BurmaNet News, May 10, 2008

[Editor]

May 10, 2008 Issue # 3463

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Facts about voting today in Burma
Irrawaddy: Massive cheating reported from Referendum polling stations
NYT: Myanmar votes as rulers keep grip on aid
DVB: Polling station guard shot dead in Mon State
Irrawaddy: The smell of death and destruction
AP: Myanmar junta hands out aid boxes with generals' names
AP: Narrow escapes for CNN reporter in Myanmar

HEALTH / AIDS
AP: Preventing disease outbreaks is 'race against time' for cyclone
victims in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
The Star Online: UN seeks $187 million to aid cyclone survivors in Myanmar
WP: Bush plans call to Chinese leader over Burma's stance on aid

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Further stormy prospects for Burma - Min Zin
Washington Post: Burma's Blockade [Editorial]

PRESS RELEASE
Human Rights Watch: Burma: China should push to get aid in
India, ASEAN also need to push generals to accept international help

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 10, Mizzima News
Facts about voting today in Burma

Mizzima News has found out the following facts in today while voting is in
progress in many parts of the country.

* Voters were asked to leave the polling booths as the counting began but
some of the junta's supporters were allowed to remain.
* Residents are forced to vote only 'Yes' (tick) votes
* One person can vote for the whole family (no one vote for one person
system)
* Police and security forces standing by near pooling booths
* Secret voting takes place inside pooling booths
* No foreign and local journalists are seen in and around pooling booths
* People not aware of contents of the draft constitution and yet they are
voting
* Advanced voting was done taken some days before 10 May and today voting
is just a show
* Residents arriving at polling booths found that their votes had been
cast in advance voting (only their names and IDs were noted down)
* Voters are asked to tick 'Yes' by security and official staff
* Army gave notice to its soldiers and family members to vote 'Yes' only
* Voters were asked to leave when the counting began before the closure of
the pooling booths though junta's supporters were allowed to count the
votes.

____________________________________

May 10, Irrawaddy
Massive cheating reported from Referendum polling stations

Burma's constitutional referendum went ahead as planned on Saturday in
areas not affected by Cyclone Nargis, amid accusations of massive cheating
at the polling stations and reports of a very low turnout.

Many voters in several Rangoon townships, Mandalay, Pegu, Sagaing and
Magwe divisions told The Irrawaddy that referendum officials had handed
out ballot papers already filled in with a tick, indicating approval of
the government’s draft constitution.

They also complained that the referendum was not free and fair, saying
they cast their votes watched by officials, including members of the
government-backed mass organization Union Solidarity and Development
Association and militias such as Swan-Ar-Shin. Officials of the
organizations sat close to the ballot boxes and advised people how to
vote.

Voter turn-out was reported to be very light, despite fevered attempts by
the regime to persuade people to participate. State TV broke into
programming throughout the day with a video showing a group of smiling
young women singing a ditty in support of a “Yes” vote. "Let's go vote
.... with sincere thoughts for happy days," they sang.

About 27 million of Burma’s 57 million population are entitled to vote.

Nyan Win, spokesman of the opposition National League for Democracy told
The Irrawaddy that most polling stations closed at about 11 a.m. Officials
then went to the homes of people who had not voted and made them fill in
registration forms indicating they had handed in ballots that had already
been filled in with a tick.

Rangoon-based Burmese journalists said security at polling stations was
very strict. No foreign news agency correspondents or independent
journalists were allowed near.

The cheating and intimidation observed on Saturday confirmed claims by
human rights activists and western governments that the referendum would
be a sham and neither free nor fair.

The regime had used both intimidation and vote-buying to assure itself of
a “Yes” vote and would predictably resort to vote-rigging if it lost,
observers said. Widespread rumors say the results have already been fixed
to deliver an 84.6 percent vote in favor of the charter, an AP report
said.

The government has also been widely criticized for pressing on with the
referendum while the country is still reeling from the catastrophic
effects of Cyclone Nargis.

"Instead of putting all resources toward saving the lives of the victims,
the military is concentrating on legalizing military rule in Burma forever
through a sham constitutional referendum," said a joint statement from the
All Burma Monks Alliance, the 88 Generation Students and the All Burma
Federation of Student Unions.

____________________________________

May 10, New York Times
Myanmar votes as rulers keep grip on aid

This article was reported and written by a New York Times reporter in
Myanmar and Seth Mydans in Bangkok.

The military junta forged ahead on Saturday with a constitutional
referendum intended to cement its power after a campaign of arm-twisting
and intimidation, even as it continued to restrict foreign aid shipments
to survivors of last week’s devastating cyclone.

The junta is refusing to grant entry to foreign aid workers that relief
officials say are crucial to preventing further deaths from disease among
an estimated 1.5 million victims.

By Saturday, the military had not released two United Nations World Food
Program aid shipments that arrived Friday, according to a spokesman for
the program. Several aid flights have landed in Yangon or are en route,
the spokesman said, and supplies from other countries were also on the
way. But the aid amounted to about one-tenth of what is needed, along with
a major logistical operation, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the World
Food Program.

