BurmaNet News, August 6, 2008

[Editor]

August 6, 2008 Issue #3528


INSIDE BURMA
Bloomberg: Myanmar cyclone survivors living in `dire conditions,' UN says
Mizzima News: UN envoy in Burma meets opposition parties
Mizzima News: Detained sport editor allowed a rare meeting with family
Irrawaddy: Laputta’s last two refugee camps to close

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Mae Sot prepares for US First Lady’s visit

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Myanmar CPI up 33% for past year
AKI: Burma: Kuwaiti Prime Minister on official visit

HEALTH / AIDS
Myanmar Times: Malaria no cause for concern in the delta

REGIONAL
Reuters: Bush's Thailand trip turns heat on Myanmar
NYT: Exiles try to rekindle hopes for change in Myanmar

INTERNATIONAL
Embassy Magazine (Canada): Burmese junta fulfilled its obligations, time
for international community to do the same

OPINION / OTHER
BBC News: Burmese still struggling after cyclone – Nga Pham
IHT: An auspicious, bloodstained day – Ko Bo Kyi
Mizzima News: Burma's social volcano ready to erupt – Larry Jagan
Washington Post: Burma without blinkers – Editorial



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 6, Bloomberg
Myanmar cyclone survivors living in `dire conditions,' UN says – Paul Tighe

Villagers in areas of Myanmar's Irrawaddy River Delta are living in ``dire
conditions'' three months after Tropical Cyclone Nargis devastated the
southern region, the United Nations said.

``We have seen significant progress being made in the affected areas,''
Daniel Baker, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said yesterday,
according to the UN. ``Much more urgently needs to be done in remote areas
where affected communities are still living in dire conditions.''

Food will need to be supplied to about 924,000 people ``on a systematic
basis'' for the next nine months, the UN said. Assistance to isolated
villages in the delta ``remains a challenge,'' it said.

Nargis struck the delta, Myanmar's main rice-producing region, May 2-3,
causing a tidal surge that left more than 138,000 people dead or missing
and 2.4 million requiring assistance. The country formerly known as Burma
needs aid to ensure that farmers are able to plant crops by the end of the
season this month, the UN said in July.

The region lost 85 percent of seed stocks and about 50 percent of buffalos
as a result of the cyclone, the UN said yesterday. The agriculture
industry is the least funded among the UN's aid programs and requires
emergency support of about $51 million, it said.

Damaged Houses

Relief workers have provided shelter materials for about half of an
estimated 488,000 houses damaged in the storm.

``Aid workers now have access to cyclone-affected areas,'' Baker said,
adding that recovery work is being boosted by cooperation between
Myanmar's military government, the UN and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, a 10-member group that includes Myanmar.

International aid was slow to reach survivors because Myanmar's military,
which has ruled the country since 1962, delayed permission for relief
workers to visit the delta until about three weeks after the cyclone
struck.

More than 780,000 hectares (1.9 million acres) of rice paddy fields were
flooded, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said last month.
Livestock, fishing, agriculture and forestry-based industries need to be
restored, it said.

The junta has set an exchange rate that has cost the UN about $10 million
in cyclone relief funds, John Holmes, the emergency relief coordinator,
said last week.

UN agencies have to buy foreign exchange certificates issued by the
government which are then used to purchase local currency. The UN has made
losses of as much as 25 percent when converting the certificates into
cash, said Holmes, who visited the country last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at
ptighe at bloomberg.net

____________________________________

August 6, Mizzima News
UN envoy in Burma meets opposition parties – Phanida

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights on
Wednesday met senior members of Burma's main opposition party - National
League for Democracy - and another major party - National Unity Party
(NUP), sources said.

Central Executive Committee members of the NLD U Lwin, Nyunt Wei and Than
Tun on Wednesday met Quintana at Myayeiknyo Hotel in Bahan Township of
Rangoon, Burma's former capital.

NLD secretary U Lwin said, "We met him [Quintana] at about 1:30 p.m. In
brief, he wanted to meet us all at the same time. But the National Unity
Party (NUP) objected to this by saying that it was not suitable for them.
Then he met us separately for about 15 minutes."

During the meeting, NLD leaders briefed the UN envoy on the recent
national constitutional referendum, their demand for the release of party
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, and explained their
objection to the forcible entry into the party headquarters by
government-backed civil organizations including Union Solidarity and
Development Association and Swan Arrshin.

NLD leaders also brief about the unlawful arrest of NLD party members and
explained in details of the Junta's human rights violations during the
crackdown against monk-led protests in September 2007, party sources said.

Quintana also met religious leaders, and cyclone victims in Irrawaddy
Division on August 4, and long serving political prisoners including
renowned journalist Win Tin, Ashin Gambira, a Buddhist monk who led the
Saffron Revolution last year, labor rights activist Suu Suu Nwe and two
other political prisoners during his visit to Insein prison on Tuesday.

The UN envoy took charge in May last year and arrived in Burma for the
first time on August 3. He will wind up his visit on August 7, the eve of
20th anniversary of the August 8, 1988, also known as 8.8.88, uprising,
which was brutally crackdown by the military.

____________________________________

August 6, Mizzima News
Detained sport editor allowed a rare meeting with family – Phanida

Sports columnist Zaw Thet Htwe, who was arrested for assisting cyclone
victims in Burma 's Irrawaddy delta, was finally allowed to meet his
family at notorious Insein prison on Tuesday.

