BurmaNet News, May 7, 2008

[Editor]

May 7, 2008 Issue # 3460

INSIDE BURMA
Al-Jazeera: Millions left homeless in Myanmar
IHT: Aid groups confront abundant challenges
Mizzima News: USD 40 million waits for cyclone victims, but junta not yet
ready
Irrawaddy: Survivors in Delta still waiting for aid
Irrawaddy: Monks aid survivors, authorities sell rooftops
AP: Burma’s rice region decimated—food shortage feared
DVB: Four Insein prisoners die during interrogation
Mizzima News: Most Rangoon journals closed after cyclone

BUSINESS / TRADE
DVB: Government sells food to disaster victims

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Visa formalities holding up UN team
Irrawaddy: US House urges Bush, UN to reject draft constitution
AFP: UN should force Myanmar to accept cyclone aid: French FM

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Emergency aid, not ballot papers, needed now in stricken Burma
[Editorial]
FT: Burma aid effort poses dilemma for generals - Amy Kazmin
WSJ - Disaster may stir protests against Myanmar rulers - James Hookway

PRESS RELEASE
BNI: Release of nationwide voters survey on the Burmese referendum

STATEMENT
NLD: Special Statement 9/05/08 [Unofficial translation]
Statement from National Health and Education Committee, Burma Medical
Association, Mae Tao Clinic and Back Pack Health Worker


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 7, Al-Jazeera
Millions left homeless in Myanmar

Millions of people in Myanmar have been left homeless by the devastating
Cyclone Nargis and piles of bodies have begun rotting in the disaster
zone.

Andrew Kirkwood, director of the aid agency Save the Children, said on
Wednesday that he believed millions had been left homeless although he
didn't "know how many millions".

Speaking by telephone to the AFP from Yangon, Myanma'r former capital,
Kirkwood also said: "There are 41,000 people missing but most people
assume most of those 41,000 missing are dead."

Cyclone Nargis, which slammed into Myanmar's southern coast on Saturday,
has left at least 22,000 people dead and another 41,000 missing by the
official count, but the toll is expected to rise.

Harrowing tales

Kirkwood said the organisation's staff had gathered harrowing eyewitness
accounts from the worst-hit area of the Irrawaddy Delta region, a
low-lying agricultural region which was inundated by a huge storm surge.

"One team came across thousands of people killed in one township, with
piles of rotting bodies lying on the ground as the water had receded," he
said.

He said there were "really worrying" reports that people were dying in the
town of Pyinkaya in the southwest of the delta, home to 150,000 people,
which received no supplies of food or clean water since the storm hit.
"Assistance hasn't reached them yet and they are dying - completely
isolated," he said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8A006ADA-12A2-4753-B02F-4F876489D290.htm

____________________________________

May 7, The International Herald Tribune
Aid groups confront abundant challenges - Thomas Fuller

International aid agencies began distributing food in the Burmese
commercial capital of Yangon on Tuesday, amid uncertainty that assistance
would reach people stranded without shelter in the remote reaches of the
country's vast Irrawaddy Delta.

Bad roads, halting cooperation by the country's military government and a
breakdown in telecommunications threaten relief efforts as aid agencies
begin to assess the damage to the densely populated delta, which appears
to have suffered the worst of the damage from Saturday's cyclone. Even
before the storm hit, many towns and villages in the area were accessible
only by boat or helicopter.

''If it were a different situation, we would be mobilizing some
helicopters now,'' said Tony Banbury, the regional director of the World
Food Program, a United Nations agency. ''We recognize that the government
may not want international helicopters flying in their country, for better
or worse.''

A growing list of countries has pledged aid and assistance, but there
appeared to be disagreement as to how to handle Myanmar's authoritarian
government.

Two of Myanmar's neighbors sent supplies immediately: Thailand on Tuesday
dispatched a transport plane loaded with food and medicine to Yangon, and
India sent two naval ships with food, tents, blankets, clothing and
medicines.

The United States announced it might send $250,000 worth of aid to
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, but the shipment was conditional on a
U.S. disaster response team being allowed into the country. In making the
announcement in Washington, Laura Bush, the first lady, said she was
concerned that Myanmar would not accept the aid. She also called the
military government ''very inept.''

Canada, China, the European Union and Japan all pledged aid without
conditions.

The Australian foreign minister, Stephen Smith, said his government was
''ready, willing and able'' to offer humanitarian aid. Saying the priority
was ''rendering assistance to thousands of displaced people,'' he withheld
judgment on the military government's handling of the cyclone.

''I just don't think we're in a position to make that sort of judgment
now, given the difficulties of communication,'' Smith said in comments
reported by The Associated Press.

Banbury, of the World Food Program, said he feared that the assistance
pledged to Myanmar was ''ad hoc and uncoordinated.''

''It's great that others are sending some kinds of relief supplies, but it
will be a challenge to distribute them,'' he said.

The cyclone Saturday felled trees and destroyed dwellings in Yangon, the
former capital once known as Rangoon, but the greatest damage was in the
low-lying delta. Former swampland that was converted during British
colonial times into one of the world's largest rice-growing areas, the
delta is exceptionally fertile but difficult to traverse.

''The infrastructure was degraded to begin with,'' said Sean Turnell, an
expert on Myanmar at Macquarie University in Sydney. Dikes had collapsed,
irrigation systems had failed and bridges were sometimes impassable before
the cyclone, Turnell said.

