BurmaNet News, June 12, 2008

[Editor]

June 12, 2008 Issue #3490


INSIDE BURMA
AP: Burma red tape delays cyclone aid, agencies say
Irrawaddy: As donors disappear, cyclone survivors fend for themselves
Mizzima News: Keep doors open for aid: Thakin Thein Pe
Mizzima News: Junta officials seize cameras
IMNA: Police take valuables off bodies of cyclone victims in Mon state
DVB: NLD members made to sign agreement
DVB: USDA joins cyclone efforts to boost image
Xinhua: Power supply in Myanmar Yangon division almost resumes after disaster

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Shan migrants urge Thai authorities to withdraw trespassing
charges

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Pyapon’s economy in ruins

HEALTH / AIDS
Mizzima News: Diseases common in cyclone-hit areas but 'no outbreak': MSF

ASEAN
AFP: ASEAN says team to have full access in Myanmar

REGIONAL
AP: UN: 35,000 pregnant women need care in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Jakarta Post: RI running out of time to play key role in Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: The troops have arrived at last, but where’s the aid?

STATEMENT
National League for Democracy: Special statement: 13/06/08 (Unofficial
Translation)




____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

June 12, Associated Press
Burma red tape delays cyclone aid, agencies say

Ten thousand pregnant women among Burma's estimated 2.4 million cyclone
survivors are in urgent need of proper care, a UN official said Wednesday,
as fresh questions were raised about the government's willingness to
accept foreign assistance.

International aid agencies are expressing concern over new and complicated
guidelines established by Burma's government for carrying out assistance
programs to victims of last month's cyclone.

Myanmar [Burma] Red Cross volunteers distributing relief supplies to
families and community members in Mawlamyinegyun in the Irrawaddy Delta
division. (Photo: AFP/ FRC-HO)
The guidelines, distributed on Tuesday by the government at a meeting with
UN agencies and private humanitarian organizations, would require a large
amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with national and local
government agencies.

The new guidelines require most activities by the foreign agencies to be
cleared with not only the relevant government ministry and local
authorities concerned, but also with the so-called Tripartite Core Group,
comprising representatives of the government, UN agencies and the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Burma is a
member.

In response, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
societies said the humanitarian community was expressing concerns that
"additional steps for seeking approval may unnecessarily delay the relief
response."

"The meeting was assured by the concerned ministries that this would not
be the case and that delays would definitely not be a consequence of the
approval process outlined," the IFRC said in a report issued on Wednesday.

Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, said at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand,
that UN agencies were currently assessing the new guidelines.

At the same press conference, a spokesman for the United Nations
Population Fund said pregnant women in the cyclone-affected areas of Burma
were facing increased health risks.

The maternal mortality rate in Burma even before the storm was 380 per
100,000 births—almost four times the rate in neighboring Thailand and 60
times the rate in Japan, said William A. Ryan.

More than 100 women give birth every day in the area affected by the
cyclone, he said.

"The destruction of health centers and the loss of midwives have greatly
increased the risks," said Ryan. "It is clear that many pregnant women do
not have anywhere to go to deliver with skilled assistance."

He said the wrecked health facilities need to be rebuilt with the capacity
to handle emergency obstetrics.

Ryan said that compared to many other countries, Burma has a fairly high
number of births attended by midwives—but the comparison is to other
countries that are desperately poor.

Foreign aid organizations have faced a series of hurdles in trying to
provide help for victims of the May 2-3 storm, starting with the
government's reluctance to grant anything but a handful of visas to
foreign helpers.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month traveled to Burma to meet with
the chief of the ruling junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who agreed to allow aid
workers into the affected area "regardless of nationality," according to
Ban. The general also agreed to allow the UN to bring in 10 helicopters to
fly supplies to the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta.

Although the helicopters have been allowed in—with some delay—aid agencies
say the government has continued dragging its feet over visa applications
and allowing foreigners access to the most devastated areas.

The UN estimates that Cyclone Nargis affected 2.4 million people and that
more than 1 million of them, mostly in the Irrawaddy delta, still need
help. The cyclone killed at least 78,000 people, according to the
government.

Although the government says the relief operations have now reached the
post-emergency recovery phase, aid agencies are concerned that many people
still are lacking necessities.

"What we're concerned about is premature returns to areas where the
services are not yet in a position to be used, to try and make sure we can
reach people the best we can no matter where they are," said the UN's
Pitt.

France Hurtubise of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent societies said providing shelter remains a priority. According to
the organization, only 107,000 of some 341,000 households had received
shelter kits, which are supposed to include two tarpaulins each.

Aid agencies project that tarpaulin supplies will fall short of demand in
the coming weeks, in part because of the competing need for such supplies
for victims of China's May 12 earthquake.

____________________________________

June 12, Irrawaddy
As donors disappear, cyclone survivors fend for themselves – Saw Yan Naing

As private donors disappear from cyclone-affected areas of the Irrawaddy
delta, residents of Bogalay, one of the hardest-hit towns in the disaster
zone, say that they are struggling to rebuild their homes by themselves.

Many residents said that they were using old materials to repair or
rebuild their homes, despite an abundant supply of new materials available
in local shops and at the homes of businessmen and members of the Township
Peace and Development Council.

“When I went to buy corrugated zinc sheets to cover my roof, they
[township authorities] sold it to me for 780 kyat (US $0.68) per foot,”
said Wa Yint, a local resident.

“I have to rebuild my house using old zinc sheets. But for parts of my
house that were badly damaged, I needed some new sheets,” he added.

Residents said that outside assistance has come to a complete stop more
than five weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck the region on May 2-3.

“In May, five or six donor groups came to donate supplies every day,” said
one resident. “They came with six to twenty trucks a day.

“But from the beginning of June, the number dwindled to one group every
two or three days. Now they have completely disappeared. They stopped
coming two days ago,” he added.

Bar Ku, a local donor in Bogalay, explained: “In Burma, it is not possible
for citizens to feed one another for a long time. Everybody has to
struggle for their daily survival.”