After being detained for about two months, Zaw Thet Htwe was produced
before the court for the first time last Wednesday, but was denied meeting
his family.

"We had a long chat.  His health is good but he is a little thinner," said
his wife, Khaing Cho Zaw Win Tin, adding she could deliver things she
brought for him.

Khaing Cho Zaw Win Tin said she is privilege to meet her husband after two
months as many detainees do not always enjoy the same opportunity in Burma
, a country ruled by military dictators.

"We are glad to see him again after two months because some are only
allowed to meet their families after three or four months. He was calm and
stable when he met his daughter, who came along," she added.

After more than a month of detention, prominent comedian cum actor
Zarganar, sports editor Zaw Thet Htwe and five other persons were produced
before the Rangoon West District court in the Insein prison premises on
July 28.

They were reportedly charged with cases under section 505(b) of the
Criminal Code, which is a charge for disturbing public tranquility, and
under other sections. The court reportedly fixed August 7 for the next
hearing.

Defendant counsel Khin Maung Shein said, "We heard that there are at least
six cases against them. We will know the details after seven days."

Reportedly, comedian Zarganar, who was arrested on June 4 for helping
cyclone victims, was also allowed to meet his family on Monday. Zaw Thet
Htwe was arrested on June 13.

Zaw Thet Htwe, however, was not arrested for the first time. He was
earlier arrested for writing an article on corruption among the Burmese
sports community and was sentenced to death on November 28, 2003.

But his sentence was later commuted to three years' imprisonment and he
was released after serving his prison terms.

Similarly, Zarganar was also detained for 21 days after offering alms to
the protesting monks in September 2007.

In their latest arrest, they were detained in unknown places for about a
month and their families were not informed when they were first produced
before the court.

Though the court had earlier fixed the date for hearing the cases of a few
other activists on Tuesday, the activists were not produce before the
court. Though the reason for not producing the activists is unknown, it is
believe that it might be due to the UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea
Quintana's visit to Insein prison.

The court had earlier fixed Tuesday for the hearing of the cases of
blogger Nay Phone Latt, student leader Sithu Maung, Myo Thant from Human
Right Promoters and Defenders (HRPD), 2007 generation student leaders Zin
Lin Aung, Thein Swe, Ye Min Oo, Ye Myat Hein and Kyi Phyu.

Khin Maung Shein said, the cases of Sithu Maung, blogger Nay Phone Latt
and six others were fixed to be heard on Tuesday but they were not produce
at the court as the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur entered Insein
prison, annex hall in the afternoon.

"He [Quintana] entered at about 1:30 p.m. He came out at about 2 p.m. and
then again entered the main jail. We were there till 4 p.m. but he hasn't
yet come out. Then we asked the court for the next hearing date and left
the prison. Till that time, the Special Rapporteur was still inside the
prison," he added.

____________________________________

August 6, Irrawaddy
Laputta’s last two refugee camps to close – Min Lwin

The two remaining cyclone refugee camps in Laputta are to close on August
10, according to residents.

The 1,015 families in the camps, named 5-Mile and 3-Mile, have been told
to return to their villages in Laputta Township, which bore the brunt of
the May 2-3 cyclone.

An army officer in the region told The Irrawaddy by telephone that no
families were being forced to return. “They can return if they wish,” he
said.

Forced relocation was suspended after Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein
Sein visited cyclone-hit areas in late July, but one Laputta resident said
the local authorities had resumed “pushing” refugees to return to their
villages.

“Some refugees don’t want to return their home villages because they can’t
survive there without housing and jobs,” she said.

The authorities are promising to supply refugees with fishing and farming
equipment if they return.

The UNICEF office in Laputta Township, meanwhile, has stopped issuing
relief supplies in 5-Mile and 3-Mile camps.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 6, Irrawaddy
Mae Sot prepares for US First Lady’s visit – Violet Cho

Tighter security imposed by Thai authorities prior to the visit of US
first lady Laura Bush to Burmese refugees in Mae Sot, Thailand, has led to
more checkpoints, arrests and deportation of Burmese illegal migrants.

The first lady is scheduled to visit the Mae La refugee camp on Thursday,
the largest camp in Thailand with 40,000 refugees. She will also visit the
Mae Tao Clinic operated by Dr. Cynthia Maung, which provides free health
care for Burmese refugee and migrants.

According to camp refugees, Thai security authorities have prevented
people from leaving the camp for the past several days and shops in the
camp were ordered closed during the first lady’s visit.

“There are many problems for us right now,” said a camp refugee. “We are
under tight control by Thai soldiers who are everywhere. They are
patrolling the camp all day.”

About 20 families who have houses close to the road that the first lady’s
motorcade will pass down have been ordered to leave their homes prior to
her arrival.

Security has also tightened at border checkpoints, and people entering
Thailand are undergoing more questioning, according to Burmese traders who
come to Mae Sot to buy and sell goods.
People are also being stopped and checked by police in downtown Mae Sot.

Thai police have arrested, according to a Thai News report, about 200
Burmese illegal migrants in the border province ahead of the US
presidential visit to Thailand.

