BurmaNet News, April 30, 2009

[Editor]

April 30, 2009, Issue #3701


INSIDE BURMA
Guardian (UK): Year on from cyclone, Burmese struggle to survive in flimsy
shacks
DVB: Released lawyer speaks of imprisonment
IMNA: Abbot arrested for selling government land

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Fishery Department introduces media censorship

HEALTH / AIDS
DVB: Diarrhea outbreak claims three lives

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: US praises Asean, UN for facilitating Cyclone Nargis aid

INTERNATIONAL
Irrawaddy: Burma named worst online oppressor
DPA: Aid for Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis only a fraction of aid for tsunami

OPINION / OTHER
Economist: When the help dries up
Mizzima News: Cyclone survivors left to their own devices – Celeste Chenard
Inner City Press: At UN, child soldiers half addressed in Sri Lanka,
denied in Myanmar – Matthew Russell Lee



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 30, Guardian (UK)
Year on from cyclone, Burmese struggle to survive in flimsy shacks

A year after the devastating cyclone that laid waste large swaths of
Burma, more than half a million people are still living in makeshift
shacks which are unlikely to withstand the imminent monsoons, according to
Save the Children.

Sea water has inundated wells throughout the Irrawaddy delta and turned
almost 2m acres (800,000 hectares) of Burma's most fertile rice paddies
into salt-contaminated wastelands.

Aid coordinators say 240,000 people in remote villages still rely on
drinking water that is delivered by boat in large rubber bladders. In some
places diesel-powered filtration plants work around the clock, turning
brackish estuary water into drinkable water.

When cylone Nargis hit Burma on 2 May last year, killing at least 138,000
people and devastating the lives of millions more, the refusal of the
ruling junta to allow foreign aid into the affected area left observers
pessimistic about the future of those living there.

For more than three weeks after the­disaster Burma's generals refused to
grant visas to foreign relief workers and blocked aid from reaching the
delta, the worst-hit region.

The government eventually agreed to allow emergency teams into the delta
after intervention by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, but
scepticism remained about whether aid really would reach the 2.4 million
people severely affected by the cyclone.

Nevertheless, a year on from the disaster foreign NGOs working on the
ground say the relief effort has gone far better than they dared hope.

"What has been achieved over the last year has much exceeded what anybody
predicted would be possible," said Paul Sender, Merlin's country director
for Burma, based in Rangoon. "There was initially a lot of concern about
whether anybody would be able to work here, or monitor where the aid was
going, but we have found that the aid has been getting through to the
people who need it."

Sender, who is also head of the UN's "health cluster" in Burma, said that
the predicted outbreak of malnutrition and disease had not happened.
"Figures from the clinics show there hasn't been a significant increase
either, in the past year, which reflects the fact that there are health
provisions in place." .

Dan Collison, director of Save the Children's emergency programme in
Burma, said: "Not one Save the Children truck was stopped from reaching
its destination, and in those first few weeks we reached 160,000 people,
even when we weren't supposed to. We have no evidence at all that the
regime confiscated or misappropriated aid, even in the early days."

This optimistic view is not shared by everyone. A report from Johns
Hopkins University in the US this year, which collated information from
interviews by local researchers working undercover in the delta, found
"systematic obstruction of aid, wilful acts of theft and sale of relief
supplies, forced relocation, and the use of forced labour for
reconstruction projects, including forced child labour".

One of the report's authors, Chris Beyrer, Professor of Epidemiology, said
that funding for the years to come was also a big cause for concern. "My
biggest frustration working here is that there looks as though there will
not be nearly enough money to continue our service provision. The recovery
plan for health for the next three years is predicted to cost $54m (£37m),
but so far all that has been made available from donors is $6m," he said.

And despite the broad optimism among aid workers, there is no sign that
Burma is moving towards democracy – as was underlined by the EU's decision
in April to renew sanctions against Burma.

Numerous human rights abuses continue to be documented. In November
Zarganar, a popular comedian active in Burma's democracy movement, was
sentenced to 45 years in jail after being found to have violated the
Electronics Act, which regulates electronic communications. He was
detained last year for criticising publicly the government's slow response
to cyclone Nargis.

