U.N. halts aid to Myanmar after junta seizes supplies

Friday 09th May, 06:34 PM JST

YANGON, Myanmar —

A U.N. official says the World Food Program is suspending cyclone aid to Myanmar because its government seized supplies flown into the country. He says the WFP has no choice but to suspend the shipments until the matter is resolved.

WFP spokesman Paul Risley said Friday that all “the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated.” The shipment included 38 tons of high-energy biscuits.

Risley said it is not clear why the material was seized.

Earlier, the United Nations blasted Myanmar’s military government, saying its refusal to let in foreign aid workers to help victims of a devastating cyclone was “unprecedented” in the history of humanitarian work.

While the junta dithered and appeared overwhelmed by last Saturday’s disaster, more than 1 million homeless people waited for food, shelter and medicine. Many crammed into Buddhist monasteries or just camped out in the open.

Entire villages were submerged in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, with bodies floating in salty water and children ripped from their parents’ arms. At least 62,000 people are dead or missing, state media reported, and aid groups warned that thousands of children may have been orphaned and the area is on the verge of a medical disaster.

While accepting international aid, the isolationist regime of this Southeast Asian nation has refused to grant visas to foreign aid workers who could assess the extent of the disaster and manage the logistics.

“The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts,” said Risley. “It’s astonishing.”

He said the WFP submitted 10 visa applications around the world, including six in Bangkok, but none has been approved.

“We strongly urge the government of Myanmar to process these visa applications as quickly as possible, including work over the weekend,” he said.

The junta said in a statement Friday it was grateful to the international community for its assistance — which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies — but the best way to help was just to send in material rather than personnel.

One relief flight was sent back after landing in Yangon on Thursday because it carried a search-and-rescue team and media representatives who had not received permission to enter the country, the junta said. It did not give details, but said the plane had flown in from Qatar, apparently referring to a U.N. flight.

The announcement came as critical aid and experts to go with it were poised in neighboring Thailand and elsewhere to rush into Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest nations.

“Believe me the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area. The government only cares about its own stability. They don’t care about the plight of the people,” said Yangon food shop owner Joseph Kyaw, one of many residents angry at the regime for doing little to help them recover from the storm’s destruction.

Among those waiting in Thailand were members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team. Air Force transport planes and helicopters packed with supplies also sat waiting for a green light to enter Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Myanmar allowed the first major international aid shipment Thursday — four U.N. planes carrying high-energy biscuits, including one which was apparently turned back. On Friday, state-owned television showed a cargo plane from Italy with water containers, food and plastic sheets at Yangon international airport.

It is not clear how much of the aid is reaching the Irrawaddy delta. The U.N. estimates 1.5 million people have been “severely affected” and voiced “significant concern” about the disposal of dead bodies.

A Norway-based opposition news network, the Democratic Voice of Burma, provided graphic details of misery. In the village of Kongyangon, someone had written in Burmese, “We are all in trouble. Please come help us” on black asphalt, a video from the opposition group showed. A few feet away was another plea: “We’re hungry,” the words too small to be seen by air rescuers.

According to state media, 22,997 people died and 42,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis, which hit the country’s Irrawaddy delta on Saturday. Shari Villarosa, who heads the United States Embassy in Yangon, said the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because of illnesses.

Grim assessments about what lies ahead continued: The aid group Action Against Hunger noted that the delta region is known as the country’s granary, and the cyclone hit before the harvest.

“If the harvest has been destroyed this will have a devastating impact on food security in Myanmar,” the group said.

Anders Ladegaard, secretary-general of the Danish Red Cross, called the relief operation “a nightmare.”

“There are problems to the aid inside Myanmar and there are problems to get the aid out to the delta area. There are almost no boats and no helicopters,” Ladegaard said by satellite telephone to Danish broadcaster DR.

In Yangon itself, the price of increasingly scarce water shot up by more than 500%, and rice and oil jumped by 60% over the last three days, the group said.

