Themes in the News: Myanmar / Burma

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WHO WORKS THERE: Prior to the cyclone: The Irish Missionary Union plus More from Alertnet. After the cyclone: contact details for press and communications officers of (and/or) Irish development NGOs.

SELECTED NEWS

Myanmar junta evicting destitute families
Myanmar's junta has started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centres, apparently out of concern the "tented villages" might become permanent. Survivors say they've been given 20 bamboo poles and some tarpaulins to help rebuild their lives in the Irrawaddy delta (Reuters, 30/05/08). Human rights groups have lambasted Myanmar’s military rulers. "The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance," Human Rights Watch said (AP, 01/06/08).

• Irish aid agency Trocaire has a lot of experience building cyclone shelters in southeast Asia. Contact Trocaire's humanitarian officer in Central and South Asia, Caitlin Brady in Islamabad, on +92 51 2655185 ext 106.
• Relief agency Church World Service says children and elderly people are dying from dysentery.
• British-based humanitarian experts have published their ideas and experiences from past relief operations to help pass on lessons learnt to aid workers in Myanmar and China. Contact Leah Kreitzman at the Overseas Development Institute in London on +44 (0)207 7922 0431.
• Cyclone Nargis has created food shortages even outside the devastated regions. Basic food prices have more than tripled in parts of western Myanmar, heavily dependent on supplies from the Irrawaddy Delta where the May 2 storm wrecked rice fields, killed livestock and forced thousands of farmers off the land. Soaring prices compound Myanmar’s cyclone misery (Reuters, 02/06/08)
• AlertNet has a wide selection of maps - showing how aid work is being divided up in Myanmar and which areas are most in need - many of them provided by emergency experts from MapAction.

Myanmar cyclone aid restrictions continue
Southeast Asian nations will take the lead in an international aid effort for cyclone-hit Myanmar, but the ruling military junta will not allow unfettered access for relief teams, Singapore says. Medical workers from ASEAN countries will be allowed in, but entry of aid workers from outside ASEAN will be on a case-by-case basis. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the world body and ASEAN should coordinate a ramped-up relief effort for the 2.5 million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis. Ban is due to fly to Yangon this week to tour the hardest-hit Irrawaddy Delta and is expected to meet with junta supremo Than Shwe, who refused to take a call from him after the cyclone. Nargis, which struck two weeks ago, has left 134,000 dead or missing (Alertnet, 19/05/08). See Alertnet special coverage section for news, facts, pictures, video, aid agency reports, maps and more.

The Junta has come under increasing pressure over its handling of aid (see Aid refusal is a ’crime against humanity’). Its response has been contrasted unfavourably with that of China to its earthquake (see: Quake helps mend China’s image). However, China is one of several countries, including Thailand and India, that are accused of propping up the Burmese regime.

The Burmese generals, who have done a most effective job in preventing the world from witnessing the wholly ineffective way in which they appear to have dealt with the devastation brought to the Irrawaddy delta by Cyclone Nargis, writes Kim Fletcher. She says that Burma exposes as nonsense the idea that the world has become a global village (Guardian, 19/05/08).

Aid refusal is a ’crime against humanity’
The Burma government’s refusal to allow external aid to be delivered to people in need or in danger after Cyclone Nargis "could lead to a true crime against humanity", a leading diplomat has warned. France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said the junta has rejected 1,500 tons of relief, carried on a French navy ship intended for the cyclone victims (Sky News, 17/05/08). Ripert was repeating the language used some days earlier by Pierre Fouillant, of the French aid group Comité de Secours Internationaux (The Times, 13/05/08).

There is a growing debate about whether such obstruction amounts to a crime against humanity, one that requires the United Nations to forcibly deliver relief supplies under its "responsibility to protect" principle. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, has suggested the United Nations use "all means" to help the victims (International Herald Tribune Editorial, 14/05/08).

