Burma

The online journal Mizzima has just published this photo showing boxes of products emblazoned with the Red Cross logo piled up at a Rangoon market stall ready for sale. Is international aid funding the country's military officials? Read more...

The contributors

Kio

One of our Burmese observes sent us this image, taken in the Irrawaddy Delta region a few days after the devastating Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma’s low-lying coastal regions on May 3. He explains why the bodies of these three children are bound together at the wrist - apparently to prevent them from being whipped away by the cyclone. Read more...

The contributors

Kio

The Observers publishes an unreleased eyewitness account from a survivor of the typhoon that wrecked havoc in Burma during the weekend. The authorities have so far confirmed 22,000 dead and 41,000 missing people, but NDL - the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi - says that the total is probably much higher. Read the account.

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Than Win Htut

Burmese stowaways step out of a police van in Thailand. Photo from the Human Rights and Development Foundation. Date unknown.

Fifty-four Burmese people have been found suffocated to death in a freezer truck on its way to the Thai tourist resort of Phuket on the other side of the border. The incident has shocked the world, but it's hardly an isolated case according to our Burmese Observer. Read more...

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Nang Aye

A blog by Burmese exiles in Thailand (Vimutti) has published photos of new military vehicles delivered to Burma from China on 15 January. The vans are the same model that was used to transport soldiers and prisoners during September's crackdown. However, Chinese diplomats insist they are working hard to get the Junta to negotiate with the opposition and to make efforts in terms of human rights. Kio, our Observer for Burma, comments on the situation. Read more...

Chinese FAW trucks in Ruili (Sino-Burmese frontier).

The contributors

Kio