Burma in the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis: Death, Displacement, and Humanitarian Aid

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Burma in the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis: Death, Displacement, and Humanitarian Aid BURMA IN THE AFTERMATH OF CYCLONE NARGIS: DEATH, DISPLACEMENT, AND HUMANITARIAN AID HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC, AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 20, 2008 Serial No. 110–229 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 42–477PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:26 Dec 22, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\APGE\052008\42477.000 HFA PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts STEVE CHABOT, Ohio GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado DIANE E. WATSON, California RON PAUL, Texas ADAM SMITH, Washington JEFF FLAKE, Arizona RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JOE WILSON, South Carolina GENE GREEN, Texas JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas CONNIE MACK, Florida RUBE´ N HINOJOSA, Texas JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas DAVID WU, Oregon TED POE, Texas BRAD MILLER, North Carolina BOB INGLIS, South Carolina LINDA T. SA´ NCHEZ, California LUIS G. FORTUN˜ O, Puerto Rico DAVID SCOTT, Georgia GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida JIM COSTA, California VACANT ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona RON KLEIN, Florida BARBARA LEE, California ROBERT R. KING, Staff Director YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC, AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT ENI F. H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa, Chairman ADAM SMITH, Washington DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York, DANA ROHRABACHER, California Vice Chair EDWARD R. ROYCE, California DIANE E. WATSON, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio RUBE´ N HINOJOSA, Texas JEFF FLAKE, Arizona ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey LISA WILLIAMS, Subcommittee Staff Director DAVID RICHMOND, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member NIEN SU, Republican Professional Staff Member VILI LEI, Staff Associate (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:26 Dec 22, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\052008\42477.000 HFA PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES The Honorable Scot Marciel, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State ........................................ 8 Mr. Greg Gottlieb, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for International De- velopment .............................................................................................................. 12 Sein Win, Ph.D., Prime Minister, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma ............................................................................................................... 34 The Honorable Thomas H. Andrews, President, New Economy Communica- tions (Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives) ................................... 44 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress from American Samoa, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment: Prepared statement ................................................... 3 The Honorable Scot Marciel: Prepared statement ................................................ 10 Mr. Greg Gottlieb: Prepared statement ................................................................. 15 The Honorable Donald A. Manzullo, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois: Prepared statement ................................................................. 20 Sein Win, Ph.D.: Prepared statement .................................................................... 36 The Honorable Thomas H. Andrews: Prepared statement ................................... 46 APPENDIX The Honorable Dan Burton, a Representative in Congress from the State of Indiana: Prepared statement .......................................................................... 57 The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey: Prepared statement ................................................... 57 Mr. Joel R. Charny, Vice President for Policy, Refugees International: State- ment ...................................................................................................................... 58 Mr. Gregory Beck, Asia Regional Director, International Rescue Committee: Statement ............................................................................................................. 61 Additional material submitted for the hearing record ......................................... 65 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:26 Dec 22, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\052008\42477.000 HFA PsN: SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:26 Dec 22, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\052008\42477.000 HFA PsN: SHIRL BURMA IN THE AFTERMATH OF CYCLONE NARGIS: DEATH, DISPLACEMENT, AND HU- MANITARIAN AID TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2008 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC, AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. The subcommittee hearing will come to order. This is the subcommittee hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment. The topic for discussion of this oversight hearing is ‘‘Burma in the Aftermath of Cyclone Nargis: Death, Displacement and Humani- tarian Aid’’ and the questions that are being raised by the mem- bers of this committee. We have two distinguished members from the first panel—my good friend, the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Mr. Marciel, and also the Deputy Assistant Administrator, Mr. Gottlieb—that will be our first witnesses to testify this morning. I will begin the hearing this morning with my opening state- ment. And I know my good friend, the ranking member of this sub- committee, the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Manzullo, will be join- ing us later. I am happy to see that we have a distinguished mem- ber of our subcommittee here joining us, the Ambassador and dis- tinguished colleague from California, Congresswoman Diane Wat- son, here with us. On May 3rd of this year, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, killing more than 100,000 people so far known. According to the United Na- tions, up to 2.5 million people in Burma may be affected due to the shortage of food, fuel, clean water and electricity. While the United Nations’ teams are on the ground, the military leaders are delaying aid and imposing travel restrictions on those providing assistance. Our own Congressional Research Service re- ports that, despite pledges of cash, supplies and assistance from around the world, most aid agencies have not been granted visas to enter Burma, or Myanmar, and there is still no word on when visas will be issued. (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:26 Dec 22, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\APGE\052008\42477.000 HFA PsN: SHIRL 2 It is also reported that a relatively small number of foreign aid workers, mostly from Asian countries, will be allowed in. But it is not clear how far outside Rangoon they will be allowed to travel, because the military leaders insist that they can manage the relief effort and do not need experts. As of May 15th, the international community had pledged more than $60 million in contributions and in-kind pledges. Japan and the United Kingdom have provided $10 million each, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, reports that total humanitarian funding provided by the United States is $17.5 million to date. United States airlifts of relief materials are being flown from Thailand to Rangoon. And I want to commend our Ambassador and my good friend, our Ambassador to Thailand, Ambassador Eric John, for the excellent work he is doing on behalf of the United States at this critical time. I also want to express my disappointment, however, that the military leaders proceeded with a vote on this proposed Constitu- tion at a time when the Burmese people, the people of Myanmar, are desperately trying to hold onto life and recover from the after- math of Cyclone Nargis. While voting was delayed for most of the townships around Ran- goon and in several of the townships in Irrawaddy region, reports are swirling that the turnout for the rest of Burma was light and marred with voting irregularities, including premarked ballots, voter intimidation, et cetera. On the other hand, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) reports that more than 99 per-
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