____________________________________

April 30, Independent Mon News Agency
Abbot arrested for selling government land – Hong Hakao

The authorities in Myawaddy have arrested a monk for selling government
land to residents, according to locals.

The Abbot sold land behind his monastery, Phar Chaut Kaung outside
Myawaddy and was arrested last week along with two partners after the
local authority investigated the sale.

According to a local source, “The land is not owned by the Abbot. It
belongs to the government yet he sold it to residents. He arranged the
sale with two partners, a retired police officer and a layperson that
works at the monastery. Now they’re all in prison.”

Despite the arrests those who bought the land have not received any of
their money back, according to the source.

One prospective buyer said, “Some of the land was cheaper because it’s
outside the town. It was only 600,000 Kyat for 2400 square feet. Part of
it is in a better location near the road so it was more expensive. I
though about buying some but I didn’t. I’m lucky because if I had bought
it I would have lost money.”

Many people fear the abbot as he is associated with the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA) according to the local source. Phar Chaut Kaung is a
vegetarian monastery and DKBA soldiers have been seen inspecting food
donated by local people to check it for meat content. Also, the monastery
was guarded by DKBA soldiers before the abbot’s arrest. Now they are gone
and security has been left to the monks.
____________________________________

April 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Released lawyer speaks of imprisonment – Khin Hnin Htet

A human rights lawyer released earlier this week after a serving a
sixth-month sentence for contempt of court has said that he was prevented
from exercising and receiving medical care.

Nyi Nyi Htway was sentenced to six months in Rangoon’s Insein prison last
October after representing activitists detained for holding prayer
meetings for the release of political prisoners.

“I was not very healthy before I went to prison, and during my time there
I didn’t get proper medical care and was suffering from weak heart,” he
said.

“All they gave me was an ECG check up but they never let me know the result.”

He said that authorities also issued an order to suspend his lawyer permit
while he was in prison.

He was met by the United Nations human rights envoy for Burma, Tomas Ojea
Quintana, during his visit to Insein prison, and talked about the judicial
system in Burma.

“I was allowed to do walking [as an exercise] with other inmates for the
first week I arrived there,” said Nyi Nyi Htway.

“But after that, I was informed by my warden I had been suspended from
walking as an order was received from senior authorities,” he said, adding
that he didn’t walk again until he was released.

“The judicial system we have now is not a kind we believe in and have our
respect in,” he said.

“In trials today, people are being sentenced with no proof or evidence.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

April 30, Mizzima News
Fishery Department introduces media censorship – Myo Thein

The 'Myanmar Fishery Federation’ has imposed certain restrictions on the
domestic media, on media coverage of fishery products and export figures
issued by the government Fisheries Department, without getting prior
approval from them.

A weekly journal reported the actual export figures of fishery products in
its news report, and claimed that it was far below the targeted figure for
2008-09 fiscal in comparison with the previous financial year, in terms of
percentage. Following the publication of that news report, the Fisheries
Department put forth such restrictions on the local media.

The Myanmar Fishery Federation holds a Meeting for Development of Meat and
Fishery every Tuesday, at its head office in West Gyogon, which is
attended by responsible people from the Fishery Department, the concerned
people from organizations under the Myanmar Fishery Federation, concerned
people from the Livestock Federation and sometimes even the Minister of
Livestock and Fishery attends these meetings.

During these meetings, the local media are usually allowed to attend and
report the news emanating from the meeting freely, but currently an
officer of FIQC, a section of the Fishery Department has said that news
regarding these meetings must get prior approval from their office. He
also informed the local media that this restriction had already been
communicated to the notorious Censor Board.

Although the reason given for this restriction, was reportage of incorrect
facts, the real reason was disclosure of the true facts of both export
earnings and volumes far short of target, by a local weekly journal, a
Rangoon-based journal editor said.

"The reason is reporting of these facts before being sent to Naypyitaw.
The Fishery Federation usually discloses weekly and monthly export
figures. Though the media are allowed to report these figures, they are
not allowed to report these figures in an overview report, such as export
figures and target for the whole financial year. All reporters, who are
familiar with this department and organization, know about it. In this
case, the journalist, who wrote this news, was summoned to their office
and a complaint was also lodged with the Censor Board,” he told Mizzima.

