BURMA: DONORS FOCUS ON ACCESS AT CYCLONE NARGIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 000417

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MLS, DRL, AND IO
PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM EAID
SUBJECT: BURMA: DONORS FOCUS ON ACCESS AT CYCLONE NARGIS
CONFERENCE


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Classified By: P/E Chief Leslie Hayden for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)


1. (C) Summary: The regime's hope for a cash-rich pledging
conference fell flat as donors held on to their checkbooks
despite Than Shwe's promise to Ban Ki Moon to allow access
for international humanitarian workers to the Delta. In his
opening remarks to the conference, the Prime Minister
specified only civilian ships would be allowed to deliver
relief goods and qualified that only assistance with no
strings attached or politicization involved would be
accepted. Ban Ki Moon expressed optimism the GOB would allow
unfettered access to the Delta, but noted he would closely
and personally follow the issue. ASEAN Secretary General
Surin outlined the organization's coordinating mechanism for
international assistance, but ASEAN reps in Rangoon have not
yet established a functioning mechanism. End summary.


2. (SBU) In a hedged opening speech, Prime Minister Thein
Sein gave a broad overview of the GOB's response to Cyclone
Nargis, expressed appreciation for international assistance
to date, and noted the GOB wanted to get storm victims back
to work farming, fishing, and making salt, occupations Burma
relies on for a large part of its annual food consumption.
Thein Sein specified the GOB would welcome any assistance
provided there were "no strings attached or politicization
involved." He specified that relief supplies sent by sea
would only be accepted from civilian ships, which would be
required to dock in Yangon. Thein Sein elaborated that the
GOB would accept groups interested in "rehabilitation and
reconstruction" in accordance with its "priority" on a
township by township basis. He thanked Burma's neighbors for
the medical teams sent from China, India, Bangladesh,
Thailand, Laos, and Singapore, and specified the GOB would
accept additional medical teams from other countries in an
orderly and systematic manner."


3. (U) UNSYG Ban Ki Moon followed Thein Sein's speech by
praising the Prime Minister's remarks as in line with
agreements the UN had reached with the GOB in recent days.
He noted that, in a new spirit of cooperation with the
international community, the GOB had agreed to allow all
international assistance workers access to the Delta "as long
as they were purely humanitarian" and permission to establish
logistical hubs there. He acknowledged that some
international UN humanitarian experts had already received
permission and departed for the Delta.


4. (U) Ban Ki Moon acknowledged the GOB's relief effort, but
stressed that much more needed to be done. He remarked that
the relief phase would have to continue for at least six
months, even as Burma turned to recovery. He urged the
government to accept outside transport assets such as
helicopters and boats, to allow unhindered access to the
Delta, and to do whatever was needed to build an effective
aid and logistics pipeline. Though he remarked that Than
Shwe had responded with flexibility on the access issue when
they met on May 23, Ban Ki Moon asserted that prompt and full
implementation would be key. He specified that he would be
closely, continually, and personally engaged.


5. (U) ASEAN Chair and Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo
followed the UNSYG with an appeal for international support
for the ASEAN coordinating mechanism. He remarked that he
was heartened by Ban Ki Moon's report of his conversations
with Than Shwe, and emphasized the facilitating role ASEAN
could play in fostering trust between the GOB and the
international community. He said the GOB must allow relief
workers from all countries to enter immediately. Yeo also
emphasized the need for a comprehensive assessment, terming
the GOB's "too optimistic." He also appealed to donors to
avoid politicizing the aid given. "Let the government
concentrate on giving assistance to victims full stop," he
pleaded. This did not mean countries should give up their
political views, he emphasized, but rather reserve them for
the proper time and place. He closed his remarks by noting
that, in the spirit of transparency, Burmese Foreign Minister
Nyan Win had agreed to allow international press coverage of

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the conference.


6. (U) UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator John Holmes
described Cyclone Nargis relief efforts as about helping
vulnerable people in need, not about politics. He reiterated
that efforts were still in the emergency relief phase,
although recovery and reconstruction could begin in parallel.
Particular attention needed to be given to restoring
livelihoods. Holmes praised the GOB's decision to allow
international aid workers access to the Delta, but
highlighted that implementation of this must be rapid and
simple to be effective. He added that needs of the 2 million
victims throughout the affected areas were not uniform and a
better assessment was required. He acknowledged that the WFP
would need USD 70 million worth of rice to feed the affected
population over the next six months and outlined other
critical needs as plastic sheeting, tarps, water treatment
plants and water purification equipment, medical needs,
family reunification and support for orphaned children, and
pychosocial support for traumatized survivors.


7. (U) Holmes acknowledged the United States was leading the
efforts to donate relief commodities and called on the GOB to
be more flexible regarding the import of vehicles and
communications equipment to support relief efforts. He
highlighted that the GOB had no reliable mechanism to measure
their distribution system or to track donated commodities.
He emphasized that 9 of the 15 most affected townships have
major unmet needs and that delivery to the far end of the
chain needed to be scaled up as quickly as possible. Holmes
reported that there appeared to be around 600 government run
and informal settlements sheltering over 600,000 people and
that movements in and out of these camps were fluid. He
expressed concern about premature return of the victims
without adequate services in place. Forced returns of these
people of any kind were unacceptable, Holmes emphasized.


8. (U) ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan closed the
morning session by offering a rough explanation of the
coordinating mechanism to "assure donors of good management,
transparency, and monitoring of their donations." Surin
explained that an ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force would be
formed consisting of 22 ASEAN representatives and technical
experts, but not based in Rangoon. A smaller, nine-person
"core group" would be organized in Rangoon to provide
on-the-ground coordination, he elaborated. The core group
would be composed of 3 members of the GOB, 3 ASEAN
representatives, and 3 UN representatives. This task force
would coordinate all incoming international assistance,
establish agreed channels to deploy relief goods to affected
areas, and facilitate a logistical chain for delivering the
assistance. Surin acknowledged that any delays in deploying
assistance to the Delta would undermine international
confidence in the mechanism. He also noted that the
nine-person core group would need access to all levels of the
GOB to ensure confidence in their ability to get things done.
Surin mentioned the need to establish a monitoring system
and for an assessment of the "real damage, real needs, and
real extent," which would require experts. He closed by
noting that ASEAN came to this task with the awareness that
they were not an implementing agency and so would need
international assistance to carry out their task.


9. (SBU) The conference continued with over fifty countries
delivering statements that were remarkably unanimous in their
calls for the GOB to deliver on its promise of unhindered
access for international relief workers and needs
assessments. Very little additional money was pledged other
than donationS of USD 10 million from China and an additional
USD 1.5 million from India. ASEAN countries pledged in-kind
assistance and token sums, but most countries outlined the
donations they had already pledged and stated that they were
willing to pledge more on condition the GOB fulfilled its
obligation to allow unfettered access to international
humanitarian experts and comprehensive needs assessments.


10. (C) Comment: The GOB hoped this conference would net

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billions of dollars to rebuild the ravaged Delta. Donors
instead chose to remind the generals that there is no free
lunch. The GOB will not be given a pass on complying with
international standards for humanitarian assistance.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the GOB will
remove its obstacles and throw open the doors. Thus the
lingering uncertainty about how much more access the
international community will get. Most expect that we will
have to continue pushing for more access. Now, the UN and
ASEAN Secretaries General have put their prestige on the
line. We will likely have to call on them to intervene
personally for the sake of hundreds of thousands of victims
in the Delta who have yet to receive any aid more than three
weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit. End comment.
VILLAROSA