The focus for the military junta was on the referendum for a Constitution
that is designed to legitimize and perpetuate military rule. Residents
said the vote followed a campaign of coercion mixed with propaganda. The
military appeared to be diverting some resources from cyclone victims to
the referendum. A resident of Yangon, speaking by telephone, said that
refugees seeking shelter in schoolhouses were evicted so they could be
used as polling places. She said refugees had also been evicted from other
buildings. In Datgyigone, a farming village 35 miles north of the capital,
a precinct captain burst into laughter when asked if he thought most
people would vote for the Constitution. “Everyone will vote yes,” he said
after he had controlled himself. “Of course yes. Hundred percent.”

But he said most of the voters had no idea what they were voting for, and
that neither he nor most people he knew had actually read the proposed
Constitution. “The government says vote, so we vote,” he said with a
shrug. He spoke openly, but asked that his name not be used for fear of
government retribution.

Most villagers, when asked about their votes, declined to speak. A man
selling batteries, combs and flip-flops from a small pushcart hurried off
when he was asked about the referendum. “I cannot speak about this,” he
said over his shoulder. “I’m afraid.”

There were a number of reports of “preballoting,” in which employees of
enterprises or government offices were required to vote ahead of time
under the eye of their supervisors.

The product of a 14-year stop-and-start convention, the referendum is
intended to lead to a multiparty election and a nominally civilian
government. But it allots 25 percent of parliamentary seats to the
military, gives the military control of key ministries and allows the
military to seize control in a time of emergency. It would also bar Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, an opposition leader whose party won a general election
in 1990, from public office. She has been under house arrest for 12 of the
last 18 years.

There was no obvious police or military presence in Datgyigone or at
another dozen polling stations during the day. The polls closed at 4 p.m.,
as a torrential rainstorm was lashing the area.

Thousands of soldiers were on the roads and in towns near the village,
using axes, machetes and two-handled cross-cut saws to clear trees from
towns and roadways. Long convoys of green Chinese-made military trucks
hauled away stumps and branches.

Small groups of residents in the main city, Yangon, banded together to
distribute aid, but one of them said the authorities were sometimes
confiscating their relief supplies. The Yangon resident said that some
victims had taken shelter in Buddhist monasteries, which had been a target
of the government during the violent suppression of protests, led by
monks, last September. Monks cooked and distributed donations of fish and
rice.

The United States was preparing to send in its first aircraft with relief
supplies on Monday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross sent its first aid flight to
Myanmar on Saturday, loaded with pumps, generators, water treatment
material and medical equipment.

But these deliveries were tiny in the face of a such widespread
destruction. Relief officials warned of an epidemic of cholera and said
there was generally a 10-day window after a disaster before the death rate
rose steeply.

While major shipments of supplies remained blocked, the local staffs of
international agencies struggled to coordinate their work and to
distribute the limited emergency stocks available in the country. State
television showed military officers handing out supplies, to the applause
of bystanders. It also broadcast a video of two women singing a pop song
whose lyrics translated as: “Let’s go to cast a vote. With sincere
thoughts for happy days. Let’s go to cast a vote.”

The government mouthpiece newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, devoted
much of its front page to photographs of military leaders distributing aid
and comforting survivors, under the headline: “Lt. Gen. Myint Swe provides
food, medicines to storm-hit regions.” But above the pictures was a
reminder: “To approve the state Constitution is a national duty of the
entire people today. Let us all cast ‘Yes’ vote in the national interest.”

As in other disasters, children are particularly vulnerable, and the
United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that 20 per cent of children in
the worst affected areas already have diarrhea. Cases of malaria have also
been reported.

Shantha Bloemen, a spokeswoman for Unicef, said the priorities for
agencies on the ground was “consolidation and assessment.”

She said the agencies met daily in an attempt to avoid overlap in their
work. Teams from the different agencies, with a coordinated checklist,
travel through the countryside assessing the conditions of schools,
hospitals, shelters and the infrastructure.

“Another priority in the country is trying to get our hands on the
supplies in-country and then send them where they are needed,” she said.

“A lot of things we have bought locally like tarps, pans, plates, and
buckets,” she said. “We’ve spent nearly half a million dollars on buying
these supplies. Local markets are probably now depleted.”

The Food and Agriculture Organization is looking ahead to the second stage
of the disaster, the rebuilding of lives and livelihoods, said a
spokesman, Diderik Devleeschauwer.

They study the long-term damage to rice production in fields inundated
with stagnant seawater, to livestock, much of which was swept away in the
cyclone, and fisheries, where many boats were lost.

“This is the food basket of the whole country, so damage to the crops and
livestock and fisheries may affect seriously the long-term food security
situation,” he said.

Warren Hoge and Denise Grady contributed reporting from New York.

____________________________________

May 10, Democratic Voice of Burma
Polling station guard shot dead in Mon State

A Burmese police officer guarding a polling station in Taguntaing village
in Mudon township, Mon State, was shot dead by an unknown gunman today at
around 10am local time.

“The person who died is called Aung Soe,” a local resident told DVB. “He
was a sergeant in charge of the polling station’s security. It happened
while people were voting - the gunman entered the polling station and
carried out the shooting.”

The victim was in charge of security in the nearby Three Pagodas Pass five
months ago.

____________________________________

May 10, Irrawaddy
The smell of death and destruction - Min Khet Maung / KungYanGone

(The correspondent has returned from Kungyangone Township after
interviewing several survivors of Cyclone Nargis.)

Thirty-five miles from Rangoon, the air smells of death. Dead bodies and
the rotting cadavers of buffaloes lie in the gutters of this town, so near
Burma’s largest city and the country’s once proud capital.

