Burmese junta accused of hoarding food aid and handing out rotten rice
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
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Relief agencies have accused the Burmese military authorities of keeping the best-quality supplies donated for victims of Cyclone Nargis and handing out rotten and low-grade food. The United Nations says only a small portion of aid is getting through.
Aid workers in the Irrawaddy delta region have reported that rotten rice is being given to survivors instead of the more nutritious supplies provided by the UN and other organisations.
Brian Agland, the country director of Care Australia, said: "We were using food from the World Food Programme, which is very high quality. Certainly, we are concerned that poor-quality rice is being distributed. I have a small sample in my pocket, and it's some of the poorest-quality rice we've seen. It's affected by salt water and it's old."
The allegation that the authorities are hoarding supplies meant for the estimated two million in desperate need adds a new dimension to the picture of indifference and incompetence that has emerged of the regime's response to the cyclone.
Aid agencies warned from the outset that donors were concerned that rice and other supplies could be seized by the military.
The UN said yesterday that because of bottle-necks and obstructions perhaps only 20 per cent of food aid was reaching the people in the cyclone-hit delta.
"There is obviously still a lot of frustration that this aid effort hasn't picked up pace," Richard Horsey, spokesman for the UN's humanitarian operation, told the Associated Press. "That is a characterisation of the programme as a whole. We are not reaching enough people quickly enough."
Guy Cave, deputy head of Save the Children in Burma, said his organisation was using boats to ship 100 tonnes of supplies at a time to the most remote communities in the delta. But he added: "We are doing everything we can but if this was any other country there would be tonnes more food getting in and aid workers running all over the place."
He also warned that people were suffering from injuries such as "cyclone burns", caused when the wind blows so hard that the the dust and grit it picks up strips off layers of skin.
Aid organisations believe that up to 100,000 people may have been killed by the storm, most drowned by a 12ft tidal surge that washed inland. The survivors are now in need of the most basic supplies including food, water and shelter.
Experts are particularly concerned about the threat from disease. The hot, humid weather and frequent downpours are only adding to the danger.
The junta has apparently set up official relief camps in four cities in the delta region but there are reports that they are forcing people to leave unofficial camps that have been set up in schools and monasteries.
Aid workers say that even now it is unclear whether the authorities have reached the most remote parts of the delta and that they are refusing to tell relief workers exactly where they have been. "I think that part of it is connected with pride and a loss of face," said one relief worker, who asked not to be identified.
A Burmese businessman who made a personal aid mission to Bogale, a delta town where up to 10,000 people are believed dead, said: "There are still some villages in the worst-hit areas that nobody has got to. Around Bogale, private donors are not allowed to distribute their assistance to the victims. We had to hand over what we had."
The authorities are trying to ensure that the outside world, and its own citizens, do not see what has happened to the country. Journalists are refused entry visas and foreign aid workers are barred from relief camps. Police at checkpoints around Rangoon are sending foreigners back to the city, after their names and passport details are noted.
Jean-Sebastien Matte, an emergency co-ordinator with Médecins Sans Frontières, said: "We can go for two days then we have to come back. We're able to do 100 or 200 consultations a day but we should be doing 1,000."
Relief groups said aid supplies were piling up at Rangoon airport. The junta is insisting that only its handful of helicopters be used to deliver the supplies.