Sources from this Fishery Department said that the officials usually
adjust the export volume and foreign exchange earning figures for each
financial year, before reporting to their higher authorities.

They do such adjustments to avoid criticism and blame, likely to be put on
them by their higher authorities, the sources said.

"The export target for this financial year is USD 850 million and the
actual export is just 56% of this target. The Fishery Department wants the
local media to report this news only from a positive viewpoint. Now it
seems to be pointing out their negative aspect. It seems likely that we
have to write news reports, without facts and figures from now on," a
source said.

The Fishery Sector stands fourth in export earnings in Burma and the
export target for the 2008-09 financial year is USD 850 million. Even in
the post-Nargis scenario, the fishery products export business was not
affected much. However, the current global economic slowdown has hit this
fishery sector hard, when it was just picking up.

Therefore, the department revised its export target in early 2009, to a
more realistic USD 500 million from the previous USD 850 million. But the
actual export earnings reached only USD 483.082 million at the end of the
last financial year, which ended in March 2009.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

April 30, Democratic Voice of Burma
Diarrhea outbreak claims three lives – Ahunt Phone Myat

Outbreaks of severe diarrhea have continued in several towns in Burma,
with hospitals now unable to cope with the upsurge in patient numbers and
several deaths being reported.

Fresh outbreaks have occurred in Nyaung Lay Pin township in Bago division
and Pakokku township in Magwe division.

“At our Nyaung Lay Pin hospital, patients have to be lined up on the
corridors because the hospital is full up,” a local resident said.

“Up to last night, three people had died."

It is possible that the outbreak was caused by a combination of rising
temperatures and people eating food contaminated by flies, said a retired
local medical staff.

The illness has mainly affected poor people in Pakokku township, a local
resident said.

"It is happening more among grassroots people as they are poor,” he said.

“They can't afford to drink clean water, and there is no electricity.”

A member of staff on duty at Pakokku said however that the situation was
not dire.

Other outbreaks have been occurring in Rangoon, Mandalay, and some towns
in Irrawaddy division.

The government’s health ministry has previously said it would publish
details of the condition of the illness but so far there has been no
report.

____________________________________
ASEAN

April 30, Irrawaddy
US praises Asean, UN for facilitating Cyclone Nargis aid – Lalit K Jha

The US State Department on Wednesday paid tribute to the work of the
United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in
helping bring relief to the victims of the 2008 Cyclone Nargis.

In a statement on the eve of the first anniversary of the cyclone, State
Department spokesman Robert Wood said: “This provision of assistance would
not have been possible without the work of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations and the United Nations, which have facilitated the entry of
humanitarian assistance and aid workers over the past year through the
Tripartite Core Group.”

The US alone has provided nearly $75 million in humanitarian assistance to
the survivors of the cyclone.

“We also acknowledge the unfailing work of many non-governmental
organizations that provided vital aid and assistance,” Wood said, adding
the hope that the Burmese junta would continue to permit the international
community to provide post-cyclone relief.

“We express our firm hope that the Burmese government will continue to
allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Burmese people in the
affected area, and will also allow expanded access for assistance needed
elsewhere in the country,” Wood said.

“As we recall the Nargis tragedy, we also express our hope for a better
future for all of Burma's citizens,” he said.

The State Department statement also offered condolences to families who
lost loved ones in the cyclone. “We also honor the bravery and sacrifice
of the Burmese people who have worked tirelessly alongside the United
States and the international community to help their neighbors attempt to
rebuild their lives,” Wood said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 30, Irrawaddy
Burma named worst online oppressor

Burma is the worst violator of Internet freedom of speech rights in the
world, says a leading media watchdog group.

World Press Freedom Day this year is Monday, the day the Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ) officially names the world's worst Internet
oppressor, which is recognized as an emerging threat to freedom of speech
and the press worldwide.

"Burma leads the dishonor roll," said the CPJ in its report. "Booming
online cultures in many Asian and Middle East nations have led to
aggressive government repression."