Overhead, a cruel sun beats down on the homeless who seek shelter amid the
ruins of their houses.
Multimedia (View)

Pu Suu, 14, cowers under a tattered umbrella, as she cooks a pot of rice
to feed the other five survivors of her family. A younger sister lies sick
and crying in her mother’s arms.

“This might be our last pot of rice,” says Pu Suu with resignation.

Four thousand of Kungyangone’s residents are thought to have died when the
cyclone hit one week ago.

The survivors have been assured by the authorities that the town has
enough supplies to feed all. One member of the town’s Union Solidarity and
Development Association
said the organization is delivering enough rice to the storm victims,
pointing at the sacks of rice in his house. Building materials were being
handed out to people to rebuild their demolished homes, he said.

Yet his neighbor Ko Tin, 40, whose house was swept away by the storm, said
he and the five members of his family had received only four cans of rice
a day. Burma people use an empty condensed milk can as a measurement, and
one person normally requires more than one and a half of cans of rice per
day. They had not received any building materials, he said.

A woman in her fifties said her household of 18 people was also receiving
just four cans of rice a day. Her children and grandchildren lay hungry on
the floor around her. “I tell them to go in search of food and wood and
fetch it by hook or by crook.”

Some residents say donors of aid are forced to leave the supplies and cash
with the security forces stationed in the center of the small town.

“This deters the flow of donations from outside [the town],” said a
35-year-old teacher. “People don’t believe their honesty, because people
know they [the security forces] will try to win the hearts of the people
with the food the donors give.”

Members of the security forces patrol the streets, but none seems
interested in the plight of the homeless.

Tun Than, 44, supervises the care of more than 800 homeless in a local
monastery. He points to three policemen walking through the monastery
compound and says: “We don’t need the police. There are no more homes to
protect. We just need rice.”

____________________________________

May 11, Associated Press
Myanmar junta hands out aid boxes with generals' names

Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid Saturday but
plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort
to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a
propaganda exercise.

The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded
with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. The
government agreed to let a U.S. cargo plane bring in supplies Monday, but
foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.

State-run television continuously ran images of top generals _ including
the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe _ handing out boxes of aid to
survivors at elaborate ceremonies.

One box bore the name of Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, a rising star in the
government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label
reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand."

"We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side
of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then
distributing it in their region," said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma
Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the
country.

"It is not going to areas where it is most in need," he said in London.

State media say 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing from Cyclone
Nargis, which submerged entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta.
International aid organizations say the death toll could climb to more
than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The U.N. estimates that 1.5 million to 2 million people have been severely
affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of bodies.

With phone lines down, roads blocked and electricity networks destroyed,
it is nearly impossible to reach isolated areas in the delta, complicated
by the lack of experienced international aid workers and equipment.

But the junta has refused to grant access to foreign experts, saying it
will only accept donations from foreign charities and governments, and
then will deliver the aid on its own.

Farmaner said the world needs to move to deliver aid directly to victims
in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"People we are speaking to in Burma say aid must be delivered anyway even
if the regime doesn't give permission," he said. "We have had a week to
convince the regime to behave reasonably, and they are still blocking aid.
So the international community needs to wake up and take bolder steps."

However, aid providers are unlikely to pursue unilateral deliveries like
airdrops because of the diplomatic firestorm that it could set off.

So far, relief workers have reached 220,000 cyclone victims, only a small
fraction of the number of people affected, the Red Cross said Friday.
Three Red Cross aid flights loaded with shelter kits and other emergency
supplies landed Friday without incident.

But the government seized two planeloads of high-energy biscuits _ enough
to feed 95,000 people _ sent by the U.N. World Food Program. Despite the
seizure, the WFP was sending three more planes Saturday from Dubai,
Cambodia and Italy, even though those could be confiscated, too.

"We are working around the clock with the authorities to ensure the kind
of access that we need to ensure it goes to people that need it most," WFP
spokesman Marcus Prior said in Bangkok, Thailand.

Richard Horsey, a spokesman for U.N. humanitarian operations, said an
international presence is needed in Myanmar to look at the logistics of
getting boats, helicopters and trucks into the delta area.

"That's a critical bottleneck that must be overcome at this point," he
said in Bangkok.

He warned there was a great risk of diarrhea and cholera spreading because
of the lack of clean drinking water and sanitation.

"We are running out of time here. This could be a huge problem and this
could lead to a second phase which could be as deadly as the cyclone," he
said.

Heavy rain forecast in the next week was certain to exacerbate the misery.
Diplomats and aid groups warned the number of dead could eventually exceed
100,000 because of illnesses and said thousands of children may have been
orphaned.

Survivors from one of the worst-affected areas, near the town of Bogalay,
were among those fighting hunger, illness and wrenching loneliness.

"All my 28 family members have died," said Thein Myint, a 68-year-old
fisherman who wept while describing how the cyclone swept away the rest of
his family. "I am the only survivor."

Officials have said only one out of 10 people who are homeless, injured or
threatened by disease and hunger have received some kind of aid since the
cyclone hit May 3.

The government's abilities are limited. It has only a few dozen
helicopters, most of which are small and old. It also has about 15
transport planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of tons of
supplies.

