state in various forms,” Prof Turnell says. “Thus, one might regard any of the money of the regime as somewhat ill-gotten”.

The US request for Singapore to restrict its banking ties with Burma comes as Singapore promotes itself as a regional offshore banking centre with some of the world’s strictest bank secrecy laws.

Singapore has quietly co-operated with the US previously on similar issues. When the US imposed tougher financial sanctions on North Korea in 2005, funds deposited by the Pyongyang government in Singapore were removed under US pressure, according to an intelligence official with knowledge of the issue.

Rangoon-based diplomats say the example of US financial pressure against North Korea has rattled the junta, already shaken by recent financial sanctions imposed by the US and Australia.

Banks in Singapore are required to identify “politically exposed persons”, defined as senior officials from foreign governments, who might deposit funds in the city-state, according to MAS guidelines.

Singapore, which currently chairs the Association of South-East Asian Nations and is host of next week’s annual gathering of the group, has argued that formal economic sanctions could backfire on efforts to push the military junta into talks with the democratic opposition, though George Yeo, the foreign minister, has promised the city-state would comply with any UN-mandated sanctions.

Irrespective of government policy, Prof Turnell says Singaporean banks may be quietly re-evaluating or cutting their ties with Burmese elites.

“They are extremely jealous of their squeaky clean image – and the idea that they uphold more internationally accepted norms than other places,” he says. “This has the potential to embarrass Singapore and tarnish that competitive edge.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
http://www.ft. com/cms/s/ 0/6e3e46b0- 907a-11dc- a6f2-0000779fd2a c.html?nclick_ check=1

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Burma: Refugees flee to Thai-Burma border
I on global trends-Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The Burmese Army's severe human rights violations have forced 165 Karenni refugees to flee to refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border this year, camp officials said.

The 165 refugees are from Shardaw and Phrusoe Townships in Karenni State. They fled to the border after being intimidated by the army. They were accused by the troops of having contact with insurgents, forced to relocated and forced into labour. The refugees started arriving at the camps situated in Mae Hong Song District, Thailand since January this year. The exodus continues till today.

"The Burmese Army soldiers summoned the refugees to their outposts repeatedly and lodged false complaints against them. They were wrongly accused of having contact with insurgents and some were arrested on suspicion. They did not dare stay in their villages and fled to the border after hiding in the jungle for some days," Pho Pya, Chairman of Karenni Refugee Camp Committee, told Mizzima.

"The junta forcibly and frequently relocated their villages. They were forced to perform labour without being paid. They were made to work in building, mending and renovating army outposts and fences built around them. Moreover they had to part with meat, food, fish, bamboo and timber free of charge to the soldiers. The soldiers forcibly relocated their villages under various pretexts such as withholding information on insurgent movements to the army, lading to encounters with the insurgents around these villages among other such fabricated charges. The refugees chose to flee to the border as a last resort after suffering harassment which was becoming unbearable," Khu Oo Re, Secretary II of 'Karenni Nationality Progressive Party' (KNPP), which is waging an armed struggle against the junta said.

KNPP has had numerous skirmishes and encounters with the Burmese Army in Shardaw and Mawchi areas. It is learnt that the Burmese Army's LIB 426, 530 and 531 are operating in these areas.

These new arrivals have been accommodated in their relatives' houses and provided food by the Refugee Camp Committee.

The Camp Committee will have discussions with the district authorities for giving them refugee status.

The camp officials said that there are about 23,000 recognized refugees in Karenni Camp No. 1 and 2.

http://ionglobaltre nds.blogspot. com/2008/ 07/burma- refugees- flee-to-thai- burma.html

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Red Cross seeks more money for Burma
Nine MSN-19:21 AEST Wed Jul 9 2008

The Red Cross is increasing its appeal for Burma to $US72.5 million ($A76 million) to help victims recover from the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis.

The program covered by the revised appeal would last three years and would include longer-term disaster reduction plans, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said.

