War bill helps Iraqis, may ignore Katrina victims

Emmy Award winning journalist to receive special recognition from Zayed Prize

Emmy Award winning journalist, author, and television personality Anderson Hays Cooper will receive a special recognition from the Zayed International Prize for the Environment for his outstanding contributions to investigative journalism and reports on the CNN news Show Anderson Cooper 360°.

From BBC World News:

Blogger’s Note: Is this poor woman EVER going to be allowed to live a normal life, out in public? *sigh*

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the past 18 years in detention

Burma’s ruling junta has renewed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.

Police earlier detained about 20 activists as they marched to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s home in Rangoon, where she has been held since May 2003.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he regretted the extension of the detention, while US President George W Bush said he was “deeply troubled” by the decision.

Ms Suu Kyi’s party won 1990 elections, but she was denied power by the junta.

The 62-year-old National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years in detention.

Police bundled a number of opposition activists into a truck as they marched on Tuesday from the NLD party headquarters to her lakeside villa in Rangoon.

Correspondents had expected her house arrest – which has been renewed annually – to be rolled over for another year.

Map of the cyclone zone Will Burma keep its word on aid? Burmese anger at junta

Her supporters have argued that she must now legally be either released or put on trial.

Extending her detention will likely provoke further criticism of the junta by an international community already frustrated by the military’s handling of the relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.

The cyclone, which struck on 2 May, has left 134,000 people dead or missing and another 2.4m clinging to survival. Donors pledged nearly $50m (£25m) in aid at a landmark summit in Rangoon on Sunday.

The regime has been under fire for stalling foreign aid destined for cyclone victims.

‘Coercion’ claim

Ms Suu Kyi’s detention has long been the cause of friction between the junta and the international community.

Her party used the anniversary to denounce the regime’s claim that 93% of voters had endorsed a new military-backed constitution at a recent referendum.

It said the vote was a “sham” that was not free or fair, and claimed the authorities “used coercion, intimidated, deceived, misrepresented and used undue influence” to boost the number of “yes” votes.

The party also denounced the regime for holding the referendum so soon after Cyclone Nargis, saying the ruling generals only considered “power politics and self-interest”, not public welfare.

Mr Ban, the UN secretary general, made his comments while briefing reporters about his recent trip to Burma, also known as Myanmar.

“The sooner restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards inclusive national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy, and full respect for human rights,” he said.

Mr Bush called for the release of all political prisoners, and for the military rulers to enter a “genuine dialogue” with pro-democracy and ethnic minority groups.

He said the US would continue to provide aid for Burma’s cyclone victims, despite the decision, but it would also “support the Burmese people’s long-term struggle for freedom”.

More than 2 million people in Burma still need aid, the UN estimates

Burma has approved all pending visas for UN staff, in a sign the regime intends to keep its promise to allow in all foreign aid workers.

More foreign relief workers from other groups are also being permitted to enter the Irrawaddy Delta, which took the brunt of last month’s cyclone.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week urged Burma to allow humanitarian relief into the stricken country.

The UN estimates that more than two million people still need aid.

The move comes as Burma said it had officially adopted a new constitution, which it claims was endorsed by an overwhelming majority of Burmese people in a national referendum earlier this month.

But there were widespread reports of irregularities during the poll, and critics alleged that holding the vote so soon after the cyclone showed a lack of sensitivity towards the victims.

Promise kept

The junta’s new stance on international aid is being interpreted as a sign that the authoritarian regime intends to keep its promise to grant access to aid workers from all countries.

Last week’s offer by senior General Than Shwe to the UN secretary general to allow in “all foreign aid workers, regardless of nationality”, appeared to be a breakthrough, according to the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

The ruling junta had previously insisted that it could adequately provide for the victims of Cyclone Nargis on its own.

Our correspondent adds that this is perhaps because of pride, or because of intense suspicion of any large-scale foreign presence on the part of junta.

Map of the cyclone zone Will Burma keep its word on aid? Burmese anger at junta

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the former UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, told the BBC in an interview on Wednesday that the cyclone crisis had helped achieve more active dialogue with the junta.

He said that the international relief operation could have positive ramifications for Burma’s future democratic development.

Burmese state media has long insisted that the junta was capable of handling the crisis on its own and reported on Thursday that people in the delta could survive on “fresh vegetables that grow wild in the fields and on protein-rich fish from the rivers”.