The delta was only sparsely inhabited until the 1900s, but by early in the
20th century it had been transformed into what became known as ''the rice
bowl of Asia.'' Rice grown in the delta fed large swaths of the British
empire, and colonial Burma was for several decades the world's largest
rice exporter.

The clearing of mangrove swamps and the destruction of dense primary
jungle removed natural barriers and may have left populations more
vulnerable.

''Obviously nobody thought of the environmental consequences of all
this,'' Michael Adas, a professor of history at Rutgers University and the
author of ''The Burma Delta,'' a book about the region's transformation
into a rice-growing center.

Among the most vulnerable people there are those who have moved onto the
islands and peninsulas jutting out into the Andaman Sea.

''They build their lives around water,'' said Aung Din, a Burmese
dissident living in the United States who has family in the delta. ''Now
water is flooding them.''

Aung Din said an ineffectual response to the cyclone would probably add to
resentment against Myanmar's military junta. Farmers are already
frustrated that they must buy fertilizer from businesses controlled by
companies linked to the regime, Aung Din said. The military also forces
farmers to sell rice at below-market prices and bans them from selling
their crops in other regions of the country.

Turnell, of Macquarie, estimates the total population of the delta at 15
million to 20 million people. But given the crumbling infrastructure and
the large number of isolated villages, he said, the full extent of the
damage may never emerge.

''We'll never know how many died,'' he said. ''This a country that hasn't
had a full census since 1937.''

____________________________________

May 7, Mizzima News
USD 40 million waits for cyclone victims, but junta not yet ready - Nay Thwin

Over 20 countries have pledge aid of more than USD 40 million for victims
of the tropical cyclone Nargis in Burma, but most of these countries are
still waiting for a  response from the junta.

Moreover the US, EU, Australia, Sweden, Canada, Norway, China and
Indonesia are also ready to provide aid in millions of USD to Burma.

Among the countries which have pledged aid, UK has promised the biggest
amount at USD 10 million.

The US and EU countries have a strained relation with Burma for the human
right violations committed by the military regime.

The US intended to give USD 3 million worth of relief and the US President
demanded of the junta brass yesterday that it allow the US Navy to conduct
relief and rescue operations in Burma.

Though the French government intended to give USD 300,000 for relief, it
is worried about it being misused by the junta.

Similarly Germany, Switzerland, Thailand, France, Netherlands, Japan,
Greece, Czech, Denmark and South Korea have also pledged to provide
humanitarian assistance worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to statistics compiled by Mizzima, the total amount of relief
and humanitarian aid pledged by the UN and international community is over
USD 37 million. The amount includes both cash and in kind namely emergency
food, drinking water, makeshift tents and plastic sheets and medical
supplies.

Aid from Thailand reached first to isolated Burma by military aircraft on
Tuesday. It was USD 100,000 in cash and relief supplies such as food,
drinking water and medical supplies worth another USD 50,000.

Similarly India which maintains close relations with the junta also sent
food, blankets, clothes and makeshift tents in its Navy warships.

China also sent emergency aid of USD 1 million and relief supplies worth
USD 5 million.

The World Food Programme, the UN agency, will send some of its 800 metric
tons pf rice stored in its Rangoon office as reserve food stocks to
Laputta in Irrawaddy Division late evening today.

The worst hit area in the Irrwaddy Delta region has been declared as a
disaster zone by UN Humanitarian Aid Department today as international
relief supplies start flowing into Burma.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) is trying to send
plastic makeshift tents for 10,000 people in Burma in time and the staff
of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Committee of
Red Cross (ICRC), Red Crescent are waiting to get Burmese entry visas.

Andrew Kirkwood of 'Save the Children' which got a rare chance to enter
Burma from the outside world said that corpses were seen floating in the
flood waters, quoting aid workers who witnessed this tragic incident.

"The aid and relief supplies haven't yet reached the disaster areas. They
are going to die", he said. Over 41,000 people listed as missing by the
junta are believed to be dead. This will increase the official death toll
of 22,000.

"Millions of people are rendered homeless, but we cannot say how many
million," he added.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that
food scarcity in Burma cannot be tackled in one or two years as all five
regions lashed by cyclone Nargis are in the rice bowl of Burma.

These regions produce 65 per cent of rice, 80 per cent of fishery produce
and 50 per cent of meat and meat products.

The State-run MRTV 4 is continuously broadcasting clearing of debris in
Rangoon, relief and aid work being executed in some townships of the
Irrawaddy delta region.

____________________________________

May 7, Irrawaddy
Survivors in Delta still waiting for aid - Saw Yan Naing

Survivors of the cyclone and tidal wave that hit Laputta Township are
still waiting for aid some five days later. They have no food or water, no
electricity or telephone lines and many have reportedly died from injuries
and lack of water in the aftermath of the storm.

Aye Kyu, a Laputta resident who managed to get to Rangoon by road on
Tuesday told The Irrawaddy that half of Laputta Township—specifically the
coastal area—was completely flooded and he estimated that tens of
thousands of people in Laputta have already died.

Aye Kyu said that even survivors were dying for lack of food and water.
Two days after the storm hit the Laputta Township in Irrawaddy Division,
there were nothing to eat or drink, he said.

He said that many villagers from outlying areas had traveled to Laputta
town in the hope of finding food, water and shelter.

Aye Kyu said, “Many survivors are now in Laputta town. Toilets are
overflowing. If aid does not arrive soon, people will starve to death.”

Many houses in the lower part of Laputta Township were hit by a huge tidal
wave which destroyed everything in its path. Many people were killed
immediately by the wave, he said.

