Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Cyclone cracks Myanmar junta's isolation

|
|
 
  
Published: May 8, 2008 at 3:48 AM

YANGON, Myanmar, May 8 (UPI) -- Cyclone Nargis may have helped crack the Myanmar military junta's nearly 50 years of closed-door rule, exposing its claims of self-sufficiency.

The junta largely succeeded in ignoring international pressure during its brutal crackdown of the democracy protests last September, but after the cyclone's devastation, it is left with no choice than to seek help from outside, the International Herald Tribune reported Thursday.

There is still the government hesitation as seen by its slow response to accepting the aid and limiting access to foreign relief workers. But help has begun to reach people in the main city of Yangon and elsewhere in the Southeast Asian country, formerly known as Burma, which since the 1962 military takeover, has remained closed to outsiders.

"Normally they would be saying, 'We are going to stick it out, we don't need anyone's help,'" Zarni, a Myanmar visiting research fellow at Oxford University, told IHT. "That barrier has been broken."

But by accepting international help, the report noted the government runs the risk of being seen as incapable of helping its people.

The most likely place from where a change can come in the country eventually is from within the military, the report said.

Topics: Cyclone Nargis
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visited in Washington
View Caption
Veterans etch the names of their friends inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War on May 26, 2012 in Washington, DC. More than 58,000 names of the servicemen who were killed or missing in the war are engraved on The Wall. UPI/Pat Benic
fark
Hi, I'm a stupid idiot. Please come rob me
Apparently there's no mandatory retirement age for burglars. w/classic mugshot
Dentistry in the UK needs reform. Unfortunately you can't just put an obvious tag in for the actual...
The Twins' infield is a very dusty place
High school wants to keep the grass down by...c) installing emus, alpacas, and sheep which will...
Photoshop this swooping cyclist