The Burmese-language daily, Myanma Ahlin, wrote in an editorial on Thursday that “Myanmar [Burmese] people are self-reliant and can stand on their own without foreign asssistance.”

The cyclone devastated large swathes of land in key coastal areas of the Irrawaddy Delta. Farmers in that part of Burma provide two-thirds of the country’s rice harvest.

The UN has said that efforts need to be made to help the region’s farmers to work again and supply them with rice seed by the end of June, or Burma’s rice harvest this year and next will fail.

At least 78,000 people have died as a result of the cyclone, and 56,000 people are still missing.

<p>SaveDarfur.org has a post called “<a href=”http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/background/”>The Genocide in Darfur – Briefing Paper</a>” that’s worth checking out…</p>

<blockquote>
<p>
June 2007 Background Sudan is the largest country in Africa, located just south of Egypt on the eastern edge of the Sahara desert. The country’s major economic resource is oil. But, as in other developing countries with oil, this resource is not…
</p>
</blockquote>

I was just informed that AmeriCares just did their 10th Airlift to Darfur last week. Here’s some more information:

The delivery includes 15 tons of medicines and medical supplies bound for el-Geneina today. AmeriCares has been able to eliminate the potential for delivery delays or convoy attacks on supply trucks coming from Khartoum by flying aid directly into Darfur . AmeriCares delivered the much-needed medical supplies to their partner, Save the Children, and other health care organizations working in West Darfur .

“As conflict continues to rage across Darfur, the global aid community is charged to do all we can to help save lives and restore health to the refugee populations in Darfur ,” said Curt Welling , President & CEO of AmeriCares. “While AmeriCares and many other organizations are working tirelessly to provide relief in Myanmar and China following the recent natural disasters, we cannot forget about the ongoing assistance needed in Darfur . It is our responsibility to use the significant resources at our disposal to help end the suffering for all those in need – wherever they are, whenever they need it.”

Since 2004, AmeriCares has delivered a total of 152 tons of medicines and supplies to North, South and West Darfur . The staggering size of today’s airlift is due to the generous donation of medicines and supplies from corporate partners including Shire, Hospira, Fougera and Baxter International, Inc.

Two additional airlifts are in the planning states to North and South Sudan later this year.

]]> http://mandyconners.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/the-crisis-in-darfur-the-help-is-coming-but-more-is-needed/feed/ 0 mandyconners Women in Darfur http://mandyconners.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/americares-lands-in-burma-over-the-weekend-to-offer-some-relief/ http://mandyconners.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/americares-lands-in-burma-over-the-weekend-to-offer-some-relief/#comments Wed, 21 May 2008 20:23:19 +0000 Mandy http://mandyconners.wordpress.com/?p=15 ]]>

I got these courtesy of Erin Skinner, from AmeriCares, as a short documentation of the relief workers landing in Burma over the weekend.

May 16, 2008
Doctors Without Borders Calls For Immediate and Unobstructed Escalation of Myanmar Relief Operations

Yangon/Geneva/New York, May 16, 2008—Fourteen days after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the needs remain immense in the Irawaddy Delta. Teams with the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are delivering direct medical assistance and relief supplies to tens of thousands of people. However, MSF urges an immediate scale up of overall relief operations, which have been deployed far too slowly and are largely insufficient.

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and many are gathered in makeshift camps. They are in urgent need of drinking water, food, and other basic necessities. Elsewhere, survivors are living among the remains of their homes, surrounded by floodwater.

MSF already had medical projects in Myanmar before the cyclone hit. This has enabled MSF to immediately respond to the catastrophe in the Delta, bringing relief directly to the populations. Teams now work in over 20 different locations and are managing to push further into the outlying areas. They treat several hundred patients each day. In addition to wounds, the main health problems are respiratory infections, fever, and diarrhea. So far, 140 tons of relief materials have been flown into the country. More than 275 tons of food have been distributed since the beginning of operations.