"Not only don't they have the capacity to deliver assistance, they don't
have experience," said Farmaner, the British aid worker. "It's already too
late for many people. Every day of delays is costing thousands of lives."

____________________________________

May 10, Associated Press
Narrow escapes for CNN reporter in Myanmar

A CNN reporter who left Myanmar Friday was chased by authorities as he
reported on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis but escaped primarily because
of the incompetence of the people after him.

Dan Rivers hid under a blanket at one police checkpoint and casually
covered up his name on a passport to avoid detection another time. He may
ultimately have gotten out of the country due to a stewardess' impatience.

"I was amazed at the lengths they apparently went just to catch me,"
Rivers told The Associated Press by telephone from Thailand on Saturday.

Rivers' story illustrates the preoccupation of Myanmar's military
government with things other than helping the country recover from a storm
that killed thousands and left many survivors homeless. Aid groups have
reported difficulties in getting badly needed supplies and relief workers
into the secretive country.

Rivers sneaked into the country on Monday _ he wouldn't say how _ and for
a day reported the story without saying his name or showing his face
onscreen.

CNN, owned by Time Warner Inc., and Rivers then quickly agreed to drop the
mask.

"We decided it would have much more impact if I could communicate more
directly, if I could look down the barrel of a camera and tell people
precisely how bad it was," he said. "I think that type of personal
reporting is much more effective than a voiceover on a picture."

But it made him a marked man. A local contact told Rivers' crew the
government was looking for him by contacting all hotels where foreigners
stayed.

During reporting on Thursday, an immigration official stopped Rivers'
group. He took the passports of two crew members and compared them to a
picture of Rivers taken from a CNN screen. During the two hours before
they were waved on, Rivers said he went to a restaurant and walked the
streets, "trying not to look like a white guy with long hair, which was
difficult."

The authorities didn't discover the men were from CNN. Knowing his picture
was being circulated, Rivers hid under a blanket in the van the next time
police checked.

He later resumed reporting away from their van until an official told them
to return to their van, where police would be waiting. It was a tough
walk.

"There were a lot of things going through our minds then about what we
would find at the end of that journey," he said. "At one point I was
thinking, `what if they just shot us and threw us into the river and said
it was an accident?'"

There were only two policemen waiting. They asked to see Rivers' passport
and he casually covered up his first and last names with his thumbs. They
radioed Rivers' two middle names back to their bosses.

They were passed on to another government official, who let them go after
being convinced they were part of a relief group. Strategic offerings of
cigarettes, water and a candy bar helped.

The crew rushed back to the capital city of Yangon.

"I kind of felt that I'd used my nine lives up and it was time to get out
of the country," Rivers said. He was afraid for the safety of his Burmese
contacts if he were found out and, frankly, didn't want officials spending
time searching for him when they had more important things to do.

While on a plane to get out of the country, Rivers was called back to the
gate to be searched. He'd been found out. He was thoroughly searched, but
fortunately had no pictures with him.

"I thought I was going to get hauled off to some fetid prison for a week,"
he said.

Eventually, an impatient stewardess demanded authorities make a decision
on what to do with Rivers and, thus challenged, put him back on the plane.

Rivers said he hoped to get back in to Myanmar at some point but given the
sensitivities it's not likely to be anytime soon.*

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 10, Associated Press
Preventing disease outbreaks is 'race against time' for cyclone victims in
Myanmar

Getting supplies to survivors suffering from a brutal cyclone in Myanmar
is now a "race against time" to prevent a disease disaster as some
impoverished victims continue to wait for help a week after the storm,
experts warned Saturday.

Reports of diarrhea, malaria and skin problems have already surfaced, and
health officials fear waterborne illnesses will emerge due to a lack of
clean water, along with highly contagious diseases such as measles that
are easily spread.

Children, many of whom are now orphaned by the storm, face some of the
greatest risks.

The threat is heightened because many people living in the worst-affected
Irrawaddy delta were in poor health prior to the cyclone that killed at
least 23,000 people and left nearly 40,000 missing, according to state
media. Tens of thousands more were left homeless in the secretive
military-run country, which is home to one of the world's worst health
systems.

"The fact that there are people we still haven't gotten to is very
distressing to all of us. We don't know how many that is," Tim Costello,
president of aid agency World Vision-Australia, said by telephone from the
country's largest city, Yangon. "The people are all exposed to the
elements, and they are very, very vulnerable. It's a race against time."

The World Health Organization has reported children suffering from upper
respiratory diseases, and with next week's forecast calling for rain,
there was yet another urgent reason to move quickly. Fears of
mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, which are
endemic to the area, also have heightened before the monsoon season
begins.
Cholera remains another concern, but there have been no diagnosed cases.

Some victims have been drinking whatever water is available with many
freshwater sources contaminated by saltwater or decaying human bodies and
animal carcasses. UNICEF has reported diarrhea in up to 20 percent of the
children living in affected areas.

But Costello said frustration with the military junta's slow response and
restrictions placed on humanitarian aid entering the country has reached a
critical point.

"The government initially admitted that this was bigger than them. But now
they have said, `While we need more aid, we are the military. We made this
nation, and we're very proud of it and we can cope with it,'" Costello
said. "It is absolutely clear that they can't."

Tens of thousands of people die every year in Myanmar, also known as
Burma, from diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and diarrhea. Malaria
alone kills about 3,000 people annually in a country where medical care is
too expensive for most people to afford. In 2000, WHO ranked Myanmar's
health system as the world's worst after war-ravaged Sierra Leone.