These would involve activities such as mapping the most vulnerable regions, preparing emergency evacuation routes as well as helping communities with emergency evacuation drills, IFRC spokesman Zach Abraham said.

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone which left over 138,000 dead or missing, the IFRC had sought $US50 million for immediate aid action.

The aid agency's head of the Asia Pacific zone Alistair Henley said: "Hundreds of thousands of poor people lived precarious lives long before the cyclone hit them."

With the cyclone having "left them weaker and more vulnerable than ever", Henley said: "We must ensure not only that they regain what they lost but have improved and safer lives in the future."

As of July 8, the group had delivered short-term aid to over 500,000 people.

Red Cross teams are also producing and delivering clean water to the communities, and helping them clean up polluted water sources such as wells and ponds, said the IFRC.

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3G Network Launched in Burma
Cellular news-07-09-08

It has been reported that a 3G network has been launched in Burma (Myanmar) based on the WCDMA standard. However, only 50 handsets have been issued - usually to the military junta according to an unnamed official from the Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) Department. Previous reports had suggested that a 3G network was being built covering Yangon but was expected to have a capacity for 30,000 subscribers.

About 200,000 mobile phones will be distributed across the country once the infrastructure is in place, the official told the Mizzima news agency.

The 3G phones are selling for 2.8 million Kyat (US$ 2150), while a GSM costs about 2.3 million Kyat (US$ 1800). A CDMA costs about 2.1 million Kyat (US$ 1615). The prices put the phones out of reach of ordinary citizens and limits them to the government or favoured business contacts.

Government and military contacts tend to find it easier to get the paperwork to own a mobile phone - but often then rent out those phones to business users.

The state owned operator doubled its network capacity during the year - although it was not clear who provided the equipment. The original GSM network was provided by Siemens and ZTE.

The number of mobile phones in Burma reached 265,912 at the end of 2007.

Posted to the site on 9th July 2008
http://www.cellular -news.com/ story/32276. php

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Burma aid tents through at last
BBC, 07-0808

Cornwall-based disaster aid charity Shelterbox has just received the first pictures of its aid helping victims of the Burma cyclone.

Hundreds of tents have been erected as part of the international response to the 2 May cyclone which left more than 130,000 people dead or missing.

Shelterbox had struggled to get its tents into the country.

But about a month ago Burma's military rulers opened the Irrawaddy Delta to international aid workers.

Shelterbox aid worker Mark Pearson has just sent back pictures of the tents in use from Labutta in the Irrawaddy.

 Pictures of Shelterbox tents in use

'Good position'

The charity's boxes include tents, tools, stoves, cooking pots and ground sheets.

Mr Pearson said: "I found Three Mile Camp which is home to 5,250 survivors of the cyclone.

"There are around 700 Shelterbox tents there all arranged perfectly there is camp security, hospital, clean water, food and schools all run by the government.

"The Shelterbox kit was in a good position above sea level and a cool breeze all day and most importantly shelter from the heavy monsoon downpours which happen most days and night."

He said that a member of aid group Medicins San Frontier had told him that there were also 300 Shelterbox tents on the Burma island of Heignyi.

Sally Grint, Shelterbox's fund-raising manager, said the pictures vindicated the charity's persistence in trying to get aid into Burma.

The charity is sending another 200 tents, 2,000 mosquito nets, 2,000 tool kits, 600 woodburning stoves, 600 cooking pots, 4000 ground sheets and educational equipment to Burma.

http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/uk_news/ england/cornwall /7495461. stm

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Burma junta approves visas for 1670 cyclone aid workers
Newscotsan.com 07-10-08

BURMA'S military regime has approved visas for more than 1500 international aid workers to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, it has emerged.

The state media of the country, also known as Myanmar, said half of the workers were involved in relief operations in storm-hit regions.

Foreign aid staffers were initially barred from cyclone-affected areas and the ruling military junta was criticised for its sluggish response to the May 2-3 disaster, which killed 84,500 people and left nearly 54,000 missing.