“Who can feed them everyday? I don’t think private donors can afford to
donate any longer,” said a local aid donor in Laputta, another seriously
affected town in the delta.

He added, however, that Buddhist monks are still active in relief efforts,
delivering food and supplies to survivors in the outskirts of Laputta.

Sources also said that monks have played a key role in helping private
donors to get past restrictions imposed by Burmese authorities.

Last Saturday, a group of local donors who traveled to the delta town of
Pyapon were stopped at a checkpoint, but were later given permission to go
through after they explained that their aid supplies were going to local
monasteries, according to Ma Nyein, a friend of a member of the aid group.

She added that the donors were told by the authorities—members of the
junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association and the Swan Ah
Shin militia group—that they should hand over the supplies directly to
them.

Ma Nyein is the sister-in-law of Burma’s best-known comedian, Zarganar,
who has played a prominent role in distributing aid to victims of the
cyclone. She said that on one occasion, on May 15, she and her
brother-in-law were forced to give aid supplies directly to the
authorities.

On subsequent trips, however, they were accompanied by monks, who said
that the aid supplies were going to monasteries.

“When the monks asked them not to block us, they allowed us to go
through,” she said. “They don’t dare to confront the monks.”

Tin Yu, a resident of Rangoon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township, agreed.

“Five days ago, local authorities stopped us when we tried to deliver aid
to victims,” he said, adding that they were only allowed to pass after a
monk from Aung Parahita Monastery suggested that they make the donation
through his monastery.

Pyinya Thiha, a senior monk at Thardu Monastery in Rangoon’s Kyeemyindaing
Township, said that he and his group were recently approached by local
authorities in a village near Laputta, but he was able to continue his
journey.

“They [the authorities] came and asked some questions. But they asked us
politely, so we replied politely. If they had asked rudely, we would have
replied in the same manner. We didn’t face any difficulty,” he said.

____________________________________

June 12, Mizzima News
Keep doors open for aid: Thakin Thein Pe – Nay Thwin

Freedom fighters and veteran politicians urged the Burmese junta today to
allow aid workers and disaster management experts into the country to get
adequate aid for cyclone victims.

The statement was made after they heard that relief materials have not yet
reached remote cyclone ravaged areas even a month. Thakin Thein Pe turns
93 today.

"It is being heard that cyclone aid is not adequate despite the
government's utmost efforts. The government should work for effective and
adequate relief efforts for these hapless victims and should not forcibly
close the door," Thakin Thein Pe said at his birthday party held at his
residence in Rangoon today.

The birthday party was attended by political veterans such as Thakin
(master) Hla Kun, Thakin Hla Myint, Thakin Thein Maung, Thakin Chan Tun
and the top leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) such as U
Soe Myint, U Nyunt Wai, U Myint Thein, and other renowned politicians
namely U Thu Wai and U Win Naing among others accounting for about 100
guests.

The veteran politicians criticized the government saying that the current
situation in Burma is worse than the pre-independence era. There is more
violence and oppression, and the country is still far away from
independence, peace, democracy, national unity and development which have
been the aspiration of freedom fighters of their time.

The freedom fighters and their colleagues also issued a statement on May
22 which urged the government to take lessons from the exemplary role of
Indonesia in its Tsunami disaster management. The Indonesian government
gave free access to international aid agencies and relief experts to the
disaster struck areas in 2004 though there were some domestic political
problems in the country.

Thakin Chan Tun (87) said that they wish the government becomes flexible
and adopts a softer attitude. The government usually does not take the
veterans' statements and appeals seriously.

"We send all our statements and appeals to the government. We will urge
the government about what they should do along with the international
community. We notice the current military leadership doesn't care for
anyone and do as they wish. We are waiting to see a change in their
attitude to a softer and more flexible position.

According to a government report appearing in the state-run media, there
are 569 international aid workers from the UN, INGOs and individuals now
into relief work.

The UN said that it would take at least six months of relief work in
cyclone ravaged Irrawaddy delta region. But the government said the
emergency rescue and relief work is over in that area and it is now
working on reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Meanwhile the 'Tripartite Core Group' (TCG) reached remote villages in
Irrawaddy delta region and said that the villages still need aid. TCG
comprises of UN, ASEAN and Burmese government officials and they are now
carrying out a survey and up-to-date joint assessment in the delta region.

____________________________________

June 12, Mizzima News
Junta officials seize cameras – Nem Davies

Local Burmese military junta authorities in cyclone-hit Kungyankone,
Rangoon Division have begun seizing video and still cameras. At least 10
have been confiscated so far.

The seizure of video and still cameras came in the wake of news appearing
in state-run newspapers that anti-government elements and self centred
people were making money from concocted and fabricated news and by filming
video footage of cyclone relief efforts and reconstruction work.

"The authorities seized four digital video cameras and at least six still
cameras in Kungyankone. They are seizing the cameras even from people's
homes," a person who returned from Kun Chan Kone told Mizzima.

They took away the cameras from video shops and studios which make
documentary videos and are into still photography at weddings and other
social and religious functions. Though the authorities said they were
taking the cameras just for a while, the cameras have not yet been
returned to the owners, he added.

The authorities detained famous actor and comedian Ko Zarganar on May 4
evening. He was helping cyclone victims with relief materials.

The authorities also seized Cyclone Nargis documentary videos and song
albums sung on the cyclone by children from his home.

The documentary VCDs and photographs of the killer cyclone which lashed
some townships in Rangoon and Irrawaddy Divisions on May 2 and 3 were very
popular among local people and were selling briskly. The video footage
captured scenes of bodies strewn around, uprooted trees, collapsed houses
and lampposts and debris heaped on the streets.

____________________________________

June 12, Independent Mon News Agency
Police take valuables off bodies of cyclone victims in Mon state

The police in Mon state, on the pretext of searching for some kind of
identification of bodies of Cyclone Nargis victims floating into the area,
have been taking away jewellery found on the corpses, said local people.

