Rice exported amid hunger
11/5/08
While Burma’s military regime restricted the rush of international aid offered to help hungry and homeless cyclone survivors, the Government was exporting tonnes of rice through its main port. Four of Thilawa port’s five berths were empty yesterday, but a crane was loading large white sacks into the hold of a freighter. The sacks were filled with rice destined for Bangladesh, according to the drivers of at least 10 transport trucks waiting to deliver more rice to the docks. The junta has a monopoly on rice exports and said last week that it planned to meet commitments to sell rice, which has reached record high prices on the world market, even though Burma’s main rice-producing region sustained the worst cyclone damage. The cyclone caused massive destruction in the Irrawaddy River delta, where farmers are now desperate for food.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/rice-exported-amid-hunger/2008/05/10/1210131332284.html
Children starve as aid is blocked
11/5/08
“We haven’t eaten rice for the past few days,” Dowla Shwe says, sitting forlornly by the roadside in southern Burma, begging for food from every passer-by. Since Cyclone Nargis struck last week, her five children have had only bananas and coconut. “We have nothing,” she says, nodding towards her starving children. “They are getting weak, and I fear they will fall sick and die.” She has heard the reports of how her leaders - military generals who run one of the most controlled and isolated nations on the planet - will not let in foreign aid workers to help distribute food.
See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/children-starve-as-aid-is-blocked/2008/05/10/1210131328308.html
Burma, Environment
Tags: Burma, Environment