HRW urges US to wrap up Burma policy review

by Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - The United States should immediately wrap up its Burma policy review and adopt policies of diplomacy, sanctions and humanitarian aid more effectively, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday in a letter sent to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

HRW, the New York based organization said, delay in announcing a new policy on Burma could encourage the military leaders to believe that the US is becoming weak in its commitment to human rights and pluralism.

HRW is a group defending and promoting ‘Human Rights’ violations around the world and has extensively studied and released several reports of rights violations in military-ruled Burma, including the use of child soldiers by the Burmese Army.

Earlier in February, Clinton said the US is reviewing its policy on Burma adding that its current policy of sanctions has failed to bring about changes in the behaviour of the Burmese junta.

But she also said that the ‘constructive engagement’ policy by Burma’s neighbouring countries including China, India and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Burma is a member, has failed to usher in changes.

Though the US state department had indicated that the review is about to be concluded, the HRW said it is important for the US government to conclude the policy review immediately, so that the American policy and strategy towards Burma is clear to all concerned.

HRW, in a press release on Thursday said, although the situation in Burma seems intractable, an energetic and revitalized approach to Burma from the Obama administration could help bring positive changes.

“We suggest that the policy review should, therefore, aim at making more effective all three prongs of US policy - diplomacy, sanctions and humanitarian aid - and not place one ahead of the others,” Kenneth Roth, executive director of the HRW said in his letter to Secretary Clinton.

Roth said, with regard to making diplomatic pressures have an impact the US should appoint its own special envoy for Burma, who would have a direct line to the secretary of state and specific instructions to engage in a principled way with the Burmese government and key bilateral and multilateral actors.

“Vigorous diplomacy is specifically needed with China, India,Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan,” the letter said.

The HRW said generalized sanctions are less likely to be effective and may hurt large numbers of ordinary people, and have no significant impact on the governments. Therefore, the US should consider targeted sanctions.

“Targeted sanctions don't impose hardship on ordinary people, but do provide leverage if effectively implemented,” Roth said in the letter.

Roth, however, said in the light of the sham trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the lack of political reforms, “we do not think now is the right time to change these sanctions, as it would send the wrong signal to the SPDC, suggesting that the United States or others have lost their will or commitment to keep up the pressure for democratic reform.”

While vigorously campaigning among regional and the international community and maintaining targeted sanctions, the HRW said, it is also important to increase humanitarian aid support to Burma.

With acute humanitarian needs in Burma, the HRW said, “US funding should increase.”

“The US and other donors offer to provide more humanitarian aid with appropriate oversight, but they should also insist that their contributions are matched by a genuine commitment from the military government to use its vast revenues from natural resources to help the Burmese people,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, in a press statement.

The letter said, while “Development aid is a very important incentive for change in Burma”, it should not be made available until there is significant political reform, progress on human rights, better governance, and the possibility of consulting civil society and local communities in setting development goals.

The HRW said, while helping the Burmese people is one of the most difficult and intractable problems the world has faced in recent decades, a renewed approach led by the US could bring a significant change.

“We don't underestimate the challenge, but we think a revitalized approach with strong US leadership can make a significant difference in the years ahead,” Roth said in the letter.

Burma Newscasts - HRW urges US to wrap up Burma policy review

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Visa Backlog Holds Up Irrawaddy Delta Relief Work

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

PHUKET, Thailand — The international post-cyclone relief effort in the Irrawaddy delta is under pressure because of a delay in granting visas for more than 200 aid workers, according to a senior official with the Tripartite Core Group (TCG).

William Sabandar, special envoy of the Asean Secretary-General for Post Nargis Recovery in Burma, told The Irrawaddy that although relief workers were still being allowed into the delta area their numbers had been cut because of a backlog in granting visas.

A boy looks past a tarpaulin cover, used by his family for shelter,
in Labutta Township at Burma's Irrawaddy delta region.
Cyclone Nargis, the worst natural disaster recorded in Burma's history,
slammed into the delta region on May 2, 2008, killing
more then 130,000 people and leaving 2.4 million destitute. (Photo: Reuters)

“There’s a backlog in the granting of more than 200 visas,” he said. “We are working on trying to resolve the situation.”

Sabandar—who has experience of post-tsunami work in Aceh, Indonesia, said the greatest difficult in working in Burma was building trust.

He said he raised the matter of the backlog with Burmese Foreign Minister Maj-Gen Nyan Win during a working dinner in Phuket on Sunday. “He understands the issue and he would like to help.”

Relief workers in Burma say they have been experiencing difficulties since Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, chairman of the TCG, was transferred to an inactive position, as chairman of the ministerial-level Civil Service Selection and Training Board.

After the junta faced international outrage over the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi’s began in May, the activities and visa processing of relief workers had been experiencing difficulties, said a European relief worker who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Two books on Cyclone Nargis were launched at the Asean session: A Bridge to Recovery: Asean’s Response to Cyclone Nargis and Myanmar: Life after Nargis.

According to Myanmar: Life after Nargis, the Burmese regime had missed a crucial opportunity to represent itself appropriately in the eyes of the Burmese people and the international community. The book is published by the Asean Secretariat and the Singapore-based Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

“The Myanmar Government missed another opportunity to shore up its legitimacy,” said the authors of the book, saying Nargis victims had expressed their frustration at the regime’s delay in accepting international assistance.

At a donor meeting in Bangkok in February, the TCG announced its three year recovery plan for Nargis victims. The plan has a proposed budget of US $ 691 million.

However, the Asean Secretariat says in the book, A Bridge to Recovery: Asean’s Response to Cyclone Nargis: “Donor support pledged to date needs turning into firm commitments”.

“The recovery experience after other disasters has shown that the receiving of international assistance depends strongly on the effectiveness of the coordination and implementation structure in place,” the Asean Secretariat says in the book.

International donors are reportedly disappointed at the level of corruption in dealing with funds, as well as the lack of direct engagement between donors and the junta’s senior officials.

READ MORE---> Visa Backlog Holds Up Irrawaddy Delta Relief Work...

Delta recovery could be jeopardized by Suu Kyi trial

by Celeste Chenard

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma's trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could hurt international efforts to help the country's continuing recovery from devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis, donors and international organizations said on Wednesday during a meeting with representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok.

Donors warned that the ongoing trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate, will likely make it harder to raise aid money for the victims of last year’s cyclone, including for the benefit of thousands of children who presently are either without educational opportunity or subjected to daunting conditions not conducive to instruction.

"They [various organizations] certainly mentioned the fact that it [the trial] has not helped the enthusiasm of their constituencies to engage more actively, more fully," Surin told reporters.

Donors and aid groups additionally expressed their concern that authorities may reduce access to the country after the military-ruled government eliminated a mechanism for fast-track visa processing for foreign aid workers.

However, John Clancy, Spokesperson for Louis Michel, European Commissioner in-charge for the Humanitarian Aid Department in Brussels, disagreed with the prevailing mood in Bangkok. "Humanitarian aid is not in any way influenced by policy work," he told Mizzima by phone today, adding, "Humanitarian aid depends on the needs of the population."

Clancy also noted that to date Europe has maintained a good working relationship with authorities in Burma, an arrangement which he expects to continue into the future.

Aid groups have been struggling to raise money to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis since the storm struck in early May 2008, killing approximately 140,000 and leaving an additional 2.4 million homeless.

In 2008, the European Community contributed 39 millions euros ($US 59 million) toward Nargis relief efforts, with funds directed through private aid organizations as opposed to via official government channels.

Meanwhile, Bishow Parajuli, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, told a gathering yesterday in Rangoon, “The international community should increase its efforts, in cooperation with the Government of Myanmar [Burma] and local organizations, in order to promote quality education for all children and youth," citing the reconstruction of the lacking educational system as critical for Burma's future.

Educational infrastructure in the cyclone ravished delta region is said to be in a particularly perilous state, despite the best efforts of relief workers. Some 4,000 schools were documented as having been effected by the winds and water, with nearly 1,300 completely destroyed. Additionally, materials and teachers continue to be in short supply, as children can be found studying in classrooms with plastic sheets for walls.

To date, 1,400 schools in the delta have been repaired, with an additional $US 160 million estimated to be needed over the ensuing three years to continue the further rehabilitation of the delta's educational system. The price tag for all funds needed to complete the delta's rehabiliation stands at nearly $US 700 million.

Yet, Burma's education system is in desperate need of assistance not only in the delta region, but throughout the impoverished state.

“More efforts are required to increase education opportunities to children not only in the delta, but also in the rest of the country,” emphasized U.N. Children’s Fund Deputy Representative Juanita Vasquez, speaking from Rangoon yesterday.

Following the paralyzing political turmoil of 1988, universities throughout the country remained closed for nine of the ensuing twelve years.

READ MORE---> Delta recovery could be jeopardized by Suu Kyi trial...

Suu Kyi trial raises Burma aid fears

By Tim Johnston in Bangkok

(FT) -Aid donors have warned that the ongoing trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader and Nobel Laureate, will make it harder to raise aid money for the victims of last year’s cyclone.

“They said there might be some delay; some reservation; that the issue is not separate from the deliberation and consideration of further engagement,” Surin Pitsuan, the secretary General of the Association of South East Asian Nations, said after meeting aid donors on Wednesday.

Aid groups have been struggling to raise money to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis, which hit the Irrawaddy delta last May, killing at least 140,000 people and leaving 2.4m other victims.

International aid to Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, is supposed to be separate from political considerations, but the actions of the Burmese government have made it harder for politicians in donor nations to justify the expenditure.

“We should be scaling up our efforts, but political considerations are going to make that difficult,” said one European diplomat who asked to remain anonymous. “It’s not only the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, it is the whole political situation in Myanmar.”

He contrasted the $315m so far given for the victims of Nargis with the $10bn that was pledged after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Mrs Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years, and she could face five years in prison if she is found guilty of breaching the terms of her detention after John Yettaw, an American, stayed the night after he swam the lake behind her house.

