စိတ္ေကာင္းရွိမွ..ဒို ့လိူရုပ္ေခ်ာမွာ သန္းေရြွ

Clooney, Pitt launch Myanmar ad campaign by Aubrey Belford
Wed Jun 25, 10:12 AM ET


George Clooney (left) and Brad Pitt are seen together in May 2007. Clooney and Pitt have joined forces with Asian political figures in an advertising campaign calling on the region to push Myanmar's junta to allow in more cyclone aid.
(AFP/File/Francois Guillot)

JAKARTA (AFP) - Hollywood stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt joined forces with Asian political figures Wednesday in an advertising campaign calling on the region to push Myanmar's junta to allow in more cyclone aid.

A full page advertisement in Indonesian English language daily The Jakarta Post by US-based pressure group Not On Our Watch said Asia must pressure the reclusive regime to fully open its doors to foreign aid after Cyclone Nargis.

"Burma's neighbours have the power to help victims who remain desperately in need," said the advertisement, signed by former and current regional leaders and Nobel laureates, referring to Myanmar by its previous name.

Signatories included former Philippine president Corazon Aquino, East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and former Czech president Vaclav Havel.

The advertisement said Myanmar's regime is risking thousands of lives by holding out on aid, although the junta has been giving increasing access to foreign relief workers despite its initial refusal to cooperate.

The advertisement singled out Myanmar's military leader General Than Shwe for criticism, saying the general had backed out on a May promise to allow all foreign aid workers into the country.

"Despite this, foreign supply ships with emergency and lifesaving equipment have been turned away or gone home. International relief continues to be slowed," the advertisement said.

"Burma's delta remains shattered, its people starving and in danger."

The May 2-3 cyclone left around 138,000 people dead and missing in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta region, according to the junta, and the UN estimates 2.4 million people are in need of aid.

The junta has refused entry to most Western aid workers but allowed in a 250-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) backed assessment team on June 2.

Local donors including volunteers and Buddhist monks have stepped in to try to fill the gap, and have managed to deliver aid to many remote villages of the Irrawaddy despite complaining of regular impediment by the military.

Aid workers in the cyclone-hit region have reported that many survivors have managed to feed themselves by fishing in the flooded delta, but a long-term risk to crops remains.

Agencies such as the World Food Program say they still need funding for even basic parts of the relief effort such as fuel for helicopters.

The ASEAN team has finished work and met in the Myanmarese capital Yangon on Tuesday but its findings have not yet been made public.

Jakarta is the home of the Secretariat of ASEAN, which has been criticised for failing to strongly press Myanmar's government to allow full foreign aid.

The advertisement in The Jakarta Post was funded by the board of New York-based Not On Our Watch, which includes Clooney, Pitt and fellow actor Matt Damon.


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