“Although MSF is able to provide a certain level of direct assistance, the overall relief effort is clearly inadequate,” said Bruno Jochum, MSF director of operations. “Thousands of people affected by the cyclone are in a critical state and are in urgent need of relief. The aid effort is hampered by government-imposed restrictions on international staff working in the Delta region,” he said. “For example, despite the fact that some MSF water and sanitation specialists have been granted visas to enter Myanmar, they have not been permitted to travel into the disaster area, where their expertise is desperately needed. An effective emergency operation of this magnitude requires coordinators and technical staff experienced in large-scale emergency response.”

MSF calls on the Government of Myanmar to allow for an immediate increase of the relief effort and free and unhindered access of international humanitarian staff to the affected areas.

MSF has worked in Myanmar since 1992. At present, 250 MSF staff are working in the Irawaddy Delta in the areas of Pyanpon, Bogaley, Haingyi, Pyinsalu, Tongwa, Labutta, Thingangon, and Chaungzu. Some 30 international staff are mostly confined to Yangon. So far, MSF has flown in four cargo planes with emergency items including water and sanitation equipment, medical supplies, therapeutic food, and other relief supplies. A fifth plane is due to arrive in Yangon on Friday, May 16. MSF has been able to receive these goods in its warehouses in Yangon, from where they are further dispatched by MSF teams to logistics bases in Pathein and Bogaley in the Delta. Boats chartered by MSF are then used for onward transport into the disaster area.

From the Washington Post:

Transcript

Post-Disaster Aid in Burma, China

Video

China Welcomes Aid As Death Toll Rises

The Chinese government says it will welcome offers of foreign aid after the country was rocked by a massive earthquake that has killed nearly 12,000 people.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

Cristoph Gorder

AmeriCares Vice President of Emergency Response; AmeriCares Director of Strategic Initiatives
Tuesday, May 13, 2008; 10:00 AM

The past week has seen two devastating natural disasters strike Asia — a typhoon in Burma may have killed more than 60,000, and an earthquake in China, where at least 8,500 died.

Christoph Gorder, who is coordinating Burma and China relief as vice president of AmeriCares, was online Tuesday, May 13 at 10 a.m. ET to discuss the post-disaster situations in Burma and China, the bureaucratic hurdles slowing interantional aid, and how Americans can help the victims.

The transcript follows.

____________________

Christoph Gorder: Good morning. This is Christoph Gorder, Vice President of Emergency Response at AmeriCares. We are a US-based international relief organization with aid workers in Yangon. We have been responding to natural and man-made disasters around the world for 25 years and look forward to answering your questions.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: What exactly can someone in the Mid-Atlantic region do for the people enduring these catastrophes?

Christoph Gorder: Our ability to help depends on the support of many people like you. In this case, logistical challenges are extraordinary, so we need people to stay the course with us while we overcome them. Progress is being made every day. The best way for you to help us is to support us financially. Many of the medicines we are sending are donated by the manufacturers and your contributions pay directly for airlift and on-the-ground distribution to the hard hit southern delta region.

_______________________

Newton, Mass.: Why doesn’t the U.S. begin unilaterally air-dropping aid to the desperate people of Myanmar? I understand that this would violate the principle of national sovereignty, but isn’t there an even more important principle at stake here — the survival of hundreds of thousands of people?

Christoph Gorder: Aside from the issue of sovereignty, in this case, air drops would not be very effective in a flooded delta region. The population is very scattered and dispersed. The option of unilateral aid has been raised, but there is broad consensus that coordinated distribution by truck and boat will be the most effective in putting the supplies and food in the hands of the people who need it.

_______________________

Sarasota, Fla.: The news reports say that the aid-givers are “blocked” from reaching the victims. What measures are the military rulers of Myanmar using to prevent organizations like AmeriCares from helping those who need it? Also, doesn’t the United Nations charter specifically state that when a disaster like this occurs, the authorities — in this case the Myanmar government — “shall grant and facilitate the free passage of humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced”? That is taken verbatim from the “United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.”

Christoph Gorder: The government ministries have stringent restrictions on the movement of international aid workers outside of Yangon. These restrictions are heightened in the aftermath of the disaster, but movement for international staff in Myanmar has been controlled for decades. There is a tremendous outpouring of sympathy and compassion for victims from the local community. Burmese doctors, nurses and NGO staff are being given passage to the affected areas. AmeriCares is working to supply those doctors and nurses because there is a acute shortage of life-saving medicines.

_______________________

Sarasota, Fla.: Can you elaborate on what, specifically, the “bureaucratic hurdles” are, that organizations like AmeriCares must try to deal with?

