The Burmese government has turned against its people yet again, and this time, only days after promising UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon that all foreign aid workers would be let in to the country.
The latest stunt from the regime is rumoured to be, evicting starving Burmese cyclone victims from government run emergency camps. Apparently, the greedy regime generously gave the cyclone victims bamboo poles and tarpaulins and told them to go and rebuild their lives.
Terje Skavdal, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, could not confirm the closure of the camps, but stated: “People need to be assisted in the settlements and satisfactory conditions need to be created before they can return to their place of origins…Any forced or coerced movement of people is completely unacceptable.”
We seem to be hearing these statements from UN representatives a lot lately, but still there doesn’t seem to be much progress and improvement in the lives of the Burmese people. 2,4 million cyclone victims are still homeless and lacking sufficient food supplies.
But then again, it must be hard negotiating with this irrational regime, particularly as long as the Burmese government is unwilling to ‘realise’ the reality and consequence of this natural disaster.
The Burmese- language daily, Myanma Ahlin said: “cyclone survivors could get by without bars of chocolate from the international community.”
The cyclone caused the death of at least of 78,000 people, 56,000 are still missing and 2,4 million people are homeless. I say, ‘chocolate bars’ from the International community is exactly what the Burmese people need, and the International community should step up and pressure the Burmese government harder than ever before, as everyday that goes by more and more people are at the risk of dying. We have been keeping our eyes closed for too long…