On Wednesday, she met her lawyers and instructed them to launch a further appeal against a decision banning two defence witnesses from testifying. The court is expected to reconvene on Friday.

The trial has sparked international outrage, and the fallout is being felt by those in charge of aid budgets.

“They certainly mentioned the fact that it has not helped the inclination of their constituencies to engage more fully,” said Mr Pitsuan of the donors who attended the meeting in Bangkok.

Despite her prolonged incarceration, Mrs Suu Kyi still represents the most serious challenge to the rule of Burma’s generals, and critics of the regime believe the authorities are using Mr Yettaw’s uninvited visit as a reason to keep her in jail until after next year’s elections.

Burma is a member of Asean, and the regional group is coordinating the post-Nargis aid programme. But relations have been strained after Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand’s prime minister and the current chairman of Asean, criticised the decision to put Mrs Suu Kyi on trial, provoking the Burmese authorities to accuse Thailand of bringing the group into disrepute.

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ASEAN-led humanitarian aid effort needed in Burma

by Larry Jagan

Bangkok (Mizzima) - Many international and regional aid officials are now suggesting using an ASEAN-led model for all future humanitarian assistance to Burma.

Last weekend was the anniversary of the establishment of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) – the international communities’ response to the Burmese government’s reluctance to accept international relief aid and assistance in the first few weeks after Cyclone Nargis devastated most the Irrawady Delta and parts of the former capital Rangoon.

The success of the TCG, which primarily helped coordinate the international community’s response to the devastating affect of Cyclone Nargis in May last year, has led many ASEAN officials, international aid workers and UN representatives to urge the Burmese government to consider extending the process to cover all humanitarian and development projects throughout the country..

Aid workers believe it would be particularly useful as a model to improve international support provided to the west of the country, the home of nearly a million Burmese Muslims – known as Rohinygas – who are causing international concern because of their mass exodus to escape poverty and repression there.

The ASEAN-led mechanism, which brought together the south-east Asian regional body, UN agencies and the Burmese government, was invaluable in ensuring a rapid and effective relief effort in the weeks immediately after the cyclone hit Burma. “The dialogue and good cooperation between its members contributed to facilitate the efficient, transparent and accountable provision of relief and recovery efforts,” the UN’s resident humanitarian coordinator, Bishow Parajuli told Mizzima.

It was critical in getting speedy access to the Delta for relief workers and providing visas for international staff from NGOs and the UN that were needed to support the relief effort in the first few months after the cyclone. The Burmese government was initially reluctant to accept relief materials and allow large numbers of aid workers into the country.

“Without the TCG the humanitarian impasse may have dragged on,” Andrew Kirkwood, head of the UK-based aid agency, Save the Children in Burma told Mizzima. “The TCG helped to build trust, coordinated the aid effort, and overcame obstacles like visa handling for humanitarian workers,” said Matt MacGuire, Cyclone Recovery Co-ordinator in Rangoon for the British government’s Department for International Development (DIFD).

Many aid workers believe it could now be used now to respond to the problems in Northern Arakan state. More than a thousand Rohinygas made international headlines earlier this year when they were allegedly pushed out to sea by the Thai authorities after braving the turbulent waters from Bangladesh to Thailand and Malaysia in search of a better life. Hundreds ended up in Indonesia and India, as well as Thailand.

These refugees and their future became a major regional issue. ASEAN at their summit in Thailand in February decided that the Bali Process, established in 2002 to deal with human trafficking and other crimes in the region should deal with it. At the same time the countries of the region proposed that ASEAN coordinate a census of those Rohingyas languishing in south-east Asian countries.

This raised the prospect of a TCG-type mechanism to deal with the issue, particularly as the south-east Asian nations endorsed the idea that the Rohingya issue had also to be dealt with at source – the causes for the mass exodus – as well as their repatriation.

“The TCG could have an enormous benefit if it could be extended to the rest of the country or to specific areas like Northern Rakhine state (NRS),” Luke Arend, Medecines Sans Frontiere’s Deputy Head of Mission in Burma told Mizzima.

But other senior humanitarian officials in Burma believe it is the co-operation and coordination that the TCG established between the three sides involved that should be replicated.

“The cooperation between the TCG partners -- Government, ASEAN and the UN representing the international humanitarian community -- has worked well, and the UN hopes that the parties can have an open dialogue and joint efforts in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance to other parts of the country,” Mr. Parajuli told Mizzima.

That is also the view of the ASEAN Secretary General, Surin Pitsuwan whose single-handed efforts gave birth to the TCG a year ago. “An ASEAN-kind of initiative, whether it’s the same as the humanitarian task force, or the TCG, at this point doesn’t matter,” the ASEAN chief told Mizzima.

“Neither Myanmar nor ASEAN have the resources necessary to help the humanitarian needs of the people in Northern Rakhine State. So an ASEAN-led mechanism of some sort could be helpful. But we have to wait for the evolution of the environment -- political or otherwise -- to see if there is an opening in which we can make an offer.”

So far the Burmese government has not responded to such suggestions. It has not even been discussed, according to the regional head of United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok, Raymond Hall, which is the lead agency in that area.

“It would, of course, be technically feasible to use the TCG model for assistance in NRS,” Mr. Hall told Mizzima “The discussions that have taken place between UNHCR and the Myanmar Government have focussed on a strengthening of our own programme in NRS and increasing the UN country team’s involvement.”

“Although the TCG came about in the very particular circumstances of the cyclone, a case could be made for ASEAN, the UN and the Burmese regime to develop a means of working together in other areas like NRS,” said Matt MacGuire. “But we see the rather different coordination structure of the 3 Diseases Fund as the preferred model for the new livelihoods fund that’s being set up at the moment.”

The 3-D Fund was set up primarily by the EU, several key European countries and Australia to replace the Global Fund when it pulled out of the country several years ago. Now the EU is putting the finishing touches to a project to provide financial and technical assistance to poor farmers, not just in the Delta but throughout the country.

The EU’s Livelihood and Food Security Trust Fund or LIFT aims to assist small farmers get access to credit, through the establishment of village revolving funds; provide technical and skills training, including fish rearing and small scale marketing; and help improve rural households’ incomes. The scheme also wants to set up small local factories producing items needed to improve farming yields, including producing axes, hoes, rakes, spades, shovels, picks and sickles. Through these projects, LIFT is expected to put a $ 100 million into the rural economy over the next five years.

The important lesson of Nargis and the TCG, according to many aid officials, was that it provided a forum for discussion and helped build trust and understanding on all sides. “The TCG was extremely important because it helped generate confidence on all sides,” said Andrew Jacobs, who heads the regional development division in the EU’s Bangkok office.

But instead of extending the TCG, the signs are that the model has run its course and is likely to be allowed to grind to a halt. The Burmese government has effectively extended the TCG for another year; a decision that was conveyed to ASEAN at their summit in the Thai sea-side resort of Hua Hin in February. But already there are signs that not all is going to run as smoothly as it did, even in the Delta.

Visas are now taking much longer to approve as the TCG no longer is responsible. “It’s taking around 4 weeks for visas now, more than double the previous fast-tracking process,” said a western diplomat based in Bangkok who monitors humanitarian and development issues in Burma. “Most international NGOs now have a substantial back-log of people waiting for visas,” he said. “And permission to go to projects is also taking substantially longer.”

Most aid workers still prefer to put a brave face on it. “The end of the TCG would not be the end of our ability to deliver humanitarian assistance,” Andrew Kirkwood insisted. “It would only mean that we would have to work in the Delta under the same rules as we do in the rest of the country. These rules are more restrictive on international staff, but not for national staff. We would still be able to deliver assistance on a large-scale and in an independent, accountable manner,” he told Mizzima.

“If the Myanmar Government fazed out of the TCG, it would be the end of a successful mechanism which has brought unprecedented access in Myanmar,” said Luke Arend deputy head of the MSF mission in Burma.

The TCG has also helped improve the confidence of the international donors and encouraged a greater financial commitment to Burma’s humanitarian and development needs. “Many donors remain cautious about large-scale aid assistance to Myanmar, particularly outside of the Nargis affected areas,” said Andrew Kirkwood. “The $70 per head of aid assistance raised for the survivors of Nargis dwarfs the $3 per head in aid assistance allotted to the rest of the citizens of Myanmar. But, this must be balanced by the fact that other countries in the region, namely Laos and Cambodia, receive net aid flows of close to $50 per head, year after year.”

Rather than extending the TCG, greater effort needs to be made in getting the Burmese government at the highest level to discuss the country’s overall humanitarian and development needs, a senior UN official based in Rangoon told Mizzima confidentially. “The government thinks it knows what its doing – by building bridges, dams and road, sustained development will magically follow,” he said. “It won’t!”

But only the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon can have the kind of conversation that is needed, especially with Than Shwe, said the senior UN official. So it must be one of his priorities when he visits Burma later this year.

Some critics suggest that actually what Burma needs for development and the Delta’s recovery in particular, is not more financial aid, but dramatic reform of the country’s agricultural and financial sectors.

“There little hope of the Irrawaddy Delta recovering fully in the absence of the recapitalisation and reinvigoration of Burma's rural credit system,” said Sean Turnell, a Professor of Economics at Australia’s Macquarie University and a Burma expert. “Farmers in Burma have essentially stopped using fertiliser since they lack the credit to buy it. Yields are down. And as a consequence the possibility of widespread food shortages looms this year,” he told Mizzima.

“Little investment or land improvement is taking place, so recovery to pre-Nargis output in affected areas looks remote - and improvements that would lift Burma to the place it should be (and historically was) on the global agricultural scene, is impossible to imagine,” he added.

What Burma needs more than anything else is economic reforms, a liberalised rice market, and a robust financial sector, including extensive micro-credit schemes. This is clearly not on the junta’s agenda. And the Burmese people may be better off in the future, if the international community suspended most aid programmes until the regime seriously considered liberal economic reforms.

