Burma’s Junta Adds to Depth of the Disaster

The News & Advance
Published: May 12, 2008

In the days following a cyclone of apparent epic proportions, how do the government leaders of Burma move to help the thousands of homeless, starving people?

The military junta does nothing. The generals and other officers do nothing to help their people. And worse, as the world stands by to send food, clothing and other aid to the stricken delta area of the land christened “Myanmar” by its dictators, the junta is doing its best to block distribution of the aid.

Top U.S. diplomats believe the death toll from the cyclone that struck on May 3 could exceed 100,000 because of the widespread unsanitary conditions and unsafe food and water. The state media there put the death toll at more than 22,000 with more than 42,000 missing.

Offers of aid have poured into the impoverished Southeast Asian country since the storm struck, but only a handful of United Nations aid workers had been let in to help distribute aid as of late last week. The United States and other donor countries continued to wait for permission from Burma officials to enter the storm-stricken area. They could provide tons of assistance and disaster relief personnel to assess what the needs are and move ahead with efforts to help the people who desperately need help.

The military government has kept the nation isolated for nearly five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control of the people. That control has shown no signs of letting up in these dark days following the storm. Most of the aid offered was being held outside the country while awaiting the junta’s permission to deliver it.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. military was stepping up preparations for a relief mission, but said he couldn’t authorize air drops without permission from the closed regime. The U.S. military was moving aircraft, ships and Marines closer to Burma in case permission is granted to deliver humanitarian supplies.

In a development that defies the imagination, some supplies from the U.N. did get into the country, but the military regime plastered the boxes with the names of top generals to make it appear to the people that the supplies were a gift from the military. And government leaders insisted on holding a referendum on a controversial proposed constitution even as nearly a fourth of the nation’s 56 million people were reeling from the effects of the storm.

With voters going to the polls in other parts of Burma, state-run television ran images of top generals handing out boxes of aid at elaborate ceremonies.

Such callousness should be condemned by every member of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the U.N. Children’s fund said its staff in Burma reported seeing many people huddled in crude shelters and children who had lost their parents wandering aimlessly.

“There’s widespread devastation. Buildings and health centers are flattened and bloated dead animals (and humans) are floating around, which is an alarm for spreading disease. These are massive and horrific scenes,” said Patrick McCormick at UNICEF offices in New York.

This was a massive and horrific storm that leveled the Irrawaddy River delta more than a week ago leaving an estimated million people homeless.

And the country’s military regime is more concerned about keeping its iron grip on the people than it is in helping distribute the aid that awaits.

It’s appalling. The rest of the world should remember that in the weeks and months to come. Those 54 million residents of Burma deserve far better than what they are getting from the tin-pot dictator generals who are supposedly running the country.