The police in Kyaikkami and Set-sae beach area while searching for bodies
barred people to go out to sea from the middle to the end of May.

"Police having been going out to the sea to look for bodies and have been
taking necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings and other valuable from the
bodies," said a Set-sea villager.

Villagers were only ordered to burn and burry the bodies floating onto the
beach. They are not allowed to go out to sea. Police check the bodies in
the sea in boats and take the valuables.

People close to the police said policemen took the valuables from the
bodies and have not been reporting to higher authorities.

Sources among the authorities said more than 300 bodies had floated to the
beach and some were burnt and some buried. Some fresh bodies also floated
to the area in a houseboat.

Local authorities forced people to clean the bodies along the beach in
Set-sea and Kyaikkami area.

Recently the International Red Cross said tens of thousands of people
killed in the cyclone may never be identified because the bodies have
washed up miles from their homes and were badly decomposed five weeks
after the disaster.

____________________________________

June 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD members made to sign agreement – Khin Hnin Htet

One of 15 National League for Democracy members freed from detention on
Monday said they had to sign a document before their release agreeing not
to take part in further protests.

Htet Htet Oo Wai and the other NLD members were arrested on 27 May for
taking part in a protest calling for the release of NLD leader Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

Her 12-year-old son, Ye Yint Min Htet Oo, was detained along with the group.

Authorities asked them to sign an agreement acknowledging their detention
and accepting that they would face punishment under the law if they
committed further violations.

"We asked them to delete the lines about facing punishment under the law,
but they said we had to sign it to be released and that it had nothing to
do with what we did in future," she said.

Htet Htet Oo Wai said police had interrogated the detainees and seized 11
farmers’ hats and six traditional jackets worn during the protest.

"During our two-week detention, we were interrogated for two days,” she said.

“They asked us why we decided to do it and who the hats and the jackets
belonged to.”

Htet Htet Oo Wai said the interrogation officers were polite to the
detainees and treated them well.

____________________________________

June 12, Democratic Voice of Burma
USDA joins cyclone efforts to boost image – Htet Aung Kyaw

The Union Solidarity and Development Association has begun to send its
members to participate in relief efforts, possibly in a bid to counter
criticism of the group, one commentator said.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that 264 youth
members of the USDA would carry out reconstruction tasks in cyclone-hit
areas of Irrawaddy division.

The USDA members were dispatched on 10 June in six teams, each supported
by government IT technicians, and have been supplied with first aid kits,
tools, cooking utensils, drinking water and toilet construction materials.

The article did not specify whether these items were donated by the USDA
or provided by private or foreign donors.

Htay Aung, director of the research department of the Thailand-based
Network for Democracy and Development, said the move was part of the
USDA’s strategy to play more of a political role.

"Since the time USDA leader general Htay Oo said the group could transform
itself into a political organisation if necessary, the USDA members have
been participating in social and development activities," Htay Aung said.

"In order to do that, they put pressure other social organisations such as
the Free Funeral Service Society so that they can take over their roles."

Htay Aung said that the USDA’s reputation had also suffered from its role
in pressuring voters to support the military regime’s constitution in the
May referendum.

"The USDA was unable to participate in the beginning of the relief efforts
for cyclone victims because they had to prioritise winning a lot of 'Yes'
votes for the referendum that was held on May 10 and 24," he said.

"But now they have been under some heavy criticism and they want to
respond to that by creating an impression that they have been
enthusiastically participating in relief efforts, and so they began
sending their members to the Irrawaddy delta."

Htay Oo is now in Rome attending the Food and Agriculture Organisation
meeting.

____________________________________

June 12, Xinhua
Power supply in Myanmar Yangon division almost resumes after disaster

A 92 percent of electric power supply has resumed in cyclone-hit Yangon
division of Myanmar more than a month after a cyclone storm hit the
country, according to the local-language Myanmar Times Thursday.

Nearly 5,000 damaged lamp-posts have been substituted with new ones with
4,700 downed lamp-posts put upright again, the report said, adding that
new power lines, which stretch over 90,000 meters, and old such lines,
which extend as 690,000 meters, have been respectively added and
reinstalled, the report said.

New lamp posts were supplied from other regions of Bago, Nay Pyi Taw,
Mandalay, Sagaing and Taunggyi, it also said.

According to official statistics, the power sector in Yangon division
inflicted a loss of over 5 billion Kyats (4.54 million U.S. dollars) with
Yangon's east district and south district standing the heaviest.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's biggest industrial zone of Hlaingtharya in Yangon,
which was seriously destroyed in the cyclone storm, has almost resumed
operation with 95 percent of the 800 factories going into production since
late last month.

The zone has resumed production after 156 collapsed lamp-posts which carry
electricity were rapidly reinstalled, the zone's administration said.

During the storm, most of the roofs of the factories in the industrial
zone were blown to pieces and the factories' operation had to be
suspended.

The industrial zone sustained a property loss of 3 billion Kyats (2.7
million U.S. dollars), according to other local news report.

Myanmar claimed that the first phase of its post-disaster restoration work
-- rescue and relief, has finished and it is now entering into a second
phase of resettlement and reconstruction.

Under the post-disaster restoration plan, 30 Myanmar private companies
have been taking part in the restoration work in cyclone-hit regions with
assignments by the government to take the responsibility of undertaking
resettlement work in 17 affected townships.

The authorities also claimed that over 76 percent of communication links
and over 98 percent of the water supply have resumed in the city of
Yangon.


____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

June 12, Irrawaddy
Shan migrants urge Thai authorities to withdraw trespassing charges – Sai
Slip

A group of Shan migrants who have been evicted from lands which they
believed they had lawfully purchased have appealed to Thai authorities to
withdraw charges against them for trespassing on government-owned land.

