Tea With A Dictator

Benedict Rogers
May 31, 2008 9:00 AM

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, reminds me of Lady Hester Random in the movie Tea with Mussolini. Lady Hester, widow of a former British ambassador to Italy, played by the famous actress Maggie Smith, lives in 1930s Florence. As the fascists gain ground, she seeks an appointment with the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. He promises her his personal protection, and she naively takes him at his word.
The local newspaper features a photograph of Lady Hester having tea with the dictator, a picture she proudly keeps in a frame on her mantelpiece. Events, however, turn out rather differently, though it takes a long time for Lady Hester to realise that Mussolini could not be trusted. Watch the movie to find out what happens.
On May 23, Ban Ki-moon met Burma's ruthless dictator, Senior General Than Shwe. In the comfort of the Hotel Sedona in Rangoon, the UN secretary-general then declared to the world media: 'I am happy to report that we have made progress on all these issues. This morning, I had a good meeting with Senior General Than Shwe. He agreed to allow international aid workers into the affected areas, regardless of nationality. He has taken quite a flexible position ...' It sounds almost as promising as Neville Chamberlain's 'peace in our time'.
Today's world, when it comes to Burma, is full of Neville Chamberlains and Lady Hesters. No sooner had Ban Ki-moon left the country than the regime began its backtrack. Prime minister Thein Sein announced that the regime would 'consider' allowing access to international aid workers, 'if they wish to engage in rehabilitation and reconstruction work'. storm swept their homes away. Others have been forced into camps controlled by the regime. Notices have been put up prohibiting relief distribution. Soldiers have shot dead several cyclone survivors, for no apparent reason.
Declaring the relief phase 'over' before it has even begun is a death sentence for the desperate survivors, thousands of whom are still bereft of basic emergency aid, including food, medical care and shelter. To talk of reconstruction and rehabilitation when people are dying of starvation and treatable disease is a scandal. Unless aid workers are permitted to enter the cyclone areas without restriction, to assess the needs and monitor the distribution of aid, there will be few people left to rehabilitate and little point in reconstruction.
The brutality of the regime has not changed. It shows no concern for human life - yet in its Orwellian eccentricity, it has announced that Cyclone Nargis killed 665,271 ducks, 56,163 cows and 1,614,502 chickens. The junta fails to realise that hundreds of thousands of people have died, and their corpses continue to float in the flood waters alongside the dead ducks and chickens. Rotting corpses spread diseases, causing yet more deaths. Regime officials don't even attempt to conceal their contempt for human life. One official told foreign aid workers: "What you, westerners, don't seem to understand is that people in the delta are used to having no water to drink and nothing to eat."
The regime has no regard for the rule of law either, not even its own. Burma's democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has spent over 12 years under house arrest. Her current period of house arrest began in 2003, following an assassination attempt against her at Depayin which resulted in the slaughter of more than 100 of her supporters. She is held under the State Protection Act, which imposes a five-year sentence. Her five years has expired, but on May 27 the regime extended her detention for yet another six months. Instead of taking this opportunity, with the world watching, to initiate a meaningful process of national reconciliation, it continues to clamp down. At least 15 of Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters were arrested as they attempted to march to her home.
Burma's military regime is ranked as the most corrupt in the world, alongside Somalia, and it has shown its character in full colours in the past month. Of the aid that has arrived in Burma, only a trickle has reached the people. No more than a fifth of the 2.5 million cyclone survivors have received help. Much of the aid has been seized by the authorities and taken for their own use, or sold on the streets. Even the aid that has reached people has been painstakingly re-packaged and re-labelled for propaganda purposes. In just one example, packages labelled "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand" were pasted over with labels bearing the junta's stamp. And then, incredulously, the regime has the audacity to demand $11.7 billion in reconstruction aid - almost the entire gross domestic product of the country.
But still the world's diplomats and politicians wait, and talk, and grasp at straws. Even the aid workers are too scared to speak the truth. Some will argue that we should not 'politicise' a humanitarian situation. But it is already politicised, whether we like it or not, by the regime. It is the regime's policies - not simply neglect, but deliberate, calculated obstruction - that are at the root of the crisis. It is the regime that is playing politics with people's lives.
The time has come for action instead of talk. The time has come for the diplomats, politicians and aid workers to cease putting their confidence in the regime's 'noises', however positive, and demand practical results. A deadline should be set for visas to be issued and access to be granted, without restriction, to all international aid workers. That deadline should be hours and days, not weeks, from now. If the deadline is not met, the UN's 'responsibility to protect' should be actioned. The French, British and American navy vessels waiting off Burma's shores should go in, to deliver the aid they are carrying and be prepared to deal with the consequences.
Such intervention - with humanitarian objectives accompanied if necessary by military tools - would be welcomed by everyone in Burma except the top generals and their cohorts. Even many in the Burma Army would not resist. The sentiment is summed up in a letter to President Bush, dated 20 May, signed by several Burmese democracy groups including Buddhist monks and exiled 88 Generation Students. They write: 'Intervention will be seen as divine intervention by the Burmese people, not only to help the cyclone victims but also to finally free the entire nation from the military yoke'. The authors conclude: 'Please do not compare Burma with Iraq, because Buddhist monks, students, Burmese patriots will happily assist you with whatever you need to go inside Burma and help the cyclone victims and entire nation. We are willing to go together with whoever enters Burma first. We will recruit translators, doctors and nurses. Many concerned Burmese citizens are willing to join the intervention. Please do not waste precious time.'
A failure to act not only results in more deaths and suffering in Burma, it sends a signal to tyrants all over the world: that the world may huff and puff, but when it comes to it its words are meaningless. Too many times the international community has shown its impotence in the face of dictators. Burma presents an opportunity to be different.
The French, surprisingly, have been the most robust government on this. Surely, if the French are hinting at intervention, it's a sign that something is up? Critics cannot dredge up Iraq as a reason not to act in Burma. Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner wrote in Le Monde that a failure to act to help the people of Burma 'would be an act of cowardice'. Lady Hester Random and Neville Chamberlain showed that placing trust in dictators is not simply naive, it is costly cowardice. The time has come to bring an end to the deadly delay in helping Burma's people, and replace naivity and cowardice with courage and action - for the sake of Burma, and the world.