Authorities Harass Local NGOs, Private Donors

Burma’s military government is hindering and even blocking local people from sending aid to the victims of cyclone Nargis, adding to the frustration and anger sweeping the nation.

Donors have contacted The Irrawaddy, complaining that security forces monitored their activities and interrogated them when they attempted to hand over food and water to cyclone survivors in Rangoon and the Irrawaddy delta.

Some said they had been told all aid must be channeled through the military. Rangoon sources said the local authorities and members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) intimidated private donors attempting to deliver relief supplies. Donors were reportedly ordered to hand over the aid to USDA members.

In Mandalay, Monywa and Sagaing, residents are being told by the local authorities not to collect donations.

In Rangoon, one volunteer, Soe Kyi, was stopped by local officials in suburban Thaketa Township, and asked if he had obtained permission from authorities in Naypyidaw to distribute aid.

When members of the Rangoon-based private charity “Free Funeral Services Society (FFSS)" attempted to buy dried fish for cyclone victims in Rangoon's Bayint Naung wholesale market, they were approached by plainclothes military officers, who also questioned a shop owner.

The FFSS is led by a popular regime opponent, actor-turned-social worker Kyaw Thu, who earned government displeasure and a month’s jail sentence when he joined in last September’s demonstrations.

The FFSS normally provides free funerals for people who can’t afford the cost, but since the cyclone struck it has diverted its energies to helping the cyclone victims.

Apart from putting obstacles in the way of aid deliveries, local authorities are harassing survivors, forcing them to leave the refuge of monasteries. Soldiers took part in ejecting homeless people from monasteries in Rangoon’s Hlaingtharyar Township.

Meanwhile, contracts are already being issued to local companies to rebuild destroyed houses, government buildings and schools in the Irrawaddy delta.

The Htoo Trading Company, favored by the military regime, received several contracts to rebuild schools and houses in Bogalay and Dedaye townships. 

Htoo Company is owned by Tay Za, a wealthy tycoon who is among the regime cronies on a US government sanctions list. Tay Za has been visiting cyclone-hit areas of the Irrawaddy delta to inspect reconstruction sites.