How to turn a Natural Disaster into a Crime Against Humanity

Burmese children scrambling for handouts after the cyclone


Burma and Sri Lanka have a number of things in common. Both were British colonies. Both gained Independence in 1948. Both are predominantly Buddhist and primarily agricultural, rice being the main crop. At independence, both had solid infrastructures with irrigation projects and well managed railways. Both changed names: Ceylon became Sri Lanka and Burma became Myanmar. And both are spiralling downwards in terms of the standard of living. In Sri Lanka, corrupt politicians are the cause. In Burma, thugs in army uniform have caused the debacle.

It's hard to imagine that, at independence, Burma was the richest country in South-East Asia. With huge resources, a high literacy rate, it was bound to succeed. Burma was so respected in the international community that U Thant, a Burmese, was elected to the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations. But, today, Burma is the poorest country in the region. It's a pariah state, ruled with an iron fist by the army since 1962.

The cyclone that hit two weeks ago is the last straw for two million Burmese living in the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta. According to one estimate, up to 200,000 may have died. More than a million are homeless. Disease and starvation stalks the delta. The Burmese government is not capable of handling such a catastrophe. It needs foreign aid, both financial and material, and foreign relief workers. Yet, to date, the ruling junta has not allowed the free flow of relief aid or relief workers into the country.

As Gwynne Dyer wrote in The Island newspaper, "the generals who rule Burma are ill-educated, superstitious, fearful men whose first priority is protecting their power and their privileges. They almost lost both during the popular demonstrations led by Buddhist monks last year, and they are terrified that letting large numbers of foreigners in now might somehow destabilise the situation again. . . [The junta is] fully aware that most Burmese hate their rulers, and fear that the presence of large number of foreigners might serve as a spark for another popular uprising." The junta has only approved 34 visas of foreign relief workers and allocated only five army helicopters to transport relief supplies.

What of the international community? ASEAN, the regional bloc which also includes Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, is impotent as usual. US ships, loaded with relief supplies, are waiting a few miles off shore for permission from the junta to land. The UN, embroiled in bureaucracy, can only preach.

China has major energy investments in Burma and may be the only country the generals will listen to. China must stop blocking Security Council action and use all its influence to press the junta to open up the country to relief efforts. China has now suffered a major disaster -the earthquake in Sichuan Province - and is handling it responsibly, quickly mobilizing the military for rescue work, allowing full media coverage, and welcoming offers of assistance. It should press Burma's generals to do the same, before there are no more victims left to save.

President Sarkozy of France was the first to propose the air drop of supplies in to Burma. Fearful of an international backlash with accusations of another Western invasion of a Third World country, his allies did not support him. But, an air drop will not only save hundreds of thousands of lives; it will also humiliate the ruling junta. It will lose face, on a massive scale, in the eyes of the Burmese people it has oppressed since 1962. An air drop could also be the beginning of the junta's end.

To me, Burma came alive with the writings of George Orwell, who served there as a police officer in colonial times. His immortal short story "Shooting an Elephant" and novel Burmese Days evoke a colony governed mostly with a velvet glove.

An air drop must take place before this natural disaster becomes a crime against humanity.