 “Some people tried to escape by sitting on the top of their roofs,” Aye
Kyu said. “But the tidal hit them and pulled them into the sea.”

Survivors who have arrived in Laputta town are being assisted by youths
and students. Some villagers are being sheltered at local monasteries and
schools and some have been fed boiled rice, he said, adding that some
soldiers have also arrived in Laputta town and joined the relief effort.

“I beg both the government and international agencies to get emergency aid
to Laputta as soon as possible,” said Aye Kyu.

There were some 200,000 people living in Laputta Township, which is
located at the southwestern point of the Irrawaddy delta.

Meanwhile, state radio in Burma reported that at least 10,000 people have
been killed in Bogalay town in Irrawaddy Division, some 50 miles (80
kilometers) east of Laputta on the southern coast. The report said 95
percent of the town had been destroyed.

“Almost every house in Bogalay were completely leveled and the rooftops
were blown away,” said a resident.

A survivor in Mondine Gyi village in lower Bogalay Township said, “The
tidal wave hit my house and totally submerged it. I saw bodies floating by
while I held onto a piece of wood. My wife and children are still
missing,” he added.

In another town in the Irrawaddy delta, Maubin, thousands of rice paddies
and fields of corn, bananas, chilis and other crops were destroyed. Local
farmers estimated their losses to be in the hundreds of thousands of kyat.
Sources said that no emergency assistance had reached the affected areas
to date.

Meanwhile, eight villages in a town in Irrawaddy delta called Dedaye, some
40 miles (64 kilometers) from Rangoon were totally destroyed.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Wednesday, an eyewitness said, “Dead
bodies are floating in the lake. There is no food or drinking water. It
has been four days but still no emergency aid has arrived.”

Meanwhile, a statement released by Burma’s main opposition group, the
National League for Democracy on Tuesday said that the death toll could be
more than 100,000.

The statement also condemned that military regime for ignoring the plight
of cyclone victims and trying to push ahead with the national referendum
on May 10.

The Burmese military government has announced that some 22,500 people have
killed to date while 41,000 are still missing. An estimated 1.7 million
people have been left homeless.

____________________________________

May 7, Irrawaddy
Monks aid survivors, authorities sell rooftops - Wai Moe

The survivors of tropical cyclone Nargis are trying to recover their lives
and livelihoods almost without any help from the military government.
However, Buddhist monks have emerged to come to the aid of many victims.

Residents in Rangoon and the Irrawaddy delta town of Laputta who spoke to
The Irrawaddy in the wake of the cyclone said that monks came out of their
monasteries and offered assistance to survivors.

 “I saw monks in Rangoon, after the storm, distributing food to
survivors,” a physician in the former capital said. “I also saw monks
clearing up fallen trees and rebuilding houses.”

A doctor in Laputta Township, one of the most seriously affected areas in
the Irrawaddy delta, said that, after the storm, survivors went to
monasteries for food and shelter because there was nowhere else providing
aid. “Monks and young people in each town collected money and rice after
the storm, and they cooked rice soup for the survivors,” he said.

While Buddhist monks were striving to save lives and aid survivors, the
Burmese military authorities were attempting to prevent the monks from
getting involved in relief efforts. Burmese military officials ordered
monks not to use monasteries as safe houses for survivors and, according
to journalists in Rangoon, the Ministry of Information ordered news
agencies not to publish photographs of Buddhist monks aiding survivors,
working in the streets or rebuilding homes.

 “The authorities won’t allow people to take refuge in monasteries,” a
journalist in Rangoon said. “They will only permit people to shelter in
schools. Even if the monks want to distribute water to survivors, they
have to get permission from the authorities.”

State-run-newspapers and television have repeatedly shown images of
high-ranking generals and officers helping survivors and handing out aid
packages. However, many survivors in Rangoon have cast doubts on the state
media’s reporting.

“The newspapers said the ruling generals and troops encouraged and aided
survivors,” a dentist in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. “But
this has quickly become a standing joke among people in Rangoon. We now
say soldiers can only be seen in newspapers—nowhere else.

“My house was destroyed,” he added. “But I don’t see any officials coming
to visit me.”

Meanwhile, local authorities in Rangoon began distributing tin roofing
materials on Tuesday— some three days after the disaster—but not for free.
And first, rooftops were only being provided to those with military
connections.

“You are survivor. But if you want a new roof for your house, you need to
pay 4,900 kyat (US $4.29) to the authorities for the materials,” said a
housewife in Rangoon.

“Then you are lucky—because what I see is that mostly relatives of local
authorities buy those roofing materials and sell them on to ordinary
people at an inflated price of 30,000 kyat ($26.3) per tin roof.”

____________________________________

May 7, Associated Press
Burma’s rice region decimated—food shortage feared - Michael Casey

Burma’s rice-growing heartland has been devastated by Cyclone Nargis,
experts said on Wednesday, posing worries of long-term food shortages for
the secretive, impoverished country.

The Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that
five states hit hardest by Saturday's cyclone produce 65 percent of the
country's rice. The region also is home to 80 percent of its aquaculture,
50 percent of its poultry and 40 percent of its pig production, the FAO
said.

Of most concern is the rice production, since the impoverished country has
produced enough to feed itself and, more recently, stave off the rising
prices that have hit other parts of the region.

"There is likely going to be incredibly shortages in the next 18 to 24
months," said Sean Turnell, an economist specializing in Burma at
Australia's Macquarie University. "Things will be tough."

The world's top rice producer before World War II, Burma has in the past
four decades seen its rice exports drop from nearly 4 million tons per
year to only about 600,000 tons this year.