During a visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in late May, the government agreed to allow foreign aid workers into the Irrawaddy delta, though it placed restrictions on their movements.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the government has now issued 1670 visas to foreigners from the United Nations, non-government organisations and individuals.

The announcement comes after US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said last week that Burma's military junta had been "deaf and dumb" to offers of aid to its thousands of cyclone victims.

The generals' obstruction of international efforts to help cyclone victims cost "tens of thousands of lives", he said.

http://news. scotsman. com/latestnews/ Burma-junta- approves- visas-for. 4265195.jp

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UNICEF: Burma cyclone recovery proceeding well
07-09-08

UNICEF says that disaster relief efforts in Burma, recovering from a cyclone that hit May 2, are progressing well. Here, a woman receives food and drink from private donors in Hlaegu, about 25 miles outside of Rangoon, on July 6.

Rangoon, Burma (AP) — Disaster recovery and relief efforts are progressing well in Burma's cyclone-hit areas, despite logistical obstacles, a United Nations agency said Monday.

"The government has allocated a lot of money to relief and recovery," UNICEF spokeswoman Zafrin Chowdhury told The Associated Press, praising individual volunteers as well for their work.

Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3 cut a swath of destruction through the Irrawaddy delta and the Burma's largest city of Rangoon, killing 84,537 people and leaving 53,836 missing. Burma also is known as Myanmar.

Chowdhury said the logistics of providing relief were daunting.

"It's a very challenging situation. Access is quite difficult and most places in the delta are reachable only by boat," she said. Helicopters chartered on behalf of the U.N. World Food Program are also being used to airlift essential supplies where trucks cannot go.

"From our own observations, assistance has reached many of the remote areas," said Chowdhury.
The casualties from the storm were on a scale experienced by other countries from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which largely spared Burma.

An Indonesian expert compared Burma's recovery effort favorably to the one made by his own country after the tsunami.

Heru Prasetyo of Tsunami Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for Aceh and Nias spoke at a meeting last week to review post-disaster response and recovery. It looked at the work and future duties of the Tripartite Core Group, comprising representatives of the government, U.N. agencies and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, ASEAN — of which Burma is a member.

"Judging the progress at the eighth week so far, the TCG efforts in managing response and preparing the recovery has placed Burma Nargis in much more advanced stage compared to the Aceh tsunami then," Heru said at the meeting.

But he warned that the work remaining "will be uphill and arduous."

An ASEAN-led Post-Nargis Joint Assessment Team that surveyed cyclone-hit parts of Burma issued preliminary findings late last month indicating that a feared wave of post-cyclone deaths and disease had not occurred.

The team's full report is supposed to be released at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on July 20-21 in Singapore.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broa dcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.usatoday .com/news/ world/2008- 07-07-Burma- recovery_ N.htm

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Burma outlaws 1990 poll results
Iol.co.za-July 07 2008 at 02:21PM

Yangon - The victory by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party in 1990 elections was "no longer legal", Myanmar/Burma state media said on Sunday, before urging her supporters to prepare for new polls.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a government mouthpiece, ran a commentary headlined: "Goodbye, 1990 election results!"

The paper said the approval of a new military-backed constitution in a referendum in May had invalidated the previous national election, won in a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

"The result of the 1990 election is no longer legal as it has been ditched by the entire people," the paper said.

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Surin says Burma, food crises strengthen Asean
The Bangkok Post-07-10-08 

Manila (dpa) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has emerged stronger in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis that whipped Burma and the rice crisis that plagued several member countries, a senior official said Tuesday.

Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said the quick response of the 10-nation regional group in leading the international humanitarian effort to help millions of cyclone victims gave the grouping "a sense of community and confidence."

"The Asean was baptized by Cyclone Nargis," he told reporters in Manila where he was on a visit. "We have shown to the world that we are an effective organization."

