When Burmese offer helping hand, junta slaps it

The politics of food aid 8212; deciding who gets to deliver assistance to those homeless and hungry after the cyclone 8212; is not just confined to the dispute between Myanmar8217;s military junta and Western governments and outside relief agencies.

Even Myanmar citizens who want to donate rice or other items have in several cases been told that all assistance must be channeled through the military. That restriction has angered local government officials like Tin Win who are trying to help rebuild the lives of villagers. He twitched with rage as he described the rice the military gave him.

8220;They gave us four bags,8221; he said. 8220;The rice is rotten 8212; even the pigs and dogs wouldn8217;t eat it.8221;

He said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had delivered good rice to the local military leaders last week but they kept it for themselves and distributed the waterlogged, musty rice. 8220;I8217;m very angry,8221; he said, adding an expletive to describe the military.

While the generals have permitted some token relief efforts by wealthy citizens, who could be seen Sunday handing out sweets and instant noodles from their cars to destitute families lining the roads near Yangon, the largest city, and elsewhere, the junta is clearly not allowing some prominent domestic donors to help for political reasons.

Kyaw Dhyu, for example, is perceived as unfriendly to the military because he assisted monks who protested against the government during the demonstrations last year and was jailed for a month.

The military also appears to be trying to minimize any foreign presence or role in the relief effort. The United Nations World Food Program said Sunday that only one visa had been approved of 16 requested. The aid group World Vision said it had requested 20 visas but received 2. Doctors Without Borders, the French medical aid group, said it was still awaiting approval of dozens of visa applications for technical support staff aid coordinators.

Paul Risley, a spokesman for the World Food Program, said the volume of aid allowed by the Myanmar junta into the country amounted to one-tenth of what was needed.

The authorities here have agreed to permit a United States Air Force C-130 transport full of relief supplies to come on Monday. The plane was scheduled to leave Utapao airport in Thailand at midday, said a spokesman for the United States Pacific Command, Cmdr. Jeffrey A. Breslau. An American official in Yangoon confirmed that the plane as enroute and due to arrive Monday afternoon.

In what was emblematic of the wider tensions over the issue of aid distribution, an argument broke out in the village between the soldiers, who said any foreigner was suspect, and the village headman, Myint Oo, who solicited aid from the visitor for the rebuilding of a school flattened by the cyclone.

8220;The government told us that school must reopen June 1, if you have a schoolhouse or not,8221; Myint Oo told his visitor. 8220;8216;Teach under a tree if you have to,8217; they said.8221;