Mixed reports are emerging from inside Burma today about the status of the ongoing relief efforts in the Irrawaddy delta. There has been praise from UN officials who have now had the last of there outstanding visa requests granted. The UN now has 137 staff members on the ground, working for carious agencies in an effort to coordinate the relief effort. Greater presence of experienced staff with disaster management skills should have a positive influence on the proceedings, with a strong need to coordinate between local actors (donors, NGO’s and individuals), locally based INGO’s and UN agencies. There are various stories about the levels of access that are being experienced in terms of access to the remote areas of the delta. UN agency officials say that last weeks announcement has allowed them much greater ability to get into far flung areas and that this is aiding their work.

However, Burmese groups have expressed alternative views, saying that their work is still being hampered by authorities. There seems to be a gap between directives handed down by top level government authorities, and the way that these directives are interpreted by local level authorities. An example was last week’s announcement that private donors would be allowed unlimited access to ay regions in the delta area. After this directive was issued, several donors had their vehicles stopped at roadblocks upon returning from aid deliveries. The donors had licenses and registrations confiscated, individuals were detained for several hours and questioned and some did not have licenses returned. This was despite clear signals that their actions were not inappropriate according to higher authorities. In the same way, local donors are skeptical of authorities after being told on the one hand that they were free to deliver aid and on the other that all supplies must be handed over to the military for distribution. These confusions hint at a level of disorganization that is harmful to the relief effort and ultimately, to the survivors.

There seems to be no guarantee that what the junta says through the state media will be carried out in practice once the directives have to be enforced by local level officials.

The junta is proving belligerent this week, as its mouth piece media outlets lashed out at foreign aid donations. There was criticism for calls for unimpeded access for foreign workers and the amount of aid that the international community has pledged this far. Although the junta has been very slow to allow access, a major contingency for aid donations, it has said that the amount donated so far has been ‘stingy’. A Kyemon editorial piece had this to say “"The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliance without chocolate bars donated by foreign countries". But the people of the Irrawaddy clearly cannot depend on self reliance, as has been evidenced by the numbers of refugees that have flocked to roadsides where aid deliveries have passed by in the hope of securing any food aid possible. In a bizarre turn of events, refugees have been harshly criticized for crowding along roadsides by the New Light of Myanmar, which claims that such scenes tarnish the image of Burma in the international eye. The callousness of criticizing survivors in such circumstances and placing the nation’s image before the survival of its people shows just how far officials have to go before the people of Burma can expect better treatment.

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