Czechs have donated over one million crowns to the collection SOS Burma, launched by the People in Need on Monday, alone, Stys said. Aid has been collected by other organisations, too.
ADRA has put together over 250,000 crowns, he added. The Czech Foreign Ministry has set aside some five million crowns on the purpose. Czech aid is not to be distributed through the Burmese junta, but through on-site partnership organisations, Stys said. The United Nations said today the junta had confiscated all the food and technical help sent to the victims by the World Food Programme (WFP), though Burmese authorities have denied this. The People in Need wants to reach the Burmese UN 'disappointed' at Burma access ...
India and Burma in transport deal ... through local organisations that are not linked with the regime and with which it has a long-standing cooperation and through a partnership inter-governmental organisation. The People in Need has been watching the situation in Burma since the 1990s. It has supported the families of political prisoners and staged fellowship stays for young Burmese activists in the Czech Republic. The flow of the aid to Burma is to be checked by activist Ondrej Zapletal who is waiting for the visas to Burma in Bangkok. Nargis killed tens of thousands of people, having afflicted in total over 1.5 million. The situation in Burma is critical especially at the seaside in northeast. "The cyclone swept away most of the houses. The whole region has been inundated, dead bodies are stranded in rice fields," Zapletal said. "People spontaneously gather at various places, but there is little, if any help," Zapletal said. Due to the latest development in Burma, the United Nations has discontinued the dispatch of its aid. The junta said earlier it would not let foreign humanitarian workers in the country. It cannot be ruled out that the natural disaster will eventually positively change the regime, Stys said. "Three scenarios can be considered," Stys told. First, the unfavourable situation and international pressure might cause a split in the government. Second, the government will tighten its grip and will make the most of the help to the devastated country for its propaganda. Third, there will be virtually no change, Stys said. A number of humanitarian groups and organisations are waiting in Thailand, ready to help as soon as they receive permit to go to Burma. International organisations consider the approach of the Burmese government scandalous and shocking. ($1=16.295 crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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