About 90 percent of the population lives on just $1 a day. Millions also
go hungry, with a third of Myanmar's children estimated to be
malnourished.

"It is an unfortunate reality that this storm hit a country that already
had this very marginal ... health system," said Dr. Chris Beyrer, an
epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins University, who has worked extensively
in Myanmar. "When you have malnourishment with infectious diseases, the
fatality rates go up."

He co-authored a critical report published last year that found the
government spends only about 3 percent of its annual budget on health,
compared to 40 percent on the military. The country's overall ailing
health system, combined with the ruling junta's paranoia of foreigners is
a cocktail for an even bigger disaster in the storm's aftermath, Beyrer
said.

"I think when it comes to this regime, nothing is that surprising," he
said by telephone from Maryland. "The fundamental issue is access. This is
what we were arguing about for HIV/TB and malaria control five years ago _
that it is access and that the international community is ready to help."

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

May 10, The Star Online
UN seeks $187 million to aid cyclone survivors in Myanmar

The United Nations was seeking $187 million (euro120.97 million) from
donor nations to help cyclone survivors in Myanmar.

U.N. officials said Friday the pledges are needed to provide food, water
purification tablets and other supplies for at least 1.5 million people
over the next three months.

Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar's U.N. ambassador, said his country "intends to
cooperate with the international community to address this great
challenge. But, he said, the response "has to be orderly and systematic.''

John Holmes, the U.N.'s top humanitarian aid official, said nations had
pledged $77 million (euro49.81 million) so far toward the effort,
including $10 million (euro6.47 million) each from Britain and Japan. U.N.
officials have increasingly voiced frustration at the barriers that
Myanmar's ruling junta have imposed to providing supplies and aid workers.

"Whatever our frustrations are, the people need help on the ground,'' he
said.

In Atlanta, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said his staff was negotiating
with officials in Myanmar to break the gridlock, although he said leaders
of Myanmar's military junta have "regrettably'' not yet made direct
contact with him.

"It's moving toward the right direction,'' he said.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the U.S. welcomed the go-ahead
to land a U.S. military C-130 in the country on Monday. The breakthrough
came after days of waiting on the U.S. side.

The donations being collected by the U.N. are to be used by 10 U.N.
agencies and nine non-governmental organizations to provide support for
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

An estimated 1 million people of its 51 million population have been made
homeless by the storm.

More than 60,000 people are dead or missing and entire villages are
submerged in the Irrawaddy delta after Saturday's cyclone, but
international aid organizations say the death toll could climb to more
than 100,000 as humanitarian conditions worsen.

According to Myanmar's state media, 23,335 people died and 37,019 are
missing so far from Cyclone Nargis.

"If we do not act now, and if we do not act fast, more lives will be
lost,'' Holmes said. The United States, Britain, France and other nations
called on Myanmar's military rulers to accept more outside aid workers,
release shipments, speedily grant visas and waive any cargo fees.

"The Myanmar authorities have a responsibility to do what is needed to
save the lives of their citizens. This includes allowing access for
humanitarian aid,'' said Britain's U.N.

Ambassador John Sawers. "The people of Burma will not understand, and the
world will not understand, if the Burmese Government fails to fulfill that
responsibility.''

Holmes said he even considered postponing the U.N.'s "flash appeal'' for
money based on "news about extra difficulties facing U.N. aid shipments
and access for humanitarian staff not already in the country.''

"But I decided that the priority has to remain to do all we can to get
through to the people in such desperate need on the ground,'' he said.

The U.N. World Food Program announced it had suspended relief aid
shipments Friday, then quickly reversed that decision. But two shipments
carrying emergency biscuits and health kits were still tied up at the
airport, officials said.

That agency was seeking $56 million (euro36.23 million) to feed 630,000
hungry people living in badly damaged areas or temporary shelters.

____________________________________

May 10, Washington Post
Bush plans call to Chinese leader over Burma's stance on aid - Glenn
Kessler and Dan Eggen

President Bush plans to call Chinese President Hu Jintao in coming days to
seek his help pressing the Burmese government to accept more disaster
assistance, U.S. officials said yesterday, after a lower-level diplomatic
push this week yielded Burmese permission for one U.S. relief plane, which
is scheduled to land Monday.

If the Burmese government does not relent, U.S. officials are discussing
other options, including bypassing the government and sending helicopters
directly to the affected Irrawaddy Delta, where thousands of bodies have
been reported floating in floodwaters and more than 1 million people are
estimated to have lost their homes in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone
Nargis.

Officials have rejected as ineffective other actions by the military, such
as airdrops, and for now they are sticking to diplomacy. Helicopter relief
without government permission "is one of many ideas," said Maj. Kerrie
Hurd, spokeswoman for the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. "That is not a
plan we are pursuing now."

Hurd and other officials said that Burmese permission to allow a single
planeload of supplies, while inadequate, will keep the focus on a
diplomatic solution for now. "It is a good sign that we don't have to take
any other course of action," she said.

"One flight is much better than no flights," said Gordon Johndroe,
spokesman for the National Security Council. "And we're going to keep on
working to provide as much assistance as possible in the coming days,
weeks and months, because they're going to need our help for a long time."

