ASEAN:  Political Situation in Burma Still Impeding Aid | Voice of America - English
Burma will continue to require international aid to ensure communities hard hit by the devastation from Cyclone Nargis are able to avoid starvation. But, as Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, despite the help from the United Nations and Association of South East Asian Nations, senior ASEAN officials says the political situation in Burma continues to hinder their efforts.
The Association of South East AsianNations, or ASEAN, is warning that the international community needs tocontinue to maintain support for relief operations in Burma. Burmaneeds at least $1 billion in emergency relief andreconstruction over the next three years for the hardest hit areas inthe Irrawaddy delta region that bore the brunt May 2 cyclone. Morethan 130,000 people were killed or remain missing from the cyclone,with the total cost of rebuilding estimated at more $4 billion. ASEAN,together with the United Nations and Burma, formed the Tripartite CoreGroup after the international community pressured the Burmesegovernment to open the country for more assistance. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary general, told reporters Friday that recovery efforts are ongoing. "The emergency, the recovery is still with us," he said. "That is solid. We are not going into any long-term planning." Thetripartite group this week released the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment(PONJA) report, based on surveys conducted by 250 officials andvolunteers of the worst affected regions. Puji Pujiono, a seniorUnited Nations Development Program (UNDP) officer, said that while thepolitical situation in Burma is impeding aid efforts, there has beensome success in helping the hardest hit communities. "Where weare standing now our colleagues, the political complication remainsthere, it will continue to be there for the months to come," he said."The suffering is still there, people still lacking food, shelter andso on. But we have the mechanisms; we have done something right in thistripartite core group." The storm wiped out around 4,000schools and about 75 percent of health facilities and damaged ordestroyed about 800,000 houses and more than 600,000 hectares offarmland. Don Baker, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in Burma,says the international community's continuing efforts remain vital forrecovery. "Nobody has died since the cyclone from starvation butwhen we did the PONJA survey more than half of the population at thattime only had food supplies for one day," he said. "So we have to keepthe food going until the next harvest and even beyond because this nextharvest is not going to be a full one." The New York-basedHuman Rights Watch, while commending the Tripartite Core Group, warnedassistance to victims was still being hampered by the militarygovernment. Human Rights Watch said large numbers of people arestill not receiving aid and face food shortages, shelter needs, lackbasic sanitation and face grave psychological consequences from thecyclone's impact.