With a military government that severely restricts Internet access and
imprisons people for years for posting critical material on the Internet,
Burma is the worst place in the world to be a blogger, the CPJ said in the
report "10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger."

The CPJ said that bloggers and online journalists were the single largest
professional group unjustly imprisoned in 2008, overtaking print and
broadcast journalists for the first time.

China and Vietnam, where burgeoning blogging cultures have encountered
extensive monitoring and restrictions, are among Asia’s worst blogging
nations, said the report.

Relying on a mix of detentions, regulations and intimidation, authorities
in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Egypt have emerged as the
leading online oppressors in the Middle East and North Africa.

Cuba and Turkmenistan, nations where Internet access is heavily
restricted, round out the dishonor roll on the CPJ list.

Along with censorship and restrictions on print and broadcast media, Burma
has applied extensive restrictions on blogging and other Internet
activity, the CPJ said.

According to the Internet research group OpenNet Initiative, private
Internet penetration in Burma is only about 1 percent and most citizens
access the Internet in cybercafés where military authorities heavily
regulate activities.

The government, which shut down the Internet altogether during a popular
uprising led by Buddhist monks in 2007, has the capability to monitor
e-mail and other communication methods and to block users from viewing Web
sites of political opposition groups.
At least two Burmese bloggers are now serving long prison sentences.

Blogger Maung Thura, popularly known as Zarganar, is serving a 35-year
prison term for disseminating video footage after Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Nay Phone Latt, 28, is serving eight years and six months in Hpa-an Prison
in Karen State for infringement of several acts governing computer use.

____________________________________

April 30, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Aid for Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis only a fraction of aid for tsunami

World aid for Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis has amounted to 300 million
dollars, or 2.5 per cent of what was spent on the 2004 tsunami, aid
agencies said Thursday as the first anniversary of the storm approaches.

"The total tsunami support was 12 billion dollars while the response to
Nargis, which was very similar to the tsunami, was 300 million dollars,"
David Verboom, spokesman for the European
Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office, said at a press conference marking
the anniversary.

The December 26, 2004, tsunami killed an estimated 220,000 people in 11
countries rimming the Indian Ocean and left 500,000 people homeless alone
in Aceh, Indonesia, the area worst hit by the tidal wave triggered by an
earthquake off the coast of northern Sumatra.

Cyclone Nargis killed 140,000 in Myanmar, mostly in the Irrawaddy Delta,
where 500,000 people continued to live under tarpaulins one year after the
storm hit May 2-3.

"In the tsunami in Indonesia, we got in-kind donations double the number
we actually asked for," said Bernd Schell, Myanmar officer for the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"In Nargis, a family got two tarpaulins, but for the tsunami, victims got
five to six tarpaulins because we had so many in stock," said Schell, who
worked for the federation in Aceh before moving to Myanmar.

Food also continues to be a problem for the victims of Nargis.

"Twelve months on, we at the World Food Programme find that we will have
to continue giving food assistance to many of the most vulnerable people
in the delta region," World Food Programme spokesman Paul Risley said.

"We anticipate providing food rations for a minimum of 300,000 people
through the year," he added.

Indonesia and Thailand, two of the countries hardest hit by the 2004
tsunami, had good infrastructure, logistics, public utilities, dynamic
economies and a lot of goodwill from the international community. Myanmar
has none of these.

Myanmar, a military-run country, is ranked as a pariah state among Western
democracies because of its poor human rights record and refusal to
implement democratic reforms.

Some of the initial efforts to assist the Nargis victims, such as the US
dispatching of its 7th Fleet to deliver relief aid, were rebuffed by
Myanmar's ruling generals, who downplayed the seriousness of the disaster
- the worst to hit Myanmar in decades.

Much of the initial assistance to the devastated delta region, where 2.4
million people were left homeless and without food, was provided by
Myanmar's people themselves.

A full-scale international relief effort did not get under way until two
weeks after the cyclone hit as the junta eased up on issuing visas for aid
workers and logistics were put in place to get assistance out to the
countryside.

A United Nations flash appeal for emergency aid announced shortly after
the cyclone was 67-per-cent funded. Many donors balked at giving aid that
might find its way into the hands of the military although aid agencies
assured donors that all emergency aid would go directly to the victims.

