The New Nation - Internet Edition

Myanmar holds referendum votes as cyclone victims starve

AFP, Pathein

Myanmar's junta Saturday held a vote on a new constitution, ignoring pleas to focus on delivering urgently needed food supplies to 1.5 million cyclone victims facing disease and hunger.

The referendum being held in all but the most devastated parts of the country is the first balloting to take place in Myanmar since the disallowed elections in 1990, in which democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi secured a landslide victory.

Voting was postponed by two weeks in the former capital of Yangon, as well as most of the Irrawaddy delta where Cyclone Nargis struck last week, leaving 65,000 dead or missing according to the junta's count.

Although Myanmar says it will now accept aid from the United States, it has tussled with the World Food Programme over unloading UN supplies, triggering a brief suspension of the global body's relief flights Friday.

"My understanding is that it has not yet been released into our hands, but we are working around the clock to get access," Marcus Prior, a Bangkok-based spokesman for WFP, said of a vital UN aid shipment impounded by authorities.

"We have people who know how to work these channels, and they are," he said as the supplies-enough high-energy biscuits to feed 95,000 survivors-remained stuck at Yangon airport more than 24 hours after being delivered.

"It is frustrating but that doesn't mean we're going to throw up our hands and give up. To the contrary-we're going to work harder," he said.

The UN has launched an emergency appeal for 187 million dollars to help the cyclone victims, but Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has not yet succeeded in speaking directly with the reclusive junta leader, Than Shwe, a UN source said.

The junta has also refused to allow in foreign aid workers to direct the relief effort, drawing condemnation from the UN and world leaders who urged the ruling generals to open their doors.

Than Shwe, 75, ignored calls to delay the referendum and allow in foreign experts, despite warnings that without international aid, people who survived the storm's onslaught in the delta could face a new tragedy as disease and hunger stalk the region.

Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party has berated the junta for proceeding with the vote in the wake of the cyclone, with some polling stations in the delta set up just blocks from makeshift shelters crowded with evacuees whose homes were destroyed.

The regime says the charter will clear the way for democratic elections in two years, but critics say the document will ensure the generals remain dominant in a country that has been ruled by the military for nearly half a century.

New outbreak of bird flu hits India

AFP, Kolkata

Bird flu has spread to the hilly Darjeeling district of eastern India which has been hit by avian influenza several times already this year, a minister said Saturday. Blood samples from dead chickens from the Himalayan foothills of West Bengal state tested positive for the H5N1 strain, the state's animal resources development minister Anisur Rahaman said.

A mass cull of some 20,000 chickens would begin soon, he added.

West Bengal borders Bangladesh, where the virus has been detected in poultry in more than half of the country's 64 districts.

The disease was first detected in Bangladesh in February 2007 near the capital Dhaka. It was almost dormant by late 2007 but made a forceful comeback in January this year.

West Bengal reported the first outbreak of the virus in January, when health workers culled 3.8 million chickens.

The state reported two more outbreaks in March, leading to the culling of tens of thousands of chickens.

Cease-fire in Pakistan's Swat Valley

AFP, Peshawar

Pakistani authorities and pro-Taliban militants declared a cease-fire Friday in the volatile Swat Valley in the latest bid to curtail an explosion of violence along the Afghan border, officials said. The cease-fire followed talks between representatives of the North West Frontier Province government and militant leader Maulana Fazlullah, whose armed followers grabbed control of much of the valley last year.

Pakistan's army responded with a military operation that drove militants to the mountains and left scores dead. It was a sign of the instability in Pakistan's northwestern frontier regions, where Islamic militants have challenged the government's authority.

Pakistan's civilian administration, elected in February, is seeking dialogue with Taliban sympathizers in a break from the more aggressive policy of U.S.-backed President Pervez Musharraf, who has mostly sought to tame extremists through military force.

"After hours of talks we have reached a cease-fire in entire Swat valley," provincial minister Wajid Ali Khan said after the talks in the northwestern town of Chakdara.

He said that more negotiations would follow to bring "peace and stability" in the province.

Muslim Abdur Rasheed, an aide of Fazlullah, confirmed the cease-fire would take effect on Saturday. He described Friday's first round of talks as a "confidence-building initiative."

He said the two sides have yet to discuss the militants' demands, which include the imposition of Islamic law in the valley, the withdrawal of the army, release of detainees and compensation for damage suffered by local people in the military operation.

Neither Rasheed nor Khan would say when the next round of talks would be held.

The cease-fire is the latest sign that Pakistan's new national government, led by the party of assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, wants to use dialogue and development to curb militancy across the border region. The North West Frontier Province's government, which is led by a Pashtun nationalist party, has joined the effort.

Musharraf also tried striking truces with some groups - deals that U.S. officials complained gave Pakistani militants as well as Taliban and al-Qaida fighters a chance to build up strength.