READ MORE---> ASEAN-led humanitarian aid effort needed in Burma...

One Year After Cyclone Nargis, FXB Cites Progress and Remaining Challenges in Myanmar

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar on May 2-3, 2008. FXB International was at the forefront of the relief and rebuilding efforts in the affected areas, providing food, shelter, and health care to survivors. FXB looks back on the progress of the past year, as well as the challenges that lie ahead.

(PRWEB) -- This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar on May 2-3, 2008. One of the worst natural disasters in the country's history, the cyclone left an estimated 150,000 people dead and thousands more missing and injured. FXB International was one of the first responders to the storm, providing survivors with critical provisions, including food, water, shelter, and healthcare.

Rebuilding After Cyclone Nargis

The role of nongovernmental organizations like FXB was - and continues to be - vital to the relief and rebuilding efforts in Myanmar. Burmese military and government authorities have been criticized for their slow and ineffective response to the national disaster.

In the past year, FXB has worked around-the-clock to help stabilize the well-being of children, families, and communities in Yangon, Mon State, and Ayeyarwady through a number of relief and rebuilding initiatives. The results of FXB's initiatives to-date include:


* 300 toilets were installed, improving sanitation for 1,200 individuals
* 21 water pumps were installed and 29 polluted ponds were cleaned, providing clean water to over 50,000 individuals
* Food and emergency kits were distributed to 24,000 individuals
* Over 2,000 people living with HIV/AIDS were given treatment medicines
* 25 Child Friendly Spaces were established, providing 4,500 children with educational services
* 360 homes were rebuilt

For these efforts, FXB was cited by both the World Health Organization and the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs for the significant role it played. FXB was able to provide this assistance to survivors because of the support of partners, including the British Embassy in Yangon, UNICEF, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. FXB always maintains emphasis on producing sustainable solutions so individuals are better able to respond to survival challenges in the future.

Despite this progress, the country still faces a grave set of challenges. Long-term problems include agricultural damage, scarce food supplies, destroyed hospitals and schools, and a staggering number of newly vulnerable children in the aftermath of the storm. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to be currently homeless and in need of assistance.

About FXB International: FXB is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting children and families hardest hit by poverty and AIDS. FXB began working in Myanmar in 1992 and currently operates several public health and socio-economic development programs targeting vulnerable children and young women.

http://www.fxb.org

READ MORE---> One Year After Cyclone Nargis, FXB Cites Progress and Remaining Challenges in Myanmar...

Junta’s role makes life more difficult for Nargis survivors

by Solomon: Mungpi

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Come May 2, the Burmese people will recall the worst disaster ever to hit the country, in modern times. Cyclone Nargis, left at least 140,000 dead or missing, and devastated the lives of more than 2.4 million people.

A year later, while efforts to rebuild the lives of the affected people continue, victims and relief workers are of the opinion that the government’s absurd policies and their role in reconstruction work, have only added to the miseries of the victims.

In the immediate aftermath of the Cyclone, Burma’s military rulers blatantly rejected the entry of relief materials and international humanitarian aid to help the victims, as they were busy preparing for a Referendum to approve their Constitution, which was drafted unilaterally, without the participation of other political stake holders.

Till date, even after the lapse of a year, victims in the Cyclone affected areas have said that their needs continue to be grave with shortage of food, lack of shelter, scarcity of drinking water, and inadequate support for their livelihood, including education and health.

An aid worker, who worked with an aid agency in the delta said, “If the government had not imposed restrictions on aid groups then the situation might have improved a lot more and survivors would have a better chance of getting support.”

The Rangoon-based aid worker, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, said aid distributions had largely been limited by the government’s imposition of restrictions. The government only allowed limited aid workers to go into the delta and the junta kept track of all agencies.

“Though there are several agencies, which have their offices in towns, such as Bogale, Laputta and other bigger towns in the Irrawaddy, there are still several villages in the southern area of the delta, which have not got aid,” a Rangoon-based journalist, who recently visited villages in southern Laputta Township, which is close to the Bay of Bengal, said.

David Scott Mathieson, Burma Researcher of the Human Rights Watch (HRW), said, the junta, referring to it by its official name – the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) – had been systematically controlling the flow of aid and limiting agencies from independently operating, which resulted in the slow recovery of the victims.

“The action of the SPDC in the first two weeks, after the cyclone was absolutely disgraceful,” Mathieson said.

However, later, though the government did allow aid to come in, there were still some impediments in terms of road blocks and control of aid to the delta, he added.

Saga of aid blocking by junta

In the initial few weeks after the Cyclone, Burma’s military government refused to allow international aid agencies to come in to help cyclone victims. However, with the intervention by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Burma’s military chief Snr. Gen Than Shwe agreed to allow aid to come in.

The very first international aid arrived on May 8, after nearly a week of the cyclone hitting Burma. The ruling junta allowed only two UN agencies - World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) to land their relief shipments.

“The regime, one week after the cyclone, had held the constitutional referendum. This was disgraceful and they also stopped some aid from getting in,” Mathieson added.

Burma’s military rulers also initially refused to give visas to a number of international relief workers, but with the intervention of Ban Ki-moon, who visited Burma on May 22, and met Burma’s military chief Senior General Than Shwe, the junta agreed to allow aid groups to come in.

On July 8, 2008, the junta said they had granted more than 1,500 visas for foreign aid workers, but the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Bangkok, told Mizzima on July 7, that the Burmese embassy in Bangkok had granted 317 UN staffs visas, but 13 requests remained pending.

However, one year on, international relief workers are still finding it difficult to get visas, the relief worker said. Getting permission to work in the Irrawaddy Delta is one of the biggest challenges with the government allowing only a limited period of time to foreign aid workers to be based in the delta.

“Before the cyclone there had already been enough problems of getting visas by the international humanitarian workers, but after the disaster it became worse,” said the relief worker.

“There are still restrictions on visas for international relief workers and the junta continues restricting access to the delta especially for foreign aid workers,” he said.

Imprisonment of aid workers

Besides restricting international aid workers to have free access to the cyclone-hit areas, Burma’s military government also conducted a crackdown on domestic aid workers and volunteers, who rushed to the delta in the aftermath of the disaster, to help victims.

Zarganar a.k.a Thura, a well-known comedian and film director, who had raised funds and helped cyclone victims, was arrested in June 2008 and was sentenced to 59 years, under charges of the Video and Electronic Law. But, his sentence was later commuted to 35 years of prison term.

On 10 April 2009, authorities sentenced another six volunteers to prison terms. Aung Thant Zin Oo, Phyo Phyo Aung and Shein Yarza Tun were sentenced to four years each, while Nay Win, Aung Kyaw San and Phone Pyih Kywe were sentenced to two years.

Similarly, Ein Khaing Oo, a 24 year old journalist from the “Ecovision Journal”, along with her friend Kyaw Kyaw Than were also sentenced to two years in November 2008, for reporting on Nargis survivors and approaching the Rangoon- based international NGOs.

“What is completely unacceptable and what is more horrible is the arrest of more than 20 community aid workers, including Zarganar, journalist Ein Khaing Oo and many others,” Mathieson said.

According to the Thailand-based Assistant Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPPB), at least 21 relief workers, who were helping cyclone victims, have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.

Tate Naing, Secretary of the AAPPB said, some of the volunteers arrested and sentenced by the junta were burying corpses, which were piling up in the Irrawaddy delta.

“Their punishment is completely unacceptable. Their ‘crimes’ were to help people and tell the truth about the situation,” Tate Naing said in a statement released on Friday.

Aid control

The relief worker said, though there had been a significant amount of aid reaching the delta, he had witnessed that aid had decline after a year.

He said, it might be due to the agencies shifting focus on reconstruction works. He also said it could be partly because of the government’s restrictions.

A rice merchant from Pyapone Township said, while agencies were seen in the town and working in the areas, he did not see much support from the government.

He said, in the aftermath of the cyclone in Pyapone, the Burmese Army’s Brigade No. 66, had control over relief aid for about 5 months and every aid worker and agency were required to take permission in order to carry out relief work in the township.

But now, he said, the controls had shifted to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, which issued permits to enter the region.

Victims’ plight

Although in some cases farmers received material support to re-start cultivation, the inadequate support and favoritism indulged in by the government hardened the situation with farmers unable to work.

“They gave around 6 power tillers for one village and only the people who were close to the authorities got it,” the rice merchant said.

A salt businessman from Laputta Township told Mizzima on Thursday that though he had received a loan from the government to re-start his business, he was now worried of how he would repay the debt.

“We got Kyat 300,000 [USD 300] for an acre of salt farm as a loan from the government, but it will be difficult to return because we could not do well this year,” he said.

Aid Misappropriation

Beside keeping tight control over the flow of aid and denying access to relief workers into the delta, Burma’s military government has also reportedly been misappropriating relief materials meant for victims of the cyclone.

In October 2008, Burma’s authorities arrested Kyaw Soe, a clerk at the Pyapone Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) and Hla Htay for misappropriating rice donated to the cyclone victims.

Both of them were reportedly detained in Pyapone jail, but local residents said so far no charges had been filed against them.

Sources said, Kyaw Soe sold about 1,000 bags of rice in Rangoon, which were donated by Saudi Arabia and was arrested on October 2008, by the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI).

“The BSI has sent the investigation results to Naypyitaw, but the case is not progressing,” the rice merchant, who closely follows the case, told Mizzima.

He said, Kyaw Soe was the unlucky one, as several other local officials were also involved in re-selling aid materials in the market. But following the arrests of the two people, reports of misappropriating aid have subsided.

“Many others were also re-selling aid materials, but they were in small quantities such as 5 to 10 bags of rice. So, there was not much evidence but Kyaw Soe’s case was huge and was well-known,” he said.

On May 14, local residents said they saw biscuits of foreign make, dried meat, instant noodles, tarpaulins and plastic sheets on sale in Nyaungpinlay market, Mingalar market, Bogale market, Theingyi market and other markets in Rangoon.

