FRANCE: Jane Birkin joins Burmese monks in a march through Cannes to demand international action for Myanmar

Record ID: 1526099

  • Title: FRANCE: Jane Birkin joins Burmese monks in a march through Cannes to demand international action for Myanmar
  • Date: 20th May 2008
  • Summary: YOUNG GIRLS HOLDING PICTURE OF PRAYING BURMESE MONKS
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2008 08:44
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVADZ9UDDU21HOXMVE38IVMZUUA8
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: French actress Jane Birkin tried to move the humanitarian disaster in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar under the spotlight on Monday (May 19) by staging a protest in Cannes, home to the world's largest film festival. As the world media covered big Hollywood stars participating in the yearly film extravaganza, the 61-year old actress joined Burmese monks in a march through the streets of the sea-side resort. The protesters demanded action to force the ruling military junta in Myanmar to allow international aid for the hundreds of thousands of victims of a May 2-3 storm that killed at least 78,000 people in the southern delta of the country.
    U Uttara, a Burmese monk who has lived in exile in London for the last twenty years led the march. He said the march was to draw attention to the plight of the people of Burma.

    "That is why we want to give a message to the international community to help for Burma, this is the problem, is suffering, the Burmese people waiting for two weeks for aid worker," he said as he marched through the street.
    The international organisation has slammed Myanmar's military rulers for obstructing international help to enter the country and aid organisations warned the death toll could climb to a million if nothing is done.
    French actress Jane Birkin was among the marchers.

    "Nothing has happened, all our ships, the English, the American, the French ships are stuck in the port of Rangoon, no-one has been able to, allowed to help the population on a massive scale. There has been a hundred thousand dead and it there will be two hundred thousand dead and then three hundred thousand dead and what will we say then? We knew about it, we saw it on television and we did nothing. Personally I don't want that on my conscience," she said.
    In a major concession Myanmar agreed to open its doors to medical teams from the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday and allowed the U.N. humanitarian chief into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour. But the United Nations said its foreign staff were still barred from the delta and described conditions there as "terrible," with hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims suffering from hunger, disease and lack of shelter.
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