The world "is witnessing a fundamental abuse in Burma which cannot be condoned or countenanced in any respect", Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin told the Dáil (Irish Times, 16/05/08). Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins expressed reservations about the immediate consequences of condemning the regime. Labour foreign affairs spokesman Michael D Higgins said the "action of the Burmese generals in not allowing aid to move from Thailand is literally a savage act visiting death on their own people." He added that those "of us who call our neutrality ’positive neutrality’ must accept that humanitarian protection overrides any extreme version of sovereignty". The Government has committed €1 million in funding disaster relief. Members of the Irish Rapid Response Corps may be dispatched to the crisis zone (Irish Aid, 06/05/08).

The democracies on the Security Council won’t introduce a resolution calling on the junta to accept aid because they expect China and possibly Russia to veto it, writes Matthew Continetti in the Weekly Standard (26/05/08 issue). He suggests putting it to a vote: let the world see who is willing to assist the afflicted Burmese and who is willing to stand in the way.

Survivors of the Burma cyclone are reportedly being used as forced labour in government camps. The ’New Light of Myanmar’ newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said Burma can be rebuilt without outside help (Irish Independent, 16/5/08).

Toll of Burma's cyclone could extend beyond its borders
Burma’s military government told foreign diplomats Monday that the death toll from a devastating weekend cyclone could reach 10,000, as officials made a rare appeal for international help to bring relief to survivors of the storm’s fury (Washington Post, 05/05/08). Myanmar has since raised the cyclone death toll to 22,500 (Reuters, 06/05/08). Irish NGOs have set up a website for disaster response (above).

Critics of Myanmar’s military rulers slammed the junta’s decision to press ahead with a controversial May 10 constitutional referendum (Reuters, 05/05/08). Larry Jagan, journalist and Burma specialist, says Burma’s military rulers are being urged to allow aid agencies to operate freely in the country in the wake of the cyclone (RTÉ radio, 05/05/08). US First Lady Laura Bush accused Myanmar’s military rulers Monday of failing to warn their citizens in time and pressed the junta to accept US aid in the disaster’s wake (AFP, 05/05/08).

The disaster may have ill effects well beyond Myanmar’s borders. UN agencies such as the WFP are already suffering huge strains on their finances because of the soaring cost of rice and other food staples. Having another big emergency on their hands may force them to divert scarce resources from other needy parts. Worse, the cyclone, which hit Myanmar’s main rice-growing areas, may intensify the worldwide panic over scarce rice supplies that have led to food riots in dozens of countries. Burma was once the world’s biggest rice exporter and one of Asia’s most developed countries (Economist, 05/05/08).

Flooding, which poured damaging salt water into paddy fields, could create long-term food insecurity for Myanmar and other poor Asian countries, World Food Programme spokesman Paul Risley warned Tuesday (AFP, 06/05/08).

Chinese to meet Dalai envoy despite nationalistic fervour
Susan Shirk, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of California at San Diego believes that growing nationalism in China may limit the ability of the government to compromise in international realtions. "It will be difficult for China to go back to being a calm, cooperative, mature, responsible power," says Shirk (Time, 05/05/08 issue). Nevertheless, China has agreed to meet a representative of the Dalai Lama - a move welcomed by the EU (Reuters, 25/04/08). The Economist believes the move and China's modest help over Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan has happened because of, not despite, criticism from abroad (01/05/08).

Burma junta charges leading protesters... and promise elections
People in Myanmar welcomed the military government’s promise of multi-party elections in 2010 on Sunday as an opportunity to be seized, despite deep skepticism from opposition politicians and abroad (Reuters, 10/2/08).

Burma’s military junta has charged 10 activists detained during last year’s fuel protests, including top dissident Min Ko Naing (The Independent, 30/1/08). Amnesty International said the government’s continued imprisonment of political activists stands at 96 arrests since 1 November 2007 (25/1/08). To date at least 700 people arrested during and since the September protests remain behind bars, while 1,150 political prisoners held prior to the protests have not been released, according to their research.

'Despots Masquerading as Democrats'
The actions of the Burmese Junta highlight the disconnect between human rights and the words 'democracy' and 'election'.

