Human-rights groups fired a fresh salvo at the Burmese junta yesterday, saying the generals were firm in their statement that the relief effort was over and survivors had to return to their villages.
Amnesty International condemned the junta for forcing the villagers back home as their villages were uninhabitable.
The authorities announced on May 20 that the rescue phase of the cyclone response had ended and the reconstruction phase had begun.
But Amnesty said most of the displaced survivors could not return to their original homes as large swathes of the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, remained uninhabitable.
"After surviving the cyclone's fury, thousands of cyclone survivors are now suffering at the hands of the junta," Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty's Burma researcher, said in a statement.
After announcing the relief effort was over, the junta demanded assistance of more than US$10 billion (Bt320 billion) for rehabilitation and reconstruction while telling international aid workers to keep away from the devastation.
The international community disagrees with the junta's assessment as aid had just begun to flow into the devastated areas and hundreds of thousands of people were still unable help themselves.
The United Nations estimated that as of early June, about 550,000 of the 2.5 million people affected by the storm were residing in temporary settlements.
Amnesty was able to confirm more than 30 instances and accounts of forcible displacement by the junta, but anecdotal evidence from numerous sources strongly suggests a much higher number. On May 23, authorities in Rangoon forcibly removed more than 3,000 cyclone survivors from an official camp in Shwebaukan township and from an unofficial camp in State High School No 2 in Dala, Rangoon Division, it said.
They gave the survivors 7,000 kyat (Bt220) and a little rice, and told those staying in the school they were expelled as the term would resume on June 2, it said.
In the past two weeks, the relocation campaign has become more systematic and widespread.
Amnesty International condemned the junta for forcing the villagers back home as their villages were uninhabitable.
The authorities announced on May 20 that the rescue phase of the cyclone response had ended and the reconstruction phase had begun.
But Amnesty said most of the displaced survivors could not return to their original homes as large swathes of the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, remained uninhabitable.
"After surviving the cyclone's fury, thousands of cyclone survivors are now suffering at the hands of the junta," Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty's Burma researcher, said in a statement.
After announcing the relief effort was over, the junta demanded assistance of more than US$10 billion (Bt320 billion) for rehabilitation and reconstruction while telling international aid workers to keep away from the devastation.
The international community disagrees with the junta's assessment as aid had just begun to flow into the devastated areas and hundreds of thousands of people were still unable help themselves.
The United Nations estimated that as of early June, about 550,000 of the 2.5 million people affected by the storm were residing in temporary settlements.
Amnesty was able to confirm more than 30 instances and accounts of forcible displacement by the junta, but anecdotal evidence from numerous sources strongly suggests a much higher number. On May 23, authorities in Rangoon forcibly removed more than 3,000 cyclone survivors from an official camp in Shwebaukan township and from an unofficial camp in State High School No 2 in Dala, Rangoon Division, it said.
They gave the survivors 7,000 kyat (Bt220) and a little rice, and told those staying in the school they were expelled as the term would resume on June 2, it said.
In the past two weeks, the relocation campaign has become more systematic and widespread.
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