The Mizzima correspondent in Rangoon has seen tissue packets with Red Cross labels in a store in Mingalar market. Residents of Rangoon also saw army trucks from the Navy supplies Depot, in Mingaladon, Syriam and Laputta bringing the relief materials to the markets.

“We will call on the project [relief aid] to effectively monitor to make sure the SPDC is not profiting from that,” Mathieson said.

Needs still large

Even as relief and reconstruction efforts are ongoing, and a significant amount of aid has reached victims, the UN said it was still crucial for the international community to continue the support.

UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Rangoon, Bishow Parajuli told Mizzima that so far only USD 315 million or 66 per cent of the first revised appeal of USD 477 had been received.

Though much has been accomplished, there are vital needs in various sectors, such as Health, Education, Agriculture, Water and Sanitation, Parajuli said.

READ MORE---> Junta’s role makes life more difficult for Nargis survivors...

Myanmar cyclone survivors stuck in makeshift huts

Source: Reuters Foundation

KUNGYANGONE, Myanmar, Relief Web (Reuters) - A year after Cyclone Nargis blasted his home in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, Pyae Aye sees little hope of replacing the threadbare tarpaulin over his head with a new roof.

The 10 ft by 12 ft (3.0 by 3.7 metre) hut where the rice farmer lives with his two young sons is unbearably hot and began leaking when the first monsoon rains arrived in early April.

"We lost everything and we just can't afford to repair the house yet," said Pyae Aye, who like thousands of survivors of the cyclone that killed nearly 140,000 people, has struggled to rebuild his modest home.

Aid groups estimate at least 500,000 survivors, including 200,000 children, are living in makeshift shelters cobbled together with bamboo poles and fraying tarpaulin, primarily due to a lack of money.

Normally, natural materials such as thatch from palm trees and shrubs provide cheap, relatively cool and rainproof roofing.

But the May 2-3 cyclone destroyed most of the trees and 375,000 homes, according to government estimates.

A year on, only 17,000 new homes have been built, according to U.N. estimates, while another 200,000 have been repaired by their owners.

With the full might of the monsoon season only weeks away, tens of thousands face the prospect of spending another year living in "extremely vulnerable shelter", said David Evans, acting head of the U.N. housing agency UN-HABITAT.

"If they haven't been able to help themselves in the last 11 months, it's not likely they're going to be able to help themselves now, and so far we haven't managed to reach them," Evans said.

FUNDS DRIED UP

Nearly all Nargis survivors received some form of emergency shelter after the storm, including those few allowed into the junta's "model villages" after the generals were criticised for their slow response to the disaster.

But a year on, donor funding for housing has met only 4 percent of the U.N. target.

Donors are giving money for education, health care and food, but they consider housing and infrastructure the government's responsibility, said Andrew Kirkwood, country director of aid agency Save The Children.

"While we would like to see the government spending more on public services, it's completely unjust that the international community does not pick up their part of the responsibility," he said.

Aid groups are trying to fill the gap before the monsoon rains drench the delta, the rice bowl of the former Burma.

The Red Cross plans to hand out tarpaulins in May and June to 30,000 families in the delta, and CARE Myanmar says it will spend close to $2 million on aid for shelter until next June.

UN-HABITAT has appealed for $10 million to provide temporary roofing materials "we needed yesterday", Evans said.

"If it isn't agreed in the next couple of weeks, then we totally miss this last window of opportunity before the severe wind and rain arrives," he said.

Evans also defended his agency's advocacy of $500-$700 homes, which some critics consider too expensive. They are made with traditionals materials but use modern techniques for flooring and foundations to make them more resistant to disasters.

Even with unlimited funds, he said similar rebuilding efforts after the 2004 Asian Tsunami took four years to complete.

But that did not seem to impress Myint Thein, a farmer in the devastated Labutta area, who rebuilt his home on stilts "with whatever we could find".

"If it gets blown away, it gets blown away," he said. "Besides, if there is another storm like Nargis, we won't survive again anyway." (Editing by Darren Schuettler and Bill Tarrant)

READ MORE---> Myanmar cyclone survivors stuck in makeshift huts...

Crossing the Great Divide

By AUNG ZAW
The Irrawaddy News

Last week, I was at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) to attend a panel discussion organized by the BBC Burmese Service to mark the one-year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, Burma’s worst recorded natural disaster.

My first question to Tin Htar Swe, the head of the BBC Burmese Service in London, was why there were no Burmese NGO workers or monks on the panel. Both groups are widely recognized as key participants in the post-Nargis relief effort.

She replied that local aid workers and monks were initially invited to speak, but they all turned down the invitation when they learned that the discussion would be videotaped and aired.

After hearing this response, a Burmese colleague joked that it looked like Burma’s humanitarian workers were sharing the fate of the country’s political activists, who have long been forced to carry out most of their activities “underground.”

But two of the panelists—Chris Kaye, the World Food Program’s country director for Burma, and Dr Frank Smithius, the country representative for MSF (Holland)—disagreed with the suggestion that the Burmese regime was impeding relief efforts.

They said that aid could be delivered to the needy without interference from the junta. But they also emphasized that much more work needed to be done to improve the lives of cyclone survivors. The recovery process in the delta would take time and more assistance was needed, they said. No one disagreed with them.

The third panelist, Britain’s ambassador to Burma, Mark Canning, also had a message that few people could disagree with. He said that Burma remained one of the most repressive places on earth, and insisted that real political progress could only begin after the regime released all of the country’s political prisoners.

At the same time, however, he stressed that while searching for a solution to Burma’s political problems, the basic needs of the Burmese people could not be ignored.

But meeting these needs continues to be a serious challenge for all involved. Although more international NGOs have entered Burma since Cyclone Nargis and large numbers of ordinary Burmese have joined the relief effort, it remains unclear how far the regime will go in allowing a larger “humanitarian space” to open in the country.

While many observers outside the country remain skeptical about the international aid agencies’ claims of being able to work freely (“What else do you expect them to say?” asked one cynical senior journalist at the FCCT), the regime itself is as suspicious as ever of these outsiders.

According to official sources in Naypyidaw, top leaders have shown little interest in humanitarian relief efforts in the delta, but are paying close attention to what’s going on there, as they remain ever watchful of signs of anything that could undermine their grip on power.

Indeed, when the microphones were off, some aid workers admitted that the junta has often been less than helpful, confirming comments from some Burmese observers who attended the FCCT event, who said that the real situation in the delta was very different from the picture being painted by the international aid groups.

Some foreign NGO workers also expressed doubts about the three-year recovery project receiving the $700 million it is estimated to need—something that will hinge largely on their ability to convince foreign donors that the regime is not hindering their efforts.

Last week, Koos Richelle, the director general of the European Commission’s EuropeAid Cooperation Office, told reporters in Manila that Burma must open up to dialogue with donors if it wants to receive much-needed development assistance. He added, however, that there has been little progress in providing aid to Burma because the military regime refuses to discuss development programs. (JEG's: but they want our money... )

Although the regime has extended the mandate of the relief-coordinating body, the Tripartite Core Group—consisting of representatives of the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the junta—for another year, Naypyidaw appears to be reluctant to allow more foreign aid workers into the country.

This is a disappointment for aid workers who say that they have been able to collaborate effectively with officials committed to helping their fellow Burmese citizens through cooperation with international relief groups and UN agencies.

One panelist even said that his organization was able to work inside Burma without sacrificing any of its core principles. But a foreign aid worker with in-depth knowledge of Burma was dismissive of this claim. The only organization in Burma that has strictly adhered to its principles is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), he said. Although the ICRC stopped its activities, including prison visits, in Burma after the regime imposed restrictions, it has maintained its office in Rangoon.

Meanwhile, some aid workers active inside Burma are countering such recriminations by arguing that advocacy groups and activists outside the country are attempting to paint an overly bleak picture of the difficulties of working with the junta.

Recently, 21 international NGOs involved in Nargis-related relief and recovery work slammed a joint report by the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Thailand-based Emergency Assistance Team (EAT) which was highly critical of the relief effort in the delta.

In a joint letter, the NGO group said that the report, titled “After the Storm: Voices from the Delta,” published on February 27, was “both inaccurate and does a disservice to the courageous and resilient survivors of Cyclone Nargis.”

The report focused on human rights violations in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

The response letter said, “We found a number of shortcomings in the report, including its premise, methodology and most of its findings.”

Defending the relief effort, the letter said: “Dozens of international and local relief agencies along with foreign embassies are continually examining humanitarian and delivery from inside Burma. They are able to do so independently and first-hand.

“The international humanitarian assistance delivered to date has been life-saving and life sustaining for millions of cyclone survivors. It has reached them without significant interference,” the letter claimed.

The letter also claimed that misleading reports could undermine further aid to cyclone survivors.

Although others have also questioned the Johns Hopkins/EAT report’s methodology, most observers agree that it has succeeded in initiating a healthy debate. Some researchers who advocate increased aid defended the report, saying that it helps to raise awareness of the need for transparency and accountability in the distribution of aid and use of funds.

As the relief effort approaches the one-year mark, this would be a good time for the aid community inside and outside Burma to open a dialogue, instead of undermining the missions inside and along the border.

Burmese aid workers on both sides of this artificial divide have many shared concerns. One is that the fight over aid money could obscure more important issues and even intensify divisions between Burmese inside and outside of the country.

A year ago, there was unprecedented cooperation between Burmese living in exile and those still inside the country, as both struggled to find a way to come to the assistance of their fellow citizens. Now, however, many fear that a dispute among foreign aid groups could weaken their shared resolve, with consequences that can only add to the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis.

READ MORE---> Crossing the Great Divide...

$US 690 million needed to rebuild devastated Delta region

A year after Myanmar’s worst ever cyclone debt-ridden survivors need substantial aid package

Embargoed until 00:01GMT Thursday April 30

Hundreds of thousands of people who survived Myanmar’s worst-ever cyclone are facing the prospect of being trapped in debt with little prospect of securing further credit or loans and need urgent help from the international community, international aid agency Oxfam said today.

