Myanmar attacks media for cyclone coverage

YANGON - MYANMAR'S military junta lashed out at its own citizens and foreign media on Friday for what it called distorted coverage of the aftermath of a devastating cyclone.

The attack came after authorities detained a popular comedian who had just returned from helping survivors of the disaster and had said government aid was not reaching some victims.

Unconfirmed reports circulated on Friday in Yangon that at least a dozen people involved in filming cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta had been arrested.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar, considered a mouthpiece for the junta, accused 'self-seekers and unscrupulous elements' of working in collusion with foreigners to shoot video films featuring made-up stories in the storm-ravaged areas in the delta.

'Those foreign news agencies are issuing such groundless news stories with the intention of tarnishing the image of Myanmar and misleading the international community into believing that cyclone victims do not receive any assistance,' the report said.

The military regime has been criticised by international agencies for holding up shipments of food, water and temporary shelter supplies to some 1 million desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

'Comedian arrested'
Well-known comedian Maung Thura - whose stage name is Zarganar - was taken from his home in Yangon by police on Wednesday night after going to the Irrawaddy delta to donate relief items to survivors, his family said.

A family member said on Friday that they had heard nothing from Zarganar and the regime has given no reason for his detention.

'We stopped our cyclone relief activities yesterday (Thursday), but we will hae to resume our relief assistance tomorrow,' the relative said.

Zarganar, 46, known both for his anti-government barbs and his work for cyclone victims, was taken into custody after police searched his house and confiscated some belongings. He and his team had made video records of their relief activities and Zarganar gave interviews to foreign media.

A representative for the human rights group Amnesty International said Zarganar's detention was indicative of the kinds of human rights concerns that the group was trying to highlight in Myanmar.

'There's simply no doubt this was done for political reasons ... but has an extra element because it can presumed to be linked to the humanitarian assistance effort,' Amnesty researcher Benjamin Zawacki said.

In a report, Amnesty International cited several cases of forced labor in exchange for food in the delta, and accused the regime of stepping up a campaign to evict the homeless from shelters.

The London-based group also said authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite the junta's pledge to crack down on the practice.

'Unless human rights safeguards are observed, tens of thousands of people remain at risk,' Amnesty said in its report. 'Respect for human rights must be at the centre of the relief effort.'

The government says Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar on May 2-3, killed 78,000 people and left an additional 56,000 missing. The UN says more than 1 million still desperately need food, shelter or medical care.

'Critical government relief effort'
This week, Zarganar gave interviews to several overseas media outlets, including the British Broadcasting, that were critical of the government relief effort.

The junta is sensitive to being embarrassed abroad, and has a record of persecuting people who give interviews to foreign media.

In an interview with the Thailand-based magazine Irrawaddy, Zarganar said he and more than 400 entertainers in Myanmar had volunteered to aid cyclone victims, making many trips to the delta.

Some areas, he said, had neither been reached by the government nor international relief agencies. Zarganar and his group distributed food, blankets, mosquito nets and other aid.

Zarganar said his group sometimes had 'confrontations with authorities' in the delta.

Earlier, other Myanmar entertainers had complained that authorities want all aid to be distributed through official channels rather than by private individuals and groups.

Zarganar, who works as a dentist to pay the bills, was first arrested in 1988 for his political activities and again for helping his mother - a member of the National League for Democracy - during her campaign for the 1990 general elections.

The party, led by detained Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, swept those elections, but the regime refused to yield power.

Last September, Zarganar was arrested and held for three weeks for providing food to Buddhist monks who spearheaded anti-government protests in Yangon. -- AP