beyond the gate
Mardi Gras Returns to New Orleans
BBC News Press Release
Tens of thousands of rev
ellers are gathering in New
Orleans for the climax of the
first Mardi Gras since Hurri
cane Katrina struck six months
ago.
The festivities reach their
height on Tuesday when tour
ists and locals line the streets
to cheer on the parades. The
mayor of New Orleans, Ray
Nagin, says the carnival is a
chance for the city to lift its
spirits. Some residents see it
as an opportunity to publicize
ongoing problems in poorer
districts still largely in ruins..
But others have criticized the
decision to go ahead - the car
nival has been cancelled before
in times of national emergency.
Fewer tourists are attending
this year, and some carnival
groups are not taking part. The
financial crisis has also forced
New Orleans to suspend its
search for bodies from Hur
ricane Katrina, with as many
as 200 corpses possibly still
trapped in homes. The city may
also have to release thousands
of remand prisoners because it
has no money for jury trials.
Still partying
Local agencies have put the
number of Mardi Gras visitors
at abo.ut 400,000 - less than
half the normal number. The
city’s population fell from
nearly 500,000 to less than
200,000 after Katrina. The city
authorities believe the party
is delivering a much-needed
boost. Sandy Shilstone, the
head of New Orleans tour
ism, said the visitor numbers
were unexpectedly high.
“What Mardi Gras has done
is really spearhead production
and development here in this
city,” she added.
The party is due
to centre on the
French Quarter
on Tuesday but
the parades have
passed through
areas devastated
by the flood such
as the Lower Ninth
Ward. Jess Nie-
derer, who works
with aid group
Common Ground
Relief, said the
carnival high
lighted continuing
difficulties. “It
brings awareness,
not just that it looks like this,
but about how it’s still looking
like this after six months, and
why that is,” the aid worker told
Reuters news agency. Snooky
Meyaski, a retired refinery
worker and member of carnival
group the Endymion Krewe,
saw his St Bernard Parish home
swamped after Katrina but he
was all for the carnival. “To
pass it up would be to just tell
. Courtesy of BBC News
the world, ‘Hey, we’re down
for the count’, he said. “And
we’re not down for the count.”
BURMA: Atrocities Continue as Mutilated
Body Is Found
Voice of the Martyrs
Fresh attacks have been car
ried out by the Burma Army
against Karen villagers in Taun-
goo district, resulting in several
killings, arrests and the use of
forced labour.
On February 15, the mutilated
body of an unidentified person
was found in Bla Khi area,
according to the Committee
for Internally Displaced Karen
People (CIDKP). The victim’s
throat had been slit and left hand
cut off, in an area where the
Burma Army had been operat
ing.
Between February 8 and 14, at
least 135 people were taken from
Kaw Thay Der, Kaw Law Kar,
Ku Thay Der and Sar Bar Law
Khi villages for forced labour,
CIDKP reports. On February 6,
three men were arrested from
Pau Pa and Yer Loe villages, and
on February 14, Burma Army
Infantry Battalion 35 arrested a
further five men from Pau Pa.
Reports have also been received
of looting and extortion.
Reports emerged from Karermi
State of continuing offensives in
January. Three Karenni families
fleeing for their lives from the
Burma Army were interviewed
by the Free Burma Rangers. One
of those on the run said: “The
Burma Army and their helpers
... were on their way to kill me.
They had already killed one of
my friends and cut off his head
... At that time they captured me
and three others from our village
... as well as three from other vil
lages. We were gathered together
from ten surrounding villages
for a prayer meeting when the
Burma Army forces appeared
and captured some of us.
“We were tied up, beaten,
punched then we were given
electric shocks to our body. They
struck us with rifle butts and one
of them used a pistol to beat us.
One man’s jaw was broken, one
man’s skull was broken and for
me I was not able to endure the
torture. They did this to us one
by one. One of us was then
forced to go with the soldiers and
my friend ... was killed. I may
have been killed just as my friend
was but I managed to escape ... I
do not want to take revenge. I am
just a villager, I will move away
from them.”
CSW’s Chief Executive
Mervyn Thomas --said: “We
receive reports on a weekly,
sometimes daily, basis of con
tinuing crimes against humanity
in Burma. The attacks are sicken
ing - not only the use of forced
labour, but rape, killings, behead
ings and the grotesque mutilation
of bodies. For far too long the
world has failed to pay enough
attention to the ongoing atrocities
in Burma. The United Nations
Se'curity Council, the Association
of South-East Asian Nations and
others in the international com
munity must make it a priority
to bring an end to the genocidal
dictatorship in Burma this year.
We will be working tirelessly to
help make that happen.”
For more information, please
contact Richard Chilvers, Com
munications Manager at Chris
tian Solidarity Worldwide on
020 8329 0045 or email richar
d.chilvers@csw.org.uk or visit
www.csw.org.uk
CSW is a human rights organi
zation which specializes in reli
gious freedom, works on behalf
of those persecuted for their
Christian beliefs and promotes
religious liberty for all.
NOTES
Burma has been ruled by a
military dictatorship since 1962.
Elections were held in 1990 and
won by the National League for
Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel
Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who
remains under house arrest. Over
1,100 prisoners of conscience are
in jail in Burma.
The current military regime,
known as tlie State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC),
is perpetrating gross violations
of human rights, particularly
against the ethnic nationali
ties, the Karen, Karenni, Shan,
Mon, Chin, Kachin, Arakan
and Rohingya. Over one million
people are internally displaced,
and since 1996 over 2,500 vil
lages have been destroyed in
eastern Burma alone. Evidence
of widespread, systematic rape,
forced labour, forced conscrip
tion of child soldiers, use of
human minesweepers, torture
and killings continues to be
reported regularly.
In September, 2005 the inter
national law firm DLA Piper
Rudnick Gray Cary published
Threat to the Peace: A Call for
the UN Security Council to Act
in Burma, commissioned by
former Czech President Vaclav
Havel and Nobel Laureate
Bishop Desmond Tutu. A brief
ing was held at the UN Security
Council in December, 2005.
CSW is calling for a full UN
Security Council discussion on
Burma, leading to a resolution.
For a copy of the report see
http://burmacampaign. org. uk/
unitednations.php
Mar. 2,2006, Page 11
ITie Whetstone