MILTARY RUSH AND UN CLOSE AIRLIFT TO BURMA

An estimated 30,000 people besieged the village—Kyaut Oe, 12 miles east of Taungoo—before the regional military command enacted a decree banning large assemblies of people.
The diamond that sparked the “gem-rush” was reportedly found in a Kyaut Oe creek and was bought by a dealer for 300,000 kyat (US $250). Rumors spread rapidly that the real worth of the gem was up to five times that amount.
Many residents joined the rush to the village but came away empty-handed.
One explanation for the presence of a diamond in Kyaut Oe’s creek is that it might have come from a collapsed pagoda or shrine. The abbot of Kyaut Oe’s monastery informed authorities of the discovery of the gem.
Popular interest in diamonds in Burma grew after Than Shwe’s daughter Thandar smothered herself with gems when she married two years ago. She wore so many that Southeast Asian newspapers reported a rise in the price of diamonds in the run-up to the wedding. Some sources from Nay Pyi Daw say to 88GSE that many precious diamonds wearing on the head of Thanda Shwe in her weeding show were from the ancient pagodas and buddhists' temples in Northern Shan State and Central Burma (Mandalay).

UN close airlift to Myanmar

UN humanitarian aid coordinator Daniel Baker says the costly airlift could not continue forever. He adds that it was no longer really necessary. Food can also be shipped to the region by boat. The most important aid goods have already arrived in Myanmar and all those in need have been reached: "We did a joint assessment report in June. We only found a very few isolated communities which have not received any support at all. So we immediately supplied them with aid. But that doesn't answer the more important question: who may have got aid at some point in the past and needs more aid now?"

Lack of Cooperation

Even though the certificates were abolished following pressure from Mr Baker, donor countries are still concerned about whether their money is being well spent. This is compounded by the fact that it is still difficult for aid workers to obtain visas. Editor-in-Chief Kyaw Zwa Moe of the monthly magazine Irrawaddy News says the regime is still the main obstacle to an efficient aid operation. However, he says that the UN is also to blame, mainly because of a lack of cooperation. "If the UN organisations worked together they would have known which villages have not received any food yet. They might need more cooperation from one agency to another."Daniel Baker admits there's room for more cooperation. In the past months, the UN has repeatedly collaborated with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has often acted as mediator between the international aid community and the Burmese regime. Collaboration between the UN and local aid organisations has not materialised yet, but Mr Baker says the UN is working on it: "In a major disaster like this, no government in the world can do it with it's own resources. We all need to work together. And in fact given the Myanmar context we have been able to achieve a measure of that."