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Aid 'will be rebadged'
May 14, 2008
AID officials have warned that Australia's shipment of aid to Burma will almost certainly be rebadged as the property of the Burmese military government.
Portions of the shipment are also likely to be siphoned off by corrupt officials following the May 2 cyclone which has left up to 100,000 people dead, the
Australian newspaper reports.
An Australian aid plane arrived in Rangoon yesterday to offload urgently needed supplies.
A senior aid official in Burma said there was little doubt the Australian aid would be rebadged as the property of the Burmese Junta.
Credible eyewitness accounts have detailed that UN aid had been similarly repackaged.
"The narrative is the military rescuing the nation," the official said.
"It's highly probably there will also be leakage of Australian aid."
"It's been the same with UK and US aid."
news.com.au
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EU looks to world bodies to help in Myanmar crisis - Summary
Tue, 13 May 2008
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The meeting "made clear ... the desire of the EU for regional partners, principally India, China and other members of ASEAN, to bring to bear their influence on the regime in Myanmar to allow free and unfettered access" for aid workers, British development minister Douglas Alexander said.
But it did not give explicit backing to a French proposal that the Myanmar regime should be forced to accept aid if it does not do so voluntarily, with EU officials instead pinning their hopes on a planned visit by EU aid commissioner Louis Michel to Myanmar.
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earthtimes.org
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About 60 timber vehicles cross check-point paying bribe
Tue 13 May 2008
About 60 vehicles carrying timber from Three Pagodas Pass (TPP) Township, on the Thai-Burma border town, entered Thailand crossing the check-point at 5 a.m. today, even though the border gate has been closed on both sides since May 2005.
Most of the timber are teak, the gum-kino tree, a kind of ironwood tree from Thapyu area, Zemi River in the the Karen National Union (KNU) area.
According to timber businessman in TPP, “All the timber vehicles passed the check-point gate directly by making part payments in advance as taxes to the Lieutenant- Colonel Hla Min in TPP”.
snip
See Also :
http://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asi...tml#post623657 (Thailand and Burmese Teak ...........)
monnews-imna.com
'Yes' votes stuffed by poll station staff in Mon state
Tue 13 May 2008
Loa Htaw, IMNA
Polling station staff stuffed 'Yes' votes for the constitutional referendum in Thoungpyin village of Lamine Sub-Township, Mon state, said a poll station staff.
Before the polling station closed, one of the staff members Zar Kyi Htway filled a lot of left over ballots with 'Yes' votes on behalf of those voters who did not come to vote, said the staff. "I saw that she filling up support votes for a long time." she continued.
"We got 1129 support, 925 against and 267 disqualifying votes on the constitution in the polling station in Thoungpyin village booth," she said.
"All of our family members’ ages are over 18 year, but we did not get ballots to go to the polling station to vote. We are not involved in any opposition movement and I do not understand why we did not get the chance," said a commission member.
Only about 2600 out of 9000 eligible voters received ballots to vote for the referendum in Thoungpyin village, he added.
A majority of eligible voters did not receive the ballots and the commission members voted instead of the voters, according to an authoritative source from the Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC).
Thoungpyin village is one of the strongholds of activists' in Mon state and the result from the poll station has shocked the villagers, said local observers.
monnews-imna.com
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'No Foreigners, No Cameras' in the Irrawaddy delta: Burmese PM
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
New Delhi – Burma's reclusive military junta has banned foreign aid workers from entering the Irrawaddy Delta, the region hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis, sources in the military said.
Burma Prime Minister Lt Gen Thein Sein on Tuesday told local Burmese businessmen assigned to help the reconstruction in Rangoon and the Irrawaddy Delta that foreigners would not be allowed in.
During the meeting held at Rangoon Military Command Headquarters, Thein Sein also said that anyone assigned to relief and reconstruction would not be allowed to carry cameras, the source said.
Junta propaganda continues for next referendum
Nem Davies
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
State-owned media has continuously aired propaganda for the upcoming constitutional referendum in cyclone-hit regions of Burma.
Myanmar Radio and Television has been broadcasting propaganda songs aimed at the 4 million eligible voters in Rangoon Township.
Most of the country has already voted, on May 10, except for voters in 47 townships in Rangoon and Irrawaddy division hit hard by Cyclone Nargis. Those voters will be able to cast their ballots on May 24.
"Every night, junta propaganda songs are released by government television from artists Kaing Zar and Nann Suu Yathi Soe," said an editor of a Rangoon-based magazine. "They said to vote 'yes' for the referendum."
A Rangoon resident said, "We do not watch Myanmar television at home anymore because there is nothing interesting to watch. Instead, we watch DVDs and Burmese movies."
snip
mizzima.com
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Referendum in Indo-Burma Border Area Postponed
5/13/2008
Dhaka: The referendum in at least two villages on the Indo-Burma border was postponed on 10 May as the Arakan Liberation Army seized the ballots a day before the polls were to open.
The villager said, "We could not cast votes in the referendum on 10 May as the ALA seized the ballots intending to disturb the referendum. The authority held the referendum the next day."
snip 37 Bangladeshis Repatriated by Burma
5/13/2008
Dhaka: Burma's border security force Nasaka handed over 37 Bangladesh nationals on Wednesday to Bangladesh Rifles after they had served three month jail terms, said a government source.
The source said Nasaka forces handed over the Bangladesh nationals opposite the Maungdaw border point, having crossed the Naff River by ferry.
The Bangladeshis had been arrested in Burmese waters on 4 January, 2008, as they were traveling to Malaysia in a machine boat.
snip
narinjara.com
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Civilian trucks forced to carry relief goods
by
admin — last modified 2008-05-13
Burmese military has been forcing 6 wheel and 10 wheel trucks to transport goods at Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, to Rangoon and Irrawaddy which were hit by Cyclone Nargis on 2-3 May, according to sources from Southern Shan State.
By Hawkeye/ Lieng Lern
The forced transportation started on 9 May.
"Burmese military stopped the incoming trucks and forced them to carry food, clothes and other materials to Rangoon. Currently, food and commodities such as salt is very expensive because the cyclone had destroyed the salt mines," the source said.
During the past few days, commodity prices have increased dramatically in Kunhing Township, 140 miles east of Taunggyi:
Before Now
Gasoline K 200,000 ($160) per barrel K 350,000($280)
Salt K 2,000 (1.6) per viss K 5,000($4)
Rice K 18,000 ($14.4) per pack K 22,000($17.6)
Cooking oil K 3,000 ($2.4) per viss K 6,000 ($4.8)
Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on 2-3 May. At least 100,000 people were believed to have been killed and millions homeless. Thousands of lives could have been saved if the military regime did not ignore the warning given by the Indian Meteorological Department 48 hours in advance about the likely area of landfall as well as time and intensity of the cyclone, say critics.
shanland.org
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QUOTE OF THE DAY 
This [issue of international assistance for Burma] is not about politics; it is about saving people's lives. There is absolutely no more time to lose.
—UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
irrawaddy.org
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Myanmar grants entry visa to EU aid official
13 May 2008
(
BRUSSELS) - EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said Tuesday that the Myanmar regime had granted him a visa to enter the cyclone-stricken country and that he would leave Brussels later in the day.
snip
eubusiness.com
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