FROM MIZZIMA

12 May 2008

A smattering of poll results trickle in

By Nern Davies

Voters in some parts of central and northern Burma approved the draft constitution by a margin of two-to-one, while voters in portions of Shan state rejected the charter, according to informal results. The results, obtained Sunday, are only a small fraction of the overall vote. Final results from the referendum are not expected to be announced until at least two more weeks.

'Yes' votes outnumbered 'no' votes by two-to-one in seven constituencies in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Division, in central Burma. Ballots in favor of the draft constitution numbered 8,866, (67 percent), while those opposed totaled 4,231 (32 percent). Sixty-eight ballots were ruled invalid.

But some residents cried foul at the results. "The station commissioner did not close the ballot box and checked all the papers as soon as the voters put their votes in the box," said a local resident who did not want to be named. He ruled invalid about 30 votes that were against the draft constitution.

A member of an informal group that was closely monitoring the polls said, "The result should be 50/50 because we could not get a chance to know the total votes in some places. Some commissioners did not count the votes and took them away from the booths as soon as the voters dropped their ballots."

He said they would release video recordings of the cheating. In four townships of Kachin State and one area under control of the Kachin Independence Organisation, similar results were reported. Sixty-two percent of votes cast in the five regions were in favor of the draft constitution, while 36 percent were against, according to results obtained by the Kachin News Group.

In two townships in northern Shan state, voters rejected the draft constitution. In Muse and Hnam Kham townships, 67 percent voted against the charter, while 29 percent were in favor. A very small number of voters, 4.5 percent, or 721 votes, were declared invalid, according to a local resident who monitored the vote counting. Meanwhile, the vote was much closer in Yenanchaung Township, Magwe Division, where 53 percent of voters said 'yes,' while 44 percent said 'no.' In Kachin State, nearly 100,000 voters' names were deleted from the eligible voter lists in Myitkyina Township before the referendum, according to the Kachin News Group.

"Hundreds of eligible voters from Sadung, Waingmaw Township, were told to go back without voting when they reached to the ballot station," one of the poll watchers told Mizzima. In Meikhtila Township, Mandalay division, two-thirds of cast ballots in favor of the constitution, said local residents. (Mizzima, 11 May)

Full article at Mizzima

International experts desperately needed inside Burma, aid groups say

By Solomon

International experts should be let into Burma urgently because they have technical skills that local aid workers lack as well as previous experience with catastrophes, aid workers and human rights experts said Saturday. "We don't need assessment, but we need action," said Dr. Frank Smithuis, spokesman for Medecins Sans Frontieres (also know as MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). "Definitely, we need a few experts – one sanitation expert, emergency logistics."

Dr. Smithuis told Mizzima that water sanitation systems are quite complicated and need to be installed by experts. Three planes arriving Sunday and Monday will bring drugs, water pumps and equipment to treat 30,000 liters of drinking water, he said. "That is high-tech equipment and we don't have expertise [in the country]," he said from Rangoon. MSF has requested visas for five international staff, he said.

Aid groups have accused the military junta of delaying shipments and dragging its feet in granting visas to international aid workers. The Burmese Foreign Ministry has replied that it wants aid and supplies, but not foreign workers. "This is a very, very big problem. This is a major tragedy," said Steven Marshall, chief of the International Labour Organization in Rangoon. Marshall said handling a disaster of this scale "is probably beyond the single capacity of any government in the world … without actually having a good, pool of expert support."

More than one million people are in need of assistance, according to relief agencies. David Scott Mathieson, Burma Consultant for Human Rights Watch, said foreign aid workers have the expertise to manage a response to disasters like Cyclone Nargis and should be working with the government. "They are professional aid workers and they are used to things like this," Mathieson said.

Aid workers from several agencies, including World Vision, said they have been waiting several days to find out if visa applications will be approved. The Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, where many of the aid workers applied, was closed Friday because of a Thai holiday. "In a situation like this you need people with expertise, and the United Nations and aid agencies have experts to know exactly what to do and how to save lives," said Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. "Its no good just having the aid," he said. "You need the experts to know how to deliver it in the right way to the right people."

Farmaner said about hundred disaster relief experts were waiting to get visas. They have experience with the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the cyclone in Bangladesh last year and other disasters across the world. "All over the world countries let aid workers in in times of crisis because they need the expertise," Farmaner said. "But the generals don't have the expertise. The soldiers that they have got have been trained to shoot unarmed civilians. They have not been trained to provide aid."

Full article at Mizzima