Diplomatic pressure has been kept below the presidential level. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice spoke Thursday with Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi and yesterday with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee,
urging both governments to use their influence to persuade the Burmese
leadership to open its country to relief specialists. In Thailand, a
neighbor with close ties to the Burmese government, the same message has
been delivered by U.S. Ambassador Eric John.

"The message there from the secretary was to urge all the parties to do
what they can to reach out and use whatever leverage they have with that
top decision-making layer in the Burmese regime to get them to reverse the
course," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

However, the official New China News Agency notably did not mention Burma,
also known as Myanmar, in its account of the Rice-Yang conversation,
saying the two diplomats "exchanged views" on "issues of common concern."

Bush's call to Hu has not been set because Hu has been visiting Japan this
past week and Bush's daughter Jenna is getting married at the president's
ranch near Crawford, Tex., tomorrow, said one U.S. official speaking on
the condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials said yesterday that there are no good ways to prompt
Burma's military junta to open its borders and allow for a traditional
relief effort. One concern holding back efforts by the military to provide
aid without the government's permission, several officials said, is the
fear that the junta might respond by harming Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in
the country's last election, in 1990, but the military leadership refused
to recognize the outcome.

The United States could have provided immediate assistance to the
beleaguered country because, when the cyclone hit, it was preparing for an
annual military exercise -- Operation Cobra Gold -- with Thailand,
Singapore, Japan and Indonesia that is focused on training for
humanitarian assistance by the military. About 20 helicopters and six
C-130 cargo planes, along with Navy ships, are fully prepared to bring
supplies into Burma, Hurd said.

But yesterday, Burma's deputy foreign minister told the head of the U.S.
Embassy in Rangoon, Shari Villarosa, that only one flight would be
permitted and not until Monday. The announcement helped take the steam out
of a nascent U.S.-British-French effort to win passage of a U.N. Security
Council resolution that asks nations to assist Burma and calls on Burma to
accept humanitarian aid. China frequently blocks resolutions on Burma, but
there had been hope that a relatively mild resolution focused on the
relief effort had a chance at passage, officials said.

U.S. officials and humanitarian advocates said the continued resistance to
outside help underscores the irrational nature of the government, which
has ruled Burma by force for nearly half a century, pilfering its
treasures and routinely jailing or killing opponents. The ruling generals
also declined to postpone a constitutional referendum today that
international observers have denounced as a sham.

"So far, the signs from the military regime are that they are not willing
to open up to the outside world," said Jeremy Woodrum, co-founder of the
U.S. Campaign for Burma. "Essentially, this is pulling back the curtain on
this regime and its repressive policies."

Sean Turnell, of the Burma Economic Watch newsletter at Macquarie
University in Australia, said the country's ruling generals are sitting on
substantial foreign reserves, which are growing at a rate of $200 million
a month and could be used to address humanitarian needs.

He and other experts also noted the contrast between the government's
laggardly response to the cyclone and its brutal, rapid crackdown on an
uprising of Buddhist monks last year.

Michael Green, former senior director for Asia at the National Security
Council, said it is unclear what impact the crisis might have on the
junta's hold on power. For example, he said, the catastrophic tsunami in
2004 arguably moved along political reconciliation in Indonesia while
worsening conditions in Sri Lanka.

"This regime has shown callous indifference to suffering in the past,"
Green said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

May 10, Irrawaddy
Further stormy prospects for Burma - Min Zin

Since security is all about preventing any major threat to human life, the
effect of the deadly cyclone that hit Burma last Saturday must be seen
from a serious human security perspective. However, the Burmese military
junta is far from comprehending such a humane concept.

The tragic toll exacted by Cyclone Nargis could exceed 100,000 deaths and
a million homeless, according to a US diplomat. There has been nothing
like it in Burmese history, neither during colonial rule nor in the
country’s civil war. Some older residents of Rangoon say they have seen
nothing like it since the city was severely bombed in World War II.

Many aid agencies worry that disease and starvation will claim thousands
more lives in the next few days. World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley
said aid agencies normally expect to fly in experts and supplies within 48
hours of a disaster, but nearly a week after the cyclone the Burmese
authorities are still refusing to let foreign relief workers in.

Although the regime says it welcomes all forms of international help, in
reality it only accepts donations of cash or emergency aid such as medical
supplies, food, clothing, generators and shelters. A foreign ministry
statement on Friday said: "Myanmar (Burma) is not ready to receive search
and rescue teams as well as media teams from foreign countries." The
military even deported some aid workers on Wednesday.

The junta said it can deliver foreign aid "by its own labors to the
affected areas."
According to a reliable source, it was junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe who
decided to bar international aid workers, although there had been a signs
of initial flexibility from Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and the foreign
ministry.

The source added that Than Shwe believes he has already distributed 5
billion kyat (4.5 million dollars), which he mostly extorted from Burmese
businessmen as "donations", and he also has more than US $30 million from
international assistance pledges. He then decided to use his own Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and army to distribute aid.

"What Than Shwe doesn’t understand is that his $4.5 million can only be
used for food for 12 days, and all the promised dollars from the world may
not come if the international experts are not allowed into the country,"
said Win Min, a Burmese analyst in Thailand.

Moreover, Burmese businessmen cannot afford to donate much more cash, and
overworked Burmese doctors have run out of resources.

