Junta chief says US yet to deliver $9 million pledged for earthquake aid but US Gov says money being spent

The head of Myanmar’s military regime told Russian state media earlier this month that the country had not received the millions of dollars the United States had promised to support humanitarian efforts in Myanmar following a deadly earthquake in March. However, a U.S. State Department official told Myanmar Now that the assistance is not pledged but “is being distributed through humanitarian partners in Burma and is going towards emergency shelter, food, medical support, and water”. The official would not disclose how much has actually been spent and declined to name their humanitarian partners. This contrasts with other donor countries that have publicly disclosed how much aid has been spent in response to the earthquake and named recipient organisations. In a May 8 interview with the media outlet Russia Today (RT), released on Saturday, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing stressed the earthquake’s devastating impact on Myanmar, citing the junta’s official death toll of more than 3,700 deaths, as well as more than 5,000 injured and 80 reported missing. The quake also damaged some 6,400 schools, 350 hospitals, and 67,000 privately owned properties, the military chief told RT. “During the inspection, we found out that the damage was extreme. That’s why a ‘state of emergency’ was declared in response to the disaster and immediate appeals were made for international aid, which came within 24 hours,” said Min Aung Hlaing. Asked about the aid from the US, Min Aung Hlaing responded that, contrary to providing the $9 million it had pledged, the American government had in fact hit Myanmar with a tariff of 44 percent on imports from the country. However, he noted later in the interview that neither the US nor Myanmar is a major trading partner of the other country. The value of trade between the US and Myanmar has totalled less than US $1 billion per year since the coup, according to the most recent confirmed data. The US had promised two rounds of aid to Myanmar following the earthquake, including an initial package of $2 million to be followed by an additional $7 million, to be delivered through humanitarian agencies. However, those pledges were unfulfilled as of the date of the interview, according to the junta chief. “It is not that the US declined to help. They did announce that they would provide $9 million,” he said. “It’s just that we don’t know how they will deliver it—whether it will be through United Nations agencies, the AHA Centre, or the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance group.” ASEAN is an abbreviation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the AHA Centre is shorthand for ASEAN’s Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management. “They have announced that they will give aid,” he added for emphasis. Russia, China, and India were among the 26 countries that had come to Myanmar’s aid following the catastrophic quake in March. Myanmar had received vital aid by the shipload, truckload, and planeload, the junta chief said, but added that an adequate response to the disaster would require even more humanitarian supplies. Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged that Myanmar was far from the only trading partner against which the American government had recently announced tariffs, and that the tariffs against China were more prohibitive. “But I think they should not have increased the tariff against our country. Myanmar is still a developing country,” he continued. “Why are they hitting us with the increased tariff now, is what we have to think about.” He added that many countries may have to reconsider their level of dependence on the United States as a trading partner. Since announcing tariffs against many of its trading partners including Myanmar in early April, the administration of US president Donald Trump has delayed their implementation until July of this year. Meanwhile, the US faith-based, evangelical aid organisation Samaritan’s Purse—which has ties to Pres. Trump—had set up a mobile field hospital in the junta’s earthquake-hit administrative capital of Naypyitaw to help with humanitarian relief. A spokesperson for the US Department of State told Myanmar Now last month that the US government did not fund the activities of Samaritan’s Purse in Myanmar. Myanmar has been highly unstable since the 2021 military coup, which overthrew the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, with the embattled Myanmar military fighting against anti-junta ethnic armed groups and resistance fighters on multiple fronts throughout the country. Despite a declared truce in the aftermath of the quake, the military has continued to conduct airstrikes in areas under resistance control even in central Myanmar, the part of the country most heavily impacted by the earthquake. Russian president Vladimir Putin in a meeting with Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing. The leaders discussed deepening economic ties alongside their military and political relationship. (AFP)

Junta chief says US yet to deliver $9 million pledged for earthquake aid but US Gov says money being spent

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