Sumitchai Hattasaan, a lawyer from the Thai Lawyers’ Council, which is
providing legal advice to the group, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that
representatives of 1,000 Shan migrants involved in the case have submitted
a petition to Chiang Mai’s Agricultural Land Reform Office.

According to Sumitchai, the petition requests that charges against the
group for illegally occupying land in Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng District be
dropped.

Sumitchat also said that the group has urged the Chiang Mai Immigration
Office to release 22 Shan villagers who were arrested in April. The
villagers are currently being detained at the Chiang Mai Police Office.

“The officials should not detain the villagers for that long without any
legal process [or investigation] to find out the truth,” he said, adding
that it would be better to deport them than to continue holding them in
detention.

Most of the detainees are elderly. They were accused of illegally entering
the country, but their case has never gone to court.

In April, a group of officials raided Nong Pueng Village in northern
Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng District. The officials arrested the 22 villagers
because they did not have any immigration documents or work permits. Most
are from Burma’s Shan State.

The migrants have lived in the village since 2004, when they purchased
land there from some Thai owners. They claimed they did not know that the
land actually belonged to the Agricultural Land Reform Office, a
government agency which provides inexpensive land to poor Thai farmers.

The officials ordered them to remove 150 houses that they had constructed
on the disputed land, but the villagers asked the government to allow them
to live there temporarily because they could not find anywhere else to
live. Many of them also said that they had spent all of their money
constructing the houses.

Most of the villagers are working on plantations or in shops and
restaurants in Chiang Mai City.

The governor of Chiang Mai Province, Wiboon Sanguanpong, said that he
ordered local officials to investigate whether any officials were involved
in bringing illegal migrant to live in the village.

The Thai Lawyers’ Council has set up a committee to study the case and
find a solution with the help of nongovernmental organizations working
with migrants in Chiang Mai.


____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

June 12, Irrawaddy
Pyapon’s economy in ruins – Aung Thet Wine

In terms of Burma’s stagnant economy, the town of Pyapon was, until
recently, a success story. Fish farming and both freshwater and offshore
fishing were dynamic industries, attracting many Burmese and foreign
investors. Farmers seemed to have it easy too. The fertile Irrawaddy delta
produced the highest grade rice in the country and an abundance of crops.
Since the cyclone however, Pyapon’s economy has been all but wiped out.

Before Cyclone Nargis lashed the delta on May 2-3, Pyapon boasted hundreds
of well-run, lucrative, local businesses, many based around the fisheries
industry. Many of the 300,000 residents of the town worked as fishermen or
as boat crew while family members repaired nets. The demand for
fish-processing, storage, transportation, the retail of fishing equipment
and the management of the port’s jetties, all provided employment for the
townsfolk.

Now the fishing trawlers lie in ruins; warehouses and facilities have been
destroyed; and thousands of people are dead. One Burmese businessman
estimated it would take billions of kyat to restore the fishing industry
in Pyapon alone.

In an official statement, the Myanmar [Burma] Fisheries Federation said
that a total of 17,876 fishermen were killed in Burma by the cyclone and
another 9,612 fishermen were declared missing. The highest rate of
fatalities was in Pyapon. In addition, 2,088 fishing vessels were damaged
in Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions.

Those who survived the natural disaster were left stranded for days. One
month later, as the reality of the catastrophe becomes clear, many people
are financially ruined while others fear the fishing industry will not
resume in near future.

"I am out of work now and won’t be able to go fishing again any time
soon,” a fisherman living near the Pyapon River told The Irrawaddy. “The
company owners have found hundreds of their fishing boats washed up on the
land and are trying to repair them. Without a boat, I am jobless. I am now
doing odd-jobs around town, such as repairing houses. I get about 1,500
kyat (US $1.30) per day.”

Freshwater fishing vessels have not fared much better. A passenger boat
operator said that he had seen dozens of fishing vessels and trawlers
beached along the shores of Dedaye on the Pyapon River near Mile Kyun, Nga
May Gyi Thaung and Kyone Ma Ngae villages.

“Some were submerged in mud and others were washed farther inland,” he
said. “It will be very difficult to get them back onto the river.”

Some Pyapon fishermen have moved to Rangoon and other cities to look for
work. According to local sources, some fishermen have even migrated to
Thailand with their families in frustration.

Myanmar Fisheries Federation said that the government will invest 200
million kyat ($175,000) to rebuild the fish farming and fisheries
industries in Rangoon and the Irrawaddy delta. However, the official
statement appeared to overlook the livelihoods of hand-to-mouth fisheries
workers and private fishermen.

"I now have no fishing boat and no net,” a private fisherman from Phone
Gyi Thaung said. “I have no idea how to restart my business."

Onshore, most of Pyapon’s farmland was destroyed by the cyclone and the
resulting tidal wave. Local farmers said that some of the fields could be
reclaimed and sown if they were treated urgently and efficiently. However,
they said, most farmers would still be unable to cultivate their fields as
they rely on cattle to plow their fields and most farm animals were killed
in the storm.

Local sources told The Irrawaddy that around Pyapon, many storage
facilities and rice mills were also damaged or destroyed by last month’s
cyclone.

They said the villagers collectively sent a letter of appeal to the
authorities responsible for reconstruction work requesting assistance, but
so far they have received no reply.

"We informed the local authorities that we could grow paddy on our farms,”
a farmer from Kani said. “If we had a mechanical plow, we could plow our
farms in rotation and collect money to buy seeds. We requested one plow,
but that was 15 days ago and we have heard nothing.”

In some villages, even though land has been plowed using surviving cattle,
the farmers cannot afford to buy seeds as the prices have increased so
dramatically.

"It is now 800,000 kyat ($700) for 100 baskets of low-quality seeds and 1
million kyat ($875) for 100 baskets of rice. Even if we can afford that,
it is not easy to acquire them,” the farmer from Kani said.

The cost of rice has almost doubled since the May 2-3 disaster.

Pyapon’s farmers are unanimous in claiming they urgently need farm credit,
seeds, machinery, fertilizers and insecticide to resume any form of
agriculture this year.