The country's exports are so small these days that few expect the cyclone
to have any impact on world rice prices.

Mostly due to the mismanagement by the country's ruling generals, the
country's road network and rice storage facilities have fallen into
disrepair and such things as fertilizer and credit for farmers is almost
nonexistent.

Now, the country must confront the reality that entire rice-growing
regions are under water. Many of the roads and bridges needed to transport
what crop can be salvaged may have been destroyed by the cyclone.

The UN World Food Program, which has started feeding the estimated 1
million homeless people in Burma, said there are immediate concerns about
salvaging harvested rice in the flooded Irrawaddy delta, known as the
country's rice bowl. It also warned that the rice harvest in the Pegu
Division could be lost since it was still in the ground, and future
plantings in the delta could be threatened due to "salinity and decrease
of nutrients" from the storm's tidal surges.

The FAO also predicted that annual crops of rice along with oil palm and
rubber plantations "are expected" to be damaged in areas hit by the
cyclone. They are sending in an assessment team in the coming days to have
a closer look.

"There is risk that stored rice seeds kept by farmers—usually under poor
storage facilities—might be affected by the cyclone," the FAO said in a
statement. "Some rice crops under irrigation might be affected, if not yet
harvested."

The cyclone, which battered the country last weekend with winds of 190 kph
(120 mph) and 3.5 meter (11.48 feet) storm water surges, caused at least
22,000 deaths.

____________________________________

May 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Four Insein prisoners die during interrogation

Four Insein prison inmates reportedly died during questioning as
authorities investigated a riot in the prison, while another 98 have been
held in punishment cells.

In a statement released yesterday, the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners gave further details of the riot in the early hours of
Saturday morning in which 36 prisoners were killed.

According to the group, more than 1500 prisoners were locked in a prison
hall after Cyclone Nargis destroyed parts of the prison, and a riot broke
out after their requests to move to safety were refused by prison guards.

"Some prisoners started shouting demands, and some set fire to the prison
hall. The fire burnt down the hall, and a riot situation ensued in the
prison," the AAPP statement said.

Soldiers and riot police were called in after prison guards failed to
control the situation, and opened fire on the prisoners, killing 36 and
injuring around 70.

Smoke from the fire spread throughout the prison, including to blocks
where political prisoners such as 88 Generation Student leader Min Ko
Naing were being held.

They were eventually allowed out of their cells to escape the smoke, but
one political prisoner was admitted to the prison hospital with breathing
difficulties and Min Ko Naing's eye condition has deteriorated due to the
smoke.

Prison authorities conducted an investigation into the incident, which
resulted in the death of four inmates under interrogation, and 98
prisoners, including four political prisoners from the National League for
Democracy, were held in a punishment cell block.

AAPP secretary Ko Tate Naing said these prisoners were now undergoing
further questioning.

"We have learnt the 98 prisoners who were previously put in a punishment
cell block have been sent to Yay Kyi-I interrogation center for further
interrogation on the incident," he said.

"This is a severe and dangerous violation of human rights."

Ko Bo Kyi, joint secretary of AAPP, said the authorities were to blame for
the creating the situation.

"As soon as the storm hit, they should have moved the prisoners to safety.
Their mismanagement of the situation led to prisoners rioting," Bo Kyi
said.

"We condemn their violent response, which led to the needless deaths of 36
prisoners. We call on the regime to allow the UN Human Rights Council
Special Rapporteur Sergio Pinheiro to conduct an immediate investigation
into the whole incident, including the cases of the four prisoners who
were tortured to death."

Security has now been tightened at the prison.

____________________________________

May 7, Mizzima News
Most Rangoon journals closed after cyclone - Nem Davies

Rangoon-based weekly journals closed down after Cyclone Nargis swept
through the city and caused widespread power outages. Only a few news
journals with generators continued to operate.

"At least 20 sport papers were closed due to the electricity shortage
downtown and because they could not afford to run generators," said the
editor of a news journal who did not want to be named.

Hein Latt, an editor of Popular Journal, said, "Six to seven papers,
including Popular, Weekly Eleven and Flower News, were released today, but
I do not remember which journals are closed because there are more than
100 papers here."

Journals that hit the news-stands this week covered the cyclone and
featured photographs of a devastated Rangoon. Popular Journal devoted four
pages to the cyclone.

The price of diesel went up to 18,000 kyats ($15.72 USD) per gallon from
4,500 kyats ($3.08USD) per gallon before the cyclone.

"Journals that are not good at sales and could not afford to buy oil and
diesel must be closed," Hein Latt said. "But journals with good sales will
try to publish and raise the paper's cost a little bit to cover their
expenses from buying diesel."

Sales of the papers were expected to be high because of interest in the
cyclone, he said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Government sells food to disaster victims

Residents of the former Burmese capital Rangoon said the government is
selling food to victims of Cyclone Nargis, but the prices remain too
expensive for destitute survivors to afford.

Rangoon authorities made announcements on the streets over loudspeakers
that the government was selling food for disaster victims at the city's
tax-free markets, a local resident said.

"The announcement also said rice priced at 750 kyat for one pyi, cooking
oil at 2240 kyat per viss and zinc sheets [for roofing] at 4500 per sheet
were now available to buy at the township Peace and Development Council
offices in Rangoon," he said.

But for local residents who have been made destitute by the natural
disaster, the provisions remain prohibitively expensive.

"Despite the government's effort to help us by selling these materials at
cheap prices, we can only sit back and watch as we have no money at all to
buy these things as we are only daily-paid workers," the resident said.