”One of the many impacts of Cyclone Nargis was that it destroyed almost an entire harvest that farmers and fishermen had already borrowed against before the cyclone hit,” Oxfam Myanmar Country Director Claire Light said.

”That has meant many families defaulted on those loans, and haven’t been able to access enough credit ever since to get back on their feet,”

”Urgent international assistance is needed before June so that farming and fishing families can kick-start their upcoming harvest, repay their loans, and avoid losing any more to this devastating cyclone and its aftermath,” Ms Light said.

Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta and Yangon Division on May 2 - 3, 2008, as well as killing 140 000 people and destroying homes and schools, demolished farmland, cattle, fishing ponds and equipment leaving the vast majority of survivors who rely on these for an income struggling to make ends meet, Oxfam said today.

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 they were before the cyclone.

Of that it states $US 189 million dollars is needed to restore people’s livelihoods, through activities such as generating jobs and supporting agricultural production for fishing and farming communities.

The United Nations Flash Appeal opened soon after the cyclone, will draw to a close only 67 per cent funded, and has a $US 42 million shortfall in the amount requested for agricultural projects. That appeal closes tomorrow.

Ms Light said aid agencies do not want to see funding end after the first anniversary of the cyclone, and they have not seen enough pledges from the international community for long-term aid.

“There was a generous response in the wake of the storm that allowed the largest ever relief effort in Myanmar, and because of that almost all cyclone-survivors have been reached with some level of assistance,” Ms Light said.

“But Cyclone Nargis caused a level of destruction similar to the worst-hit areas of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The 2.4 million people affected will continue to feel its impact unless aid keeps flowing for the next three years,” Ms Ireland said.

Oxfam has reached approximately half a million people with aid in the cyclone-affected regions. The aid agency has been directly operational in the country since August 2008, and continues to fund partner organisations that assisted in the immediate relief efforts. Prior to Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar received among the lowest levels of aid per capita in the world.

Oxfam GB’s Myanmar Country Director Claire Light, based in Yangon, and Oxfam GB’s Regional Director, Sarah Ireland, based in Bangkok are available for interview. To interview them or for a copy of the background note The Aftershock of Cyclone Nargis: Credit Crunch in the Delta or for more information please contact: Sunita Bose in Bangkok on +66... or on Australian number +61... or Uamdao Noikorn in Bangkok on +66 .... In the UK contact Sean Kenny +44 7766 443 506, skenny@oxfam.org.uk

Notes to editors: Overview of Oxfam’s Cyclone Response in Myanmar

Where we work:

Oxfam has reached approximately half a million people with aid following Cyclone Nargis.

Oxfam has been directly operational in the country since August 2008, and continues to fund local partner organisations who assisted in the immediate relief efforts.

In the first phase of the response, Oxfam and our partners provided immediate relief assistance in 24 of the most affected townships. Oxfam now works directly in Dedaye and Pyapon townships, and supports recovery efforts in eight cyclone-affected townships through partner organisations.

Oxfam’s response to date:

Oxfam has provided 64 000 households with water-related support. This has included giving people emergency water and reconstructing water infrastructure systems, or providing water storage containers.

Oxfam has given approximately 53,000 households emergency shelter materials to protect them from the elements or assistance to rebuild their homes.

Oxfam has given approximately 11 000 households fishing or farming support so that they can continue to generate an income.

Oxfam has given approximately 26,000 households food or cash-for-work support to assist in small-scale rehabilitation of infrastructure or to receive vocational training to build their capacity to earn an income.

Oxfam has supported the rehabilitation of early childhood care and development centers and schools provided school supplies, uniforms, and books.

Oxfam is providing radios to communities as an early warning radio system that would benefit 45 000 villagers.

Oxfam’s priorities for the next two years:

Oxfam and our partners are now supporting communities on the very long road to recovery.

Oxfam’s direct cyclone response work is a three-year programme, and in the next two years, subject to funding, aims to reach 243 000 people in the hardest-hit townships in the Ayeyarwardy delta with livelihoods and water and sanitation support.

Oxfam are working to restore agricultural and fisheries production to pre-cyclone levels so that people in the region can generate an income to feed themselves and their families and avoid getting further into debt.

Oxfam is working to reduce long-term public health risks and are safeguarding people from water-borne diseases, by helping communities to restore their water supplies and through distributing pots, buckets and water purification means and building latrines.

For more information please contact: Sunita Bose in Bangkok on +66 84 ... or on Australian number +61 407... or Uamdao Noikorn, in Bangkok on +66 818 553 196. I n the UK contact Sean Kenny +44 7766 443 506, skenny@oxfam.org.uk

Oxfam UK

READ MORE---> $US 690 million needed to rebuild devastated Delta region...

When Good News Goes Bad

By YENI
The Irrawaddy News

“No news is good news.” For most, this means that a day without incident is a good day, indeed. But for journalists, it tends to mean that truly newsworthy stories are rarely “good news”: death, disease, disaster and downfall will always trump feel-good tales of triumph on the front page.

Journalists are often accused of focusing on the negative and ignoring the positive. But when you are trying to shed light on a situation, you are bound to cast some shadows. This is especially true in the case of Burma, a country run by benighted generals who prefer to keep their people in the dark.

At a media workshop I attended recently, a fellow journalist asked me if there was any good news to report about Burma’s recovery from Cyclone Nargis one year after the disaster claimed nearly 140,000 lives and severely affected 2.4 million people.

In a way, the best news is that the bad news is still coming out of Burma, despite the junta’s efforts to suppress reporting of the realities on the ground. The international and exiled Burmese media have both played an important role in revealing how far from normal the situation in the Irrawaddy delta remains.

A year ago, Cyclone Nargis dominated international headlines and news networks for nearly a month. Then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Burma, and the junta agreed to allow aid workers into the country to assist people in some of the worst-hit areas. End of story, at least as far as many people were concerned.

But for The Irrawaddy and some other news outlets, this was just the beginning of the story. For the past year, we have been watching developments in the delta closely and listening to the testimony of ordinary people as well as the pronouncements of the junta and their partners in the recovery efforts.

What we have learned is not to take the official version of developments at face value, even when it is coming from respected international aid agencies. We have found that many relief workers who offer an optimistic assessment in public will often privately confide that the situation in the delta is a mess, and is likely to remain one as long as the regime continues to set the priorities.

The other good news coming out of Burma is that, despite all the constraints imposed upon them, many ordinary Burmese continue to do everything in their power to help heal the delta. We have learned that local private relief groups, formed by monks, students, celebrities, medical groups, businessmen, charitable organizations and others are still very active in the relief effort, laying the groundwork not only for renewal in the delta, but also cultivating hope for the country’s prospects of achieving justice, pluralism and, ultimately, democracy.

But even this good news has its dark side. The junta, ever fearful of any emerging alternative to their brutal rule, has initiated a crackdown on independent aid workers. To date, twenty-one volunteers have been arrested and detained in connection with their relief work in the Irrawaddy delta. Meanwhile, Burma’s most famous satirist, Zarganar, is said to be suffering from jaundice and hypertension in Myitkyina Prison, where he is serving a 35-year prison term for his relief role.

The survival of these private efforts now depends on their ability to continue operating under the radar. This means that many are reluctant to speak to us about their work, because it would attract unwelcome attention from the military authorities.

“If the media focuses on our efforts today, tomorrow the authorities will shut us down,” said one aid worker.

For Burma’s generals, it seems, any real news is bad news.

READ MORE---> When Good News Goes Bad...

'Don't Forget Burma' urges Zoya Phan

Karen State (Myanmar), (New Kerala): The humanitarian situation in Myanmar remains desperate a year after cyclone Nargis slammed the country, the author of a new memoir
of Burmese life has warned.

Prominent campaigner Zoya Phan, 28, told Sky News that locals were struggling to rebuild their lives following the devastating storm, which hit Myanmar on May 2 2008, leaving nearly 140,000 people dead or missing.

"It has been a year since Nargis hit Burma, but when we spoke to the local people who were affected, they told us there hadn't been any international humanitarian aid in many parts of the area," she told Sky News.

"They said when some aid organisations were delivering aid into Burma, the regime just made a show - building up temporary shelters and asking people to come, then taking pictures before they left," she added.

Aid and food from international agencies found its way onto Burmese markets after being seized by the regime, while survivors were forced into unpaid construction work, she said.

Cyclone Nargis saw Burma make headlines, but while media attention on the country has since waned, Zoya warns that everyday suffering continues for many Burmese.

She hopes the release of her new book, Little Daughter, will help counter that by raise awareness of the country's ongoing crisis.

Little Daughter is a memoir of Zoya's early years growing up in Burma and subsequently fleeing - first to refugee camps and later to Britain.

Mixed in with warm anecdotes - of her smuggling mangoes and creating mud slides - are the grim reminders of the horror that begins to invade her young life.

She recalls vividly the episode in which she and her siblings discover the body of a man beaten by the Burmese army floating lifelessly in the river where she played.

The book tells of Zoya's unique position as the daughter of guerrilla soldier (her mother) and a freedom activist (her father), both of the Karen tribe - who have opposed the Burmese military junta for decades.

Following in their campaigning footsteps, Zoya knows the danger of speaking out so publicly against the military regime.

--- ANI

READ MORE---> 'Don't Forget Burma' urges Zoya Phan...

Real Estate market on upswing in Laputta

Laputta (Mizzima) – In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, a new satellite town is being built beside the Myaungmya-Latputta Highway, about three miles away from Latputta. Currently, the real estate business is on a upswing in this area.

Earlier, it was reported that these new plots would be distributed to victims of the Cyclone Nargis, who had lost their houses. However, the local authorities of the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) are reportedly selling the plots to affluent people, and as a result the local real estate market is doing well.

"Previously we had heard that these new plots would be distributed to the cyclone victims. Now they have said that anyone can buy these newly developed plots,” a local resident from Laputta told Mizzima.