Non-government organizations (NGOs) and international non-government
organizations (INGOs) within Burma, who had to sign memorandums of
understanding (MOUs) with the regime to begin their projects, defining the
nature of their work and their areas of operation, have now found
themselves restricted by those same MOUs.

Since many NGOs do not have projects in the Irrawaddy delta, they are not
allowed to do any aid work in the devastated region since they were not
authorized to do so in their MOUs.

According to inside sources, NGOs are now trying to work under the UN's
umbrella in order to reach into the delta.

Meanwhile, the military and its thuggish USDA members are intimidating
private donors who provide rice and clothing to cyclone victims in the
suburban townships of Rangoon. Many donors are reportedly being asked to
hand over their relief supplies to local USDA members for them to
supervise distribution.

"Instead of protecting the people, the military and its thugs are looting
from us," said one businesswoman.

Some sources closed to the military suggest that world
leaders—particularly those from China, India and Thailand, and even US
President George W Bush—should tackle Than Shwe directly as the junta
leader’s subordinates might not be giving him a full picture of the
crisis.

This approach appears to be based on a false assumption, however—namely,
that dictators allow themselves to be manipulated by their subordinates.

Nor could this approach work in practice. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
recently spoke directly to Than Shwe and called on him to postpone the
constitutional referendum and "focus instead on mobilizing all available
resources and capacity for the emergency response efforts."

Than Shwe ignored him and decided to go ahead with the referendum to
approve a constitution that will allow the perpetuation of military rule
in the country. For Than Shwe, regime security is more vital than human
security, although people are dying in massive numbers.

One military source said that Than Shwe stopped the planned dispatch of
troops to the disaster zones in the wake of Cyclone Nargis because he
wanted them to guarantee the security of the referendum.

The inability of the regime to respond to the cyclone crisis is now
self-evident and clearly demonstrates that Burma is a failed state.

The devastation caused by the cyclone will very likely have immense social
and political consequences. The limited or inequitable distribution of
assistance and outright bullying by government "thugs" could outrage
discontented victims and lead to social unrest and even violence.

Whether or not the cyclone disaster could lead to political change in
Burma depends on intermediary linkages—the leadership of opposition
activists and public influencers such as Buddhist monks— that could
connect the disaster to mobilization of discontented groups.

Meanwhile, the international community has done its best to help the
people of Burma.

France suggested invoking a UN "responsibility to protect" provision to
deliver aid to the country without the regime's approval, although that
possibility was rejected in the Security Council by China, Vietnam, South
Africa and Russia.

A top US aid official said the US may consider air-dropping supplies for
survivors even without permission from the junta, though geopolitical
considerations make such action difficult.  The junta agreed to allow a
single US cargo aircraft to bring in relief supplies, but it isn’t clear
how the aid will be distributed.

Eventually, Than Shwe may negotiate with UN aid agencies to conduct
limited distribution work inside Burma in order to prevent direct
intervention by the US and other western countries. Some inside sources
indicate that a few top brass officials, including Gen Thura Shwe Mann,
the third most powerful man in the military hierarchy and a former
regional commander of the Irrawaddy delta, persuaded Than Shwe to
cooperate with the international community.

Of course, Than Shwe will delay permission as long as possible since he
likes to show who’s in charge. Meanwhile, people will continue to perish
hourly.

____________________________________

May 10, Washington Post
Burma's Blockade [Editorial]

The ruling junta denies lifesaving aid to its own people.

A horrific crime is being carried out by the clique of generals that rules
Burma, with the world as witness. According to the United Nations, some
1.5 million people near the country's southern coast are in desperate need
of humanitarian assistance following Cyclone Nargis last weekend. Tens of
thousands are dead, and 1 million or more are homeless. The few reports
reaching the outside world from the Irrawaddy Delta region, where 2,000
square miles are underwater, speak of thousands of refugees camped in the
open without food, medicine or clean water amid the stench of rotting
bodies.

A huge corps of rescuers -- teams from the United Nations, the
International Red Cross and dozens of other groups -- has been waiting for
days to tackle this daunting challenge. The U.S. Navy has ships and
helicopters ready to execute search-and-rescue missions and fly supplies
beyond washed-out roads and bridges. Burma itself is unable to mount such
an operation: It has, for example, only half a dozen or so working
helicopters.

Yet the generals are blocking the rescue of their own people. While about
two dozen planes from Asian countries and the United Nations have been
allowed to land in the capital, Rangoon, during the past few days, the
junta has denied visas to relief workers. Insisting that it will
distribute all the aid itself, it has impounded much of the supplies at
the airport. The United States has been granted permission to land a
single planeload of supplies -- and that only next Monday, 10 days after
the cyclone struck.

This criminal delay and denial of humanitarian aid is likely to cause the
death of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, more people.
Experts say epidemics of such diseases as cholera are likely to break out
because of the absence of clean water, and starvation is another danger.
U.N. officials have been issuing increasingly dire warnings. Yet Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon has literally not been able to get the top general,
Than Shwe, on the telephone; for two days his calls have been unreturned.
Judging from its public statements, the regime -- incredibly -- remains
focused on the referendum it plans to hold today on a new constitution
that will institutionalize military rule. Rather than offering the hope of
relief, Burmese media yesterday reminded citizens of their "patriotic
duty" to vote.