"Now all the businesses have collapsed and we are left empty-handed."

Rangoon residents are suffering shortages of food, water and electricity,
and blocked roads are making it difficult for aid to get through.

Cyclone survivors have complained that the government has not provided
assistance to victims as they search for loved ones and try to rebuild
their homes.

The Burmese government has said it would welcome international aid, but
the lack of infrastructure and delays in visa processes have meant that
relief efforts are moving slowly.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 7, Irrawaddy
Visa formalities holding up UN team - Lalit K Jha

Burmese visa formalities are holding up UN efforts to rush emergency aid
to victims of Saturday’s disastrous cyclone, a UN official said in New
York.

A UN “disaster assessment” team and a group of experts was waiting in
Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, for clearance to travel to
Burma, said Rashid Khalikov, director of the UN office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in New York.

"We hope that the [Burmese] Government would understand the requirements
of international assistance, in terms of easing up regulations for visa
applications, as well as for relief supplies to cross the customs borders
of the country," Khalikov told reporters.

The issue of visas and the smooth transportation of relief aid had been
taken up at the highest level, Khalikov said. There had been a meeting
with the Burmese Ambassador to the UN, and UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon had written to junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

The Burmese government was being urged to “change and adapt” regulations
governing the movement of UN staff to meet the current emergency, Khalikov
said.

The OCHA also announced that the UN has made available an initial sum of
US $5 million from its central emergency relief fund to finance emergency
relief.

UNICEF field staff in Burma had started delivering emergency supplies to
stricken areas of the Irrawaddy delta, a UN spokesman said. Laputta
Township, where thousands died, had been supplied with essential drugs,
first-aid kits and oral rehydration tablets.

Khalikov said the UN country team in Burma had reported a critical need
for food, water purification and cooking equipment, mosquito nets,
emergency health kits and plastic sheeting.

The OCHA estimated that hundreds of thousands of people needed help, he said.

____________________________________

May 7, Irrawaddy
US House urges Bush, UN to reject draft constitution - Lalit K Jha

The US House of Representatives passed a resolution on Tuesday urging the
UN Security Council not to accept the constitution which has been written
by the Burmese military junta to retain its hold on power.

The House Resolution (No. 317), which was sponsored by more than 50
congressmen, said the draft constitution was one sided, undemocratic and
illegitimate because no democratic and transparent process was adopted in
its drafting.

Calling it as a sham constitution, Congresswoman Diane Watson said in the
debate: "The referendum attempts to give democratic legitimacy to a
process that was designed by the Burmese military, implemented by the
Burmese military and benefits only the Burmese military. As such, it is
anything but democratic."

Watson said: "We call on the administration, the UN, and the international
community to support a legitimate, inclusive dialogue between the regime
and opposition forces. Only such an inclusive tripartite negotiation can
put Burma back on the path to peace and prosperity, where it rightfully
belongs."

Calling it as a callous decision for the junta to go forward with the
referendum on Saturday, just a week after a tropical cyclone devastated
the nation, Congressman Ted Poe said: "This constitution ignores the will
of the people of Burma as expressed in the streets of Rangoon and other
cities last fall. This one-sided constitution seeks to legitimize military
dictatorship rule. The current junta seized power by crushing a mass
democracy uprising over two decades ago."

One of the main sponsors of the resolution, Congressman Rush Holt, who
visited Burma several decades ago, said the resolution urges President
Bush to call on the world community not to accept or recognize the junta's
constitution.

"This referendum later this week would be a sham, a fake, pretend; it
would be bogus, fraudulent, spurious, and phony. Use whatever word you
want. But it would not be democratic. It would not be to the benefit of
the people of Burma who want a true democracy," he said.

Congressman Mark Souder of Indiana, the home of a substantial number of
Burmese refugees, said: "Despite international recognition of its gross
human rights violations, Burma's regime continues to use violence and
murder to terrorize its own people, most recently during last September's
demonstrations."

Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said the military regime is
attempting to give democratic legitimacy to a process, controlled from
start to finish by the Burmese military, which is anything but democratic.
A true democracy benefits the people; this referendum will only benefit
the Burmese military, she said.

____________________________________

May 7, AFP
UN should force Myanmar to accept cyclone aid: French FM

France's foreign minister said Wednesday the UN Security Council should
force Myanmar's military junta to allow aid supplies into the cyclone-hit
country.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the UN concept of a "responsibility
to protect," in cases where a state fails in its duties towards its
population, could form the basis of a Security Council resolution.

"We are trying to see at the United Nations if we can use this
responsibility to protect for there to be a resolution that imposes the
passage (of aid) to the Myanmar government," Kouchner told reporters.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 7, Irrawaddy
Emergency aid, not ballot papers, needed now in stricken Burma [Editorial]

Four days after cyclone Nargis, large areas of southern Burma remain
paralyzed, including the country’s largest city, Rangoon, and
international aid agencies fear that unless large-scale relief rapidly
reaches the survivors the death toll could soar yet again.

Up to one million people are homeless, living rough and deprived of fresh
water, food and medical supplies. Malaria and cholera are endemic in the
stricken Irrawaddy Delta region, and conditions there could lead to deadly
new outbreaks.

Urgently needed aid is being slowed by Burmese visa formalities and the
regime’s reluctance to open up the region to outsiders, even relief
workers.

Burma’s neighbors have begun sending aid and the UN's World Food Program
has reached the first of the stricken communities. But floods and damaged
roads make most of the region very difficult to access.