Accordign to him, each plot is worth about Kyat 1 million (USD 833) and in some key areas it could fetch up to Kyat 1.5 million (USD 1250). We have learnt that some plots have already been bought for Kyat 1.5 million from the local TPDC authorities, the local said.

The place, where the new town is being developed is about three miles from a former cyclone victims' relief camp. Only the main thoroughfares and side lanes have been built in the area.

The real estate market has been high in Laputta town after Cyclone Nargis lashed the area in early May 2008. The departmental offices and NGO offices from Rangoon are pouring into this area for relief work, causing the rent of office buildings and the prices of plots into a sharp rise.

A grocery store owner from Strand Road in Laputta town said, "I bought a 50'x60' plot on Strand Road for Kyat 2 million [USD 1,666], about four years ago. But after the Cyclone, the price has shoot up and some even offered Kyat 8 million [USD 6,666].”

“Recently, a person from Rangoon offered me Kyat 12 million. The plots at key locations are in high demand as many buyers from both local and other places are trying to buy them,” he added.

In order to please their bosses, the local authorities of Laputta TPDC have issued orders to the owners of cyclone-hit dilapidated houses, to renovate their houses with plank walls and zinc coated CI (corrugated iron) roofing, but most of the owners were unable to abide by their order, as they were odd job and menial job workers.

"How can we build these houses? We are mere daily wage earners and menial job workers. There were not many supporters of the people living in Laputta town area and low income earners like us after Cyclone Nargis hit our region,” a local resident living at No. 7 Ward at the entrance of Laputta town said.

“They regarded only rural people as the cyclone victims. We told the local TPDC office that we could not renovate our houses as they instructed and asked them to build new houses for us. Then this order ran out of steam," he added.

The Tripartite Core Group (TCG) has asked for funds for the reconstruction work in the cyclone-hit region, but the availability of the donation is delayed.

READ MORE---> Real Estate market on upswing in Laputta...

New Report Slams Junta for Nargis ‘Crimes’

A new report says that the Burmese junta’s response to Cyclone Nargis could constitute crimes against humanity. (Photo: www.allmyanmar.com)

By NEIL LAWRENCE
The Irrawaddy News

In stark contrast to an earlier assessment of the Cyclone Nargis relief effort by Burma’s ruling junta and its international partners, a new report released today accuses the regime of widespread rights abuses that “may constitute crimes against humanity.”

The report, “After the Storm: Voices from the Delta,” is the first independent inquiry into the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2-3 last year, killing as many as 140,000 people.

Unlike the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) report released last July by the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of the junta, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the new report does not shy away from the issue of human rights abuses by the Burmese regime.

“We did not prompt this. We asked a number of questions about relief efforts and agencies, and what kept coming out was people trying to struggle and negotiate their communities’ relationships with the junta,” said Dr Chris Beyrer, director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which released the report.

The report is based on interviews with 90 private relief workers and cyclone survivors conducted between June and November 2008. The interviews were carried out by the Emergency Assistance Team—Burma (EAT), a social organization based on the Thai-Burmese border and staffed by community aid workers from cyclone-affected areas.

The interviews detail a pattern of abuses by the military authorities, including the misappropriation of relief supplies, forced labor and harassment and arrest of local aid workers.

“After one month, they came to the village, saw my supplies and started asking—they sent my information to Yangon [Rangoon] to investigate me. They were asking why there were so many supplies. They think it was anti-government. So I left; I don’t like prison,” recounted one relief worker who was interviewed for the report.

The authors of the report say that such abuses “may constitute crimes against humanity through the creation of conditions whereby the basic survival needs of victims cannot be adequately met,” in violation of Article 7(1)(k) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

“These allegations, taken together, may amount to crimes against humanity and may need to be investigated,” said Beyrer, adding that the case could be referred to the UN Security Council for consideration.

The report also highlights the international relief effort’s failure to engage community-based groups, and calls for a more thorough assessment of the situation in the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta, including the junta’s role in obstructing aid.

“There are some [international] groups working directly with community organizations, but they have to be very careful about how they work together. It is very risky. That is why we want the UN and Asean to tell the government to allow the community-based organizations to work freely to do their humanitarian work,” said Dr Cynthia Maung, who serves as the chairperson of EAT.

“We would also like to recommend that the UN or the international community do a more thorough assessment,” she added. “Unless we get a proper assessment or report, it may be very hard to continue working to improve the situation [in the cyclone-affected area].”

The report was released as Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, speaking at the annual Asean summit being held in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin, revealed that the Burmese regime was set to extend the TCG’s role in the delta.

It is unclear how the regional grouping, which has generally closed ranks in defense of the Burmese junta in the past, will respond to the report.

“We hope that there is a positive and constructive response, not a response of denial or obfuscation, but rather that people will say, all right, these kinds of practices must cease and desist,” said Beyrer.

“These kinds of allegations simply cannot be ignored. The people of the Irrawaddy delta deserve to have a reconstruction effort that’s free of rights abuses,” he added.

READ MORE---> New Report Slams Junta for Nargis ‘Crimes’...

Burma blocked aid supplies - report

By JOE HUMPHREYS
Irish Time

THE UNITED Nations Security Council should refer Burma (Myanmar) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the manner in which it blocked humanitarian relief efforts during last year’s cyclone in the country, according to an independent inquiry into the episode.

A report, framed around extensive interviews with relief workers and survivors, says the government’s “systematic obstruction” of relief aid, penalisation of minority ethnic groups and use of forced labour in reconstruction could constitute crimes against humanity.

The report, published today by a group of leading international healthcare experts, says the Burmese government had been more concerned about forcing through a referendum on an authoritarian new constitution on May 10th last year rather than dealing with Cyclone Nargis, which struck eight days earlier, killing 140,000 and affecting 3.4 million people.

“The data reveal systematic obstruction of relief 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,” the report states.

“The slow distribution of aid, the push to hold the referendum vote, and the early refusal to accept foreign assistance are evidence of the junta’s primary concern for regime survival and political control over the well-being of the Burmese people.”

The report, After the Storm: Voices from the Delta , is jointly-authored by the US-based Centre for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Emergency Assistance Team (EAT), an umbrella group of health care workers which helped an estimated 180,000 survivors without the approval of the Burmese government. Among the 90 relief workers and survivors interviewed was a physician who said he had to flee the country when the military started asking questions about his connections with external relief agencies. Another relief worker said the government refused to give aid to Christian minorities “because they know they may be helped by Christian organisations”. The report says there is evidence of “multiple human rights violations and the abrogation of international humanitarian relief norms and international legal frameworks for disaster relief”.

These could constitute crimes against humanity, it says.

Burma Action Ireland said European members of the UN Security Council should request an immediate ICC investigation.

READ MORE---> Burma blocked aid supplies - report...

Kyaw Thu’s Transfer Questions Junta’s Intentions

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Two days ago, Kyaw Thu was a deputy foreign minister who traveled to the Irrawaddy delta region with visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari. In Thursday’s issue of The New Light of Myanmar he is described as chairman of the Civil Service Selection and Training Board, considered a minister level but inactive post.

The New Light of Myanmar report was accompanied by a photo of Kyaw Thu at Wednesday’s observances of the 61st anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence Day in Rangoon.

The apparent reshuffle confused international observers and rang alarm bells within UN agencies and INGOs operating inside Burma.

Why the consternation? Kyaw Thu is chairman of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) formed after Cyclone Nargis to coordinate aid to the stricken regions and grouping Burma, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Three representatives from three Burmese ministries were originally appointed to the group—Kyaw Thu, the Acting Director-General of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Resettlement, Aung Tun Khaing, and the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Than Aye.

The purpose of the TCG is to act as an Asean-led mechanism to facilitate trust, confidence and cooperation between Burma and the international community in the urgent humanitarian relief and recovery work after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma.

Since the formation of the TCG, Kyaw Thu has been seen meeting foreign dignitaries and jetting around Asean nations. Despite being a former military commander and a loyal supporter of the regime, he earned popularity among international non-government organizations, UN agencies and Asean itself, where he was praised for being cooperative and helpful.

This is not the first time Kyaw Thu has unexpectedly been shifted from one post to another. He was made an ambassador after a dispute with one powerful military commander, taking charge of embassies in South Africa and India. Ambassador postings are considered a demotion in Burma.

It is still unclear, however, whether Kyaw Thu will be relinquishing his position at the head of the TCG.

Termsak Chalermpalanupap, an official in the Asean Secretary-General Office, told The Irrawaddy by e-mail that, as far as the office understands, Kyaw Thu will remain TCG Chairman, at least until the upcoming launch of the Post-Nargis Recovery Planning (PONREP) Report in Bangkok on February 9.

The TCG agreement between the Burmese regime, the UN and Asean expires in June. A Cyclone Nargis donor meeting is to be held next week in Bangkok.

Burmese analysts said that Kyaw Thu’s future with the TCG is uncertain because, in his new position, he no longer works as a minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry is said to be plagued by rivalry and personal conflict. Foreign minister Nyan Win and Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint, neither of whom speak good English and who lack international experience, are at loggerheads with Kyaw Thu.

Ohn Maung, a veteran politician in Rangoon, said Kyaw Thu was kicked upstairs because he was too exposed, too smart and too popular with foreigners and within Asean.

The xenophobic regime usually suspects ministers and officials who are close to the international community and who are often purged or sent into retirement.

“The generals demand a loyal guy, not a smart one,” said Ohn Maung.

An expert with the TCG said anonymously: “If the regime still wants him at the TCG, he could continue the post. So wait and see.”

According to INGO workers operating in Burma, Kyaw Thu readily approved visas for foreign relief workers who wanted to assist Cyclone Nargis victims.

A Scandinavian aid worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that INGOs and international donors had worked effectively with Kyaw Thu.

If Kyaw Thu were now discarded “this is not good news for INGOs,” he said. “INGOs and the UN working in Burma hope that the door will open more and more. This is not a good sign.”