Hu says Japan visit 'successful’

AFP, Nara

Chinese President Hu Jintao Saturday said his five-day visit to Japan, which has seen the traditional rivals commit to closer ties but also met protests over Beijing's rule in Tibet, was a success. On the final day of his trip, only the second visit ever by a Chinese head of state to Japan, Hu visited the Toshodaiji Temple, a revered Buddhist temple built by Chinese monk Ganjin in 759 when the city was the nation's capital.

The choice of Nara is seen as a bid to remember times when bilateral relations were amicable, unlike the two countries' tortured recent history tainted by Japan's militarism before and during World War II.

"This visit was harmonious and successful," Hu told reporters before leaving Nara.

"Cooperation between China and Japan has produced big achievements in various fields. I believe further progress will be made in the future," he said.

Hu also visited the Horyuji Temple, the world's oldest surviving wooden structure, built more than 1,300 years ago, where he said: "It is good for both countries to stay friendly and peaceful." There was, however, open dissent Saturday, with dozens of protesters gathered in front of the temple waving Tibetan flags and chanting "Free Tibet!" as Hu arrived, while pro-Tibet demonstrators rallied.

Myanmar at risk from further cyclones: UN weather expert

AFP, Geneva

Myanmar could suffer another major storm this season even as it braces for more bad weather after the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, a UN weather expert warned Friday.

"It's not rare if they have another (cyclone)," said Yuichi Ono, a programme officer for the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

The Bay of Bengal generally sees two cyclone 'peaks' either side of the monsoon season which is likely to start by the end of May, Ono told AFP.

An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless in Myanmar by the disaster, which has killed tens of thousands and left the country's infrastructure in tatters.

The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday its forecasts predict further adverse weather conditions for Myanmar in the week ahead.

In a statement, the UN weather agency said current forecasts point to occasional tropical rain showers from now until next Thursday, with a shift towards heavy rainfall around Thursday.

Total rainfall around Thursday is seen reaching "around 100 mm expected for a period of 3 days".

Sadrists strike deal to end Baghdad fighting

AFP, Baghdad

The movement of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday it had struck a deal with Iraqi officials to end weeks of fighting in Baghdad that left another 13 people dead overnight.

Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, the spokesman for the cleric's office in the central shrine city of Najaf, said the deal reached with a government delegation would be effective from Sunday.

"We will stop the fire, stop displaying arms in public and open all the roads leading to Sadr City," Obeidi told AFP.

"This agreement will be executed from tomorrow. The Sadr movement has agreed to the contents of the deal and it has now become an official document. Obeidi, who took part in the negotiations leading to the clinching of the deal in Baghdad, said the two sides had reached agreement on most issues.

Obama forges ahead as momentum builds in his favour

AFP, Washington

Democrat Barack Obama promised Americans a clean break from Washington's politics-as-usual as he campaigned Saturday to sew up the Democratic presidential nomination and rally more superdelegates to his side.

Since Obama's convincing win in North Carolina on Tuesday over rival Clinton and their photo-finish in Indiana, 12 more of the Democratic Party elite who have a say on the nomination contest have swung over to the Illinois senator, including seven in 24 hours.

The trickle of support is predicted to turn into a flood, with only six primaries now left in their marathon battle to carry the party's flag into the November presidential elections against Republican John McCain.

Former candidate John Edwards, who dropped out of the close race in late January, stopped short of endorsing Obama on Friday, but said he has virtually wrapped up the contest ahead of the last primaries on June 3.

"Let's just assume that Barack is the nominee because it's headed in that direction," he told NBC television.

Brown taking tips from Blair, says Cherie

AFP, London

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is taking advice from his predecessor Tony Blair on how to win the next general election despite pressuring him out of office, the wife of the former prime minister said on Saturday.

In interviews with two newspapers-the Times and the Sun-Cherie Blair laid bare the tempestuous relationship between the two men who worked side by side in Downing Street for a decade.

She described the crisis of confidence Blair suffered in April 2004 at the height of unpopularity over his decision to take Britain to war with Iraq and accused Brown of "rattling the keys above his head."

Zimbabwe opposition to contest runoff

AFP, Pretoria

Zimbabwe's top opposition leader says he will contest a presidential runoff and return soon to his homeland.

Morgan Tsvangirai said Saturday his supporters would feel betrayed if he did not face Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the runoff.

He addressed reporters in South Africa on Saturday.

Tsvangirai has said previously he won the first round outright and that official figures showing a second round are fraudulent.

Opposition officials and rights activists accuse Mugabe of orchestrating violence against the opposition since the first round on March 29. They also question whether a second round could be free and fair.

Meanwhile, the leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition group said on Saturday full access for international observers and media was a pre-condition for his participation in a run-off against President Robert Mugabe.