Myanmar forcing cyclone survivors out of camps

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar's military government is forcing cyclone victims out of refugee camps and "dumping" them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies, U.N. and church officials said Friday.

Eight camps set up by the junta for homeless victims in the Irrawaddy delta town of Bogalay were "totally empty" as the clear-out continued, said Teh Tai Ring of UNICEF.

"The government is moving people unannounced," he said, adding that authorities were "dumping people in the approximate location of the villages, basically with nothing."

After his remarks were reported, UNICEF issued a statement saying they referred to "unconfirmed reports by relief workers on the relocation of displaced people" affected by the May 2 and 3 storm.

However, Teh said the information came from a relief worker who had just returned from the affected area and that "tears were shed" when he recounted his findings to UNICEF officials earlier in the day.

At a church in Yangon, meanwhile, more than 400 cyclone victims from the delta township of Labutta were evicted Friday following orders from authorities a day earlier.

"It was a scene of sadness, despair and pain," said a church official at the Yangon Karen Baptist Home Missions, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal. "Those villagers lost their homes, their family members and the whole village was washed away. They have no home to go back to."

All the refugees except for a few pregnant women, two young children and those with severe illnesses left the church in 11 trucks Friday morning, the official said.

Authorities told church workers the victims would first be taken to a government camp in Myaung Mya -- a mostly undamaged town in the Irrawaddy delta. It was not immediately clear when they would be resettled in their villages.

Aid groups said Myanmar's military government was still hindering foreign assistance for victims of the cyclone, despite a promise to ease travel restrictions.

Some foreign aid workers are still awaiting visas, and the government is taking 48 hours to process requests to enter the Irrawaddy delta, the groups said.

An estimated 2.4 million people remain homeless and hungry from the cyclone, which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing.

The government has not given a reason for moving people out of camps and shelters, but last week it declared the "relief" phase of the rescue effort over and said "reconstruction" was under way.

Foreign aid experts disagree, arguing many people are still in need of emergency assistance for food and shelter, as well as medical care.

Aid workers who have reached some of the remote villages say little remains to sustain survivors. Houses are destroyed, livestock have perished and food stocks have virtually run out. Medicines are nonexistent.

Terje Skavdal, a senior U.N. official in Bangkok, said he could not confirm the camp closures but any forced movement was "completely unacceptable."

"People need to be assisted in the settlements and satisfactory conditions need to created before they can return to their place of origins," Skavdal, head of the Asia-Pacific region's U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters. "Any forced or coerced movement of people is completely unacceptable."

"We urge speedy implementation of all agreements on access, visas and use of logistical assets," Skavdal said. "We need to see more relief experts, including [those] from the [International Red Cross], getting into the delta as soon as possible without bureaucratic hindrance."

The government has said the wait for approval to enter the delta has been shortened from two weeks to two days for U.N. staff, but "it's unclear how long the process will be for the NGOs [non-governmental organizations]. The staff are urgently required on the ground," he said.

The military regime only agreed to allow foreign aid workers in after the U.N. chief met with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe last weekend.

The country's leaders are leery of foreign aid workers and international agencies, worrying they could weaken the junta's powerful grip.