Sources here say some of the illegal migrants are young Burmese students
who support Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and they entered
Thailand to try to meet President George W Bush and his wife. Suu Kyi has
been under house arrest in her homeland for 12 of the past 18 years.

“Regardless of young or old, the arrest and deportation of Burmese illegal
migrants is common here in Mae Sot,” said Moe Swe, the head of Young Chi
Oo, a migrant worker organisation in Mae Sot. “But the arrests sharply
increased as it is a good time for Thai police to arrest more Burmese
people based on Laura Bush’s visit.”

According to a medic at the Mae Tao Clinic, there has been a decrease in
patients prior to the first lady’s visit because of tight security.

“My youngest son was sick a couple of days ago,” said a resident in
Myawaddy, a Burmese border town opposite Mae Sot. “I usually cross the
border to get treatment in the clinic, but this time I didn’t go because I
was worried I would be arrested.”

The clinic has been preparing itself for the first lady’s visit. “We are
fixing up the entrance and road in front of our office,” said a senior
medic. “But we are under surveillance by US secret service agents who have
gone over everything in the clinic. We can not move anything in our clinic
unless they give us permission.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 6, Associated Press
Myanmar CPI up 33% for past year

Myanmar's consumer price index rose nearly 33 percent in the 2007-2008
financial year, according to official statistics seen Wednesday.

The increase of 32.93 was higher than that for 2006-2007, when the CPI
registered a 26.33 increase, according to the figures from the Central
Statistical Organization of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic
Development.

The consumer price index measures the average change in prices over time
in a basket of goods and services, and the percent change in the CPI is
often used as a measure of inflation.

Rising consumer costs sparked protests last year that turned into the
biggest anti-government demonstrations in almost two decades. The
demonstrations were violently quashed by the military government.

The statistics also break down the change by sector. The food index, which
includes rice, oil, fish, meat and eggs, registered a 33.13 percent
increase compared to same period last year, the figures showed.

The index for clothing and apparel rose 35.21 percent, while that for
"fuel and light" rose 23.52 percent.

The financial year ends begins on April 1 and ends March 31 the following
year.

____________________________________

August 6, Adnkronos International Italia
Burma: Kuwaiti Prime Minister on official visit

Kuwait's Prime Minister, Sheik Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber
Al-Sabah on Wednesday paid an official visit to Burma at the invitation of
its premier, Gen. Thein Sein.

It is the first visit by a Kuwaiti leader to Burma since the two countries
established diplomatic relations in 1998.

Before he arrived in Burma, Al-Sabah (photo) was in Cambodia for a
three-day official visit. During the visit, officials from the two
countries discussed bilateral agricultural cooperation, technical
assistance in oil exploration, proposed direct flights and even football
friendlies.

Oil-rich Kuwait is largely covered in desert, making it difficult to grow
enough food for its two million-plus residents.

During Al-Sabah's visit , Cambodian and Kuwaiti officials held talks on a
proposal to exchange Kuwaiti agricultural technology for a large area of
land to grow food - probably rice - for export to the Gulf state,
Cambodian Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

August 6, Myanmar Times
Malaria no cause for concern in the delta – Ni Ni Myint

AN official from the Ministry of Health said last month that the incidence
of malaria in areas of Ayeyarwady Division affected by cyclone Nargis was
no higher than usual.

“We have conducted surveys in Bogale, Labutta and Ngapudaw townships and
found that the numbers of malaria cases were no higher than what would
normally be expected this time of year,” said Dr Than Win, the deputy
director (malaria) of the Department of Health under the ministry.

The ministry has formed three groups to conduct malaria surveys, each with
10 members including doctors, insect investigation officials and
laboratory technicians.

The survey methods include taking blood tests from sick people and
checking for the presence of mosquitoes.

“Malaria is not common in Ayeyarwady and Yangon divisions. Ayeyarwady
hotspots normally include Ngapudaw and Tharpaung, while Hmawbi, Hlegu and
Taikkyi in Yangon Division also see some cases,” said Dr Than Win.

He said the three teams will continue their survey in 10 more townships,
including Pyapon, Dedaye and Mawlamyinegyun in Ayeyarwady Division, and
Kungyangon, Kawhmu and Twante in Yangon Division.

Although malaria seems to have been kept under control so far, the
ministry is helping to ensure against future outbreaks by distributing
mosquitoes nets, rapid diagnosis tests for malaria, and Coartem, a
combination therapy that can cure the disease.

“We have distributed over 20,000 mosquitoes nets in Ngapudaw, 10,000 in
Bogale and some in Labutta. We plan to distribute more in the future,” Dr
Than Win said.

The main malaria season in Myanmar is normally July and August.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 6, Reuters
Bush's Thailand trip turns heat on Myanmar – Matt Spetalnick

U.S. President George W. Bush flew into Bangkok on Wednesday on the latest
leg of a pre-Olympics Asian tour, although his focus in Thailand is mainly
on the "outpost of tyranny" junta in neighboring Myanmar.

In a broad speech on U.S. involvement in Asia to be delivered on Thursday,
Bush will repeat his mantra for the former Burma's military rulers "to
release Aung San Suu Kyi", the opposition leader and Nobel laureate
detained for the last five years.

In all, Suu Kyi, 63, has been in prison or under house arrest for nearly
13 of the last 19 years.

