Burma, Day 10: Answering Your Question on Aung San Suu Kyi

Dear friends,
 
Many thanks to all of our supporters who are now holding events across the country to help raise funds for victims of the Cyclone.  The situation gets more dire everyday.  It appears that still only a trickle of humanitarian aid is reaching the people most in need, and yesterday even the United Nations World Food Program briefly suspended shipments of aid to Burma after the military regime impounded aid planes.  Reports indicate that supplies that should be reaching the Burmese people are literally sitting on the tarmac. 
 
We are going to send you a full update about the Cyclone, we are pulling it together right now.  For a quick moment though, we wanted to answer a question that hundreds of you (including many journalists) have been asking us:  what is the condition of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's struggle for human rights and democracy and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient? 

Here is the answer: we were informed she was not hurt.  Apparently part of her house was damaged in the Cyclone, but she was not injured.  Yet, she is living in the dark as there are power outages throughout the city.  She is still under arrest and forbidden from helping Cyclone victims.

We are also sharing with you video #10 of our 30-day video campaign for Burma which can be watched on our website or at www.burmaitcantwait.org.  The goal of this campaign is to mobilize one milion people to sign up for U.S. Campaign for Burma so that we can be a powerful team working for change in Burma.  The military regime's shameful, criminal response to the Cyclone reminds us yet again why this is so important.  We need to rally the people of the world together to make sure that what is happening right now in Burma never, ever happens again.
 
Please send this video to as many of your friends and family as possible.  Also, please encourage them to sign up.  You can watch the first 9 days of videos at www.burmaitcantwait.org
 
Stay tuned for an update on the Cyclone.
 
Aung Din, Jeremy Woodrum, Jennifer Quigley, Thelma Young
 
Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
Become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today.

Meanwhile: Myanmar holds vote on constitution

Myanmar holds vote on constitution

 

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's military rulers held elections aimed at solidifying their hold on power, while brazenly turning cyclone relief efforts into a propaganda campaign. In some cases, generals' names were scribbled onto boxes of foreign aid before being distributed.

Human rights organizations and dissident groups have bitterly accused the junta of neglecting disaster victims in going ahead with Saturday's referendum, which seeks public approval of a new constitution. Critics describe it as a sham.

Aye Aye Mar, a 36-year-old homemaker, looked frightened when asked if she thought anyone would vote against it.

 

Here`s the link to the full article:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/10/asia/AS-GEN-Myanmar.php