One local farmer told The Irrawaddy: “We have nothing left. We cannot
afford to grow rice this year and we may never be able to cultivate our
farms again if we do not get assistance.”

According to data issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation,
1,066,271 acres and 300,713 acres of land were destroyed by the cyclone in
Irrawaddy Division and Rangoon Division respectively. In addition to the
134,000 people presumed dead, a total of 288,474 cattle were also killed,
the report said.


____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

June 12, Mizzima News
Diseases common in cyclone-hit areas but 'no outbreak': MSF – Zarni

Medicines Sans Frontiers or Doctors Without Borders has said while
diarrhea, cholera and acute respiratory problems are common among cyclone
survivors in Burma, there is not enough evidence of an 'outbreak'.

"We've found over 50 cases of diarrhea in the village around this area," a
Burmese doctor working with the MSF in Haing Gyi Island told Mizzima on
Wednesday.

"But we have been able to control the spread of the disease and there is
no fear of an outbreak," he added.

The doctor said he has come to the conclusion after he and his medical
team travelled to over 100 villages in and around the Haing Gyi village
tract, the first island to be hit by the cyclone on May 2.

"After we medicated the wells, we could check the number of people
suffering," the doctor said.

He, however, did not comment on the health situation for other areas
affected by the cyclone.

Dr. Aye Kyu, a Burmese doctor in Laputta town, who operates a private
clinic to help cyclone affected people, however, said diarrhea and cholera
are common diseases among the survivors with at least 25 people suffering
from diarrhea approaching him at his clinic daily.

According to the United Nations World Health Organization's report
released on June 10, so far a total of 685 cases of acute respiratory
infection and 117 cases of blood diarrhea, three cases of dengue fever and
four cases of acute jaundice have been found in both the Irrawaddy and
Rangoon division.

But the WHO did not term the cases as an outbreak adding that aid agencies
in the Health Cluster are working to ensure medical supplies reach remote
areas of the Irrawaddy delta.

The United Nations, however, has warned that if entry of aid workers is
restricted and assistance cannot be rushed, there is a potential for 'a
second wave of death' caused by diseases.

Meanwhile, Burma's military rulers said "So far, there has been no
outbreak of contagious disease and epidemic in the cyclone-affected
areas," as the government in cooperation with other departments and aid
agencies have been able to control the out break of diseases.

"From May 3 to June 3, a total of 183,450 out-patients and 22,589
in-patients had received medical treatment," the junta on Wednesday said
in its official mouthpiece, New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

But local aid workers said there are several villages, which are located
in remote areas and are cut-off from the main communication lines, that
are left with out any form of assistance since the cyclone struck on May 2
and 3.

An aid worker, who has been helping cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy
delta told Mizzima that people in remote villages suffer from diarrhea,
and acute respiratory problems.

"I don't know if it is an outbreak but definitely many people are
suffering from diarrhea after drinking contaminated water," the aid worker
said.


____________________________________
ASEAN

June 12, Agence France Presse
ASEAN says team to have full access in Myanmar

Southeast Asian and UN experts will have full access to cyclone-devastated
parts of Myanmar, where more than a million people have still not received
any foreign help, ASEAN said Thursday.

"Now we have 250-plus of our, what we call our post-Nargis assessment
teams, in the Delta, in the Yangon division, in the south and they will be
doing the full assessment and they will have full access to the affected
region," Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters in Singapore.

"I think if we look at that, it's already a great achievement and we will
try to maintain that momentum.

"We have been given full cooperation and support by the authorities in
Myanmar."

Cyclone Nargis pounded the southwest Irrawaddy Delta and the main city of
Yangon on May 2-3 leaving more than 133,000 people dead or missing.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said one week ago that
the Emergency Rapid Assessment Team had begun to deploy in the delta
region to start a long-awaited examination of the needs of millions of
people affected by the storm.

It said then that its advance teams, ferried by UN World Food Programme
helicopter, would compile a first-hand "progress report" for an ASEAN
Roundtable meeting in Yangon on June 24.

Surin said there were no doubts that the team would be able to do its job
adequately and with credibility, "coming up with a report that would be
taken up by all parties in order to be the basis of rehabilitation and
reconstruction later on."

Inciting international outrage, Myanmar's isolated military regime had
largely barred foreign aid workers from gaining access to the delta, which
bore the brunt of the cyclone.

Relief workers slowly moved into the region in late May after the junta
started to ease restrictions on access, and asked fellow ASEAN nations to
coordinate the international relief effort.

ASEAN has often been criticised for failing to act firmly against Myanmar,
a member country which has frequently embarrassed its neighbours with its
refusal to shift towards democracy.

"I think ASEAN has made a very, very significant step in trying to connect
the international community through ASEAN with Myanmar on the humanitarian
mission," Surin said, describing it as a confidence-building measure.

"So I think we realise that this is very precious."

The United Nations estimates that while 2.4 million people need emergency
aid, about one million have not yet received any foreign assistance.

The ASEAN team is working under a tripartite arrangement with the United
Nations and the Myanmar government.

One Southeast Asian diplomat in Yangon said last week that the team would
finish its work by month's end, although ASEAN says its findings will only
be released in mid-July.

"We expect them to meet a lot of difficulties, with many parts of the
delta remaining physically difficult to reach by road or boats," the
diplomat said.

"We are hoping we may be able to fill in the gaps, although we realise
there is a big void in terms of aid to be filled."

Surin said things had been going "very well" on the ground.

"Certainly there are rooms for improvement but we are working on that and
we have been assured that, yes, we will work together until the mission is
accomplished," he said on the sidelines of a meeting about human rights in
ASEAN.

The deployment of the ASEAN team last week came a day after the United
States gave up trying to convince the junta to allow aid-laden warships
stationed off the delta to deliver their vital supplies.


