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Survival is priority
THE international spotlight was shining
strongly on Burma long before Saturday's
cyclone which left the country facing a humanitarian
crisis on a massive scale.
Following the brutal response to antigovernment
demonstrations in September,
Western governments have been
steadily stepping up the pressure on
Burma to move towards democracy.
Constitutional changes have been drafted
and are due to be put to a referendum
on May 10, paving the way for democratic
elections in 2010.
But suddenly the appetite for political
change, and an end to military rule, have
given way to the immediate and basic
need simply to survive. Before Saturday,
the people of Burma did not have their democratic
freedom. Now many of them do
not even have clean drinking water or
shelter.
By last night, the death toll had risen to
more than 22,000, with hundreds of thousands
of people caught up in the aftermath
of Cyclone Nargis.
It is a disaster which demands urgent international
action and requires Burma's
government to open up the country to aid
from wherever it can get it.
It is clear that the military junta cannot
cope with the scale of what has happened,
just as it failed adequately to warn the
Burmese people of the devastation nature
was about to unleash.
The response must be speeded up and
that means accepting that the days of resisting
the international community are
over.
Democracy must come soon. But survival
is the immediate priority.
1:30pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
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