Surin said that an assessment meeting on the ongoing humanitarian efforts in Burma, where more than 140,000 people were killed or missing and displaced at least 2 million, was slated next week in Singapore.

"The level of support from the international community is extremely encouraging and giving us encouragement that more can be done not only for the victims of Nargis but also to pockets of poverty and underdevelopment in other Asean countries," he said.

Surin also noted that Asean's cohesiveness as a group was highlighted with the quick action of rice-exporting countries within Asean to help rice-importing countries in the group amid the grain shortage.

"There is enough rice stock to take care of the region and to also share with the world in times of need," he said. "The panic is over, the rice (prices) have gone down."

Surin said the humanitarian crisis in Burma and the rice crisis also provided an impetus for Asean members to ratify the group's first rules-based charter.

Surin said six Asean countries have already ratified the charter and the remaining four countries were expected to ratify it in time for the leaders' summit in Bangkok in November.

"I'm hoping that in Bangkok we will be able to celebrate the full ratification, " he said.

Asean groups Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

http://www.bangkokp ost.com/breaking _news/breakingne ws.php?id= 128777

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Burma: Labour activist Su Su Nway held in isolation
Wednesday, July 09 2008 @ 08:01 AM CDT
News info shop-Contributed by: WorkerFreedom
 

Jul 8, 2008 (DVB)–Activist Su Su Nway has been in solitary confinement since 5 July due to an argument with Insein prison officials, according to Dr Win Naing, a member of the National League for Democracy's information department.

Dr Win Naing said the argument broke out while prison officials were conductinf a search of Su Su Nway's belongings in her cell.
"They said the search was a regular procedure in the prison every month after detainees have received items sent in by their families so that they can seize things that are prohibited by prison regulations, " he said.

"They criticised Su Su Nway for not keeping her things tidy in the cell and she argued with them. Then they put her in solitary confinement. "

Dr Win Naing said it was wrong for prison officials to treat Su Su Nway like a criminal when she had not yet been sentenced for any crime.

"But now in Burma, it is becoming common for prison officials to treat detainees rudely as if they were all criminals,” the NLD member said.

“Some of them really don't know such treatment towards the detainees is not according to the law,” he said.
“But some are doing it knowing it's not right."

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

http://english. dvb.no/news. php?id=1511
http://news. infoshop. org/article. php?story= 2008070908011242 1

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Report Slams Beijing’s Burma Policy
By WAI MOE
Irrawaddy-Wednesday , July 9, 2008
Irrawaddy delta. 

A US-based rights group called “8-8-08 for Burma” has released a report condemning the Chinese government for its support of the Burmese military junta just one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony.

Released on July 2, the five-page report, titled “Sinking: China’s Soft Diplomacy on Burma,” details the pitfalls of Chinese foreign policy toward Burma in recent years and slams Beijing for its response to the cyclone disaster in the

A man pushing a bicycle past a huge 2008 Olympic poster in Beijing. A US-based rights group has condemned the Chinese government for its support of the Burmese junta just one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony. (Photo: AFP)

The report says the Chinese government has advocated a “soft approach of consultations” with the Burmese military junta, and has voiced support for the regime’s so-called “seven step roadmap to democracy,” a policy criticized by Burmese opposition groups and international observers as a sham.

The report noted that that although Beijing says there is no “special relationship” between China and the Burmese military regime, China is nonetheless Burma’s largest trading partner and is expected to sign a US $1 billion deal in 2008 for an oil and natural gas pipeline through Burma into western China.

China has also sold a $2-3 billion package of weapons and military equipment to the Burmese junta while at the same time defending the junta at the United Nations, says the report.

In response to the Chinese foreign policy that “pressure would not serve any purpose” in Burma, the report said that the Burmese regime has demonstrated that it does not respond to soft measures, except with “superficial developments meant to curb international pressure and continue repression, abuses and atrocities.”