____________________________________
REGIONAL

June 12, Associated Press
UN: 35,000 pregnant women need care in Myanmar

Up to 35,000 pregnant cyclone survivors are in urgent need of proper care
in Myanmar, a U.N. expert said Wednesday, as relief agencies again raised
concerns about the junta's willingness to accept foreign aid.

Pregnancy and childbirth were already relatively risky before Cyclone
Nargis struck Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest countries, said William A.
Ryan, a spokesman for the U.N. Population Fund.

More than 100 women give birth every day in the area affected by the
cyclone, he told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand.

"The destruction of health centers and loss of midwives have greatly
increased the risks," he said. "It is clear that many pregnant women do
not have anywhere to go to deliver with skilled assistance."

Ryan said that wrecked health facilities should be rebuilt and there is
also a need for trained midwives.

The maternal mortality rate in Myanmar before the May 2-3 storm was 380
per 100,000 births — almost four times the rate in Thailand and 60 times
the rate in Japan, Ryan said.

He said the U.N. Population Fund has provided supplies to Myanmar's Health
Ministry for distribution to health clinics in 10 affected townships,
including hospital equipment and rubber gloves.

Meanwhile, international aid agencies said the government's new guidelines
for delivering relief to cyclone survivors could slow their response.

The rules, distributed Tuesday by the government at a meeting with U.N.
agencies and private humanitarian organizations, would require a large
amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with government agencies.

"Additional steps for seeking approval may unnecessarily delay the relief
response," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies said in a report.

U.N. agencies were assessing the new guidelines, said Amanda Pitt of the
U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The guidelines require most activities by the foreign agencies to be
cleared by a government ministry and local authorities. It also requires
approval from the so-called Tripartite Core Group, comprising
representatives of the government, U.N. agencies and the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nation, of which Myanmar is a member.

The U.N. estimates that Nargis affected 2.4 million people and that more
than 1 million of them, mostly in the Irrawaddy delta, still need help.
The cyclone killed at least 78,000 people, according to the government.

Foreign aid organizations have faced a series of hurdles in trying to
provide help for victims of the storm, starting with the government's
reluctance to grant anything but a handful of visas to foreigners.

Although helicopters have been allowed — with some delay — to fly supplies
to the delta, aid agencies say the government has continued to stall visa
applications and delayed allowing foreigners access to the most devastated
areas.

Also Wednesday, a state-controlled newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar,
said the military rulers were breaking no laws by holding democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for a sixth straight year.

The junta's recent decision to extend her detention by one year sparked
international outrage, with the Nobel Peace laureate's party and foreign
defense lawyers arguing she could legally be held for only five years.

A commentary in the newspaper said detentions are permissible for as long
as six years under a 1975 law.

Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 12 of the last 18 years at her
home in Myanmar.


____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

June 12, Associated Press
UN's Myanmar appeal only 44 percent funded

The United Nations says it has raised less than half of its goal for
relief operations in Myanmar more than five weeks after a cyclone
devastated the country.

The U.N. says it set out to raise $201 million but so far has gotten just
$113 million from donors.

The U.N. says areas like economic recovery and health have been well
funded, but emergency food operations and logistics have received only
about 20 percent of the funding they need. Education has received nothing.

Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the U.N. relief operations, says she
expects funding will increase after results from a needs assessment in the
hard-hit Irrawaddy delta is finished June 20.

The U.N. estimates the cyclone affected 2.4 million people. The government
says at least 78,000 people died.


____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

June 12, Jakarta Post
RI running out of time to play key role in Myanmar – Jared Genser

A month after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, more than one million people
severely affected by the storm have yet to receive any food, water, or
shelter, and the so-called "second wave" of dying from disease, thirst,
and hunger has begun in earnest.

The international community is wondering if Indonesia, with its key role
as the only ASEAN member of the UN Security Council and its strong
relationship with the Burmese junta will help avert an even greater
disaster or be left along with ASEAN being blamed for it.

In the aftermath of the cyclone, some 134,000 Burmese are now dead or
missing -- over 40 percent of which are believed to be children. And the
United Nations reported last Tuesday that only 49 percent of the storm's
2.4 million affected victims have received any humanitarian relief.

The junta refuses to allow the use of any foreign military helicopters to
deliver aid, even from such friendly countries as Thailand and Singapore.
Meanwhile, French, British, and American ships just offshore have been
turned away with food, water, and personnel capable of helping hundreds of
thousands. More than 10 days after junta leader Gen. Than Shwe promised UN
secretary general Ban Ki-moon that he would immediately allow in "all aid
workers," to the affected areas, few have regular access.

This is no surprise to long-time observers of Myanmar. Over the years the
junta has made countless promises to the UN, labeled "breakthroughs"
contemporaneously by diplomats, that the junta later breaks.

For example, under immense pressure after last fall's Saffron Revolution,
Myanmar committed to engage in meaningful negotiations with
democracy-leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party and its allies won more
than 80 percent of the vote in the country's 1990 democratic parliamentary
elections.

After a series of meetings with a regime interlocutor, Than Shwe imposed
unworkable conditions as a prerequisite for direct talks. By then the
world's attention had waned and the talks fizzled, both because the regime
has no desire to engage in talks and it feels no pressure to make real
concessions.

While the UN secretary general, the Burmese regime, and allies of the
junta have urged that the question of humanitarian aid not be
"politicized," the regime itself is taking every advantage of the cyclone
to make permanent its grip on power to the exclusion of helping its own
people. As is often the case, distraction and delay in discussing the
fundamental issues in Myanmar only serve the interests of the regime.

The recent extension of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest is perhaps the
most high-profile example of this phenomenon. Notwithstanding the UN's
four prior findings that her detention is illegal and that Myanmar law
itself does not permit house arrest beyond five years, the junta decided
to give her a sixth year under house arrest.

Further, in the days following the cyclone, the junta saw no need to delay
its sham constitutional referendum. Postponing the vote only in the two
areas hit hardest by the storm, the results obviated the need for those in
the cyclone-ravaged regions to also cast ballots.

