More sensible talk from the antisanction action faction.

[him] moderator

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Isolation or engagement; What's next for the people of Myanmar?
Ashley Clements
31 Oct 2008 14:22:00 GMT
Reuters/Alertnet

Ashley Clements is World Vision's Humanitarian Policy Adviser and a member of their global emergency response team. He first began working on Myanmar in 2004, and since then has been deployed to emergency responses in Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. He is a co-author of the book, World Poverty for Dummies.

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Visiting the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy Delta of Myanmar is like stepping back in time. Millions of people live in simple bamboo huts above an endless maze of canals which carve up fertile plains. The Delta's residents continue to earn a living from the staples of fishing and rice production, as they have done for hundreds if not thousands of years.

This flat and water-sodden region is inaccessible at the best of times - a two day trip featuring boats, cars, and motorbikes is required to reach some parts. These days, some of us are lucky enough to cut out some of the journey by hopping on a UN helicopter, but it still remains a remote home for much of the Delta's 6 million residents.

The feeling of isolation I get when I visit the Delta is due not to its physical seclusion, but rather to political factors which have kept it cut off from the outside world for decades. Accusations of political and human rights abuses have led to a long list of sanctions and the adoption of isolationist policies towards Myanmar. This has left much of the country disconnected from the outside world, in particular the already remote Irrawaddy Delta, where some villages still have never seen foreigners.

But all that changed when Cyclone Nargis struck the country on May 2 this year. Over 800,000 homes were destroyed, and 140,000 people left dead or missing. Nearly two and half million people were severely affected by the disaster, prompting a vast humanitarian relief effort by the international community.

Now, six months later, the immense media attention and the funding that was so forth coming in the early days of the crisis, has all but dried up. The United Nations Flash Appeal of $486 million is barely more than half-funded. Once again, the world seems to have returned to its default position of isolating the country, regardless of its acute humanitarian needs.

If the past six months has shown us anything, it is that aid does work here and does reach the people who need it most. For half a year, aid agencies like World Vision have been delivering effective and accountable aid to those affected by Nargis, making a real difference to the lives of millions. Indeed, World Vision has been present in the country for 40 years, working to transform the lives of people in Myanmar.

Whilst lobby groups and activists continue to petition for a reversion to the isolationist policies that they hope will bring about regime change in this country, it is hard for those of us who have seen the impact that aid can have here to sit back and accept a return to the former status quo.

Myanmar used to be known as the 'rice bowl of Asia'. Empty fields need to shed their salt water skin before new crops can be harvested; homes need to be rebuilt before parents can offer their children a sense of security; and children need the opportunity to go back to school before communities can feel whole again.

If there is a silver lining to the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, it is that the international community has been shown what it can accomplish if it works together, partnering with willing government entities, to bring about meaningful and lasting change for the people of Myanmar.

And although the emergency phase of the operation is over, the needs across the Irrawaddy Delta and much of the rest of the country are still immense - many still struggle to access safe drinking water, secure the next harvest, and even pay for their children to attend school.

Ongoing aid can and should be used to continue to make a difference to the lives of the people of this country. But the question facing us now is whether aid will be constrained now that the world is no longer watching quite so closely, or will governments learn from the successes of the past six months and push for even greater change over the years ahead?

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http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/54771/2008/09/31-142241-1.htm