Ironically, although the ruling junta has appealed for foreign aid, its
visa and travel restrictions and suspicion of international organizations
remain unchanged.

"We are trying to get maximum cooperation from the government," Rashid
Khalikov, director of the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian
affairs, told reporters in New York. "We applied for visas. We have not
got the visas."

Ruptured communications hamper efforts by Burmese living in other parts of
the country and overseas to contact family members and send aid to the
survivors.

Instead of effective measures to relieve the continuing crisis, the regime
only sends a “self-reliance” message to its people. Abandoned by their
government, survivors tackle the task of clearing up the devastated
streets and highways, aided by Buddhist monks. Owners of private wells are
offering free water to their neighborhoods.

Burma’s armed forces—with an estimated 500,000 men in uniform—claim they
are Burma’s only institution with the discipline, loyalty, unity and deep
commitment necessary to protect the country. Where are they today when
their country really needs them?

The real priority for the military government appears to be the
constitutional referendum scheduled for this coming Saturday. The
referendum will still be held, although voting will be postponed in the 47
townships worst hit by the cyclone.

The regime’s reaction to the cyclone and its indifference to the fate of
the victims are shaming. This is no time for scoring political points in a
sham referendum. The referendum should be suspended and every effort made
to rush international aid to people for whom food and refuge is now more
important than worthless ballot papers.

____________________________________

May 7, Financial Times
Burma aid effort poses dilemma for generals - Amy Kazmin

For Burma’s normally reclusive military rulers, resented by their own
citizens and mistrustful of the outside world’s intentions, the
devastation wrought by tropical cyclone Nargis has posed an uncomfortable
dilemma at a sensitive political moment.

With the numbers of dead and missing now exceeding 60,000, the generals –
still skittish after their suppression of anti-government protests in
September – have dropped their usual mantra of self-reliance and admitted
they need international help.

Governments, including western countries that usually spurn the generals
as pariahs, have responded to the rare appeal for help with big offers of
assistance, potentially paving the way for the largest foreign engagement
in Burma’s troubled post-independence history.

“There is a real potential for this to be a game-changing moment,” says
Sean Turnell, a Macquarie University professor and editor of Burma
Economic Watch. “I am mindful of what happened in Aceh, where you had this
intractable problem, but after the tsunami the whole conversation
changed.”

Even George W. Bush, the US president and Rangoon’s fiercest critic among
world leaders, has offered US naval forces for urgent search-and-rescue
efforts and to help quickly distribute relief supplies to remote areas.

Yet the prospects for effective co-operation between the regime and the
international community remain uncertain, with formidable obstacles to
overcome.

With the generals gearing up for a national referendum on a new
constitution that critics say would, in effect, legitimise military rule,
analysts say the regime is probably reluctant to give foreign aid workers
free rein to roam around the country.

At the same time, the generals are thought to be acutely aware of the risk
that an inadequate relief effort could provoke an explosion of public
anger from a population still seething after last September’s protests and
the violent crackdown.

“At one level, the regime worries that events could move out of their
control if they let in western aid groups and lose that really tight
control that they have had,” says Mr Turnell. “But they must also be
extra-ordinarily mindful of the potential that this could cause unrest in
the country. People are already quickly jumping on to the fact that the
army was out on the streets so quickly in September and asking: ‘Where are
they now?’”

So far, the regime has begun receiving emergency relief supplies from its
neighbours, including India and Thailand. But it has yet to approve visas
for international disaster relief experts, including United Nations
officials and international NGO workers.

Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, says relief organisations are struggling to get
those supplies in the country into the areas where they are needed.

While the Burmese military has made some helicopters and boats available
to carry supplies to remote areas, far more transport will be needed. “The
major bottleneck will be the local delivery, rather than getting stuff in
to Rangoon airport,” says Mr Horsey. “We need distribution channels.”

Still, Burma’s generals seem unlikely to follow the example of Indonesia
and other countries hit by the 2004 tsunami, which allowed US forces – and
equipment – to help the relief effort.

“The problem is that everything, including aid, has been politicised, with
suspicions on all sides,” says Thant Myint-U, a Burmese historian and
former UN official. “If ... the aid community and the Burmese authorities
can work well together, keep politics entirely away, and show that
effective and impartial aid delivery is possible, I think that would be a
great step forward.”

____________________________________

May 7, Wall Street Journal Online
Disaster may stir protests against Myanmar rulers - James Hookway

The devastating cyclone that killed at least 22,000 people in Myanmar is
driving up the cost of basic commodities and could stir fresh protests
against the country's military rulers, who violently put down a
pro-democracy uprising last year.

A girl drank water from a container as her homeless family ate donated
food in Konegyangone, outside Yangon, Myanmar, Wednesday.

A sharp spike in food, fuel and other necessities in the cyclone's wake is
already laying the ground for another confrontation between the two most
powerful institutions in Myanmar, the Buddhist clergy and the military,
which has ruled the country since 1962, according to political dissidents
and foreign analysts.

Last September, tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and other
demonstrators took to the streets of Yangon to press for democratic
reforms. The military responded by killing at least 31 people. The
demonstrations began as a protest against rising fuel prices, which put
the price of transportation and some key foodstuffs beyond the reach of
the poorest families.

Now, prices of essentials such as cooking oil, rice and water have doubled
or tripled since the storm struck last weekend, and even a large influx of
foreign aid promised by donors around the world may not temper the
inflationary pressure caused by current shortages.

