More news from Myanmar – both good and bad.

Junta Forcing Villagers Back To Ruined Villages Without Aid

Burma’s military government is forcing cyclone victims out of refugee camps and “dumping” them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, the United Nations said on Friday.

Eight camps set up earlier by the government for homeless victims in the Irrawaddy delta town of Bogale were “totally empty” as the clear-out continued, UNICEF official Teh Tai Ring told a meeting of aid groups.

“The government is moving people unannounced,” he said, adding that authorities were “dumping people in the approximate location of the villages, basically with nothing.”

Camps were also being closed in Laputta, another town in the delta, a low-lying area that took the brunt of Cyclone Nargis nearly a month ago.

Centralizing stricken people in the centers had made it easier for aid agencies to deliver emergency relief since many villages in the delta can only be reached by boat or over very rough roads.

Aid workers who have reached some of the remote villages say little remains that could sustain the former residents. Houses are destroyed, livestock have perished and food stocks have virtually run out. Medicines are nonexistent.

Karen Refugees Forced Back To Villages

Nearly 500 cyclone refugees from the Irrawaddy delta taking shelter in Christian missionary compounds in Rangoon’s Ahlone township have been ordered back to their villages, according to aid workers.

Most of the refugees are ethnic Karen Christians from villages around Labutta township area in the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta. They were brought to Rangoon by the Yangon Home Mission Karen Baptist Association and were kept in the group’s compound in Ahlone township. An aid worker said the refugees were ordered by Rangoon divisional chief general Hla Htay Win yesterday to go back to their villages within 24 hours. “The Rangoon divisional chief said the refugees were to go back to the Irrawaddy delta by tomorrow – he said there were refugee camps to give them shelter,” said the aid worker, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But in reality, there is nowhere for them to stay.”

Cyclone Death Toll Higher Than Junta Estimates

The death toll from Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma on 2 May, is likely to be greater than the military regime’s official estimate, according to a volunteer team from Mandalay.

The team said villagers in remote areas had told them the toll was higher than the government had estimated. “The government has stated that 77,738 are dead and 55,900 missing from the storm,” a team member said. “We haven’t so far heard of anyone who was missing arriving back home so let’s assume those missing are dead and that 133,638 were killed altogether,” he went on. “But we have been told by villagers that the death toll they experienced exceeded the government figures.”

The villages were on the far outskirts of cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta’s Bogalay, Dadaye and Phyar Pone townships.

The team witnessed the bodies of people and animals floating in the water during its ten-day trip. “We first arrived in one place on 15 May and saw 71 dead bodies floating around. We also saw dead cows and buffalos,” the team member said. “At first, we tried to arrange funerals for the people but we couldn’t do it as there were too many so we donated money to monasteries and asked local abbots to organise it.”

Myanmar Junta Condemns “Chocolate Bar” Aid

Myanmar’s junta lashed out at offers of foreign aid on Thursday, criticizing donors’ demands for access to the Irrawaddy delta and saying Cyclone Nargis’ 2.4 million 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 in a Burmese-language editorial.

As with all media in the former Burma, it is tightly controlled by the army and is believed to reflect the thinking of the top generals, who until now have shown signs of growing, albeit grudging, acceptance of outside cyclone assistance.

The editorial also accused the international community of being stingy, noting that the United Nations’ “flash appeal” was still a long way short of its $201 million target nearly four weeks after the disaster, which left 134,000 dead or missing.

Pray for the people of Myanmar!