Burma (Myanmar) jails cyclone Nargis journalist - 60 opposition activists jailed in last two weeks

The following report appears in Al Jazeera:
"A Myanmarese (Burmese) journalist has reportedly been sentenced to two years in prison for critical coverage of the military government's response to a devastating cyclone, according to colleagues. Dozens of critics of the country's ruling generals have been jailed in recent weeks, according to human rights organisations and legal sources.
Colleagues of Ein Khaing Oo told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday that she was sentenced the previous day after being convicted of "disturbing tranquility" in a closed-door trial.
Ein Khaing Oo, a reporter for the weekly Myanmar-language magazine Eco Vision, was arrested on June 10 while covering a demonstration by victims of the cyclone...."
".....Another 17 pro-democracy activists were jailed for between two and 16 years at hearings in yangon and Mandalay on Friday, according to legal sources"...
"...Up to 60 opposition activists are believed to have been jailed in the last two weeks.."

With media attention focused mainly the world economic crisis the Burmese junta has taken advantage of the situation and has begun a crack down on pro democracy activists. The Butchers of Rangoon have learned nothing.
Russia and China have vetoed efforts at the UN Security Council to bring Burma to heel. It is now time for both countries to alter course and to support US and EU efforts to cripple the Burmese regime.

The tyrants of Rangoon are impervious to realism and feel that their position is impregnable. This feeling is buttressed by the determination of the Chinese, Russians and Indians to continue trading with the junta. The world must not stand idly by.

Burma (Myanmar)-Field of Death

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Burma: On the ground in the Irrawaddy Delta -The general and current situation of Laputta hit by Cyclone Nargis as seen by an Eyewitness

"The whole town was devastated and all the buildings were falling down without rescue. The majority of locals living in Laputta lost their homes and businesses and everything belonging to them. As well there are shortages of food on a daily basis.

A few days after the storm, the victims who lost their families and villages in closed area of Laputta town began arriving in Laputta to rely on rescues and demand their needs in the refugee camps. Some victims have walked across along the farming fields filled with dead bodies for two or three days.

Seriously, when arriving the Laputta, there are no proper places- for the victims -prepared by the authorities. Presently, there are three main refugee camps recognized by the local authority. At least, more than ten thousands victims are staying contemporarily there, sleeping on the wet ground under the miserable roofs in the camps of the monasteries and pagodas areas and some victims are staying outside in the rain. They have no proper toilets and enough water for drinking and cleaning up. People don’t have vaccination forthcoming-soon diseases like diarrhoea. Most of the victims are patients who are suffering with diseases infected before.

The volunteering clinics have not enough medicine for patients. Only the hospital is full with the patients and it can't accept next new patients because of lack of medicine and free beds. Volunteer doctors are concerned about the victims because of the air, ground and water pollution because the toilets are pouring with human waste and flowing near by local areas. So they want to build the healthy toilets to prevent the diseases.

Each victim just gets a little rice for a day from government. Most of the children (Orphans) need to get nutrition, enough hygienic foods, cooking pots, plates, spoons, clothes, mosquito-nets, temporary-roof and toilet."

(Taken from MBA student with thanks)

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

Burmese (Myanmar) survivors of cyclone Nargis in danger

With a repressive regime thwarting foreign aid efforts, Myanmar survivors face a slew of dangerous issues that may cause the already colossal death toll to rise. Allen Pizzey reports

Burma- It is time for Military Intervention by the US, UK and France to ensure delivery and distribution of humanitatian aid

Almost two weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis struck Burma. But aid and relief agencies forecast that less than 30 % of victims are reachable and that less than 10 % of foods and aids have been distributed. Millions of survivors are still waiting in the flooded swamps crippled by disease and starvation. Meanwhile the international community is still waiting at the gate to donate money and foodstuffs.

Today EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said before an emergency meeting of EU ministers in Brussels that the international community should use all possible means to deliver aid to victims of the Burma cyclone.
He also stated that the United Nations charter could be used to facilitate the delivery of foreign aid to Burma if as seems likely the Burmese Junta continues to obstruct delivery of foreign aid.