Even so, a new surge in political protest may not come immediately. After
the cyclone, ordinary citizens will first deal with the consequences of
the catastrophe, suggests Monique Skidmore, a professor at the Australian
National University who has studied the country extensively. Bodies need
to be found, funeral rites conducted and businesses and livelihoods
salvaged, she says.

But later, as Myanmar feels the full brunt of storm's economic impact, Ms.
Skidmore and other analysts say tensions could worsen with people blaming
the military junta headed by senior Gen. Than Shwe for failing to warn
them of the impending storm and then mishandling relief efforts in its
wake. "I think once we're past the immediate aftermath and the upcoming
rainy season, then we could see some new demonstrations in August," she
says. "That's what all the dissidents are talking about: the eighth day of
the eighth month of the year eight."

Sean Turnell, an economist at Macquarie University in Sydney, who is a
member of that university's Burma Economic Watch program, says he is
struck by the depth of animosity to the regime which has emerged since the
cyclone. People who might previously have sympathized with the military's
heavily nationalistic policies are turning against regime.

Some anti-military activists predict the eventual backlash could turn
violent. "The situation is leading to another demonstration and another
bloodbath," says Zin Linn, who acts as information minister of a
U.S.-based government-in-exile, the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma.

Relief groups and governments urge Myanmar's rulers to let humanitarian
assistance flow into the country following a deadly cyclone.

Thailand-based dissidents who closely monitor the situation in Myanmar say
state-run radio and television broadcasts failed to adequately alert the
public about the severity of the cyclone heading their way, putting tens
of thousands of lives at risk.

On Wednesday, Indian officials said they told Myanmar's government that
Cyclone Nargis was approaching well before it struck land. "Forty-eight
hours in advance we informed the Burma weather department about the likely
area of landfall as well as the time and intensity of the cyclone," Indian
Meteorological Department spokesman B.P. Yadav said, using the old name
for the country, which was changed to Myanmar by the military in 1989.

Weather forecasts on international news networks -- which are available to
Myanmar's ruling elite -- had also predicted the storm would hit land in
southern Myanmar and pass directly over Yangon. Laura Bush, wife of
President Bush, earlier this week described Myanmar's failure to warn its
people of the approaching storm as "inept".

Myanmar military soldiers unloaded boxes of instant noodles off a Thai
military plane which flew in with food and aid for cyclone victims in
Yangon on Tuesday.

Myanmar's government hasn't publicly commented on the matter.

State-run radio has reported that 41,000 people are still missing. About
one million are homeless and in need of aid, according to international
relief officials.

On Wednesday, relief teams were trying to make their way by boat into the
worst-affected areas in the flooded Irrawaddy River delta. China, which
maintains strong diplomatic and economic ties with Myanmar's ruling junta,
flew in $500,000 worth of food, tents and blankets to help with the relief
effort. But many international relief workers are still waiting for visas
to enter the country.

"Basically the entire lower delta region is under water," the Associated
Press reported Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, as saying. He predicted the
number of fatalities could rise "dramatically" beyond the 22,000 figure
given by Myanmar officials Tuesday.

Worsening the situation, the most heavily affected region -- the Irrawaddy
River delta -- is one of Myanmar's main rice-growing regions. Aid
officials say large tracts of land are under water and in many areas, the
rice harvest is lost. Myanmar had hoped to export 400,000 metric tons of
rice this year, but that now looks unlikely.

Indeed, United Nations World Food Program officials now worry that Myanmar
will have to begin importing rice at a time when global prices are almost
three times higher than they were at the beginning of the year, driven up
by, among other things, rising fertilizer costs and growing demand from
China and India.

Since the cyclone struck, rice prices have begun to rise again on global
markets as traders begin to take stock of the scale of the catastrophe.
U.S. rice futures rose more than 2% in Asian trading on Wednesday as
worries grew that Myanmar would soon face food shortages.

Meanwhile, the military government still plans to hold a referendum on
adoption of a new constitution scheduled for Saturday, although the vote
has been postponed for two weeks in storm-affected areas.

The vote could present people with a quick and relatively safe outlet to
express their anger with the ruling junta by voting against a new
constitution, academic analysts and anti-government exiles say. Myanmar's
pro-democracy activists say the new constitution enshrines the primacy of
the military and claim the military will rig the vote in its favor.

Mr. Zin Linn, who is based in Thailand, says underground activists inside
Myanmar are already preparing for a round of demonstrations in August this
year to coincide with the 20th anniversary of another failed uprising
against the military junta in 1988. That revolt, too, originated with
soaring food prices and rampant economic mismanagement. It ended with the
army killing more than 3,000 people.

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway at awsj.com

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 7, Burma News International
Release of nationwide voters survey on the Burmese referendum

Despite the challenging political environment, 10 independent Burmese
media organizations have completed face-to-face opinion surveys with more
than 2,000 Burmese voters in the upcoming Constitutional Referendum.

Burma News International, representing the 10 media organizations,
undertook this survey, the most comprehensive and statistically
representative poll of eligible voters to date.

The survey gauges voting preferences and levels of awareness of the
constitution among eligible voters – including farmers, students, day
workers, business owners, housewives and USDA members – from 7 States and
6 Divisions across the country. It reveals that:

•        83% of the surveyed population plans to cast a vote, 10% plans
not to vote, while the rest remain undecided.
•        If the referendum were held today, 66.4% would vote “No”, leaving
a significant minority of 23% undecided.
•        The survey also revealed that a significant 69% of respondents
have no awareness of the details of the proposed Constitution.
•        Most respondents will vote out of “conscience” (75.9%) rather
than “coercion” (17.4%). Farmers and traders are amongst those who
indicated they are “forced into” voting a certain way, or given something
in return.