Christoph Gorder: In the aftermath of any disaster, including Hurricane Katrina in this country or the tsunami in southeast Asia, there are protocols for landing permits, flight plans, visas, operating permission, etc… A disaster of this magnitude is overwhelming to the authorities. Myanmar has never experienced a disaster of this scale and does not have the capacity or experience in processing this type of international outpouring of relief. The political complications enhance this. AmeriCares has staff in Yangon who are daily meeting with the various government ministries to navigate the hurdles and we believe that we will be successful in these endeavors, based on our past experience in similarly complicated environments.

_______________________

Washington: My father is visiting Southwest China on vacation. I don’t think he was in the city at the center of the earthquake, but I have yet to hear from him since it happened. At what point should I be worried? How is the communications in neighboring providences? And what is the best thing to do if you have friends/family in a natural disaster area overseas?

Christoph Gorder: I hope your father is safe and can contact you soon. These are heartwrenching times for millions of people as they seek news of their loved ones and seek to be reunited with their families.

Natural disasters knock out power and communications lines. Sometimes it takes days, if not weeks, to restore these facilities. Organizations will be setting up family reunion centers and information about these and how to contact them are normally published in newspapers and announced on the radio.

I sincerely hope you find him soon.

_______________________

Washington: How do relief organizations deal with two disasters at once? How are you able to send aid to Myanmar and address the earthquake in China — aren’t you stretched too thin? Do you have permanent operations in these places that you mobilize when a disaster happens?

Christoph Gorder: AmeriCares is prepared to respond to multiple disasters simultaneously. We respond to more than 30 disasters a year around the world, in addition to maintaining ongoing support to protracted crises, such as Darfur. After the tsunami in 2004, we operated large-scale relief efforts in three countries.

In addition to all the work we are doing in and around Myanmar, a second team began assembling in Beijing yesterday, where we are mobilizing resources to help in China. We are also preparing to launch our tenth airlift into Darfur within days.

AmeriCares specializes in putting medicines and medical supplies in the hands of health workes in disaster zones.

_______________________

Washington: What did it accomplish for Laura Bush to come out and immediately denounce the government of Myanmar? To get outside aid to the victims it is necessary to be pleasant to local governments in all situations. Her rhetoric doomed a lot people in a situation where they didn’t have much of a chance to begin with.

Christoph Gorder: The focus on politics is a distraction from the people who are suffering and dying every day. Our mission as a humanitarian aid organization is to save lives and right now we are focussing all of our energies on doing just that.

_______________________

Washington: It’s been more than a week, and people in Myanmar still aren’t getting food and water. How long is it going to take to get relief to these victims, and how long are they going to need help?

Christoph Gorder: We are still in the early phases of the immediate relief effort. The health workers are overwhelmed by people arriving with lacerations and abbrasions that are succeptible to infection. We are also seeing a lot of blunt trauma such as broken bones and internal injuries. We’re starting to see more diarrhea and respritatory infections and we worry about cholera and other deadly outbreaks. The antibiotics, pain medication, rehydration therapy and wound care supplies we’re sending are critical to this phase.

We expect to transition in the coming weeks and months to a longer term strategy for displaced populations and restoring health services. The people are totally dependent on rural health centers, and those have been completely decimated.

There is much to be done and it will take a long time. We are committed to do everything in our ability to help. Our capacity will be–in large degree–dependent on public support. 98% of our resources are allocated to our relief programs. Every bit of help counts. You can learn more about us at www.americares.org

Thank you all for your concern and compassion for the people of both Myanmar and China.

_______________________

Editor’s Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.

Congo: Four Priorities for Sustainable Peace in Ituri

Africa Report N°140
13 May 2008

Blogger’s Note: On to China….let’s see how the aid situation turns out here. Dealing with communist countries/military dictatorships, is never good for humanitarian ethics…at least, as I have found thus far into my research.

Struggle to Reach Quake Survivors

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rescuers evacuated a survivor from a collapsed building on Tuesday in Dujiangyan, China. More Photos >

BEIJING — Tens of thousands of people across southwest China remained buried beneath rubble on Tuesday as rescue workers struggled to reach areas cut off by a powerful earthquake that has left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands of others injured or homeless.