"Rarely has democracy been so acclaimed yet so breached, so promoted yet so disrespected, so important yet so disappointing. Today, democracy has become the sine qua non of legitimacy. Few governments want to be seen as undemocratic. Yet the credentials of the claimants have not kept pace with democracy’s growing popularity. These days, even overt dictators aspire to the status conferred by the democracy label..." - Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, in Human Rights Watch World Report 2008 (launched - January 31, 2008)

In the six weeks since Kenya’s disputed election, the frenetic diplomacy amplified the silence coming out of China (Economist, 7/2/08). An editorial in Beijing’s People’s Daily on January 14th upset Kenya’s opposition by saying that “Western-style democratic theory simply isn’t suited to African conditions but rather it carries with it the root of disaster. The elections crisis in Kenya is just one example.”

Nevertheless, China has not only used the D-word in sorrow or anger. Roth writes that in an October 2007 speech to the Communist Party Congress, President Hu Jintao used the word “democracy” more than 60 times in calling for more of it within the party. Yet that has not stopped him from barring independent political parties, blocking legal efforts to uphold basic rights, and shutting down countless civil society organizations, media outlets, and websites. And there are no national elections. So what did he have in mind? The party allowed 221 candidates to contest 204 seats for its Central Committee.

The year's unreported stories - MSF and Foreign Policy Magazine
People struggling to survive violence, forced displacement, and disease in the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere often went underreported this year and much of the past decade, according to the 10th annual list of the “Top Ten” Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories, released today by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (20/12/07).

The 2007 list (see summary) also highlights the plight of people living through other forgotten crises, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, and Chechnya, where the displacement by war of millions continues. It also focuses on tuberculosis (TB) and childhood malnutrition. Contact: MSF Ireland.

Foreign Policy magazine has also challenged readers to see The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2007 (December 2007). At no.8: dengue fever linked to climate change. Warmer climates may be putting millions of people around the world at risk for the disease, a virus that causes excruciating pain in people’s joints. This year is on track to be the worst year in nearly a decade for the mosquito-borne virus, also known as "bone-breaker disease."

Burma: For Muslims and other minorities, the monks’ battle was not their fight (Economist, 19/12/07)


EU and ASEAN call for Myanmar democracy
The European Union and Southeast Asian leaders called on Thursday for enhanced economic cooperation and the release of political detainees in military-ruled Myanmar, but set no deadlines for either. The two blocs clashed over sanctions (Reuters, 22/11/07).


ASEAN’s failure over Myanmar is costing credibility and may jeopardise a planned trade deal with the United States (Economist, 22/11/07). "But after urging Myanmar to work with the UN to bring democracy, the summiteers backed down at once when (Myanmar’s Prime Minister) General Thein Sein objected to their plan for Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s envoy to Myanmar, to brief them at the summit. The only leader to show some grit was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines..."

(The Economist said the general was welcomed as "a family member" in Singapore. However, from an article in the Bangkok Post, it is not clear whether it was Burma or its leadership that was described in those terms. In any event, Thein Sein did not come under significant pressure from ASEAN members.)


Aung San Suu Kyi is "very optimistic" despite house arrest
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday (09/11/07) that she is "very optimistic" about the U.N.-promoted effort to start talks between the military government and pro-democracy forces, but appeared resigned to remaining under house arrest.

On Monday (12/11/07) UN Human Rights Rapporteur visited Insein Prison and the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery, the scene of a bloody crackdown by security forces during the pro-democracy demonstrations (The Irrawaddy). 


More gas please says Thailand
European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday Oct 15th to strengthen sanctions on military-ruled Myanmar in response to its bloody crackdown on protests last month. In an opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British counterpart David Miliband said incentives were needed too (15/10/07). EU External Relations Commission Benita Ferrero-Walder said U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambarai "is the only one who has a chance for leverage at the moment," she said. "I think he should have sticks and carrots in order to be able to work."

U.S. President George W. Bush also recently announced tougher sanctions on Burma’s brutal military government, hoping to pressure the ruling junta to stand aside. Foreign Policy Magazine (Oct 07) takes a closer look at Burma’s major exports and suggests why this strategy is likely to fail.