Hardships in the country’s largest city have prompted some embassies, including that of the U.S., to send diplomats’ families out of the country.

Although the military regime had begun allowing in the first major international aid shipments, it snubbed a U.S. offer to help cyclone victims.

By doing so, the junta refused to take advantage of Washington’s enormous ability to deliver aid quickly, which was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

With roads in the Irrawaddy delta washed out and the infrastructure in shambles, large swaths of the region are accessible only by air, something few other countries are equipped to handle as well as the U.S.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told reporters Friday that he will try to go to Myanmar on Sunday to persuade the junta to accept U.S. help.

But the junta told Samak his Myanmar counterpart is too busy to meet with him, said a Thai army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

But a Taiwanese Buddhist leader who just returned from Yangon said Friday that Myanmar had mobilized soldiers and civilians to transport aid to cyclone victims.

“They try to handle the relief work by themselves as much as possible because they don’t have the time to deal with external criticism,” Master Hsin Tao said.

Latest 15 of 37 Total Comments Show All

Alphaape at 03:30 AM JST - 10th May

Nyein, As someone who knows how military operations occur, a 3 ship Amphbious Group is not enough to get the population moving to start a revolt. With the war in Iraq and Afg, the US is not looking to take on another "liberation job.'

After the tsunami in 2004, US military ships and personnel provided massive relief efforts to the area. I was working coordinating the event, and I can tell you that the last thing on the military mind was setting up cells to get the people to revolt. Since Indonesia is the largest muslim population country in the world, you would expect the Royal Saudi family to scratch off a major check to help. Didn't happen. The bulk of the heavy lift was done by the US forces. Setting up water purification systems, and dropping medical personnel and evacuating stranded people. At no time where we looking to do any conversions or anything of the nature. If you look at Indonesia now, they still are not too keen on the US, and that is fine by me. At I don't see them asking for massive help from the Saudi's when things go wrong.

Yes the US has the apparatus to get the job done quickly, but the Saudi's have something that we don't readily have, and that is the quick cash to get things moving in the right direction. But you hardly see that in these cases.

I hope that the world pays heed to what is going on in Burma, and see how dealing with crackpot leaders will end up hurting millions. It is too bad the people that need the most help will not get the big picture, since they will get the official spin from the junta. Just look at North Korea, and the tons of food aid that goes there, and they still think that the US is waiting to take over.

What does the the female resitance leader who is under house arrest (I can't think of her name) have to say about all of this. I hope that she made it through the storms or will they be used as a cover for the junta to finally get rid of her.

I pray for the victims.
Jyan_Bon at 03:47 AM JST - 10th May

I HAVE WRITTEN IN MY EARLIER POSTINGS and ......I AM WRITING AGAIN NOW!!!!!!!.GEN.THAN SHWE WILL NOT LET THE INTERNATIONAL HELP INSIDE THE COUNTRY UNTIL HIS (sham) NATIONAL REFERENDUM (using coercion on voters),TOMORROW, IS DONE AND WON AS PLANNED. This referendum on Draft Constitution ,which was draw up by the military ,one-sidedly, without the participation of people's elected representatives, democratic parties and ethnic nationals is designed to legalize the military rule in Myanmar forever.
Jyan_Bon at 04:08 AM JST - 10th May

ALSO,....this new Constitution is very VERY important for Snr.Gen. Than Shwe, because it is specially designed to allow the military leaders walk free without facing any kind of legal charges or punishment for their past, present and future crimes against it's own people.
beavis at 05:12 AM JST - 10th May

The only oil in Myanmar is floating in the streets so I think the U.S. intent to purely offer aid is legitimate.

