Burma Video: Show Trial of Aung San Suu Kyi begins in Rangoon

Aung San Suu Kyi -the Burmese opposition leader has remained under house arrest since 2003.

The law called the "Law to Safeguard the State Against the Dangers of Those Desiring to Cause Subversive Acts" ordains that the maximum period someone could be held without trial was five years. Accordingly it was assumed that she would be released in 2008. This was not to reckon with the malfeasance of the Burmese junta which simply extended her detention by another year on the pretext that the first year of detention did nor count. She was now due for release in 2009. Undoubtedly the Burmese junta would have manufactured a pretext to ensure that she was not released.

Enter John Yettaw-an American who swam across Inya Lake on 3 May to reach the opposition leader's house. Undoubtedly the authorities could have prevented this but failed to act. He remained at the house for two days pleading exhaustion. This offered the Junta the perfect pretext to deny Ms Suu Kyi her liberty. Ms Suu Kyi and her two assistants were arrested and taken to Insein prison, where they went on trial today. She has no prospects of a fair trial. This is a show trial designed to ensure a prison sentence which will keep her out of circulation in 2010 when elections are due to be held.

China, India and Russia have strong trading links with Burma. There is also close military cooperation between the Chinese and the Burmese junta. China and Russia have vetoed resolutions at the UN designed to bring the junta to heel. Consequently the Butchers of Rangoon are impervious to realism. They feel impregnable. World public opinion is of little concern to them.

As a Mega Catastrophe unfolds it is time to implement the UN's "responsibility to protect" doctrine and invade Burma now

UN's "responsibility to protect" doctrine calls on the international community to invade any country if its government is not protecting its people. This doctrine was agreed by the UN to ensure that no further Rwandas would occur.

So far the UN estimates that c102,000 Burmese have perished; some 220,000 are missing; and close to 2.5 million are in dire need of clean water, shelter, food and medical treatment. The British-based charity Save the Children Fund says that 216,000 Burmese died in cyclone Nargis and its aftermath, just 9,000 fewer than died in of all 11 countries hit by the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The paranoid regime has rebuffed most offers of aid from the international community and appears determined to keep out relief workers on the pretext that they might incite revolution amongst a hungry and cowed populace.The Burmese army has seized much of the aid, which has got through and distributed it to soldiers or sold it on the black market. The government has even obstructed the distribution of rice by some citizens.

Britain, France, Spain , Canada and the EU have been strongly critical. The criticism may be gaining in intensity but the reality is that the international community is too tardy in its response.

China as usual this week disgraced itself and obstructed efforts at the UN to pressurise the Burmese generals. Extreme pressure must be exerted on China to use its undoubted influence on the generals to ensure delivery of aid to a stricken populace. China must alter its policy of support for the Junta at the UN.

The US, Canada, Britain and France amongst others must implement the UN's "responsibility to protect" doctrine immediately and ensure the delivery and distribution of aid by military means. The time for diplomatic niceties has passed.

Many thousands have already perished because of the obduracy of the Burmese Junta. The world has a Mega Catastrophe on its hands.

Burma: China blocks UN aid plans for victims of Cyclone Nargis

The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis in Burma has risen to 78,000. This is probably a conservative figure, yet the country's military regime continues block aid from reaching 2.5 million survivors. Diseases, such as cholera, dysentery and malaria, are spreading.

So great is the scale of the disaster that it is impossible for Burma to deal with the crisis on its own. Burma's Generals are shunning the world's offers of help. They fear that aid workers would sew the seeds of rebellion in the minds of starving people. So great is their paranoia that they are prepared to sacrifice many hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens.

China has the capacity can make the generals change their mind. China is prepared to accept international aid for the victims of the devastating earthquake in its southwestern region yet the Burmese regime continues to block aid efforts.

China has a very strong trading relationship and friendship with Burma's generals. It supplies them with armaments, economic assistance, covert security advice and protects them at the UN Security Council. This weekend China blocked moves at the UN for a Security Council resolution telling the generals to let aid in. How can China justify its decision to accept international aid for its own victims and yet obstruct aid for Burma?

Responsibility for the huge loss of life rests not alone with the Burmese Generals but also with Communist China.

Please email China and demand that they stop blocking UN action. Your email will be sent to the Chinese representatives at the UN and in the UK.
Please send an email now here:
The Burma Campaign UK