http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/world/asia/12myanmar.html
MA NGAY GYI, Myanmar =97 When one of Myanmar=92s best-known movie stars,
Kyaw Dhyu, traveled through the Irrawaddy Delta in recent days to
deliver aid to the victims of the May 3 cyclone, a military patrol
stopped him as he was handing out bags of rice.
=93The officer told him, =91You cannot give directly to the people,=94
said
Tin Win, the village headman of the stricken city of Dedaye, who had
been counting on the rice to feed 260 refugees who sleep in a large
Buddhist prayer hall.
[...]
Even Myanmar citizens who want to donate rice or other items have in
several cases been told that all assistance must be channeled through
the military. That restriction has angered local government officials
like Tin Win who are trying to help rebuild the lives of villagers. He
twitched with rage as he described the rice the military gave him.
=93They gave us four bags,=94 he said. =93The rice is rotten =97 even the
pi=
gs
and dogs wouldn=92t eat it.=94
He said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had
delivered good rice to the local military leaders last week but they
kept it for themselves and distributed the waterlogged, musty rice.
=93I=92m very angry,=94 he said, adding an expletive to describe the
military.
[...]
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