Danish Minister Visits Burma

By WAI MOE

Danish Development Minister Ulla Toraes was in Burma last week—the highest ranking member of the European Union to visit military-ruled Burma in two decades.

Ulla Toraes and her delegation visited for two days, from January 21-22, accompanied by a Norwegian minister, Erik Solheim, the minister for environment and development.

Burma’s state-run-newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on January 22 that the two ministers held a meeting with the Myanmar Red Cross Society, led by its president Prof Thar Hla Shwe.

Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Denmark Red Cross Society also attended the meeting, the newspaper reported.

The New Light of Myanmar provided no further information about the two ministers’ discussions.

The two ministers flew in UN helicopters to the delta region where they inspected relief and reconstruction work in four villages in the delta, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

One of Denmark’s leading newspapers, Politiken, reported on the trip under the headline: “Tornaes: Burma Needs Assistance.”

The newspaper report said the Danish ministers visited Burma for two days and saw a need for continued humanitarian assistance in Burma, considered to be one of the poorest nations in the world.

“It is quite clear to me that Burma is one of the world's poorest countries, and that neither can we nor should we neglect it. We must make an effort, although we know it will happen step by step,” said Ulla Tornaes, as quoted in Politiken.

In a UN news release, Norwegian minister Erik Solheim said, “The humanitarian relief and early recovery efforts after Cyclone Nargis have been more successful than expected. Many schools and homes have been rebuilt but still there are areas with great need for support. What is important is the continued and increased access for humanitarian workers.”

Denmark contributed US $11.4 million and Norway donated US $7.7 million to the humanitarian fund for the cyclone through the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), made up of the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Burmese regime.

The TCG agreement will expire in June. Danish officials and many aid groups expressed concern on the looming deadline, according to Politiken.

“It is possible that the authorities, the UN and Asean will agree to allow the coordination group to continue,” Ulla Tornaes said. “We have a well-functioning mechanism which has proved that it is functioning correctly, so there is good reason to let it continue.”

An aid conference on Cyclone Nargis will be held in February in Bangkok, Thailand. The extension of TCG projects in Burma will likely be decided during the conference.

Jakob Simonsen, a UNDP director based in Copenhagen, wrote in Denmark’s Information newspaper that critics say that the minister-level visit to Burma as giving legitimacy to the repressive regime and breaching the EU common policy on Burma that bars high-level visits. The EU has imposed a visa ban on the regime.

But Simonsen noted: “Conversely, most of us probably agree that we can not turn a blind eye when hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been hit by a devastating disaster.”

Prior to visiting Burma, Ulla Tornaes also visited Thailand where she met with Burmese exile groups.