Myanmar cyclone death toll to rise past 15,000

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YANGON (Reuters) - At least 15,000 people were killed in the Myanmar cyclone and the toll was likely to rise as officials made contact with the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta areas, the military government's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Nyan Win said on state television that 10,000 people had died in just one town, Bogalay, as he gave the first detailed account of what is emerging as the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.

The total left homeless by the 190 km (120 miles) per hour winds and 12 foot (3.5 meter) storm surge is in the several hundred thousands, United Nations aid officials say, and could run into the millions.
The scale of the disaster drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Bernard Delpuech, a European Union aid official in Yangon, said the junta had sent three ships carrying food to the delta region, rice bowl for Myanmar's 53 million people. Nearly half the population live in the five disaster-hit states.
Aid agency World Vision in Australia said it had been granted special visas to send in personnel to back up 600 staff in the impoverished Southeast Asian country.
"This is massive. It is not necessarily quite tsunami level, but in terms of impact of millions displaced, thousands dead, it is just terrible," World Vision Australia head Tim Costello said.
"Organizations like ours have been given permission, which is pretty unprecedented, to fly people in. This shows how grave it is in the Burmese government's mind," he said.
The town-by-town list of dead and missing announced by Nyan Win showed 14,859 deaths in the Irrawaddy division and 59 in Yangon, the biggest city of five million and the former capital.

The hardest-hit area was the Irrawaddy region where about 10,000 people died in Bogalay, 90 kms (55 miles) southwest of Yangon.
In Yangon people were queuing up for bottled water and there was still no electricity four days after the vicious Cyclone Nargis struck.
"Generators are selling very well under the generals," said one man waiting outside a shop, reflecting some of the resentment on the streets to what many described as a slow warning and response.
Very few soldiers were seen clearing debris and trees, except at major intersections, residents in the former capital said. Monks and residents, using what tools they had, cut trees.

The junta has moved even further into the shadows in the last six months due to widespread outrage at its bloody crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks in September.
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Grant McCool)

US imposes new sanctions on Burma companies

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The US president, George W Bush has ordered a new round of sanctions on Burmese state companies.He has instructed the Treasury Department to freeze the assets of Burmese state-owned companies that fund and prop up the military junta.

The sanctions target companies and industries that produce timber, pearls and gems. The sanctions are the latest US effort to increase pressure on Burma after its crackdown against pro-democracy protesters last September.The Treasury Department has already slapped sanctions on Burma's private companies and military leaders.

No press freedom for Myanmar constitution vote

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Myanmar's junta has barred domestic media from reporting on opposition to next month's referendum on a new constitution, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Thursday. RSF and the Burma Media Association said they were "outraged" by the methods used by the junta to prevent reporting on opposition to the charter, which pro-democracy activists say will allow the generals to entrench their rule."The military government is stopping at nothing to rig a referendum that looks as though it is going to be a sham rather than a free and transparent election," the two organisations said in a joint statement."

The supporters of a 'No' vote must be able to express themselves freely in the media, and journalists must be allowed to report all viewpoints."They said no Myanmar media had been allowed to publish the views of supporters of a "No" vote in the May 10 referendum.RSF also called on the authorities "to let the press do its work without prior censorship and to allow foreign reporters to visit Burma freely.

This is a condition for the international community's recognition of the validity of this election."State media have been running extensive editorials and junta slogans calling for a "Yes" vote but have not reported on opposition to the charter."To approve the state constitution is a national duty of the entire people today. Let us all cast 'Yes' vote in the national interest," the English-language New Light of Myanmar said in a front-page banner on Thursday.The back page urged all those who are real patriots, and "loathe foreign interference and manipulation" to "VOTE 'YES' for ratification of the constitution. "The paper has also published daily poems and cartoons praising the constitution and calling for a "Yes" vote.

Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has called on the public to vote "No" and said any attempts to campaign against the constitution were being suppressed, sometimes violently."An intimidating atmosphere for the people is created by physically assaulting some of the members of (the) NLD," it said in a statement earlier this month."For these reasons, it is now obvious that the forthcoming referendum cannot be free and fair."The European Union said Wednesday it hoped for a free vote but was preparing to extend sanctions against the regime, while the United States announced it would resubmit a draft statement in the UN Security Council to insist on a "credible" referendum.Washington's ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad cited "disturbing signs that the process (in Myanmar) is not a credible process.""It is very important that given the upcoming referendum and elections, the council sends a strong message, a clear message that the process needs to be credible," he added.

The referendum will be the first balloting in Myanmar since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory that was never recognised by the junta.The generals say the referendum will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010, but analysts say the constitution enshrines the role of the military which has ruled since 1962 and leaves political parties with little room to campaign.

Popular Burmese Rap Performer Arrested

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Burmese authorities have arrested popular rap and hip-hop performer Yan Yan Chan in a continuing round-up of celebrities who support the pro-democracy movement.
A resident of Monywa Township in Upper Burma who knows Yan Yan well said he was arrested with a friend, Mie Mie, early Thursday. They were arrested at the house of a mutual friend in Monywa Township, the resident said.

Yan Yan Chan and three musicians founded Burma’s first hip-hop band, ACID in late 2000 and became very popular on the country’s music scene.
A singer who is a friend of Yan Yan Chan said the pop star had been under observation by the authorities since the arrest of his friend Zayar Thaw, another member of ACID, in late February. Zayar Thaw was sent to Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison.