"It is clear that the political environment was a hindrance for many
donations," Verboom said.

The European Union, which provided 39 million euros (51.54 million
dollars) in aid for Nargis has proven to be the largest single donor to
the disaster relief effort.

It was in keeping with the EU's past role in Myanmar, where it has taken
the lead as a provider of humanitarian assistance to the Myanmar people
while keeping economic sanctions on its ruling generals.

"In 2007, the European Union was already providing at least a third of the
assistance to Myanmar, and that figure went up in the wake of Nargis,"
European Union head of operations in Myanmar Andrew Jacobs said.

The EU is also taking a lead in providing funds for the post-Nargis
recovery. It has committed 33 million euros to a trust fund designed to
help people in the Irrawaddy Delta develop their own livelihoods and
income-generating activities in the aftermath of the cyclone.

The target is to raise 100 million dollars for the fund in the next few
months.

"The fund will be used for projects implemented by the UN agencies or
international and local non-governmental organizations to help people
recover their livelihoods not only in the cyclone-affected areas but also
in other parts of the country," Jacobs said.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 30, Economist
When the help dries up

IF A few small gold earrings escaped the cyclone the villagers pawn them,
otherwise they pawn their clothes. They complain that moneylenders advance
only a fraction of the item’s value. And, with an interest rate of 30% a
month, they can rarely afford to redeem their collateral.

Life is still desperate for the survivors of cyclone Nargis, which crashed
ashore a year ago killing at least 140,000 in Myanmar and devastating the
lives of 2.4m others. In the village of Kyaunda, near the mouth of the
Irrawaddy delta, almost every house was lost. The process of replacing
them with inferior bamboo shacks is not yet complete. Paddy fields and
aquifers are still contaminated with salt water. Fishing boats, and the
fish themselves, were washed away. The greatest needs, locals say, are for
food and shelter.

Initially the callousness and incompetence of Myanmar’s ruling junta
hampered the aid effort. Now the obstacles are a shortage of funds and
foreign squeamishness about dealing with the junta. In the weeks after the
disaster it blocked foreign access to the delta and stalled aid shipments.
But some aid did soon reach the survivors, from international agencies
already working in Myanmar. And ordinary Burmese people and monks gave
crucial assistance. After a few weeks a tripartite mechanism involving the
regime, the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN), the regional block, was established and eased barriers such as
the visas aid workers need, and the permits required to import equipment.

The leaders of the international rescue operation insist that everyone
received some assistance, and the feared secondary wave of deaths was
averted. By October 2008 the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) had reached
1.1m people, exceeding the 920,000 it originally envisaged.

If basic needs were eventually met, however, the recovery phase has barely
begun. Some 500,000 people still have no permanent home, 200,000 have no
access to fresh water and 350,000 are receiving WFP food aid. Indebtedness
has soared because survivors have no way of making a living. The problem,
according to agencies, is a lack of funds. Only two-thirds of the original
target for last year’s appeal, of $477m, was achieved, a fraction of what
Aceh, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, received after the tsunami of
December 2004. A fresh appeal for $691m for reconstruction for the next
three years has received only $100m so far.

There is a taboo against giving aid to Myanmar for fear of bolstering the
dreadful regime. But the price may be the deeper suffering of its people.
The country receives $2.80 per head in foreign aid, compared with $55 for
Sudan and $49 for the communist dictatorship next door in Laos. In
particular, almost no one wants to finance infrastructure; so schools,
clinics, raised footpaths, fishing jetties and bridges in the watery delta
have not been rebuilt.

A recent expression of this tendency is a controversial report from Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore, which called for a moratorium on aid to
cyclone victims. The report alleged widespread misappropriation of aid and
the use of forced labour by the army in the delta. It received withering
criticism from aid agencies and diplomats.

The response to the report may show that attitudes to delivering aid in
Myanmar are changing. Agencies working inside the country hope so: to
respond to the cyclone some had to divert resources from other parts of
the country where the situation is scarcely less awful than in the delta.
They believe they have proved that, despite the huge problems, aid can be
delivered effectively in Myanmar.

