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UN should coordinate not with those that imposed an economic blockade on Myanmar

BACKBENCHER

Rod. P. Kapunan

05/13/2008

The United Nations (UN), stunned into paralysis for failing to stop the US from savagely attacking Iraq, has been unable to recover from the trauma of being sidelined as an irrelevant international body. The trauma appears to be serious and continuing as evidenced in the way it acts, which is no different from any of the US agencies intimidating countries that defy the unilateralist policies of President George W. Bush. The UN now appears as the enforcer of US policies and instead of coordinating with the victim-state of the cyclone that caused widespread devastation with death estimated to be over 22,000, it is coordinating with countries that have imposed an economic embargo on Myanmar.

The US, the British and its confederates now want to impose their condition on the way of doling out their relief assistance. Their motive, it is suspected, is not to help the people of Myanmar, but to discredit the ruling military junta headed by Gen. Than Shwe, alongside with their demand for Myanmar to open its door, they accuse the junta of refusing to accept relief assistance from Britain and Japan amounting to $10 million each, and $3 million from the US.

UN officials claim a backlog in the delivery of relief goods they say are now stranded in Thailand. One official said the UN can raise as much as $187 million in humanitarian assistance, but that Myanmar is foot-dragging in accepting the aid. Thus, with some UN and World Food Program officials disproportionately bloating the number of casualties and extent of devastation, they are in effect trying to sow panic to draw the attention of the international community into condemning Myanmar, and stir unrest to make the government politically vulnerable. Already, about 50 political miscreants here marched in front of the Myanmar embassy to reiterate the demand of their manipulators.

It was out-of-bounds for John Holmes, the top UN humanitarian official, to accuse Myanmar of refusing the entry of foreign military cargo planes, vessels and personnel acting as rescue and relief workers. Every sovereign state has the right to set the conditions before accepting any relief assistance, and that includes not only the right to remove markings indicating the name of the donor country or agency just as donor states equally have the right not to give aid.

How Myanmar attends to relieve its people of their misery is something it alone can decide, except when it is apparent that instead of trying to alleviate them it has taken advantage of the situation to commit genocide by starving them. Such is acknowledged as valid under international law because attending to the victims is the sole responsibility of the government in Myanmar. Such is not the case. Contrary to the lies being peddled by the US and the British, and sadly articulated by some UN officials, Myanmar has been accepting relief assistance from China, Italy, India and Singapore, and they have been coming in smoothly.

There is no doubt Cyclone Nargis has left a wide swath of devastation, especially in the Irrawaddy delta, leaving close to a million people homeless, without electricity, water supply, and now threatened by epidemic and malaria. But it is hard to believe Myanmar is preventing the entry of relief goods; that it has seized those that have been brought in without permission; or worse repacked them with the names of the donor countries or organizations replaced with the name of the generals.

Notably, the economic embargo began in 1962 when Gen. Ne Win overthrew the pro-Western government and subsequently directed the economy toward socialism. In the meantime the US and the British continued their support for the separatist Shan and Karen minorities, which reason nationalism was heightened alongside with their indigenously brand of socialism. Thus, despite the economic blockade, Myanmar managed to maintain self-sufficiency in rice production and is even listed as a net exporter alongside Thailand and Vietnam. The blockade was intensified in 1990 after Aung San Su Kyi, who has been clamoring for a Western brand of corrupted democracy, was placed under house arrest. Fortunately, the economic embargo did not have much impact because border-states such as China, India and Laos refused to cooperate. Maybe there will be a temporary food shortage in Myanmar because most of the rice paddies have been destroyed by floods, but many believe it could overcome the problem. The Myanmarese have been experiencing shortage of most basic necessities, and the calamity could only pose as another challenge. They have learned to survive on their own after being deprived access to the international market for a much longer period of time, and there is no reason now they would come on bended knees begging for aid from countries that continue to isolate them.

Most alarming is the usual arrogance of the US to sound out the possibility of forcing Myanmar to open its door or else US planes would enter its territory to drop food and aid even without its approval. Such a compulsive method to put pressure the military junta to postpone the referendum is unlikely to work. In fact, observers believe the riot that occurred in Rangoon last September was the handiwork of monks playing the role of agitators, and was least supported by the people. Fortunately, even if the people in Myanmar are in dire need of relief goods they remain stoically patriotic not to bargain away their dignity as an independent nation by allowing the interventionists to subvert their government and install their long anointed puppet.

(E-mail: rodkap@yahoo.com.ph)