Burmese authorities have become increasingly nervous about the activities of the country’s pop music community and Internet bloggers since the monk-led demonstrations of September 2007.
Musician Win Maw, leader of the Shwe Thansin group, was arrested last November 27 in a Rangoon teashop. He had already been sentenced to seven years imprisonment in 1997 for writing songs in support of Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In January this year, the authorities arrested one of Burma’s best known bloggers, Nay Phone Latt, whose Internet sites were a major source of information about the protests and the regime’s brutal crackdown.
Nay Phone Latt, a youth member of the opposition National League for Democracy, owned the Explorer Internet café in Rangoon’s Papedan Township, the Heaven Internet café in Thingangyun Township and a third in the same suburb.

The authorities have also tried to break contacts between Burmese bloggers and the outside world by blocking and slowing down Internet transmission speeds.

http://irrawaddy.%20org/article.%20php?art_id=

BY:min lwin

Myanmar junta identifies bombing suspect as member of anti-government group

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YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military junta says it has identified a suspect wanted in two weekend bombings as a member of an exiled anti-government group, state media reported Tuesday.Security cameras behind the Traders Hotel in Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar, filmed a man "carrying explosives" on Sunday evening before blasts went off in the area, The New Light of Myanmar reported.

The newspaper reprinted a snapshot from the security camera, showing a blurry image of a man in a T-shirt and knee-length shorts holding what appears to be a small bag and another nondescript item.Citing anonymous sources, the state-run newspaper said the man has been identified as a member of the exiled group, Vigorous Burma Student Warriors.

The paper said the man went by the code name Storm, and had entered Myanmar after attending explosive training courses in an unnamed country.Authorities appealed to the public for help in finding the suspect.The second explosion on Sunday went off behind the luxurious Traders Hotel, about an hour after a blast nearby in downtown Yangon.The blasts were caused by explosives planted under cars and caused no injuries, the newspaper said.

Myanmar anti-junta protester dies after setting himself ablaze, hospital officials say

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YANGON, Myanmar - A man who set himself on fire at Myanmar's most revered Buddhist temple to protest military rule has died of his injuries, hospital officials said Tuesday.Kyaw Zin Naing suffered burns to more than 60 percent of his body in his March 21 protest at the Shwedagon pagoda in the city of Yangon, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they could be punished for revealing information about a politically sensitive matter.

The 26-year-old man died April 17, they said.Kyaw Zin Naing's protest was the first known case of self-immolation in Myanmar since the military took power in 1962. According to witnesses, the man shouted "Down with the military regime," before dousing himself with gasoline and setting himself ablaze.His action came at a time of heightened political tension in Myanmar, which has been preparing for a referendum on a new military-backed constitution.The junta's critics charge that the charter _ a stage on the junta's so-called "roadmap to democracy" _ was drafted in an undemocratic way, and that it would perpetuate military rule.

The National League for Democracy party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged voters to reject the draft constitution, but long-standing restrictions on freedom of speech and harassment of pro-democracy activists have made it difficult to mount a campaign against the proposed charter.Thousands of pilgrims were at the pagoda for a Buddhist holy day when Kyaw Zin Naing set himself alight.The Shwedagon temple has a history of being a center for mass political gatherings, and was a focus for Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protests last September. At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained when the country's military rulers cracked down on the peaceful demonstrations.

Myanmar has had no constitution since 1988 when the current junta took power and scrapped the previous charter after violently quashing mass pro-democracy demonstrations.Suu Kyi's party won the last general election in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power, instead stepping up its repression of dissidents.

2 bombs explode in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon

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YANGON, Myanmar - Witnesses say two bombs have exploded in the biggest city of military-ruled Myanmar. No casualties were reported and the cause of the blasts Sunday was unclear.Witnesses, who insisted on anonymity for fear of official reprisal, said the first explosion took place on the street in the downtown area of Yangon at around 8 p.m.The second blast occurred on a different street in the downtown area, about an hour later.No further details were immediately available, and there were no immediate claims of responsibility. The government has not blamed any group.

Suu Kyi can vote in Myanmar charter poll, her party says

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YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has the right to vote in a referendum next month on a military-backed constitution, her political party said Tuesday. "According to the law, (Aung San Suu Kyi) has the right to vote at the referendum as her detention was not a court order or sentence," said Nyan Win, spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD)."It was just an administrative function," he told AFP.Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the past 18 years locked away by the ruling military junta in her sprawling lakeside home in Yangon.

Her latest period of detention began in 2003 after a deadly attack on her convoy by supporters of the junta, and has been periodically extended since, with little sign that the generals plan to free her.The regime has called a referendum on May 10 on the proposed new charter, which they claim will -- if approved -- lead to general elections in 2010.Under the new constitution, which was drafted by a committee hand-picked by the junta, Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running for office because she was married to a foreigner, Michael Aris, a British citizen who died in 1999.People convicted of a crime by a court are not allowed to vote in the referendum, but detainees who have not faced trial can cast a ballot.There are currently about 1,850 political prisoners in Myanmar, at least 700 of whom were arrested after anti-junta demonstrations last September, which the military crushed, killing at least 31 people, the UN says.

Next month's referendum will be the first balloting in Myanmar since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory, which was never recognised by the junta.The NLD and other activists are calling for a "No" vote on the charter, which analysts say simply enshrines the military's role.