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Myanmar starts mass evictions from cyclone camps
2008-05-30
Myanmar's junta started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centers on Friday, apparently fearing the 'tented villages' might become permanent. "It is better that they move to their homes where they are more stable," a government official said at one camp where people had been told to clear out at short notice. "Here, they are relying on donations and it is not stable." Locals and aid workers said 39 camps in the immediate vicinity of Kyauktan, 30 km (20 miles) south of Yangon, were being cleared as part of a general eviction plan. "We knew we had to go at some point but we had hoped for more support," 21-year-old trishaw driver Kyaw Moe Thu said as he trudged out of the camp with his five brothers and sisters. They had been given 20 bamboo poles and some tarpaulins to help rebuild their lives in the Irrawaddy delta, where 134,000 people were left dead or missing by Cyclone Nargis on May 2. "Right now, we are disappointed," Kyaw Moe Thu said. "We were promised 30 poles by the government. They told us we will get rice each month, but right now we have nothing." Singapore said Myanmar's generals were wary of admitting foreign aid workers because it would show they were not capable of handling the disaster. "The military leaders surely know that foreign aid will save lives and help to rebuild the devastated areas. But they also fear the political consequence of opening up the disaster zone to international aid teams," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a security conference in Singapore. "This might show up their own incapability, and undermine their credibility and legitimacy," he said. Four weeks after the disaster, the United Nations says fewer than half of the 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have received help from the government, or international or local aid groups. A shortage of flat-bottomed boats is hampering delivery of aid, the European Union executive said on Friday, with little or no aid reaching isolated rural communities. Rumors are flying around the international aid community in Yangon that the evictions are occurring in state-run refugee centers across the delta, but the United Nations did not know if that was the case. 'CHOCOLATE BARS' "We certainly don't endorse premature return to where there are no services, and any forced or coerced movement is completely unacceptable," U.N. spokeswoman Amanda Pitt said in Bangkok. The evictions come a day after official media in the former Burma lashed out at offers of foreign aid, criticizing donors' demands for access to the delta and saying cyclone victims could "stand by themselves." "The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliance without chocolate bars donated by foreign countries," the Kyemon newspaper said. The media is believed to reflect the thinking of the top generals, who until now have shown signs of grudging acceptance of outside cyclone assistance. Nearly a week after junta leader Than Shwe promised to allow in "all" legitimate foreign aid workers, 45 remaining U.N. visa requests had been approved on Wednesday, but red tape is still hampering access to the delta. The government has said the rescue and relief effort is largely over and it is focused on reconstruction. In Geneva, the International labor Organisation said Myanmar may try to use forced labor to rebuild the country. The ILO warned of "the increased risk of incidences of forced labor, child labor, human trafficking and migrant labor as the authorities and individuals come to grips with the sheer size of the tragedy." Around Kyauktan, authorities are moving displaced people out of schools ahead of the start of a new term in June. But aid workers said that could be delayed by a month in the delta. The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said more than 4,000 basic schools were either damaged or destroyed, affecting 1.1 million students, according to government figures. The New Light of Myanmar accused donors of being stingy, noting that the United Nations' "flash appeal" was still short of its $201 million target nearly four weeks after the disaster, which left 134,000 dead or missing. The tone of the editorial is at odds with recent praise of the U.N. relief effort, but follows criticism of the junta's extension this week of the five-year house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (Additional reporting by Ed Davies in BANGKOK and Jan Dahinten and Melanie Lee in Singapore) (Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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