Rights Group Warns Donors to Monitor Aid

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged foreign donors on Friday to closely manage aid deliveries heading into cyclone-affected areas of Burma to ensure supplies are not stolen by the military authorities.
 
“The delivery of relief supplies can’t be left entirely in the hands of the Burmese army, or aid simply won’t reach those most in need,” Brad Adams, Asia director for HRW was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.  
 

Cyclone survivors wait in line for rice donations on the outskirts of Rangoon, on Friday. (Photo: AP)

“Without independent monitors on the ground, we can’t be sure the aid is reaching those most at risk,” he added.

HRW said it had heard that military officials pocketed or sold high-energy biscuits and shelter supplies flown in by foreign governments and relief agencies, while officials distributed low-quality substitutes instead.  

However, some aid agencies confirmed they were getting supplies through to the people in need.

Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Friday evening from Bangkok, a communications officer for Médecins Sans Frontières, Veronique Terrasse, confirmed that its relief workers in the field have to date delivered some 275 tons of supplies, including high-energy biscuits, rice, plastic sheeting and medicines, directly to cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta.  

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it has dispatched enough aid for 100,000 survivors in the delta—700 tons of rice, high-energy biscuits and beans—but it could not confirm how many people had actually received supplies.

Speaking from one of the worst affected areas in the delta, Laputta, a Burmese doctor, Aye Kyu, who has worked closely with international relief workers, said aid supplies were not sufficient even for the refugees in Laputta Township. There are 80,000 refugees in Laputta alone, he said.  

He suggested that much of the problem in Laputta lay with local authorities—members of the Ward Peace and Development Council—who siphon off food and supplies passed on to them for delivery to victims of the disaster.

Aye Kyu also claimed that a group of some 20,000 refugees from Laputta who were sent to Myaung Mya town to seek food and aid were indirectly forced to work with the army by Burmese authorities.   

“The authorities asked the refugees to join the army. If they didn’t accept, they wouldn’t get any food,” he said. “The authorities also recruited refugees as forced labor. So, many refugees were afraid and returned immediately to Laputta without food.” 

Burma’s Prime Minister, Gen Thein Sein, recently told his Thai counterpart, Samak Sundaravej, that only the state government could provide relief to the hundreds of thousands of victims who are currently sheltering in temporary camps—many outdoors without food or water.     

Meanwhile, five C-130 US flights loaded with aid supplies arrived in Rangoon on Thursday. The flights included USAID-funded blankets and bottles of water procured by the US Department of Defense. To date, the US has flown 13 airlifts of supplies from Thailand’s Utapao military base to Rangoon.    

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 22 UN agencies and non-governmental organizations were conducting assessments in 58 cyclone-affected townships as of May 13, while many foreign relief workers are still waiting for visas to enter Burma.   
 
According to OCHA, some 1.6 to 2.5 million people have become homeless since the disaster. There were 6.3 million people living in the Irrawaddy delta before the cyclone, according to Burmese government records.