Dozens of governments meeting today about funding Myanmar relief efforts are expected to open their wallets, but with tough conditions — especially that the ruling junta allow better access to disaster zones and fight corruption.
Humanitarian agencies said they were heartened by the junta’s announcement on Friday that “all aid workers” would be let into the cyclone-ravaged country and that civilian ships and small boats would be allowed to deliver aid.
But they said the military government must spell out exactly what the wording meant and then implement those promises on the ground.
“We have to see that this is transmitted into reality, into practice,” ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said. “If the agreement given to the secretary-general of the United Nations cannot be implemented in spirit, then we will have problems delivering assistance.”
More than 45 countries and regional organizations have signed up to attend a donors’ conference in Myanmar to mobilize funds for immediate humanitarian assistance for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which killed about 78,000 and left another 56,000 missing.
The conference in Yangon was sponsored by the UN and the 10-country ASEAN, 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 and May 3.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to return to Yangon today to co-chair the conference.
The UN launched an emergency appeal for US$187 million on May 9 for cyclone relief and then raised the amount to US$201 million. That figure will likely increase further once disaster relief experts are able to survey the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta.
So far, donors have only provided 25 percent — US$50 million — of the funding needed for the appeal.
Meanwhile, polls opened for hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims, many hungry, homeless and still waiting for aid, in a much-criticized constitutional referendum yesterday.
The outcome of the balloting has already been decided, after the junta declared an overwhelming victory in the first round of voting on May 10, held in parts of the country spared by the cyclone.
Most people in Yangon were already resigned to the outcome of the poll.
“They won already,” a 35-year-old taxi driver said. “My vote is nothing to them.”
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS