Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SINGAPORE536
2008-05-12 01:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Singapore
Cable title:  

BURMA CYCLONE: NO RELIEF ACCESS LIKELY BEFORE

Tags:  EAID MOPS PREL SN BM ASEAN 
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OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHGP #0536/01 1330118
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 120118Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5272
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS IMMEDIATE 0317
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE 0879
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0188
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 000536 

NOFORN
SIPDIS

EAP/MLS FOR AARON COPE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2018
TAGS: EAID MOPS PREL SN BM ASEAN
SUBJECT: BURMA CYCLONE: NO RELIEF ACCESS LIKELY BEFORE
REFERENDUM, SINGAPORE MFA TELLS AMBASSADOR MARCIEL

Classified By: CDA Daniel Shields, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 000536

NOFORN
SIPDIS

EAP/MLS FOR AARON COPE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2018
TAGS: EAID MOPS PREL SN BM ASEAN
SUBJECT: BURMA CYCLONE: NO RELIEF ACCESS LIKELY BEFORE
REFERENDUM, SINGAPORE MFA TELLS AMBASSADOR MARCIEL

Classified By: CDA Daniel Shields, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN Scot Marciel told
Singapore MFA Permanent Secretary Bilahari Kausikan May 9
that the USG is focused on humanitarian concerns in Burma,
specifically on ensuring that sufficient international
assistance quickly reaches those affected by Cyclone Nargis.
Kausikan said Singapore would allow the United States to
stage relief efforts from facilities in Singapore if we
wished. He said Singapore had delivered relief supplies to
Burma but was still waiting for GOB acceptance of Singapore's
offer of engineering and medical teams. Until Singapore's
own request was addressed, the GOS could not weigh in with
the regime on the U.S. behalf. Kausikan predicted the GOB
would not facilitate international access until after its May
10 constitutional referendum at the soonest. He warmly
welcomed Marciel's appointment, but urged that the Secretary
attend the July ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial to ensure
that ASEAN sentiment remained positive. END SUMMARY

BURMA CYCLONE RELIEF
--------------


2. (C) U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN and East Asian and Pacific
Affairs Bureau Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel,
accompanied by the Charge, told MFA Permanent Secretary
Bilahari Kausikan May 9 that the President and entire USG are
determined to help those affected by Cyclone Nargis and are
fully focused on humanitarian rather than political concerns.
He said the USG stands ready to provide $3.25 million in
humanitarian assistance and has offered help through military
channels also. Like other donors, however, we are still
waiting for the regime to accept the assistance offered and
provide visas for our relief personnel. Ambassador Marciel
urged Singapore to press Burma to allow international aid to
flow and stressed that we want to work with Singapore to get
assistance to those who need it in Burma.


3. (C) Kausikan said he believed the USG when it says it is

fully focused on humanitarian objectives, but the Burmese
regime remained skeptical about U.S. intentions. He added
that the generals' reluctance to accept U.S. assistance was
"reprehensible, but comprehensible" given the "different
voices coming out of Washington," the perceived hostility of
the United States, and regime's paranoid nature. Kausikan
said Singapore and others had been able to deliver supplies
to Burma, but that a Singapore offer of "assets," including a
civil defense relief team and a medical team, was still
awaiting GOB approval. He offered the United States access
to Singapore military facilities to stage our relief effort,
but said the GOS could not weigh in with the GOB on the U.S.
behalf for the time being because doing so could decrease
prospects that the regime would approve Singapore's own
request to provide assistance.


4. (C) Kausikan added that Singapore FM Yeo had offered Burma
to host an informal meeting under ASEAN auspices to help
coordinate international relief but had not yet had a
response. Meanwhile, Singapore supported issuing a
chairman's statement from the ongoing ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF) Senior Officials Meeting on the need for all parties to
support a large-scale relief effort in Burma.


5. (C) Kausikan harshly blamed French FM Kouchner for
"screwing up" efforts to persuade Burma to allow assistance
with comments threatening UN Security Council
responsibility-to-protect action that only increased the
regime's paranoia. He predicted the regime would continue to
restrict access at least until after it holds its
constitutional referendum on May 10. Noting that Senior
General Than Shwe remains isolated and indifferent and that
many soldiers come from rural areas such as those affected by
the cyclone, Kausikan suggested that the Burmese military
could face increasing dissention in its ranks. Ambassador
Marciel reiterated that USG's current focus is on the
humanitarian response. He said there is a longer term need
for fresh thinking on how to bring about political change in
Burma and that he looked forward to discussing the issue with
Kausikan and others in the region in the future.

ASEAN WELCOMES AMBASSADORIAL APPOINTMENT
--------------

SINGAPORE 00000536 002 OF 002




6. (C) Kausikan warmly welcomed Marciel's recent confirmation
as the first ambassador from any country to ASEAN. He noted
that the GOS had just approved the appointment of its own
first Permanent Representative to ASEAN and that other ASEAN
members would likely follow suit. Kausikan recalled that
ASEAN members had welcomed the idea of a U.S. ambassador, but
that the idea had aroused suspicions that the United States
might in effect be downgrading its representation at
ASEAN-related meetings. He urged that Secretary Rice attend
the ARF Ministerial meeting in July to prevent Marciel's
appointment, a "good thing," from being seen as "a bad
thing."

NORTH KOREA VISIT
--------------


7. (C) Kausikan mentioned his plans to visit North Korea with
FM Yeo in the days ahead. Singapore and North Korea have had
diplomatic relations for some time now and the North Koreans,
with the exception of some proliferation activities, have
generally been well-behaved in Singapore. They have recently
started to send delegations to Singapore focused on serious
economic issues such a port management. In this context, FM
Yeo and Kausikan are going to North Korea to assess whether
there is any serious prospect for economic reform there,
despite the continued "theological" political system in the
DPRK that demands absolute belief.


8. (C) Kausikan said the Chinese are telling him they believe
Kim Jong-Il has gradually shifted in the course of various
visits to China over the years from a position of opposing
economic reforms, to being neutral, to supporting reforms.
Kausikan said the North Koreans seem particularly interested
these days in Vietnam's economic reform successes. He
mentioned that Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, whom
Kausikan hosted for a dinner when Kim visited Singapore for
nuclear talks with A/S Hill, will reciprocate by hosting a
dinner for Kausikan in Pyongyang.


9. (U) Ambassador Marciel cleared this message.

Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm
SHIELDS