The 8-8-08 for Burma report also notes that although Chinese officials have pledged support for the [United Nations] secretary-general’ s good offices, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean’s) leading role in the Burmese issue, the reality is that the Beijing government has consistently undermined the ability of the UN and Asean to effectively address the Burma issue.

The report alleges that while thwarting attempts by the UN to address the Burmese junta’s abuses and atrocities, the Chinese government is constantly looking at increasing trade with Burma.

The report said, “China’s goals as the Olympic host are in direct conflict with Beijing’s Burma policy, promoting repression and atrocities instead of the fundamental principles of the Olympics—human dignity, peace and brotherhood.”

In the aftermath of the May 2-3 cyclone disaster, the Chinese government appealed to the international community not to “politicize” the crisis.

However, the report concluded that “in contrast to its timely and appropriate reaction to its own May 12 earthquake, China facilitated the denial of life-saving aid to the 2.4 million people affected by Cyclone Nargis in Burma.”

The rights group’s report called for China to take immediate action to help end Burma’s crisis before August 8—the 20th anniversary of the 1988 democracy uprising in Burma, and a date that also marks the commencement last year of demonstrations led by monks. 

“August 8, 2008, can be a day to celebrate human achievement and perseverance— in China, in Burma, everywhere. But only if China takes action now,” the report said.

The 8-8-08 for Burma campaign is a project of Res Publica, a community of public sector professionals in the United States who say they are dedicated to promoting good governance, civic virtue and deliberative democracy.

http://www.irrawadd y.org/highlight. php?art_id= 13227

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Regime Asks UN to Stop Press Conferences in Bangkok
By VIOLET CHO
Irrawaddy-Wednesday , July 9, 2008

Burma’s military government has asked the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other UN agencies not to hold press conferences in Bangkok but in Rangoon, according to sources in the former Burmese capital.

Since Cyclone Nargis slammed Burma on May 2-3, the Bangkok-based Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) has hosted several press conferences by UN agencies. The FCCT confirmed that the UN suddenly canceled its planned weekly press briefings on Wednesday last week without giving any reason.

The UN’s decision to suspend its regular press conferences in Bangkok reportedly came after Burma’s military rulers indicated that they preferred Rangoon as the venue for future briefings.
Burmese authorities rarely allow accredited journalists to enter the country, except to cover carefully orchestrated events that highlight the regime’s accomplishments. Local journalists are also prevented by draconian press laws from covering sensitive issues.

Recently, Burmese journalists faced hurdles reporting on international relief efforts after they were told they could not attend a press conference by Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a member of the Tripartite Core Group which is coordinating the relief effort. The group consists of the regional grouping plus the UN and the Burmese junta.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for a UN agency praised the regime for its contribution to the humanitarian mission in cyclone-hit areas. “The government has allocated a lot of money to relief and recovery,” said UNICEF spokesperson Zafrin Chowdhury, speaking in Rangoon on Monday.
In May, the regime was widely condemned for refusing to issue visas to foreign relief workers. On May 23, after a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the junta finally agreed to allow an international relief effort, although it continued to impose restraints on the movements of foreign aid workers.

The Irrawaddy contacted OCHA spokeswoman Amanda Pitt and UN spokesman Richard Horsey about the suspension of press conferences in Bangkok, but they declined to comment on the reason for the move. OCHA representatives Rangoon also had nothing to say about the change.

Critics of the relief effort say that it is still moving far too slowly. Until recently, OCHA situation reports stated that the aid mission had reached 1.3 million out of an estimated 2.4 million affected people—a figure that remained unchanged through the entire month of June.

In its latest report, released on July 7, OCHA omits the number of people who have so far received aid.

http://www.irrawadd y.org/article1. php?art_id= 13230

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QUOTE OF THE DAY
 
“If we could survive the deadly storm and tidal surge, this current hardship is nothing for us.”
—Soe Soe, a Burmese cyclone survivor at the Irrawaddy delta

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visit www.badasf.org for update