READ MORE---> Kyaw Thu’s Transfer Questions Junta’s Intentions...

Food Aid Starting to Reach Chin Villages

By LAWI WENG

The director of the Country Agency for Rural Development (CAD), a nongovernmental organization, says his group has handed out food aid to about 20 villages in Chin State, in an area that has experienced food shortages for about two years.

At least 70,000 Chin have faced food shortages after rice crops in Chin State were destroyed by a rat infestation and drought, according to NGO workers in Rangoon.

“There are thirty more villages where our aid hasn’t reached yet because of poor transportation,” said Joseph Win Hlaing Oo, the CAD director. He said the Burmese military government allowed aid groups to distribute rice starting in the middle of November 2008.

"We’ve started rice distribution under a food-for-work program, and we started two weeks ago," he said.

“They had no food when we arrived in some villages,” he said. “They try to borrow food from village to village. They promise to pay it back next year. That is how they survive.”

The 50 villages earmarked by the CAD group are near three townships, Haka, Lantalang and Matupi.

Joseph Win Hlaing Oo said an unknown number of additional villages could be experiencing food shortages. He said the CAD group can help only about 50 villages because of budget restrictions.

Many villagers cried when thanking the aid workers who handed out food, he said.

Ray Hay, a resident of Haka Township, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that other villages are receiving rice aid from other NGOs and religious groups.

A report by the UN World Food Program said 75 percent of the crops in the area had been destroyed by rats and 30 percent of the villagers surveyed had been forced to abandon their fields.

The rat infestation began two years ago in Chin State, sending hundreds of Chin to live near the Indian border where they sought to enter the country illegally in order to find work.

In September 2008, about 50 village elders from Chin State traveled to Mizoran on the Indian border to appeal for international aid to address the food famine. The Chin Union Council previously reported that 31 children had died from a lack of food.

Chin Union Council leaders based on the Indian border said the Burmese military authorities had banned ethnic Chin people from receiving food supplies donated by Burmese in foreign countries.

According to a Mizoram-based Chin relief group, the Chin Famine Emergency Relief Committee, about 100,000 of the 500,000 people in Chin State had experienced food shortages. The shortage began in December 2007. Many people were surviving on boiled rice, fruit and vegetables.

A famine occurs about every 50 years in the area when the flowering of a native species of bamboo gives rise to an explosion in the rat population, say experts. The International Rice Research Institute had warned of widespread rice shortages in the region.

READ MORE---> Food Aid Starting to Reach Chin Villages...

Humanitarian crisis in Chin state likely to escalate in 2009: NGO

by Salai Pi Pi

New Delhi (Mizzima) – With crop yields declining due to severe weather conditions and the devastation caused by rat infestation, a humanitarian crisis is imminent for western Burma's Chin state in 2009, a leading humanitarian worker in Chin state said.

Joseph Win Hlaing Oo, director of the Rangoon-based Country Agency for Rural Development in Myanmar (CAD), on Thursday said the humanitarian crisis in Chin state caused by both drought and rat infestation in 2008 is far from being over.

"This year, the situation seems to be getting worse," Joseph told Mizzima, adding that people have already begun running short of food.

"People will need more help," iterated Joseph, whose organization with help from the World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing aid supplies to a few villages in Chin state.

On Thursday, CAD began distributing about 700 rice bags to villagers affected by drought and rat infestation in Hakha township, home to the capital of Chin state.

Since the end of 2006, food security in the region has been gradually threatened by the infestation of rats, which are multiplying in great numbers after consuming a special bamboo flower that blossoms only once every 50 years in Chin state.

"Today, we started distributing rice bags to the people in four villages, including Pinam in Hakha township," Joseph said.

But he said aid is not simply given, with villagers instead receiving aid in exchange for community work, such as assistance in the construction of roads to connect villages, under a program called "Food-for-Work".

"We provide rice to villagers according to the work. We give [a total of] 100 bags of rice to 18 people on completion of a mile of road," said Joseph, adding that the 'Work-for-Food' model was utilized to help villagers get the best out of aid supplies.

Joseph said CAD intends to reach at least 30,000 people in three townships - Hakha, Thangtlang and Matupi – with aid supplies. However his initial plan of distributing aid last November was derailed due to difficulties in purchasing good quality rice and high transportation cost.

Additionally, he said aid supplies are still insufficient, as many more villages in other parts of Chin state, including those that are close to the Indo-Burmese border, are yet to be covered. According to him, the food crisis is far more severe along the Indo-Burmese border.

"The problems in the areas close to the India-Burma border are more serious than other areas," said Joseph, with the crux of the problem being a lack of proper roads and means of transportation to reach those areas.

According to an assessment done by the WFP and other relief agencies such as CAD, KARET, World Vision and Karuna Myanmar Social Service (KMSS), at least 60,000 people from 139 villages in Chin state are severely affected by food scarcity caused by rat infestation.

In 2008, the WFP coordinated a relief aid program to help victims in Chin state with 1,451 tons of rice through international and local relief agencies, Joseph said. He added that an additional 800 million kyat (approximately US$ 600,000) will be made available for the first six months of 2009.

Meanwhile Van Lian Thang, spokesperson for the exile-based Chin Humanitarian and Relief Committee (CHRC), recently said people from at least 16 villages in northern Chin state are facing food insufficiency as the harvest of crops such maize and paddy has fallen sharply.

"Because the rate of crops harvested this year is very low, people from some villages in Tedim and Falam townships are facing a shortage of food," said Van Lian Thang.

READ MORE---> Humanitarian crisis in Chin state likely to escalate in 2009: NGO...

Burma - Refugees International

The international community must address Burma’s humanitarian crisis with increased aid nationwide.

Overview
For more than five decades, Burma has been entrenched in political and armed conflict between the repressive ruling military regime, political opponents, and ethnic groups, resulting in the displacement of over 3.5 million Burmese.While most analysts, including Refugees International, believe only a change in political leadership can address the structural causes of poverty in Burma, few forecast an end to the country’s political stalemate. Refugees International believes the international community must do more to address the humanitarian needs of Burma’s 55 million people in the absence of political progress.

Current Humanitarian Situation
Although Burma is a resource-rich country with a strong agricultural base, it is believed to be one of the poorest countries in the world. The UN Development Program estimates that Burma’s GDP per capita is the 13th lowest in the world. According to UNICEF under-5 child mortality averages 104 per 1,000 children, the second-highest rate outside Africa, after Afghanistan. Burma also has the highest HIV rates in Southeast Asia, and malaria, a treatable and preventable disease, is still the leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Despite this, Burma receives less international assistance – at $3 per person – than any other of the poorest nations in the world, where the average is $58 per person.

Following the disaster caused by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, international aid entered the country at an unprecedented rate, but these additional resources remain only in cyclone-affected regions. Because of these increased resources, aid agencies report an unprecedented level of access and mobility. But the gains these agencies have made in delivering relief supplies, gathering information about needs and supporting local communities are at risk without continued international support for food security, livelihood and early recovery activities.

Action Needed
The U.S. government and the European Commission should immediately commit funds to continue humanitarian cyclone relief past the emergency stage and into 2009 for food security, early recovery and livelihoods programs nationwide. They should allocate these funds based on revised assessments of need and the ability to effectively implement such programs.

Field Reports

Rohingya: Burma’s Forgotten Minority
12/18/2008
Among Burma’s ethnic minorities, the Rohingya, a stateless population, stand out for their particularly harsh treatment by Burmese authorities and their invisibility as a persecuted minority. Despite decades of severe repression, there has been minimal international response to the needs of this extremely vulnerable population compared to other Burmese refugees. The United Nations (UN) and donor governments should integrate the Rohingya into their regional responses for Burmese refugees. Host countries should allow the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and implementing partners to provide basic services to all the Rohingya and officially recognize them as a refugee population.

Burma: Building Upon Success
09/04/2008
Three months after Cyclone Nargis, the world has an outdated image of the situation inside Burma. Although aid agencies delivered assistance within days after the storm and continue to do so, the story of a recalcitrant government that rejects aid from the generous nations of the world has not been updated.

In Depth Reports

Ending the Waiting Game: Strategies for Responding to Internally Displaced People in Burma
06/01/2006
Burma is experiencing one of the most neglected humanitarian and human rights crises in the world. No less than half a million people are internally displaced in the eastern part of the country and at least one million more have fled to neighboring nations. This report provides an in-depth look at the causes of displacement in Burma, the acute needs of the internally displaced population and the current response to those needs.

Successes
In 2008, the U.S. provided $50 million in assistance after Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy Delta -- killing 140,000 and affecting 2.4 million others. This was a tremendous increase over the U.S. government’s previous $3 million budget for aid to Burmese people inside the country. Refugees International slowly began to change the U.S. government’s stance against funding humanitarian aid programs inside Burma after two years of being one of the few organizations calling for increased assistance.

More...

READ MORE---> Burma - Refugees International...

At the mercy of Mother Nature and Burma's generals

by Khin Tun
Mizzima News
21 November 2008

Famine forces thousands to do whatever they can to survive in Chin state

On the surface, things can seem brighter than usual for villagers from Matupi in Southern Chin state of Western Burma, home to some 500,000 people. Fathers, mothers and children are busy in the paddy fields reaping their new crop of rice, which has just ripened this past month. However taking a closer inspection of the situation, it soon becomes apparent that there is a serious problem, a lack of food security – adding to the woes in a state where, according to the Chin Mobile Backpack Medical Team, "malnutrition and child mortality is one of the highest in the country." In a sign of desperation, even children, along with their teachers, are forced to leave school in order to harvest crops, because of the fear that the plague of rats might at any moment destroy the very thing which is so fundamental to their survival - rice.

