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Myanmar Restrictions on Radios and Currency
Exchange Persist, as France Grandstands
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
July 10 -- As the UN appealed for
$300 million more for post-cyclone Myanmar, questions grew about the
UN's
conversion of money to kyat, the local currency, through
government-issued
Foreign Exchange Certificates at the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank.
Sources have
told Inner City Press that the Than Shwe government is benefiting from
the
exchange rates.
On Thursday
Inner City Press asked the UN's Humanitarian
Coordinator for Myanmar, Dan Baker, who responded that he does not
think the
conversion to kyat benefits the government. But what about the first
step in
the process, the conversion to Foreign Exchange Certificates? That
"fluctuates," Baker replied. Video here,
near end. Local estimates say that the
fluctuations, particular since the cyclone and the UN's appeal, have
benefited
the military government.
While Baker
and the UN's top humanitarian, John Holmes, both effusively praised
Myanmar on
Thursday, their own Situation
Report of July 7 states, under the heading "Emergency
Tele Communications," that "Equipment is still held in customs,
restriction
on official imports of telecommunications equipment remains, and use of
telecommunications equipment in Delta region is still prohibited."
Called
on with only three minutes remaining in their press conference, Inner
City
Press asked Baker and Holmes about each of these.
Baker
confirmed that these
are the restrictions, but noted that the UN has tried to raise them to
the government.
But why no mention of the restrictions until they arose at the end of a
press
conference?
UN's Ban in the Delta, radios and currency exchange
not shown
Earlier on
Thursday, when Holmes launched the revised appeal, various countries
spoke.
Thailand emphasized that humanitarian aid should not be politicized.
The U.S.
spoke about its C-130 cargo flights which ended on June 22. The UK
chimes in
that it is contributing a further $90 million. (The U.S. has given
$47). And then
the representative of France spoke, saying
"My country and the
international community in general is gravely preoccupied by the
situation in
Burma... Let me remind our partners that the Security Council is
dealing with
the situation on the political side, independent of the mission of Mr.
Gambari."
Various
Ambassadors scoffed, one told Inner City Press that France was just
grandstanding. Afterwards, a Permanent Five member of the Security
Council told
Inner City Press that France has "embarrassed John Holmes." Inner
City Press asked Holmes to respond to this; he said that France
"was trying to make a
political point. They want to pursue the political agenda. But...
that's why
Ibrahim Gambari is preparing to go back there. I didn't feel
embarrassed by it.
It just wasn't particularly relevant to what we were saying."
An irony is
that those who pushed so loudly to get their own humanitarians into
Myanmar
have not pushed at all to make sure that through currency exchange aid
meant
for victims of the cyclone is not siphoned off to benefit the military
government. One diplomat remarked to Inner City Press, France just
wanted to
"film its MSF and ACF workers there in Myanmar."
Inner City
Press asked Dan Baker if the UN is doing anything to help the Karen
people,
including IDPs fleeing military action in the east of the country. "We
have actually less access to that region," Baker said, mentioning a
trust
fund set up to help on the issue. But how is the money in the trust
fund
converted to local currency? Two weeks after Inner City Press asked
UNDP the question, the following arrived on July 10:
"UNDP Funds are remitted
into the UNDP US dollar account at Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank. UNDP
Myanmar
exchanges US dollars for Foreign Exchange Certificates at the Bank, and
then
converts these into local currency (Kyat). The exchange rate is based
on the
prevailing [most competitive] rate in the market, which can fluctuate."
We will
have more on these "fluctuations." For now we note this response
to the question
of whether the UN and UNICEF have been pressured by the Myanmar
government to hold their press conferences about the cyclone only in
Yangon.
Footnote: Ibrahim
Gambari, whose mission on Myanmar
was mentioned by both France and the UN's Holmes, is reported to have
resigned
his recent role in the Niger Delta conflict. While it has been
explained that
he took a leave of absence from the UN for that work, Inner City Press
on
Thursday asked the UN spokesperson if she could confirm or deny that
Gambari
resigned his role. It is in her personal capacity, she said. But would
he tell
the UN if he quit his Nigeria role? Of course, she said. Has he told
the UN
that? Not that I know of, she said.
Watch this site. And this --
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