5.26.2008

Burmese Embassy fired this early morning

The Burmese embassy was fired this early morning.Fire seriously damaged top floor and document storage of Burmese embassy building on Sathron Road,Bangkok.There were no injures .Fire under control by 9 am and cause of fire was unknown.
But we can say that some person who applied for visa to go to Burma will not get the permission because of fire.U Than Shwe (SPDC leader) promised for permission for help walker from every country to come to Burma.They will be delay for fire.Nobody will not sure when will restart for visa permission.
In the other hand ,U Than Shwe can stop to coming unwanted person without breaking his promised.

saffrontoward.blogspot.com

Donor Conference to Raise Funds for Burma

More than 45 countries and regional organizations have signed up to attend a donors conference in Burma on Sunday to mobilize funds for immediate humanitarian assistance for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, the United Nations said Friday.

A homeless woman eats rice beside her one day old baby at a temporary shelter on the outskirts of Rangoon. (Photo: AP)
The conference in Burma's commercial capital, Rangoon, is being sponsored by the UN and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is taking the lead in organizing the delivery of aid to an estimated 2.5 million people who remain in severe need following the devastating storm on May 2-3.

UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Friday the conference will focus on immediate aid but at the same time will start looking into medium- and long-term needs.

The United Nations launched an emergency appeal for US $187 million on May 9 and then raised the amount to $201 million. That figure will likely increase further once disaster relief experts are able to survey the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta.

When the appeal was launched, the UN urged donor nations to pledge money for food, water purification tablets, emergency health kits, mosquito nets, cooking sets, plastic sheeting and water jugs. It said the money would go to 10 UN agencies and nine non-governmental organizations.

Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said Friday that so far the UN has received about $50 million in contributions and about $42.5 million in pledges in response to the appeal.

The pledging conference is taking place two days after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a breakthrough in the delivery of aid following a meeting with Burma's military strongman, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Ban said Burma's ruling junta—after three weeks of refusing to allow all but a few foreign aid workers into the hard-hit delta—will now allow all emergency workers and civilian vessels into the cyclone-ravaged region, as long as it is clear what the workers will be doing and how long they will remain.

The UN chief will return to Rangoon on Sunday morning to co-chair the conference.

In addition to the more than 45 countries and regional bodies expected at the conference, Okabe said about a dozen UN agencies, funds, and programs, and the World Bank, will also be represented. "In total, more than 300 participants are expected, including 243 representatives from member states," she said.

Whether the agreement announced by Ban provides enough assurance to potential donors to give generously remains to be seen.

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Thursday that the success of the donors conference will depend on the government's transparency in assessing storm damage. He urged Burma's military rulers to relax restrictions on foreign aid workers and present a coherent spending plan for money pledged at the conference.

Surin said Burma has estimated losses from the storm at about US $11 billion, but he cast doubt on the figure.

Bunker said the UN is focusing on funding the emergency appeal, which includes $4.8 million for early recovery efforts and $10 million for agriculture, a particularly crucial sector because the delta is Burma's rice bowl and many paddies are now flooded with salt water.

"The medium and longer term needs will have to be determined through very thorough needs assessments," Bunker said.

Meanwhile Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday China will pledge US $10 million for Burma cyclone aid at an international donors' conference.

Wen's announcement came as he and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited earthquake-hit areas of China.

"Tomorrow, the Chinese foreign minister will go to Myanmar [Burma], and we will pledge US $10 million in aid," Wen said.

Beijing already has given its ally Burma relief supplies valued at 30 million yuan ($4.3 million).

Cyclone Increases Army Looting on Burma Borders

Cyclone damage to the Irrawaddy delta, Burma's rice bowl, has caused a surge in looting in its restive border areas by poorly paid troops worried about food shortages, residents and human rights groups say.

In the northwest town of Kale, which is reliant on the faraway delta for much of its rice and salt, local residents said soldiers had stepped up seizures of rice, fish and firewood since Cyclone Nargis hit the former Burma on May 2.

In the evenings, soldiers were stopping villagers at checkpoints on their way back from the market and taking their cash, often out of fear their pay will be diverted to the cyclone-hit areas, victims and eyewitnesses said.

"The situation has turned worse after the cyclone," a former transport department officer told Reuters in the town of 300,000 people about six hours' drive from the Indian border.

"Even the army supplies are restricted and they are not sure when they will receive their salaries," he said.

Soldiers in army-ruled Burma are poorly paid—a private earns just 14,000 kyats ($12) a month—making extortion an endemic problem, especially in the border areas where various ethnic militias have waged guerrilla war for decades.

But around a dozen people interviewed in the town said the situation had become much worse in the three weeks since Nargis, which left 134,000 people dead or missing in the delta and another 2.4 million in dire need of aid.

"The military has no sympathy for the people," said a government clerk. "They have no emotion or human feelings. They behave like animals."

Next month's arrival of the monsoon rains, which makes the jungle-clad mountainous region's dirt roads impassable, is adding to fears about a shortage of staples such as rice, salt and edible oils, causing ordinary people to stock up.

Soldiers have put up check points on roads and are charging vehicles up to 100,000 kyats ($89) to pass.

"There is complete lawlessness here. Whatever the army says is the law," another resident said.

Security personnel are everywhere in the town, armed with automatic rifles and walkie-talkies.

"These are the people responsible for food shortages and price rises here," said a leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), who asked not to be named.

"Military officers are not concerned about people's welfare and they have no knowledge of civil administration. They only know how to squeeze civilians."

Debbie Stothard of Bangkok-based human rights group ALTSEAN said she had heard similar reports from eastern Shan state of military units seizing food and supplies since the cyclone.

"They've started grabbing food for themselves because they are scared there will not be enough food left," Stothard said. "It's about them wanting to make sure they have enough supplies."

In Kale, soldiers were even demanding bribes to allow food and clothes donated for cyclone victims taken to a Buddhist monastery for distribution, residents said.

"Senior generals have lost control over these units," said one businessman selling Chinese-made electronics. "They are operating independent of the central command."