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Multimedia

Interactive Map

Earthquake in Sichuan Province

Photographs

Digging Through the Disaster

Photographs

Powerful Earthquake Hits China

Enlarge This Image

Color China Photo, via Associated Press

Rescuers searched for earthquake victims amid the debris of a hospital in Dujiangyan on Monday night. More Photos »

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

An elderly patient after being evacuated from a hospital in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province after the earthquake on Monday. More Photos >

By late evening Tuesday, the official death toll had exceeded 12,000, according to state media, quoting provincial officials, making it China’s deadliest natural disaster in three decades. Officials said they thought the death toll could still climb dramatically higher as workers broke through to the affected areas and the full scope of the disaster became clearer.

The authorities said that more than 18,000 people were still unaccounted for in Mianyang County in Sichuan Province and another 2,300 were missing in the collapse of a school and two factories in the nearby town of Shifang.

As a steady rain fell throughout the day, emergency workers struggled to pull survivors and bodies from flattened buildings in the few towns accessible to heavy rescue machinery. Nearly 2,000 of the dead included students and teachers killed when school buildings in the region crumbled.

More than 1,300 soldiers and medics spent the day clambering over landslides and the remnants of a mountain highway to reach Wenchuan, a city of 100,000 and the epicenter of the quake. The earthquake struck on Monday afternoon with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9.

Most victims were in the rugged center of Sichuan Province, although scores of deaths have been reported in five adjacent provinces. The official Xinhua news agency said that 37 tourists were killed when their bus was inundated by a rockslide, although it did not provide further details.

The authorities said 2,000 tourists were traveling throughout the region at the time of the quake, including 15 Britons and a group of 12 Americans on a panda-watching tour. A spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, which sponsored the trip to the Wolong Nature Reserve, said they had yet to hear from the Americans, although he added they were in a rural area and presumed to be safe.

The earthquake on Monday shook buildings as far south as Thailand and set off another, smaller quake in the outskirts of Beijing, 900 miles away. The central government, which said it was spending $120 million on rescue efforts, has sent 50,000 soldiers to the disaster zone. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to Sichuan hours after the earthquake struck, and has been shown personally directing the emergency effort.

News of the quake has dominated Chinese television coverage. The state-controlled media has been especially aggressive in its coverage, with reporters fanning out across the stricken region. Home video, cellphone images and commentary have been flowing uncensored onto Web sites.

In Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, thousands of residents, rattled by more than 300 tremors, camped out in the streets. One aftershock on Tuesday afternoon registered a magnitude of 6.1. Most of the worst-hit areas remained without cellphone service. Officials said 13 tank cars containing gasoline on a derailed freight train in neighboring Gansu Province were still burning on Tuesday night.

The quake destroyed 80 percent of structures in some of the towns and small cities near its epicenter, Chinese officials said. The earthquake is China’s biggest natural disaster since another one leveled the city of Tangshan in eastern China in 1976, leaving more than 240,000 people dead and posing a severe challenge to the governing Communist Party, which initially tried to cover up the catastrophe.

Monday’s quake was the latest in a series of events that have disrupted China’s planning for the Olympic Games in August, including widespread unrest among the country’s ethnic Tibetan population, which lives in large numbers in the same part of Sichuan Province where the earthquake struck.

China’s leaders often respond assertively to natural disasters, fearing a strong popular backlash if they bungle rescue efforts. But a complex relief operation on the scale that may be needed in Sichuan could strain Chinese resources even as the United Nations and many charitable groups are busy providing aid to Myanmar, which was hit by a huge cyclone this month. Chinese officials said they welcomed offers of foreign assistance, but it was unclear whether they would accept outside help.

Local leaders may also face intense scrutiny of their compliance with building codes. Since the Tangshan earthquake, China has required that new structures withstand major quakes. But the collapse of schools, hospitals and factories in several different areas around Sichuan may raise questions about how rigorously such codes have been enforced during China’s recent, epic building boom.

The powerful initial quake struck at 2:28 p.m. near Wenchuan County, according to China’s State Seismological Bureau. Most of the heavy damage appeared to be concentrated in nearby towns, which by Chinese standards are not heavily populated. Chengdu, the largest city in the area, with a population of about 4 million, is about 60 miles away and did not appear to have suffered major damage or heavy casualties.