After a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, Bush praised
Bangkok for its role in helping funnel emergency relief to the victims of
Cyclone Nargis, which killed 134,000 when it slammed into Myanmar's
Irrawaddy delta on May 2.

"We want to see prosperity and freedom restored to Burma," he told reporters.

On Thursday, he will cover the whole gamut of U.S. policy in Asia, from
North Korea's nuclear program to regional security and trans-Pacific trade
to his strongest criticism yet of China's attitude to human rights.

"The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental
liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," Bush will say,
according to excerpts of Thursday's speech released in advance.

"So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political
dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists," he will say.

However, the timing of his visit and the schedule in place for him and his
wife in Thailand leaves little doubt about his other main message.

"8-8-88 DEMOCRACY"

As well as the start of the Olympics in Beijing, Friday is the 20th
anniversary of Myanmar's "8-8-88" democracy uprising, when an estimated
3,000 people were killed when troops were sent in to crush nationwide
protests.

On the eve of this numerically auspicious day, Bush will have lunch with
activists who took part in the uprising before fleeing for their lives to
Thailand, where they have campaigned for an end to military rule that
stretches back to 1962.

Laura Bush, who has adopted Myanmar human rights as a personal cause, will
travel to the Thai border to visit a refugee camp and health clinic for
those fleeing the ethnic guerrilla wars that have roiled Myanmar's
hinterlands for decades.

"Together, we seek an end to tyranny in Burma," Bush will say, echoing his
Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who has referred to Myanmar as an
"outpost of tyranny".

Under Bush, Washington has been at the forefront of the West tightening up
sanctions against Myanmar, a policy criticized for merely increasing the
international isolation in which junta supremo Than Shwe appears to revel.

The depth of distrust of the outside world was highlighted in May when the
junta refused U.S. and French offers of military helicopters and ships to
assist the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

"Nargis has shown that if the U.S. wants to help the Burmese people, they
need to have some kind of relationship with the Burmese military
government," Aung Naing Oo, one of the exiled dissidents set to meet Bush
on Thursday, told Reuters.

"Than Shwe wants to isolate Burma. If the U.S. tries to isolate Burma,
they are simply doing Than Shwe's work for him," he said.

(Additional reporting and writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by David Fox)

____________________________________

August 6, New York Times
Exiles try to rekindle hopes for change in Myanmar – Seth Mydans

Win Min has spent 20 years trying to recover a moment of hope in Myanmar,
when it seemed that the people had defeated their brutal military rulers
and freedom lay ahead.

Twenty years ago this month, pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in
Burma, now known as Myanmar. Protesters, like those at left in September
1988, filled the streets of Rangoon, now known as Yangon, and other parts
of the country. But the popular uprising against the junta was soon
crushed by the military, and 3,000 people were killed.
Friday is the anniversary of the beginning of a huge popular uprising in
1988 that was crushed by soldiers at the cost of 3,000 lives, leaving the
country in the grip of a military junta and setting the course of
Myanmar’s history ever since — and likely well into the future.

“We had a big hope that we would succeed,” said Mr. Win Min, who was a
student leader in Myanmar, which was then known as Burma. “It was the
biggest struggle ever in Burmese history. Not just in one town but even in
remote villages. The whole country was marching in the streets.”

On Thursday, Mr. Win Min will be among a small group of activist exiles
who are scheduled to meet here with President Bush, who has given his
backing to what has so far been an unsuccessful struggle for democracy in
Myanmar. The military junta that seized power in 1988 has only tightened
its grip since then, locking up opponents and hunkering down in the face
of criticisms and sanctions from the West. The pro-democracy leader, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.

The junta violently suppressed a peaceful uprising led by monks in
September and restricted foreign aid to victims after a cyclone in May.

The generals have demonstrated that they will take whatever steps are
needed to retain power, Mr. Win Min said, so it is hard to remain
optimistic.

“Twenty years afterward, well, you know we won’t see that kind of
demonstration happen again in the near future,” said Mr. Win Min, who is
now a lecturer at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. “And if it
happens, we know that as long as this government is in power they will
crack down.”

Since the September crackdown on monks, Mr. Bush has tightened economic
restrictions on Myanmar. But some dissidents say the restrictions, along
with harsh criticism of the junta, have added to a wall of hostility
between the nations that limits Washington’s influence.

This is the message that Aung Naing Oo, another former student leader,
hopes to deliver to Mr. Bush.

In the few minutes he may have to speak with the president, Mr. Aung Naing
Oo said, he will urge the United States to move beyond its “ethical
policy” of supporting human rights and begin pragmatically to engage the
ruling generals.

After the cyclone struck, for example, the United States had little
leverage to persuade the junta to overcome its suspicions of interference
and accept large shipments of aid from Navy vessels near the coast.

Shunned by the West, Myanmar has been able to turn to its big neighbor
China, as well as to Russia and India, for economic and diplomatic support
that undermines any policy of sanctions.

“Isolation has pushed the Burmese military toward authoritarian regimes
instead of democracies,” said Mr. Aung Naing Oo, who is now a political
analyst in Thailand. “So it’s time for the West to think about these
issues in perspective and try to engage the military.”

While the West and the junta have been locked in mutual isolation, China
has been moving in with trade and development projects that have
increasingly become part of Myanmar’s economy.