Background

Since 2006, Chin state has been hit by a plague of rats brought on by the dying of bamboo, a natural phenomenon occurring every 50 years in Chin state and the surrounding mountain ranges of northeast India. During the phenomenon, vast forests of bamboo covered jungle produce flowers and a type of fruit which attracts rats. The rats consume the bamboo seeds, which local people believe causes the rat population to rise exponentially.

In a twisted tale of bad luck, for a region which the World Food Programme describes as "one of the poorest and most isolated states in Myanmar," once the bamboo has flowered it dies, causing the plague of rats to turn on villagers' crops for survival. Village elders, who experienced firsthand the last mautam – as the plague is referred to in local jargon – in 1958, explained that this time the situation is much worse. Unusually strong winds have damaged crops, and the dying of bamboo forests at different times has caused the rats to shift unpredictably between areas.

Farmer turned rat catching expert

Local farmer Masie from Matupi is now highly experienced at catching rats. The previous night he caught eight rats, one of which his wife is cooking on the fire. By Masie's high standards, eight rats is a rather low count, as at the height of the rat infestation he caught over 40 rats in just one night. In trying to protect his fields, Masie has handmade over 150 rat traps, locally called, hmakhau, in addition to the more conventional traps he bought from a larger town three to four days walk away. He proudly shows off a collection of rat tails he has collected since this August, numbering over 1,000 so far. Masie describes how the rat infestation affected his family last year:

"Last year the rat infestation was much worse, and I wasn't able to build any rat traps, because I had never experienced this kind of huge rat infestation. I thought we could drive out and scare the rats and protect our crops with ease. But, just before the rice was about to be ripe for harvest the rats came and finished all the rice in the fields in only one night. We lost all our rice from the fields…we came home from the fields with empty hands."

This year things have improved, his family has collaborated with two other families to manage and secure their rice paddy fields. They have fenced in a six tin field area and added over 150 traditional hand-made rat traps alongside nine more conventional traps.

The villagers are trying to harvest very quickly, as they fear the rats might come again, similar to last year, and eat their rice. Masie hopes to harvest over 280 tins (one tin is approximately six kg of cleaned rice) for 18 family members. Unfortunately, even with the preparations of the villagers in protecting their crops – especially the rice, it couldn't stop the rats from wreaking havoc on the villager's cornfields. "This year our harvest of corn was totally destroyed and we harvested nothing," sighed Masie.

Bamboo shortage

Most villagers stay in the fields day and night as this helps to scare away the rats. Yet due to the mautam phenomenon of bamboo dying, there is a shortage of bamboo, which is traditionally used to construct shelter. Therefore villagers cannot construct appropriate huts for living in their rice fields. Instead, they have little alternative but to either walk to their fields for up to an hour each day, or stay in cramped pitiable huts.

Saichea is a crippled old widow staying alone in a small, confined hut. She tells of how her hut's roof is leaking, yet with everyone busy in the fields and a shortage of adequate bamboo, her roof cannot get fixed. "Every time it rains in the night I have to go to other houses to sleep, because my hut's roof is leaking," tells the old woman. When she was a child she sustained an agonizing accident, leaving her unable to use her right hand or foot or work to earn a living. Consequently, she depends on help from neighbors and church leaders. She displayed her meager food supplies of all she has left, consisting of one pot of rice and a few other essential foods donated to her, which she uses very sparingly.

Food crisis destroying communities – villagers flee to India

Since the start of this year, at least 11 households from a border village in Matupi, Burma, have left for neighboring villages across the border in India's Mizoram state. Some villagers departed in secret as it is seen as a disgrace to leave their village and community. Traditionally, the village elders used to kill a pig to compel them to reconsider leaving. However, village elders stated that some villagers who were offered the meat did not accept it, instead insisting on leaving the village.

In the same village, at least ten households last year faced the problem of finishing their rice early, forcing them to find work in India to try and support themselves. Due to job availability, many of the family members have to work apart, some in Saiha in Mizoram, the largest town closest to southern Chin state. They take up any work offered, usually jobs which the local people do not want, such as carrying wood, working in paddy fields, farm cleaning, constructing roads and digging holes for toilets.

Teiko is one such individual that has had to go to India to earn money, working for approximately 15 days at a time. He has been working on the construction of a bridge over the Kaladan River in India. With this money he then buys rice and carries it back to his village in Burma, over two days walk away. He explains his family's situation:

"Last year we could only harvest 30 tins, which lasted only two months. We survive by earning money in India. Because of the struggle for food we could not send all our children to school, our youngest daughter had to stay to work in the fields. She cried, pleading with us to send her to school, but we couldn't afford to.

This year we have nearly finished our harvest and expect 80 tins, but for one year we need at least 140 tins. When I was in India earning money, my wife borrowed rice from villagers, and we had to pay back the rice once I returned from India.

Working in India, luckily I didn't face any problems with getting paid. Most of us are dependent upon earning money in India. It's the only way to solve our food problems. We are struggling for life, but by the grace of God our health is good."

Limited aid assistance to Burma

Teiko's village has received some limited aid (35 rice bags in total, for over 250 people) from neighboring villages across the border in India, but the real need is substantially greater. Therefore, regretfully, there is no alternative for villagers but to find work in India to keep their families alive.

Chihu is a mother with two daughters from a neighboring village in Mizoram, India, an approximately five hour walk from Burma. She also was not spared the destruction of the rat infestation, yet some assistance is reaching them. She elaborates:

"Usually two fields give a crop of 150 tins, yet all our corn and rice fields were destroyed last year. This year we harvested only 50 tins, which lasted only one month, as we host many guests. In some fields the villagers harvested nothing due to the rats, only in some fortunate fields the rats didn't touch could rice be found. Luckily we are in a better condition than our brothers and sisters in Burma, because of help from NGO's from foreign countries. We received this June, 40 kilos of rice, four liters of oil and eight kilos of dal per household."

However, in an extremely positive development, DFID (Britain's Department for International Development), has offered assistance to six out of nine townships in Chin state, with an initial budget of US$ 1,083,450 for the six months from October 2008 – March 2009. An estimated 55,000 people will benefit from the undertaking. DFID's immediate aim is to improve the food security situation of farmers and their family members affected by the rat infestation and crop destruction, in addition to enhancing rural transportation and communication systems through work for food/money programs.

Yet, because the aid will have to come through Rangoon and the Burmese military government's Ministry for Development of the Border Areas and National Races and Ministry of Agriculture – in collaboration with the UN and other organizations active in the country – it is questionable just how much assistance will actually reach the most affected people. Exiled Chin groups based along the Indian-Burmese border have welcomed the aid, but are calling for a much broader relief approach, including cross-border aid, having set up their own food relief committees, including CFERC (Chin Famine Emergency Relief Committee) and CHRC (Chin Humanitarian Relief Committee.) These groups have a proven track record of being able to provide assistance to the most vulnerable victims, targeting over 70 villages.

However, due to a lack of financial capacity, local relief efforts are currently unable to have a sustainable impact and reach all the targeted villages.

Tlaiko, a father of four children from one of the worst affected townships in southern Chin state, passionately relates his thoughts on the aid proposal from Britain that will see all efforts first routed through Rangoon:

"You, the British, rescued and saved our spirits as R.A. Laurren (the first missionary from the U.K. to the people in this region, over 100 years ago) built our community, and now you have come to help us in our physical needs. But, we were so heartbroken when we heard that the donations of the U.K. are coming through Rangoon. It is impossible that the donations will reach us through Rangoon. The SPDC (military junta) have been stealing our belongings like thieves. They will surely steal all the assistance from you. How can your government believe them? We will get nothing I am sure. I would like you to think back to Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy delta. I think you know much better than we do about this. Assistance from your government directly to us on the border would be the quickest and best way."

A village headman from Matupi talked about how the mautam and the Burmese military have affected his village:

"The majority of people have harvested much less compared to last year. We have harvested as a village approximately 1,300 tins of rice, yet we should harvest 3,500 tins. We get nothing from them (the SPDC). Rather, they beat us and take many things like rice, pigs and goats. We heard so many times that they would help, and sometimes they come, but they only give words. It's sure they will be cheating us. We heard that even after Cyclone Nargis they took many things which should have reached the people."

Work for food initiatives

In a self-initiative spawned from a village council in India, villagers asked those from a neighboring village in Burma to clean the road between their villages, receiving 20 rice bags as payment. When asked about this work for food program, village leaders from

Burma were unanimous in their support.

"We want to work for rice, we want more work. Why should we not accept that? That is the best program for us as it will not only solve our food problem, but also assist in our development," prospered one village headman. "We have been working for the SPDC for no pay, portering and serving them, even as they killed our animals."

Just across the border in another village in Mizoram, things are considerably better. The Indian government has actively responded to the mautam, and since 2005 has introduced a 10-year scheme called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The aim of project is to develop agriculture, plantations and fisheries, in addition to undertaking road construction – by means of the government employing erstwhile unemployed members of the local community.

Satae, from a neighboring village in Burma, is now 69 and has spent his entire life in his village. He explains about how he would like to see a similar work for food/money initiative for his village:

"When we think about our village's development, we first think of having good work which can bring about a better solution to our food shortage and development. We heard that our brothers in India are working under a work for food program in Mizoram, which is benefiting the people a lot. We are just dreaming of getting such a beneficial work program. If we could have such a program, that will solve our food shortage problem and will also bring about sustainable development as well. We envy them."

Threatening the very core of Chin livlihood

As part of the traditional approach of shifting cultivation practiced by the Chin, this December and January signals the start of cutting and cleaning the jungle to make way for new paddy fields. March will see the burning of these areas to allow for the planting of new rice paddy in April. Yet, with many villagers having to leave their communities for India to seek food and work, it may prove difficult for them to grow and harvest their own food. As such, some of the very basic tenets of traditional life in Chin state, which have supported local communities for generations, are being threatened by the ongoing food crisis and the inadequate response of external actors to the plight of the population.

However, one thing I have learned, living in India, can be summarized in one sentence from Ghandi: "We have to be the change we want to see..."

READ MORE---> At the mercy of Mother Nature and Burma's generals...