Nearly three years ago at a summit celebrating the UN’s 60th birthday, 171 nations agreed that they would intervene, forcefully if necessary, if a state failed to protect its own people. So the UN promised that- if a government abused or neglected its own people-it would step in. Apparently there would be no more genocides such as those witnessed in Rwanda.
Unfortunately the UN has failed to fulfil its promise and Javier Solana's comments are too little too late. The time for talking has ended.

It is now time for the US, the UK and France to intervene militarily to ensure delivery and distribution of foreign aid. The Bush regime would go out on a high. This would mark a high point in the Bush Presidency. It would also help negative much of the bad publicity emanating from Iraq. It would be a win win situation for the US and the people of Burma.
It is now or never.
As the following illustrates the Butchers of Rangoon are beyond redemption.
According to Mizzima News

"military rulers imposed new restrictions on foreign and Burmese aid workers trying to enter the country's cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta. They have also banned journalists and the use of cameras.The secret order was told to Burmese businessmen – who are assigned to help with the reconstruction of Rangoon and the Irrawaddy Delta – on Tuesday by Prime Minister Lt-Gen Thein Sein during a meeting at the Rangoon Military Command.A source close to the military told Mizzima, "Thein Sein yesterday stated that no foreigners will be allowed to go to the delta. Even for these [Burmese] companies, no cameras will be allowed."…………

Delta Destruction in Burma:This video shows disturbing images of destruction caused by cyclone Nargis-Please help

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Burma-Callous Regime is impervious to plight of victims of cyclone Nargis. It is time for international intervention

One week has elapsed since cyclone Nargis devastated the heavily populated Irrawaddy Delta and on up to the capital Rangoon. Little foreign aid has reached the country testimony to the obduracy and paranoia of a regime which fears that foreign aid workers might contaminate the minds of a cowed populace.

The death toll from the Cyclone is estimated at 60,000 to 140,000 lives. Oxfam, which has staff on the ground, has witnessed the early outbreak of disease amongst the displaced population. It estimates that the death toll could rise to 1,500,000 in the coming weeks if immediate action is not taken.

The border has been opened for one overland convoy, but the regime is still blocking the delivery of the bulk of desperately needed medical and food supplies.
The tyrants of Rangoon have systematically stymied efforts from the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the estimated two million cyclone victims.

China a staunch supporter of this discredited regime has behaved irresponsibly and has done little to ease the situation. Chinese influence could ensure an immediate policy change. Unfortunately Chinese foreign policy- in relation to countries such as Burma and Sudan- is governed by the need to advance Chinese economic interests at all costs. A death toll of 100,000 means little to China- a country whose foreign policy lacks a moral base. It is time to treat China as an international pariah unless it alters its policy in Burma and Sudan.

The US, UK and France amongst others must use whatever means are necessary to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the affected areas. If military intervention is deemed necessary so be it. To hell with the junta. Is the world prepared to stand by and allow 1,500,000 people to perish?

Burma-International community fails pro democracy movement

The UN Security Council has once more displayed its powerlessness in the face of tyranny. Ibrahim Gambari, addressing the U.N. Security Council after a four-day visit to Myanmar said that the Burmese government must recognize that what happened there "can have serious international repercussions." Interesting to note the use of the word can. This illustrates clearly the ineffectiveness and relative powerlessness of the UN. Once more China has intervened to protect the junta. China opposes the sanctions on the basis that that the measures will impact on the population more than the government. This is a cop out. It is not in the least concerned with human rights violations in Burma once its economic interests are protected. The same applies to India and Russia.
China and Russia are major obstacles to world peace and are neutralising the UN Security Council through the use of the veto.

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party dismissed the Burmese junta's offer of talks as a surrender demand on Friday. Her steely determination is an inspiration to all who seek justice There is an interesting contrast between her approach and that of the
lily-livered leaders of China and Russia.

The obduracy of the Junta is buttressed by the support it is receiving from China and Russia. It is time for the international community to boycott the Beijing Olympics of 2008. The international outcry at the brutality of the junta has been negatived by the absence of worthwhile action by the major powers to cripple the tyrants of Rangoon.
Citizens in the US and EU countries must keep up the pressure on their governments to take meaningful action to remove the Butchers of Rangoon.