“The most important development of the last 20 years is not so much
suppression of the democratic movement but the opening up to China,” said
Thant Myint-U, a historian who wrote “The River of Lost Footsteps:
Histories of Burma.”

“I think the life of the ordinary Burmese people in 10 or 20 years from
now will depend much more on how that relationship evolves than almost
anything else,” he said.

Indeed, the junta may be quite comfortable in its isolation from the West,
which began after a military coup in 1962 and continued after the current
junta took power in 1988.

“We have a long history of isolation in Burma, and that has given the
military a free hand to do anything it wants,” said Mr. Aung Naing Oo.
“Isolation is what the Burmese military wants.”

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 6, Embassy Magazine (Canada)
Burmese junta fulfilled its obligations, time for international community
to do the same – Brian Adeba

Having worked in humanitarian relief in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, India and
Angola, Canadian Andrew Kirkwood has seen his fair share of humanitarian
disasters. But what he saw in Burma after Cyclone Nargis fanned across the
southwestern part of the Asian country in May, killing 140,000 people and
leaving one million others homeless, surpasses anything he's seen in more
than 10 years of relief work.

As country director for Save the Children in Burma, which the ruling
military junta calls Myanmar, Mr. Kirkwood was at the forefront of
organizing the charity's relief work in the aftermath of the devastating
cyclone.

But three months after the cyclone, and long after the disaster has
disappeared from the front pages, Mr. Kirkwood says the situation is still
dire. An assessment report released two weeks ago by Save the Children
paints a grim picture of the situation. Four out of 10 households have
lost all their food stocks and over half have one day of food left.

Mr. Kirkwood, who is currently on holiday in Canada, says the food
situation in Burma is very precarious. Save the Children is feeding
100,000 people, he says, while a total, 900,000 people are dependent on
food from relief organizations.

"I expect that this will continue for at least six months and then the
number of people who need food assistance on a daily basis will decrease,
but there will still be a case load up until November next year when the
next monsoon rice crop is harvested," he says by phone from Big Hawk Lake
in the Haliburton area in northern Ontario.

The problem now is that the monsoon rice planting season is coming to an
end and if there isn't a significant planting of the crop, chances are a
large number of Burmese in the area hit by the cyclone will still rely on
food assistance until the next planting season.

The cyclone, coming after the devastating tsunami that hit Indonesia in
2004, is the second humanitarian catastrophe to afflict Asia in the last
four years. With winds gushing at 200 kilometres per hour, it swept over
an area twice the size of Lebanon, destroying more than 2,000 villages.
But even then, Mr. Kirkwood says, it wasn't the winds, but water that
killed many people.

"In some places it was as high as 15 to 20 feet and many people were just
washed away by this rising tide. It happened in the middle of the night,
many people drowned," he says.

Three months later, many people are now moving to large cities to search
of food, says Mr. Kirkwood. Worst of all, human traffickers are now active
in the disaster area, luring children and adults into exploitative work in
Thailand and China. At least 1,000 children have been separated from their
families and there is an urgent need to find appropriate homes for them.

Water and sanitation is also a huge problem, Mr. Kirkwood says.

"Right now people are still collecting rain water but that will end with
the monsoon rains."

In the wake of the cyclone, Burma's reclusive military junta barred access
to relief organizations, only relenting two weeks later after realizing it
did not have the capacity to deal with the disaster. The delay caused a
worldwide uproar.

But Mr. Kirkwood says it isn't easy to generalize about the junta since it
runs a huge public service that is bogged down by bureaucracy. He says
there is still a great deal of suspicion of foreign organizations of any
kind and it will take a while to establish credibility with the military
junta.

"I would hope that the organizations that are working in Burma are there
for purely humanitarian reasons and I think the cyclone relief has been a
good demonstration of that. I don't think that's well understood by
everyone and the regime," says Mr. Kirkwood.

In terms of assistance, Mr. Kirkwood says Canada did a good job, providing
half a million dollars to Save the Children. The money was used to operate
a floating hospital on a big river in Burma.

With the situation far from being normal, Mr. Kirkwood says, it's
important the international community lives up to promises it made in May,
when about 50 countries promised aid if the junta allowed free access to
relief organizations and the publishing of a report on the situation. Mr.
Kirkwood says the two conditions have been fulfilled and it's time for
action.

"It's time for them to do what they said they would do—to give generously
to the cyclone relief operation," he says.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 6, BBC News
Burmese still struggling after cyclone – Nga Pham

It has been three months since Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, leaving
130,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

On a covert trip to the Irrawaddy Delta region, I found many of the
survivors still in need, and the regime still suspicious of foreigners.

Recently, the government started letting aid workers in, but foreign
tourists and journalists are still not allowed to visit the affected
areas.

I had been warned by my Burmese colleagues that it would be very difficult
to move around Burma, and I had to be aware of the many layers of security
designed to keep a close eye on visiting foreign nationals.

My plan was to fly to Rangoon, then to hire someone who would be willing
to accompany me to the Irrawaddy region.

I would be posing as a Burmese woman to avoid unnecessary attention. It
turned out to be more difficult than I thought.

I got a traditional Burmese dress, the longyi. I was also prepared to
smear myself with the sunscreen powder you see most Burmese women wearing
on their faces.