If they win the argument, the next question will be how to spend it. Most
Western governments prohibit the routing of any of their aid money through
the regime. Some Europeans are reconsidering even that, though the
European Union this week renewed its sanctions directed at members of the
junta and at the export of Burmese gems, timber and metals. Japan and some
UN agencies already attempt to co-operate with the government on health
and education. And some of the independent Burmese groups that emerged to
help cyclone survivors are still active. It is hard to argue when they say
they deserve some help from abroad.

____________________________________

April 30, Mizzima News
Cyclone survivors left to their own devices – Celeste Chenard

Traveling from Rangoon and in the south west direction, less than two
hours by car is necessary to realize the extent of damage caused by
Cyclone Nargis where more than 138,000 were killed or missing, one year
after its passage. But it is by meeting the survivors in the Irrawaddy
Delta that one can really realize to what extent the population has been
completely forsaken.

That’s perhaps the reason why, in some remote villages, the inhabitants
are eager to talk. For all of them, before they had rarely seen the visit
of a foreigner. Most people also have never been interviewed by a
journalist; it was their first occasion after Nargis to express their
concerns about their situation.

Surprisingly and somehow because they have nothing more to lose, they
talked in an outspoken way about their poor livelihood or their resentment
against the government.

When asked about their first need today, just one year after the cyclone,
all the villagers interviewed had the same answer: housing.

Rehabilitation efforts are indeed the first preoccupation of the
inhabitants of the devastated region, especially a few weeks before the
start of the rainy season.

The reconstruction phase is still underway and in some villages it is far
from being achieved: fallen trees are still obstructing roads or gardens,
UNICEF or USAID tarpaulin sheets are still covering most of the roofs or
walls of the houses, and construction materials are lying on the ground
waiting to be used for new constructions.

You can see in each village men working at fixing roofs, rebuilding
collapsed schools, pagodas or monasteries.  Meanwhile thousands of
families are still living in temporary shelters waiting for their new
house to be built.

So why is the reconstruction process taking so much time? Where are the
barriers? Who bridles the process while rehabilitation efforts, including
rebuilding homes and reestablishing livelihoods, education, and health
infrastructure are urgently needed?

In most of the villages one visited the last aid received was around two
months ago and for most of them, it was a sole bag of rice. This fact
raises serious concerns about the aid supplies which are barely still
ongoing, particularly in the remote places.

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, international donors have been
very active in providing emergency measures, despite the first limitations
imposed by the junta, but what about the mid-term recovery process?

Moreover, just by visiting different villages, one can see an obvious
unequal distribution of aid between villages.

In the villages near the main agglomeration or near the highways, the
reconstruction is going well. Even if the situation of the population is
still precarious, they have rebuilt houses, and infrastructures are coming
back to normal.

However in some remote places, nothing was done. Some villages hadn’t
received aid not only from the government, but also from UN agencies. No
NGOs have reached there yet.

Kan Chung village, part of the Ma Ngay Gyi village group in Bogalay
Division, is a good example of totally forsaken villages the more badly
hit by the cyclone, but also provided with less supply of aid relief.

In that village group, around 1,000 families used to live and 700 houses
were demolished totally. In total, around 200 people died in the village
and 300 are missing.

On June 1, children of Kan Chung village will go back to school in their
still partly-destroyed school, patched up with the materials the villagers
could find, and with “roofs” made of tarpaulins full of holes.

In a village group located in the same division, seven miles from Bogalay,
the children are luckier, they will go back to school in an almost
finished house built thanks to private local donors.

This gap between areas in the recovery effort can be explained by the
government’s pretence of high involvement in the rehabilitation efforts.
This reflects a serious breach of trust by the government in such a
natural and human disaster.

These targeted investments in some highlighted places may be linked to a
shameful dual politics of interests.

On the one hand, in the context of the 2010 elections, the junta needs to
shows to the delta population its “involvement” in the recovery process.
The propaganda efforts of the junta, especially with the ensuing 2010
elections are indeed increasing. But does the junta still think it can
make a good impression? Let’s be realistic, no one is blind, neither the
international community, nor the Burmese people who are the first witness
and victims of the government.

