RELIEF DENIED TO BURMESE CHRISTIANS

This is very distressing news coming from onenewsnow.com as of today, May 21. Please continue to pray for these persecuted brothers and sisters.

• Relief Denied to Burmese Christians
  Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 5/21/2008 11:55:00 AM
  
  The ruling military government, or junta, in Burma is being accused of denying relief aid to minority Christians.
  
  Because Christian Freedom International (CFI) has worked for years in the country now known as Myanmar, the ministry was able to provide relief to cyclone victims shortly after the storm hit. But now, ministry workers are accusing the Burmese military of diverting aid from areas heavily populated by ethnic Karen villagers. Jim Jacobson, president of CFI, says that move would be consistent with the longstanding policy of the military rulers. "There are people in Burma who have faced genocidal persecution ever since World War II," says Jacobson. "... [T]his is a regime that suppresses all of the people, but wages genocidal war against minority Christians .... it's an awful place." CFI is currently wiring donations for relief aid into Burma through its extensive network of underground house churches.

And from Christian Freedom International

• Karen Cyclone Victims Still Denied Aid in Burma
  
  Wednesday, 21 May 2008 15:31
  Latest instance of the Burmese government’s genocidal effort to eliminate the mostly Christian ethnic group.SAULT STE. MARIE, MI – (CFI News) -- After days of worldwide pressure in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Burma’s military government has finally eased restrictions on the delivery of international relief aid into the country. On Monday, the junta granted permission to its Asian neighbors to oversee the distribution of foreign aid to storm survivors, and also approved a visit to the region by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. According to government officials, the death toll from Cyclone Nargis has now risen to over 78,000, with 56,000 others still missing.

But even as desperately needed relief aid trickles in, ethnic Karen survivors are reportedly still fending for themselves in various parts of the country. ***With no foreign or government aid of any kind being delivered in Karen-populated areas, thousands of victims are going without the most basic of necessities; many are sleeping on the ground with little more than plastic sheets. continued at link.***

MORE HERE-UPDATED May 25, 2008

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