Nyein -With the lack of potable water, I don't think rice is a good idea as an immediate sustenance . I'd personally rather choke down one of the biscuits if my life depended on it.
amerijap at 05:40 AM JST - 10th May

Perhaps, we should add this autocratic, heartless, merciless, anti-humanistic military junta in an 'axis of evil' list.
apecNetworks at 06:25 AM JST - 10th May

This is a better situation

In the letters, Dr Surin said the ASEAN Secretariat has been informed by the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management that relief and rescue teams from ASEAN Member States are on standby to be mobilized to render immediate assistance to Myanmar. “This is in line with the spirit and commitment under the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response of July 2005, which Myanmar and five other ASEAN Member States have already ratified,” Dr Surin emphasised.

http://www.aseansec.org/21514.htm

Even if Myanmar was in APEC, central command of aid coordination should be handled by ASEAN b/c Myanmar is a member and they all know each others' culture/history. In other words, point blank relations. Operative phrase: superior awareness overrides superior numbers. Goooooooooo ASEAN!!!!
Nyein_Chan at 06:45 AM JST - 10th May

A well-orchestrated U.S military campaign of intimidation (if not invasion) is well on its way. Washington Post reports that “Three or four [war]ships began a five-day journey to a location off Burma to be available to offer aid.” (Amy Kazmin, Colum Lynch and Howard Schneider, Burma Seizes U.N. Food Deliveries, Washington Post, Friday, May 9, 2008; 9:41 AM) The media has released a news report that says – true or untrue matters less later like the Saddam Hussein’s attempts to buy uranium – that Burmese military impounded UN relief aid. The media has been feeding the public in the past four days that the Burmese military government has refused to accept the humanitarian assistance in order to establish a good reason of war (casus belli).

U.S (along with France) has hinted a possibly legitimate reason to send their armed forces into Burmese territory: the “responsibility to protect.”

A natural disaster that causes tens of thousands of deaths, if not a hundred thousand, and that threatens a million or more, will by and large rally the shallow public opinion in support of military campaigns.

Of course, the well-orchestrated U.S military campaign was intended to intimidate (if not invade) Burma.

Are the U.S warships, aircrafts and helicopters going to start a fight immediately? NOT necessarily. They are there just to encourage the population to rise up against the Burmese military government like a people’s power revolution and to discourage the soldiers from shooting in the crackdown.

Why is the timing? The cyclone devastation can establish a good reason of war (casus belli) and the constitutional referendum is the last chance (some wrongly assume) to overthrow the Burmese military government.
Nyein_Chan at 06:46 AM JST - 10th May

Why doesn’t the Burmese government – or the Referendum Commission in particular – want to postpone the referendum in the entire country?

One possible reason is that the Cyclone hit very badly only in several regions of the country and the referendum could go on as scheduled in the rest of the country. If a hurricane, May GOD forbid, hit the NY-NJ-PA tri-state area a few days earlier, would US postpone its presidential elections scheduled on Nov 4, 2008?

Even in the five regions declared as natural disaster zone, approximately 47 townships were ravaged. So, the referendum could be held as scheduled in the rest of the country. The latest news is that the government postponed the referendum in the severely-hit areas, 40 out of 45 townships in Yangon province and 7 in Irrawaddy.

If the referendum is held in five days on May 10 as scheduled in the country except the 47 most-severely-hit townships, the government – less concerned about another attempt at people’s power revolution in the presence of international aid workers – might be able to allow more international aid teams into the country, especially for the longer-term reconstruction and rebuilding.

The international teams wouldn’t – and shouldn’t plan to –stay on in Burma for the next two or three years until after the general elections scheduled in 2010.

The darker side of the story is that the Burmese military government might be wrong in thinking that the natural disaster and its efforts might be in its favor, resulting in the approval of the constitutional draft.

The usual scenario of the aftermath of natural disasters is that the soldiers – usually national guards in U.S – marched into the disaster hit areas, cleaned up the mess, do the difficult tasks and embraced the people’s favor. I believe that the Burmese soldiers did so and should also regain its people’s favor.