But finding someone who would go with me was tricky, partly because I had
to be careful not to put anyone in danger.

Many people were punished by the regime after the cyclone for helping
foreign journalists, or simply because they were spotted travelling with
journalists.

Via some contacts, I found a guide who agreed to go with me, on the
condition that if he saw any sign of danger at all, we would immediately
make our way back.

Temporary huts

We left Rangoon early in the morning. We took the ferry cross the Yangon
river, swollen, dark and muddy with monsoon rains.

Along the road down into the Irrawaddy region, houses had been repaired,
trees had been cut and replanted, pagodas repainted. Paddy fields were
covered in the green of the new crop.

However, it was still possible to tell where the cyclone hit, from the
pockets of temporary huts scattered across the region.

Most of the huts I saw did not have proper roofs but were covered with
plastic sheets provided by international agencies.

Some of the victims were sitting in the mud. As it is the rainy season, it
rains almost daily and vast areas are still flooded.

My guide told me that local people have been warned by the authorities not
to speak to foreigners and it took us a while to find someone who agreed
to have a chat.

Mr Naing Win is a farmer whose family lost almost everything in the
cyclone. I found him living with his wife and two children in a small hut.

"The cyclone struck at night, when we were sleeping," he said.

"I saw houses collapsing around my house. Then the rain started pouring
down through the roof, which by that time was heavily damaged."

He had nowhere to go, he said, so he simply held a child in each of his
arms and stood inside what was left of the house until dawn broke.

"Now we stay in this hut with nothing inside," said Mr Naing. "The
children cough all the time because it is so damp.

"I would like to have somewhere better, more solid for my family to stay.
But in order to build a proper house, we'd need at least 300,000 kyat
($300) and I don't think we'll ever have the money."

'Not enough'

The government has closed refugee camps in an attempt to prove that
everything has returned to normal.

The Paritta Monastery in Kyauktan, near Rangoon, used to host some 250
families. Now, according to head monk U Pyinya Wanttha, they are all gone.

"About a month ago, the government came here and demanded that all the
refugees go back to where they were from and they are now living in the
temporary shelters that they've built from bamboos and pieces of wood," he
told me.

He said the biggest problem now was to provide the victims with proper
shelters, as nobody has any money left. And of course they need food, he
added, because it will be some time before the new harvest.

"Kind people have been donating instant noodles and dry foodstuffs which
we transfer to the refugees," said U Pyinya Wanttha. "But it is clearly
not enough."

Survivors have complained that aid from the government has been scarce.

International charities warn that lack of food could affect millions.
Limited access to clean water and unhygienic living conditions are other
concerns.

Thu Ya, a local businessman who runs a private relief campaign in the
Irrawaddy Delta, said the victims urgently needed help - particularly
those in remote areas.

It is monsoon season and they are at risk contracting dangerous illnesses
such as malaria, diarrhoea and lung diseases.

____________________________________

August 6, International Herald Tribune
An auspicious, bloodstained day – Ko Bo Kyi

On Friday, millions of people will gather to celebrate universal values,
national spirit, and the promise of progress in a country isolated for
decades on the precipice of change. You might think of Aug. 8, 2008 in
Beijing, but I'll be remembering Aug. 8, 1988, in Burma, the day that
changed my life and that of countless compatriots.

Since eight is a lucky number in much of Asia, the Burmese people chose
the auspicious 8.8.88 for their uprising, just as China decided to open
the Olympic Games on 8.8.08. But while the eights still signal a
celebration for many Chinese, for the Burmese they mark a massacre.

On Aug. 8, 1988, millions of Burmese marched throughout the country
calling for an end to military rule, which had isolated and impoverished
us since 1962. It was the culmination of months of unrest in Burma, and
the army met us with merciless violence. Soldiers shot hundreds of
protesters that day, and the army killed an estimated 3,000 people in the
following weeks. The streets ran with blood but, back then, there were few
images and no Internet to spread the news rapidly beyond our borders.

The outside world largely ignored events inside Burma, but for me there
was no escape. As a student in Rangoon, I participated in many
demonstrations and witnessed the brutal suppression by the riot police
that killed and wounded so many. The regime also closed all schools,
ending my education.

The first time I was arrested, in 1989, together with another student
leader, Min Ko Naing, I managed to escape on the way to the interrogation.
But in March 1990, the police picked me up at a student demonstration in
Rangoon - we still hoped then that the approaching elections would change
things - and a court sentenced me to three years in prison with hard
labor. I spent more than seven of the next nine years in prison. I endured
beatings, torture and long periods of solitary confinement in conditions
not fit for animals. In 1999, the ongoing surveillance and intimidation by
military intelligence made me concerned that any day I might return to
prison. I fled to the Thai border, where I began working to inform the
world about the brutal treatment of Burma's political dissidents.

Twenty years after our rulers crushed the rebellion, their prisons and
labor camps hold more than 2,000 political activists. The Nobel Peace
Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, having spent
much of the past two decades locked in her decaying house. Others, such as
Burma's oldest political prisoner, the 78-year-old U Win Tin, remain
incarcerated for their political writings and steadfast refusal to bow to
the regime.

We got a reminder of the vast scale of repression with the bloody
crackdown on peaceful protesters and monks in September 2007. Min Ko Naing
(with whom I was arrested in 1989), was detained for his role in peaceful
marches in Rangoon and remains in prison.