Three years ago, the United Nations adopted a doctrine to deal with
exactly this sort of situation. Known as "right to protect," it foresaw
the Security Council authorizing a humanitarian rescue operation even
without the cooperation of the national government. Yet France's attempt
to raise Burma's case before the Security Council on Thursday was opposed
by China, Russia, South Africa and other developing countries, which
apparently cherish the ideology of nonintervention more than the lives of
hundreds of thousands of Burmese. Burma's neighbors and Western
governments will share responsibility if this man-made catastrophe is
allowed to continue.

The United States, France and Britain should support a Security Council
resolution demanding the admission of aid and relief workers and insist
that it be urgently and publicly debated. Under such pressure, and with
the Olympics approaching, China -- Burma's most influential neighbor --
may find that its interest lies in supporting humanitarian intervention.
If it wishes to defend the junta at the cost of thousands of innocent
lives, it should at least be made to do so on the record.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

May 10, Human Rights Watch
Burma: China should push to get aid in
India, ASEAN also need to push generals to accept international help

China, India, Thailand and other members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) should work to convince Burma's government to lift
restrictions on international assistance so aid can reach survivors of
Cyclone Nargis, Human Rights Watch said today.

"By blocking international relief efforts, the Burmese government is
showing utter contempt for millions of its own people," said Brad Adams,
Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "China and Burma's other friends
should lead international efforts, including at the UN Security Council,
to persuade or compel Burma to accept the international aid that cyclone
survivors so badly need."

Human Rights Watch called on the Burmese government to open
cyclone-affected areas to a major international relief effort by
immediately granting visas to aid workers; allowing United Nations and
international humanitarian agencies to distribute aid directly to those in
need; and allowing countries with assets nearby to deliver aid by air and
sea to survivors who cannot otherwise be reached quickly. Many affected
communities are only accessible by air and sea, which makes assistance by
countries that are equipped to deal with humanitarian disasters essential
to prevent further death and suffering.

All nations with the capacity to provide assistance by air and by sea,
including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, India, China, and
members of ASEAN, should immediately deploy military and civilian response
units - preferably jointly - as close as possible to Burma so that they
are ready to provide relief as soon as permission is granted. Clean water,
protein biscuits and other staple foods, and medical care should be
pre-positioned in the region for immediate delivery.

"The world is watching to see if China does the right thing for Burma's
cyclone victims," said Adams. "China should do everything in its power to
get sufficient aid into Burma or it will share responsibility for the
deaths of tens of thousands of people."

Human Rights Watch welcomed the recent strong statements urging the
Burmese government to reverse course by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
officials of the World Food Programme, and key governments. All have made
it clear that the Burmese government does not have the capacity to address
a natural disaster of this scale on its own. As John Holmes, head of the
UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the
Security Council on May 9, 2008: "The sooner humanitarians are allowed in,
and the less procedural and other obstacles we encounter, the more lives
we can help save. The speed with which we deliver assistance to those in
need is becoming more and more critical and the danger of the outbreak of
epidemics rises by the hour."

However, thus far these entreaties have failed to persuade the Burmese
government to change course.

"The Burmese military is neither willing nor able to get aid to those most
in need," said Adams. "Only a massive coordinated international relief
effort can spare the Burmese people further suffering."

Human Rights Watch urged the US, the UK, France, and other governments to
urgently press China, India, and ASEAN - publicly and privately - to use
their considerable influence and leverage with the Burmese government to
allow aid and humanitarian workers access.

Human Rights Watch also called on ASEAN to demand that Burma respond to
the cyclone as Indonesia did to the December 2004 tsunami, when after
initial hesitation it opened the region to needed international aid and
aid workers. Because of its terrible human rights record and continued
repression of political opposition, Burma has long been a controversial
member of ASEAN. Its military government has consistently broken promises
to act in good faith to work with the political opposition on a genuine
transition to civilian government. ASEAN issued a strong statement
deploring the actions of the Burmese junta after the violent September
2007 crackdown on mass protests, but then took no further action.

"Burma's inhuman response to the cyclone is yet another embarrassment for
ASEAN," said Adams. "If Burma doesn't reverse course on this epic tragedy,
ASEAN should formally consider expelling Burma from the regional club."

Under international law, the million or so people thought to have been
made homeless by the cyclone are considered internally displaced. The UN
Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement provide that a state should
not arbitrarily withhold permission for international humanitarian
organizations and other appropriate actors to provide aid, "particularly
when authorities concerned are unable or unwilling to provide the required
humanitarian assistance." The principles further state that, "All
authorities concerned shall grant and facilitate the free passage of
humanitarian assistance and grant persons engaged in the provision of such
assistance rapid and unimpeded access to the internally displaced."

For more of Human Rights Watch's work on Burma, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=burma
<http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&amp;c=burma>

For more information, please contact:
In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-790-872-8333 (mobile)
In Thailand, David Mathieson (English): +66-87-176-2205 (mobile)
In Thailand, Sunai Phasuk (English, Thai): +66-81-6323052 (mobile)
In Washington, DC, Tom Malinowski (English): +1-202-309-3551 (mobile)
In New York, Steve Crawshaw (English, French, German, Russian):
+1-646-596-3348 (mobile)
In Brussels, Reed Brody (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese):
+32-498-625786 (mobile)
In Mumbai, Meenakshi Ganguly (English, Hindi): +98-200-36032 (mobile)