According to the Economist, it is not China but Thailand that is Myanmar’s biggest export market and is proceeding with contracts to buy more natural gas from the military regime. India has also been "successfully bought off" (11/10/07). The Boston Globe accuses it of "shameful collaboration" (15/10/07).

Comment: Kouchner and Miliband seem willing to put (at least moral) pressure on Burma's Asian neighbours (and not only back Gambarai). They said in their opinion piece: "It is clear that for Asean in particular turning a blind eye to such a repressive government would damage its credibility."  Is the EU willing to ratchet up the pressure on Burma's willing export markets?


"Fear is endemic in Burma, but then so too is bravery"
...according to BBC News website’s Kate McGeown, who has just returned from visiting Burma’s main city, Rangoon. The Military are trying to blame the BBC, RFA and VOA, describing them as "killers in the air waves", "sabateurs" and "airing skyful of lies" (BBC, 08/10/07)


"Thanks for keeping this story alive"
The headline quote above was in reference to Burma, and was made by Charles Petrie, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Rangoon talking to Morning Ireland (12/10/07) 


A New Approach to Burma
“Over the past decade, Burma has gone from being an antidemocratic embarrassment and humanitarian disaster to being a serious threat to its neighbors' security. The international community must change its approach to the country's junta.”  This is the summary of two experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, writing in an exclusive preview of the forthcoming November/December issue of Foreign Affairs.

“The international community needs to act now to begin a process of concentrated and coordinated engagement for the benefit of the Burmese people and of broader peace and stability in Asia,” they conclude.

From The Economist: “If the world acts in concert, the violence should be the last spasm of a vicious regime in its death throes.” Also: “The outside world shares responsibility for the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar” (Background).

Commentary from the European press

Some Chinese academics and diplomats argue that the international community may be overestimating what Beijing can do.

Larry Jagan, former BBC Correspondent in Burma, reports that there is a lull in the pro-democracy protests, but that demonstrations should return in the coming days (Real Audio)

After a month of protests within Myanmar, the country's borders with Thailand and Bangladesh were still quiet on Monday, with no signs of people fleeing to seek refuge abroad.

International bloggers are coming together to mark October 4th as the international bloggers day for Burma.

Who's afraid of the Dalai Lama China?
Darfur and Burma have thrown a spotlight on China that may cast a shadow over the Olympics. And so has Tibet… German chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to support the Dalai Lama’s efforts to preserve Tibet’s cultural identity after a meeting in Berlin yesterday that prompted a furious reaction from Beijing (Irish Times, 24/09/07). The Dalai Lama said that "Many other people in power keep an astonishing distance," adding that there would be no long-term consequences from China.  

In 2004, Tony Blair was accused of a snubbing the Dalai Lama. However George Bush met him in 2003. He met Mary McAleese in 2000. In November 1998, the Taoiseach said that China should be willing to talk directly to the Dalai Lama in his address to the Amnesty International Lunch. According to one commentator, "Mary O’Rourke, together with Bertie Ahern, privately met with the Dalai Lama once on a visit here, but the Irish Government’s official policy remains one of keeping quiet about China’s human rights record."

Darfur and Burma have thrown a spotlight on China that may cast a shadow over the Olympics. And so has Tibet… German chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to support the Dalai Lama’s efforts to preserve Tibet’s cultural identity after a meeting in Berlin yesterday that prompted a furious reaction from Beijing (Irish Times, 24/09/07). The Dalai Lama said that "Many other people in power keep an astonishing distance," adding that there would be no long-term consequences from China.  

Burma/Myanmar:  UN vist; Red Cross denounces abuses; Asian nations up pressure
"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) yesterday accused Myanmar’s ruling junta of committing serious abuses against detainees and civilians in a rare public censure from the humanitarian agency." (Irish Times, 17/08/07) 

U.N. special envoy to Myanmar expects to visit the country during September. A previous envoy quit in frustration in January 2006 but the UN managed to engage more with the government later that year.

On July 30, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) decided to form a human rights commission as it put pressure on the Myanmar Junta