Burmese Junta Delays Humanitarian Aid

Six days ago, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma's Irrawaddy Delta killing as many as 100,000 people and destroying at least 95% of the buildings. Food and water are in short supply, and the unburied bodies of humans and livestock will soon add disease to the troubles of the survivors. It is the worst disaster to hit Asia since the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. Unlike during that disaster, the world has to plead with the government to let aid into the country to little avail.

Relief agencies are ready, willing and quite likely able to get supplies into the worst hit areas. They will need helicopters and boats, but those are available. They will also need visas for their staff, those are less common. Elizabeth Byrs, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA] in Geneva, said, “We have a team of five emergency relief members in Thailand. And they have applied for visas. But they are on standby.” The US has offered to fly aid in, but the government has demurred, while accepting aid from China, India and Indonesia.

One would think that a government of a country hit as badly as this would accept whatever help it could get. One would be wrong. Even the US, when New Orleans drowned until Hurricane Katrina, put politics ahead of people when it refused expert hurricane and medical aid from Cuba. The Burmese government is even more secretive and less democratic that the Bush administration.

What the junta fears is the presence of long-term aid workers, which might result it ties to the outside world. While not as closed off as North Korea, the Burmese people are kept away from foreign influences. Officially, this protects the Burmese culture, and unofficially, it keeps the generals in power. Aung Zaw, editor of the pro-opposition Irrawaddy Magazine, said, “This government is paranoid about foreigners coming in and establishing contacts with the people of Burma.”

The question is whether the government can still rely on the rank-and-file in the armed forces. If so, the junta has sufficient bayonets to make a throne. If not, the political storm may be greater than the cyclone that sparks it. Mr. Zaw said, “People who I've spoken to in Yangon [Rangoon] are very upset with the government. Soldiers who came out against the protesters are nowhere to be seen now.” That might just be the silver lining in this terrible disaster.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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