However, the oversea Burmese Opposition is getting one step ahead and maligning the Burmese military, wrongly alleging in the Burmese-language radio programs that the military fail to adequately respond the natural disaster of such magnitude; that they don’t see soldiers in the streets although there were soldiers cleaning up the main roads (think snow routes) essential for resuming the trade and essential government services. You can look at the wire news photos with the soldiers cleaning up the debris from the fallen trees on the main roads.

One such tactics is to fault the military for not helping the people enough, placing the words in the mouth of the anti-regime trishaw driver and the First Lady of U.S.

We will have to see the true attitude of the Burmese people towards the military and their appreciation of its relief efforts when the referendum poll results from the worst-hit areas are released in the future.

Can the Burmese military win back – as it did win until the mid 1980’s – the hearts and minds of its people in addition to winning the referendum?
Nyein_Chan at 06:48 AM JST - 10th May

beavis wrote at 05:12 AM JST - 10th May

Nyein -With the lack of potable water, I don't think rice is a good idea as an immediate sustenance . I'd personally rather choke down one of the biscuits if my life depended on it.

We the Burmese don’t eat biscuits NOT because we know their taste BUT because we just simply don’t take them as staple food. On the other hand, I don’t know how scare the food is in the storm-hit regions although I am inclined to think not as bad as you might think.
Nyein_Chan at 06:50 AM JST - 10th May

Indonesian government accepted U.S aid during Tsunami because the former didn’t have any problem with the latter. On the other hand, U.S has a regime change (without using U.S military) policy according to David Steinberg, Burma expert at Georgetown University. On the other hand, the constitutional referendum is scheduled in Burma tomorrow on May 10. The Burmese military government wants the draft constitution ratified. Its opponents want the draft rejected (if possible, the referendum disrupted). U.S (and France) supports the regime opponents. U.S House of Representatives went so far as taking jurisdiction over the draft constitution of another country and passing a concurrent resolution (House Con. 317), calling the Bush Administration and UN to reject the referendum (process) and draft constitution (outcome). Apparently, the Burmese military government won’t allow U.S military aircrafts into the country.

Alphaape, Burmese military government is more risk-averse than Indonesian SBY's government. The latter studied in U.S. and befriended many American generals.
Jyan_Bon at 06:54 AM JST - 10th May

Nyein Chan (02:59 am-10th May), Can you not come-up with more plausible and intelligent excuse than to blame on "biscuits". The Pakistanese, Indonesians, Sri Lankan , Indian and Thai governments, all received with gratitude, the same kind of "biscuits" for their Tsunami victims, although their countrymen do not eat biscuits as their meal. Have you heard of "Beggers can't be choosers" ? Besides, what makes you think Burmese (illegal) military government's image is good in the first place for the news to damage it? Don't think too highly of your masters.
Alphaape at 10:20 AM JST - 10th May

Nyein, The Indonesian gov't and people does have serious issues against the US and it's gov't. In fact, we were amazed, on the military end, that we were allowed such access to help out. Remember, they were still smarting from our support of East Timor, and the support we were showing diplomatically for the Aceh rebels.

Politics aside, I think the junta should let the flow of goods go to the people. What better way to shove thier referendum down the throats of their people along with a little rice. Even in the hey day of the USSR, the US still sent grain subsidies when the crops were bad.

All of this stalling will just be another line in the sad story of how the junta there screwed its own people.
Everton2 at 10:38 AM JST - 10th May

The Military is facilitating genocide against its own people. If there was ever a case to use force it is now.
skipthesong at 12:37 PM JST - 10th May

Jyan_Bon Your response to Nyein Chan's post was right on. Hey, I don't eat red meat nor pork, but if I am in a disaster area and I am hurting or my family, I can put traditions and culture to the side. Food is food for the most part.

Actually, if this goes any further, its going to remind me of Somalia.
presto345 at 06:58 PM JST - 10th May

This is not about a biscuit crisis. Let's not diverge from the real problem and the subject here. It's about the junta not letting relief supplies get to those who need it most. The U.N. had no other choice in their decision to halt supplies. Many people, all over the world, who considered making donations, will do the same: they will abort.