On the other hand, economical interest always prevails, and the delta
region it is not the more appropriate or interesting place to inject money
for the government. It is a remote area with tourist spots and part of it
is inhabited by Karen “rebels”.  So why put money in the rehabilitation of
that area? Instead it is worthier for the regime to invest in the
renovation of the Naypyitaw airport in Burma's new jungle capital to
international standards where transportation and communication facilities
will be upgraded to facilitate the travel of military rulers to their
homes.

A recovery plan prepared by the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN),
the United Nations in Myanmar and the Government of the Union of Myanmar,
says that $US 690 million is needed from the international community over
the next three years to restore people's lives back to what it was before
the cyclone.

It is clear that new funding and a period of three years are needed for a
return to normal in the region. But the question is why already one year
has been spent without a proper recovery action plan?

Actually, the population of the delta is far from thinking about full
recovery, they just think about having a proper house, enough food to have
at least two meals a day, and accessible drinking water.

If life in military-ruled Burma has always been (Nargis or not) a question
of surviving, it is not the reason to forsake the population.

____________________________________

April 30, Inner City Press
At UN, child soldiers half addressed in Sri Lanka, denied in Myanmar –
Matthew Russell Lee

Behind the UN's all day debate Wednesday on children and armed conflict
was the war in Sri Lanka. Radhika Coomaraswamy, a Sri Lankan Tamil
acceptable to the Sinhala government, issued a report which in Annex Two
criticized only the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam but not the
government for denial of humanitarian access. Inner City Press asked Ms.
Coomaraswamy if the government too wasn't guilty of denying humanitarian
access. Coomaraswamy admitted that it was, but stated that since the
government no longer recruits child soldiers, it engaging in other grave
violations does not get listed in the annex.

Sri Lankan Ambassador Palihakkara spoke near the end of Wednesday debate,
criticizing the LTTE and using Coomaraswamy's report to the government's
benefit. Afterwards, Inner City Press caught him in the hall and ask about
the government's refusal to allow a UN humanitarian assessment team into
the conflict zone. Palihakkara said that the ICRC and Caritas have access,
the UN has to arrange it with the ICRC's boats.

Later, Ms. Coomaraswamy and her staff noted how Sri Lanka twisted the
report, and how government supporters went after fellow Tamil Navi Pillay,
of the Human Rights Commission, on blogs and elsewhere. Ambassador
Palihakkara was noted as a serious diplomat. But what is he doing now?

UN's Coomaraswamy with France's Kouchner, looking the other way on IMF loan

Some Tamil groups portray Coomaraswamy as a plant of the Sinhala
government.  It has been confirmed to Inner City Press that any
appointment to Coomaraswamy's level is check with the person's government.
If Colombo supported Coomaraswamy, is she a credible skeptic of the UN's
treatment of Tamils? We are on record in support of her work. But the
doubts are growing, as a subset of the UN's problematic silence as the
slaughter in Sri Lanka has developed.

While Mexican foreign minister Patricia Espinoza, who presided over
Wednesday's session, cancelled her press availability thinking it would
degenerate into questions about swine flu, French minister Francois
Zemeray braved the stakeout. Inner City Press asked him what France does
about child soldiering in Chad -- including the arrests of Chad-based JEM
in Omburman, Sudan -- and Zimeray said that the combat of child
combattants is a part of French foreign policy everywhere and anywhere. He
said he agrees with Mexico's Claude Heller, chairman of the CAAC Working
Group, that children recruited into drug gangs should be part of the CAAC
mandate. Video here. But Ms. Coomaraswamy told Inner City Press that would
require the Council expanding the mandate.

Footnote: Coomaraswamy's report also criticized Myanmar. Inner City Press
caught up with Burmese Ambassador Than Swe in the hall after he spoke to
the Council, near the anniversary of Cyclone Nargis. He had said, "peace
and stability prevail in almost all corners of Myanmar." But as Inner City
Press asked earlier in the week, the army there reportedly clashed with
the Karen National Union, injuring across the border at least two Thai
soldiers. "That is not true," Ambassador Than Swe told Inner City Press.
The UN on the other hand said envoy Ibrahim Gambari does not monitor such
matters. Watch this site.