KYAUKTAN, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta started evicting destitute families from government-run cyclone relief centres on Friday, apparently fearing the 'tented villages' might become permanent.
"It is better that they move to their homes where they aremore stable," a government official said at one camp wherepeople had been told to clear out at short notice. "Here, theyare relying on donations and it is not stable."
Locals and aid workers said 39 camps in the immediatevicinity of Kyauktan, 30 km (20 miles) south of Yangon, werebeing cleared as part of a general eviction plan.
"We knew we had to go at some point but we had hoped formore support," 21-year-old trishaw driver Kyaw Moe Thu said ashe trudged out of the camp with his five brothers and sisters.
They had been given 20 bamboo poles and some tarpaulins tohelp rebuild their lives in the Irrawaddy delta, where 134,000people were left dead or missing by Cyclone Nargis on May 2.
"Right now, we are disappointed," Kyaw Moe Thu said. "Wewere promised 30 poles by the government. They told us we willget rice each month, but right now we have nothing."
Singapore said Myanmar's generals were wary of admittingforeign aid workers because it would show they were not capableof handling the disaster.
"The military leaders surely know that foreign aid willsave lives and help to rebuild the devastated areas. But theyalso fear the political consequence of opening up the disasterzone to international aid teams," Prime Minister Lee HsienLoong said at a security conference in Singapore.
"This might show up their own incapability, and underminetheir credibility and legitimacy," he said.
Four weeks after the disaster, the United Nations saysfewer than half of the 2.4 million people affected by thecyclone have received help from the government, orinternational or local aid groups.
A shortage of flat-bottomed boats is hampering delivery ofaid, the European Union executive said on Friday, with littleor no aid reaching isolated rural communities.
Rumours are flying around the international aid communityin Yangon that the evictions are occurring in state-run refugeecentres across the delta, but the United Nations did not knowif that was the case.
'CHOCOLATE BARS'
"We certainly don't endorse premature return to where thereare no services, and any forced or coerced movement iscompletely unacceptable," U.N. spokeswoman Amanda Pitt said inBangkok.
The evictions come a day after official media in the formerBurma lashed out at offers of foreign aid, criticising donors'demands for access to the delta and saying cyclone victimscould "stand by themselves".
"The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliancewithout chocolate bars donated by foreign countries," theKyemon newspaper said.
The media is believed to reflect the thinking of the topgenerals, who until now have shown signs of grudging acceptanceof outside cyclone assistance.
Nearly a week after junta leader Than Shwe promised toallow in "all" legitimate foreign aid workers, 45 remainingU.N. visa requests had been approved on Wednesday, but red tapeis still hampering access to the delta.
The government has said the rescue and relief effort islargely over and it is focused on reconstruction.
In Geneva, the International Labour Organisation saidMyanmar may try to use forced labour to rebuild the country.
The ILO warned of "the increased risk of incidences offorced labour, child labour, human trafficking and migrantlabour as the authorities and individuals come to grips withthe sheer size of the tragedy".
Around Kyauktan, authorities are moving displaced peopleout of schools ahead of the start of a new term in June. Butaid workers said that could be delayed by a month in the delta.
The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said more than 4,000basic schools were either damaged or destroyed, affecting 1.1million students, according to government figures.
The New Light of Myanmar accused donors of being stingy,noting that the United Nations' "flash appeal" was still shortof its $201 million target nearly four weeks after thedisaster, which left 134,000 dead or missing.
The tone of the editorial is at odds with recent praise ofthe U.N. relief effort, but follows criticism of the junta'sextension this week of the five-year house arrest of oppositionleader Aung San Suu Kyi.
(Additional reporting by Ed Davies in BANGKOK and JanDahinten and Melanie Lee in Singapore)
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Giles Elgood)