Few of us were shocked when the military-led government underlined its
mockery of democracy by conducting a sham constitutional referendum amid
the cyclone devastation wrought in May. The authorities even evicted
cyclone survivors so that it could turn their shelters into polling
stations, and then claimed a 98 percent turnout at a time when even
emergency relief workers had yet to reach great swathes of the country.

Basic freedoms are routinely denied in Burma, with strict censorship, no
right to assembly, and few avenues for expressing dissent. The army
continues its brutal pacification of ethnic minority areas, routinely
committing atrocities.

International efforts to engage the military government have floundered
because of the regime's skill in pitting the countries who wish to trade
and exploit Burma's natural wealth against those that want to isolate,
punish and sanction the regime. Burma's generals seek to bypass Western
sanctions, including new financial sanctions, by doing business with
Asia-based companies and banks.

It's no surprise to me that Beijing would ignore the 1988 anniversary:
China is a key trading partner and Burma's most important diplomatic
supporter. Beijing continues to sell weapons to the Burmese military and
train its soldiers, and enjoys access to Burma's lucrative gas fields and
trade routes to the Indian Ocean. The tight relationship has entrenched
military rule and left the regime secure in its belief that its superpower
sponsor will subscribe to "national interests" and oppose progressive
reform in Burma.

The world will no doubt mark Aug. 8 as a sporting celebration, but many
Burmese will silently remember 1988. They do not deserve to wait another
20 years for the freedoms they demanded in 1988 and in 2007, for the
reforms they long for every moment they survive under military rule.

Ko Bo Kyi is joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners in Burma and a winner of the 2008 Human Rights Watch Defender
Award.

____________________________________

August 6, Mizzima News
Burma's social volcano ready to erupt – Larry Jagan

'Monks and masses threaten military leaders'
Twenty years after the mass pro-democracy demonstrations brought Burma to
a standstill for months and threatened to topple the country's one-party
state, it is tempting to believe Burma's best chance for change is a thing
of the past. More than a month later, in September 1988, the army moved
against the protesters and crushed the democratic movement.

Since then, there seems to have been very little movement towards genuine
political change. Many Burmese believed that with 20 years of no progress,
Burma is destined to remain under a military dictatorship for decades to
come.

But the hopes of a new era were again raised this time last year, when the
country's monks joined the street protests against the military regime and
spawned a new movement dubbed the Saffron Revolution. Again the military
were forced to crush the movement with brutal force. And the country's
activists were jailed or forced underground.

The events of last year showed that things have changed in Burma over the
last 20 years, even if much of it is intangible. For years, many local
Burmese businessmen have been telling me, Burma is a social volcano ready
to erupt – all it needs is a spark, and that could come any time now.

No one wants a repeat of the massive social upheaval that happened in the
wake of the events of August 20 years ago. Thousands of students and
activists died as the military mercilessly crushed the protests. The
foreign minister at the time Ohn Gyaw told me that only four people died –
and they were killed in the stampede not by soldiers' guns, he insisted.
Most analysts suggest some 3,000 people died in the military's mopping up
operations, while the military openly admit -- albeit privately – that at
least 6,000 perished.

In fact a military intelligence officer close to the former intelligence
chief, who is now under house arrest, told me a few years ago that General
Kin Nyunt's own assessment was that more than 10,000 people were killed.
"Many bodies where quietly cremated so that there was no evidence of the
massacre," he said. The same seems to have happened last September and
October, although on a much smaller scale.

What most people don't understand is that the "people's movement" 20
years' ago came very close to toppling the military government. "We were
on the brink of giving in to the protesters," the senior intelligence
officer, Brigadier General Thein Swe – now serving 197 years in prison for
corruption and treason – told a close mutual friend. "If the
demonstrations had gone on for another two weeks, we would have been
forced to give up and withdraw back to the barracks," he had mused.

But the protesters gave up first – leaving thousands dead – and even more
forced to flee abroad. More than a quarter of a million Burmese have
sought political refuge since the end of the student-led protests 20 years
ago. The first batch took months to trudge through the jungles in Burma's
border areas close to China, India and Thailand. They had to elude Burmese
troops who would have killed them on sight, and suffered illness and
disease on the way – many were decimated by diarrhoea, malaria, dengue
fever and lack of food.

Many were helped in their escape by the ethnic rebel groups who were still
fighting the Burmese Army – especially the Kachin, Karen, Karenni and
Shan. This also helped forced the Burman opposition to recognise the
legitimate concerns and claims of the ethnic groups, and helped their
cause to become recognised by the democracy movement and become part of
the political plans of the future.

Thousands have poignant personal stories of tragedy. All left parents and
siblings behind who they have not seen for more than 20 years. Others left
their young children behind with their grandparents as they would not have
survived the arduous journey to freedom. These young children have grown
into adults without seeing and some cases talking to their parents.

These sacrifices that have been made by the activists have left an
indelible mark on both those who fled abroad as well as those who stayed
behind. Burma is a fractured and crippled society. The National League for
Democracy, led by the detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi --
though it overwhelmingly won the elections in 1990 -- has failed to
provide an active and strategic leadership to the movement over the last
20 years. There is growing disenchantment with the NLD's failure to lead,
which has led to many looking to the student leaders of 1988 to fill the
vacuum.