Nevertheless, the junta rescheduled the vote in those other areas. The
junta has now made the extraordinary claim that 98.1 percent of the
population had turned out to vote, with 92.48 percent endorsing the
junta's proposal. According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar, this
patently fraudulent outcome has "washed away" the 1990 election result.

It is deeply regrettable that both Ban Ki-moon and ASEAN chief Surin
Pitsuwan declined to raise the fraudulent election result or Suu Kyi's
expiring house arrest in their meetings with the junta, both of which
occurred after Cyclone Nargis hit the country.

In so doing, they sent a clear signal to the junta that as long as they
held their own people hostage, it could press ahead with their campaign to
consolidate power and be assured the United Nations and ASEAN would relax
any pressure for political reform. Their fundamental error was to focus
exclusively on the suffering of the Burmese victims of Cyclone Nargis and
to fail to recognize the political situation is equally unconscionable.

There is no doubt Indonesia has important experience to help explain to
Myanmar's junta how a transition from military to civilian rule can be
effectively managed. And even more relevant to current circumstances, of
course, it did an exceptional job collaborating with the international
community in responding to the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

As a result, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indonesia have a key
role to play, but time is running out for the exercise of leadership.
While a lot more could be done, at a minimum, Indonesia should make clear
to the Burmese junta that while ASEAN wants to help, this help will not
include shielding Myanmar from further intervention should it persist in
its callous disregard of its own people's welfare.

The writer is an attorney with Freedom Now in Washington, D.C., and
represents Aung San Suu Kyi. He can be reached at jgenser at freedom-now.org

____________________________________

June 12, Irrawaddy
The troops have arrived at last, but where’s the aid? – Yeni

Burma’s men in uniform are now to be seen in the areas of the country
devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which left up to 2.5 million people in
urgent need of food, water and shelter. But the troops aren’t there to
help these victims. Instead of aid, they bring only fear and oppression to
the survivors.

In contrast with the impressive way neighboring China responded to the
disastrous earthquake there, Burmese troops reacted to their own country’s
disaster sluggishly and coldheartedly.

While Chinese soldiers are working hard to save the lives of earthquake
victims, the Burmese army is still shunning the responsibility of
collecting the dead, identifying them and giving them a proper funeral
according to their religious traditions. Thousands of dead bodies still
lie in the sodden rice paddies, fields and waterways of Burma’s Irrawaddy
delta.

The Burmese army has also stepped up a campaign to evict displaced
citizens from refugee shelters and, in the latest, most disgusting
development, is forcing survivors to perform unskilled labor for military
infrastructure projects, such as helicopter landing places, in exchange
for food.

London-based Amnesty International said last week that the Burmese
authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite
the junta's pledge to crack down on the problem.

All this misery stems from the actions of one man, the junta’s infamous
leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe. After Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta,
he knew exactly who to appoint to head the military mission in the region:
Brig-Gen Maung Maung Aye, commander of Light Infantry Division (LID) 66,
based in Pegu Division’s Pyay Township.

Maung Maung Aye earned the aging leader’s trust and respect after he
played a key role in the suppression of last September’s monk-led
protests. According to sources close to the military, it was Maung Maung
Aye who gave the order to carry out raids on monasteries and fire on
protesting monks and other demonstrators.

As commanding officer of Infantry Battalion 70 in Pegu Division and Karen
State in the early 2000s, Maung Maung Aye became notorious for his use of
forced labor, routinely press-ganging civilians into road construction and
to clear roadsides of vegetation, army sources told The Irrawaddy.

This time, the cyclone survivors in the delta have had to endure his three
LID 66 tactical operation commands—Tactical Command 661, led by Col Aung
Tun and based in Myaung Mya Township; Tactical Command 662, led by Col
Htwe Hla and based in Mawlamyinegyun Township; and Tactical Command 663,
led by Col Han Nyunt and based in Kyaiklat Township.

Meanwhile, Burma's government has established total control over the
international aid agencies’ efforts to carry out assistance programs for
victims of last month's cyclone. Guidelines, distributed on Tuesday by the
government at a meeting with UN agencies and private humanitarian
organizations, would require a large amount of paperwork and repeated
contacts with national and local government agencies.

Disaster management is a recognized dimension of government
responsibility. The Burmese regime is proving itself to be totaling
lacking in the skills of disaster management—which encompass all aspects
of planning for and responding to disasters, including analysis,
vulnerability reduction (preparedness), prevention, mitigation, response,
recovery and rehabilitation.

Throughout the world, since disasters pose significant challenges to
governance, it is not possible for local governments alone to take care of
all the relief responses.
There is a need for active participation by international aid workers,
volunteers, non-governmental organization staffers and the wider civil
society.

The needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis mean nothing, however, to Than
Shwe, whose attention is focused only on building a "strong, efficient,
modern and patriotic" army and cementing the unity of the military as an
"essential" for maintaining his tight grip on power.

Because of the junta’s mishandling and mismanagement, there is no hope of
a dramatic increase in the amount of aid being delivered to those facing
starvation and disease. This is a great human tragedy.


____________________________________
STATEMENT

June 12, National League for Democracy
Special statement: 13/06/08 (Unofficial Translation)

1.	In accordance with the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law and the authorities’
promises after the 1990 General Election in Burma, “the Union of Myanmar
Draft Constitution,” for which a referendum was conducted in Burma on 10
and 24 May 2008, was drafted illegally.   As per the Pyithu Hluttaw
Election Law, the Members of Parliament elected in the 1990 General
Election by the people of Burma were legally responsible for drafting the
constitution.   Instead, “the Union of Myanmar Draft Constitution” was
written solely by handpicked representatives and associates of the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC).  Officially and legally elected
Members of Parliament, let alone citizens, were prohibited from reviewing
or discussing the content of this constitution.  The drafting process did
not provide any opportunities for political parties, ethnic nationality
groups, or democratic organizations to review or critique the
constitution.