Mu Hlaing Theint, Secretary of Burma News International, who organized and
conducted the survey with media partners during late April 2008, pointed
out that the “majority of surveyed respondents were farmers (31.2%).
Business people or merchants (16%) and students (11.1%) also featured
prominently amongst our survey sample”.

“This survey takes the pulse of ordinary voters from all over Burma, but
particularly from ethnic nationality areas where there has been limited
surveys to date,” she said.
She went on to say that, “Amid the utter devastation caused by Cyclone
Nargis, the regime’s commitment to pursuing the vote at any cost, may
result in an even bigger ‘No’ result.”

Sein Win, Editor-in-Chief of Mizzima News, a BNI member, stated that
“decades of poverty and mismanagement and a lack of faith in the military
as an institution is behind the strong ‘No’ vote result
 If people are
told to go and vote, as they have been, they will go ahead and vote. But
public sentiment is against the regime, and its constitution, especially
as they drag their feet to organize an urgently needed humanitarian
response in cyclone-affected communities.”

“Burmese people have always found ways to passively resist the military
regime, and we expect that a large number of the population intend to vote
‘No’. Whether they will be allowed to cast their vote freely and fairly
remains to be seen.”

Sai Khuensai Jaiyen, director of the Shan Herald Agency for News, another
BNI member which participated in the survey, said that the large number of
‘undecided’ respondents correlated to voter wariness of publicly
identifying oneself as a ‘No’ voter. He explained, that “the influence and
pressure exerted on civil servants and USDA members who we polled, in many
cases had led to their reluctance to reveal how they were going to vote”.
Survey data has been independently analyzed by an international expert
based in Singapore.

BNI is a consortium of 10 independent Burma media/news organizations:
Mizzima News, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press, Khonumthung News, Network
Media Group, Independent Mon News Agency, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao
Wao News, Kantarawaddy Times & Kachin News Group.

For more information, including how to obtain copies of the report please
see www.bnionline.net or contact BNI Secretary, Mu Hlaing Theint
secretary.bni at gmail.com

____________________________________
STATEMENT

May 7, National League for Democracy
Special Statement 9/05/08 [Unofficial translation]

In statement No. 4/2008, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
declared a State of Emergency in Irrawaddy, Yangon, and Pegu Divisions and
Karen and Mon States as a result of Cyclone Nargis’s devastating
destruction on the 2nd and 3rd of May 2008.

Because of the storm, hundreds of thousand of people have died and remain
missing.  The storm caused catastrophic and unprecedented damage of
people’s property in Burma. Victims and their relatives, including ethnic
nationalities, are overwhelmed by their loss. Under these circumstances,
people have no desire to vote in the upcoming referendum. However, in
spite of the people’s plight, authorities adamantly plan to hold the
referendum.  As authorities neglect people’s basic needs and struggles for
food, shelter, and clothing, they continue to work with supporting
organizations to coerce people to vote “yes” in the referendum in support
of their constitution.

On 6 May 2008, the Referendum Convening Commission of the Union of Burma
issued Statement 8/2008 confirming that the referendum will be held on 10
May 2008 in all states and divisions except 40 townships in Yangon
division and 7 townships in Irrawaddy division.  It further declared that
the referendum for the remaining 47 townships will be held on 24 May 2008.
 Aid needs and reconstruction work in these States of Emergency will not
be finished by 24 May 2008.

Authorities continue to exploit people's difficulties. The Referendum
should be postponed in all parts of the country, not only in some parts.
Convening the referendum under these dire conditions is deplorable.
Therefore, the NLD demands that the referendum be held simultaneously in
all parts of the country once the conditions in the country have improved.

NLD reprimands authorities for prioritizing approval of their constitution
over people's lives and basic survival needs.

At the present time, victims of the storm need immediate international
aid, including aid from the United Nations. On behalf of the people, the
NLD denounces the authorities’ attempt to hold a referendum instead of
accepting disaster relief aid for the suffering victims of this disaster.

As per the decision of Central Executive Committee held on 7 May 2008

Central Executive Committee
National League for Democracy
No. (97/b) West Shwegondine Street
Bahan Township, Yangon

____________________________________

May 7, National Health and Education Committee, Burma Medical Association,
Mae Tao Clinic and Back Pack Health Worker

On May 3rd, 2008 Cyclone Nargis hit Rangoon, Irrawaddy, and Pegu
divisions, and Karen and Mon State in Burma. It is estimated that 50,000
people have lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of people are now
homeless.

In order to help those people to rebuild their lives the National Health
and Education Committee, Burma Medical Association, Mae Tao Clinic and
Back Pack Health Worker Team met on the 6th May 2008 and organized an
emergency assistance team to respond to the needs of the affected
communities.

All of the organizations have mobilized emergency funds to begin the
response immediately and have committed to raising further support through
fundraising efforts. A team will conduct rapid needs assessments, at the
same time as distributing some basic needs. Following the initial
assessment relief supplies will be provided by the assistance team in
coordination with the affected communities. Support from external agencies
will be needed for this effort.

The organizations are committed to addressing this terrible loss of land,
homes and lives. It is a national disaster for the people of Burma and it
is imperative to take action now. Through coordination and cooperation
with the affected communities, and organizations from all sectors of
society, emergency relief must be provided to try to alleviate some of the
suffering and hardships that the people are currently facing.

Contact person and address:
Dr Cynthia Maung,
email: win7 at loxinfo.co.th