After they were released from prison – in November 2004 – in the aftermath
of the arrest of the then Prime Minister and intelligence chief, Khin
Nyunt there was a rebirth of optimism. "At last there is a possible leader
in Ko Ko Gyi," said a Burmese academic after their release from prison on
condition of anonymity. "He's the most intelligent member of the
opposition, apart from Aung San Suu Kyi herself" he added.

But 20 years on, these key leaders are back in prison, after a short
interlude of freedom. More importantly they laid the grounds for last
year's anti-inflation protests, with their letter campaign and public
discussion of the country's economic woes earlier in the year. No wonder
the regime has been anxious to silence them again.

The root causes of last year's protests remain – fuel and food prices
continue to rise, forcing even more Burmese people below the poverty line.
This is the tinderbox that could ignite into further street protests at
any moment. The crucial element of last year's demonstrations, which seems
to have been relatively unnoticed, was the high level of participation of
young people in the protests. This generation, under 30, cannot remember
August 1988, so August 2007 politicised them in the same way as their
predecessors.

What has grown appreciably since August 1988, is the public anger against
the military regime. Last year's Saffron Revolution has added to the
process of public disenchantment and resentment. The devastation of the
recent cyclone and the military's failure to react quickly has further
tarnished the military regime's image of invincibility. More importantly
the response of the civilian and social groups to the crisis has further
strengthened their self-belief.

Burma's top military rulers fear the monks and the masses may be preparing
to relaunch their campaign against the government. They have again adopted
draconian measures in an effort to repress them. Although there are no
signs as yet, of another pro-democracy movement taking to the streets, the
military leaders are in a quandary, for they now have to seek the public's
support in they seek to move from military to civilian government as
outlined in the new constitution. There are to be general elections in
2010

It is in times of uncertainty – as there will be in the run up to these
polls – that protest and change seem to happen in Burma. The next two
years are likely to be volatile – and more protests, led by the monks and
the students are almost certain.

____________________________________

August 6, Washington Post
Burma without blinkers – Editorial

Some help is arriving in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, but for the Burmese
the real disaster is a despotic government.

ON THE OPPOSITE page today, we publish the views of a senior U.N.
official, John Holmes, on progress in Burma since a devastating cyclone
struck more than three months ago. His rather upbeat assessment comes as
President Bush and first lady Laura Bush, during a visit to Thailand, are
about to draw the world's attention to persistent problems in Burma (also
known as Myanmar), Thailand's neighbor in Southeast Asia.

You may recall that after Cyclone Nargis swept through Burma's Irrawaddy
Delta on May 2, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing, Burma's dictator,
Senior Gen. Than Shwe, refused almost all offers of international aid.
U.S. Navy ships loaded with tents, food and other humanitarian supplies
steamed in circles offshore but were never given permission to help. After
weeks of begging and pleading, Than Shwe allowed more aid workers to
enter, and they have been at work since. Having traveled to Burma twice,
Mr. Holmes, who is U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs
and emergency relief coordinator, reports the good news that "the
overwhelming majority" of survivors "have received help, even if in many
cases they still need a good deal more."

It is difficult to know the true conditions in the delta, since the regime
won't let foreign journalists look and imprisons any Burmese journalists
who seek to report accurately. Just this week, a popular Burmese comedian
and blogger and a sports journalist were brought up on charges --
"disturbing public order" -- that could bring two years in prison because
they tried to help cyclone victims and talked about their plight. Aid
agencies, meanwhile, tend to play down negative news because,
understandably, they want to preserve their access. Still, a joint
assessment last month, including from U.N. agencies, reported that most
households in the hardest-hit delta region still lacked access to clean
drinking water, a situation posing a risk of disease, and that more than
half had food stocks for one day or less and faced "an increasing risk of
acute malnutrition."

We agree with Mr. Holmes that the United Nations did the best it could --
for the simple reason that countries with influence in Burma, such as
China, Thailand and India, were more interested in preserving their
commercial and military ties to the Burmese regime than in pressing it to
allow its people to be helped. We also understand Mr. Holmes's desire to
separate humanitarian considerations from politics. But Burma, before and
after the cyclone, was and is a humanitarian disaster because of politics:
because its regime systematically impoverishes much of the population,
conscripts children into forced labor, sends its army on internal
campaigns of mass rape and ethnic cleansing, and persecutes monks and
others who seek to help their fellow citizens. To consider such issues, or
the criminal neglect of cyclone victims, as separable from politics is
similar to hailing visits of U.N. human rights ambassadors as successful
simply because they take place, even as the number of political prisoners
-- 1,900 at latest count -- steadily rises.

So we think it is highly useful that Mr. Bush will meet with Burmese
exiles tomorrow while Mrs. Bush visits a camp that houses 40,000 Burmese
refugees. We hope their visit will be a reminder that by almost every
measure of human misery and political repression, Burma in the past year
has gone backward. Friday will mark the 20th anniversary of Burma's
massacre of 3,000 democracy protesters. We hope that when Mr. Bush travels
onward to Beijing, he will tell his Chinese hosts that history will not
judge kindly their unstinting support of Burma's misrule in the 20 years
since that black day.