2.	The above mentioned facts directly contradict the following laws and
statements issued by the authorities:

a)	Section 3 of the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law, issued with the Law
Number 14/89 by the authorities on 31 May 1989, states that: “Hluttaw
[Assembly] must be formed with the Hluttaw representatives who have been
elected.”

b)	Paragraph 12 of Statement 1/90, issued by the authorities on 27 July
1990, states that: “Section 3 of the Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law requires
Hluttaw to be formed with the elected representatives of the Hluttaw from
the respective constituencies.  According to this provision, the State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) will be held responsible for
convening the Hluttaw.”

c)	Paragraph 20 of Statement 1/90, issued by the authorities on 27 July
1990, states that: “under the present circumstances, the representatives
elected by the people are those who have the responsibility to draft the
constitution for the future democratic state.”


3.	Prior to the referendum, the draft constitution’s content was not
explained to or discussed with voters through State media sources, such as
the daily newspaper or radio and television programming.  The draft
constitution was not for sale or available for people to read and study it
throughout many State and Division townships.  The draft constitution was
issued without collecting or incorporating people's recommendations and
requests and solely for approval. More importantly, the authorities held
the referendum one month after releasing the draft constitution, which
provided an extremely short timeframe for people to study the entire
constitution.  Authorities systematically managed this process so that
they could gain support for the draft constitution through injustice
force.

4.	During the fourteen (14) year National Convention period, the Chairman
of the Working Committee of the National Convention determined and
detailed the principles for the constitution.  This same person then
became the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee and drafted the
constitution based on the principles he established.  This same person
then became the Chairman of the Referendum Convening Commission, allowing
him to commit unjust and biased acts.  Other members of the Referendum
Convening Commission had also participated in the National Convention or
in the constitution drafting. This process was not fair or acceptable for
the people.  The Referendum Convening Commission was not an independent
organization but instead was completely influenced by the SPDC.

5.	Authorities violated their own Referendum Law and Technical Law by
using blackmail, threats, cheating, misinformation, coercion, and
persuasion to obtain votes supporting the constitution.  Authorities also
disregarded the principle rule of a referendum: a secret voting system. 
According to reports and documents submitted to the headquarters by State,
Division, Township, and Ward/Village Organizational Committees, important
facts are as follows:

a)	Authorities at all administrative levels as well as their supporting
organizations had the right to organize people and propagate information
freely.  However, NLD members were restricted and harassed.  NLD pamphlets
and statements were seized, and NLD members were interrogated, threatened,
and arrested using Law Number 5/96 and Referendum Law.

b)	Advanced voting ballots were distributed by each polling station, and
the results were fixed and controlled to secure supporting votes. 
Advanced voting ballots were collected from civil servants, workers,
civilians and Cyclone Nargis victims, which violated the provision in the
Referendum Law that only granted advanced voting privileges to people who
had to travel, were sick, were disabled, or were elderly.

c)	People who wanted to vote against the constitution faced many threats
from authorities including but not limited to: a three year prison
sentence and a 300,000 kyat fine, trial, confiscation of their farms and
their businesses, being fired from their jobs, being expelled from school,
and being required to report how other people voted.

d)	Police officers in uniform and members of organizations supported by
authorities were present at various polling stations.

e)	Police officers permitted voters who wanted to cast “Yes” votes and
prevented voting by people who wanted to cast “No” votes.

f)	Voters were forced to vote using pre-marked “Yes” ballots.

g)	One family/household member was required to cast votes on behalf of the
entire family/household

h)	One person representing the authorities cast votes on behalf of a large
group of people formed by the authorities.

i)	Polling station and Referendum Commission staff cast “Yes” votes for
some voters.

j)	Commission members cast additional “Yes” votes in the ballot boxes.

k)	Some polling stations closed early and prior to 4:00pm, which was
prohibited by the Referendum Law.

l)	The people were prevented from seeing the counting of “Yes” votes, “No”
votes, and invalid votes at all levels of the commissions.

m)	At some polling stations, “No” votes were burned or destroyed

6.	Section 23 of Chapter 9 of the Referendum Law states that: “after the
Referendum, the Commission must announce the Referendum result by
combining and accounting for votes by all eligible votes at all
locations.”  However, the Referendum Commission declared the result on 15
May 2008 by issuing Statement Number 10/2008, which stated that: “The
result of the previous referendum was 92.4 percent supportive votes.” 
This statement disregarded the Referendum Law, as it was announced before
the referendum was held for the people living in the forty-seven (47)
Townships affected by Cyclone Nargis.

7.	The record and list of eligible voters was collected before Cyclone
Nargis.  However, that list was no longer valid after the storm devastated
the seven (7) Irrawaddy Division Townships on 2 and 3 May 2008 and left
thousands of people dead and missing.  The Cyclone also destroyed many
national identity cards.  The authorities did not revise their list of
eligible voters; thus, the “Yes” votes in Irrawaddy Division cannot be
vindicated.

8.	The referendum does not represent the real will of the people, as it
was neither free nor fair.  A constitution is a contract between the ruler
and the ruled.  In this respect, because the referendum is not
representative of the people’s free will, its results are automatically
nullified according to international law and standards.  A contract cannot
be ratified based on unlawful acts.

9.	The Referendum Convening Commission issued Statement 12/2008 on 26 May
2008 and declared the referendum’s result approving ‘the Union of Myanmar
Draft Constitution.’  The State Peace and Development Council issued
Statement 7/2008 on 29 May 2008 declaring that ‘the Union of Myanmar
Constitution’ was approved.  However, these declarations were not legal or
lawful, as the referendum violated provisions in the above mentioned laws
and statements.  The National League for Democracy, mandated by the people
during the free and fair 1990 General Election in accordance with the
Pyithu Hluttaw Election Law, does not accept ‘the Union of Myanmar
Constitution.’

As per the decision in the meeting of the Central Executive Committee held
on 6 June 2008.

Central Executive Committee
National League for Democracy

Yangon