Estimates of the death toll of Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3, 2008, were 135,000 as of early June 2008. The United Nations estimated that between 1.6 million and 2.5 million people were affected by the storm, left homeless or without basic sources of livelihood such as food and water. Immediately, foreign governments, the United Nations, and international relief organizations offered massive disaster relief to Burma. The Bush Administration pledged $16.25 million. The Burmese government (SPDC) initially took the position that it could handle the situation. It followed a policy of allowing a limited amount of foreign relief goods into the country and permitting a relatively small number of foreign relief workers to operate within a restricted set of rules. The SPDC imposed special restrictions against the United States, France, and other Western countries that had long imposed sanctions on the SPDC over human rights issues. The SPDC did allowed a large number of U.S. C-130 transport aircraft to bring relief supplies into the country. However, it barred U.S. disaster experts, relief specialists, and search and rescue teams from the country. It also prohibited the U.S. military from bringing relief goods directly into the country despite the large relief capacity of several U.S. naval vessels off Burma's coast. Restrictions on the United States, France, and Great Britain (which also had naval contingents offshore) were the most severe. However, the SPDC imposed limitations on other governments and on private aid groups. It limited the number of entrance visas issued to foreign relief workers, and it restricted access of foreign relief workers into the Irrawaddy delta, the area hit hardest by the cyclone. However, the trend into June 2008 was a gradual easing of these SPDC restrictions. The Singapore Foreign Minister announced on May 20 that the SPDC had agreed to allow its fellow members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to coordinate the inflow of foreign relief aid. ASEAN, he said, would work with the United Nations. The SPDC appears to have decided to allow a larger presence of relief workers and medical workers from neighboring Asian countries: the ASEAN countries, China, and India. These personnel were reported to be entering the countries. Singapore's Foreign Minister cautioned that the SPDC still would impose limits on foreign access. Many foreign governments, including the Bush Administration, and United Nations officials and private aid groups criticized the SPDC for these restrictions. The Bush Administration and European governments considered sending aid into Burma, including aid transported by military units, without the permission of the SPDC. There were proposals to invoke a "responsibility to protect" doctrine that the United Nations General Assembly had adopted in 2005. However, they have hesitated, partly because China threatened to veto any proposed resolution in the U.N. Security Council authorizing forcible "humanitarian intervention." U.S. officials reportedly also were concerned that the SPDC might react to a forcible U.S.-Western "humanitarian intervention" by harming Aung Sann Suu Kyi, the longtime Burmese opposition leader under house arrest. China has pledged several million dollars in aid but reportedly has not pressured the SPDC to grant wider access to foreigners. Chinese President Hu Jin-tao reportedly was "unresponsive" when Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda appealed to him at their summit meeting to influence the Burmese government to open Burma to international disaster and relief aid. China has asserted that other countries must show "due respect" to the Burmese government and that relief work would be dependent on the government. On February 9, 2008, Burma's military-led government announced that a national referendum on a new constitution would be held in May 2008 and, if approved, a "multi-party election" under the new constitution would be held in 2010. The government's announcement said that "the time has come to change from military rule to democratic civilian rule." The announcement culminated a long process in which a constitutional convention operated intermittently since late 1992 in the aftermath of the government's voiding of an election for a constituent assembly in 1990 in which the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has won most of the seats. The convention announced general principles for a new constitution on September 3, 2007. A 54-person commission appointed by the government convened in October 2008 to write the constitution. The government announced on February 19, 2008, that the drafting of the constitution was completed. The text of the new constitution was made public in April 2008. It would give the military the "leading political role" in the state. It would establish a presidential form of government with two legislatures, a Union Parliament and a House of Nationalities. The military would have 25% of seats both bodies, appointed by the armed forces' commander-in-chief. Political parties could operate and run candidates for parliament. Military officials would head the ministries of defense, security, home affairs, and border affairs. The constitution bars anyone from running for public office who has been married to a foreigner—a provision aimed at opposition leader, Aung Sann Suu Kyi, who was married to a British subject. At the beginning of May 2008, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution stating that the SPDC should ensure "fundamental political freedoms" in holding the referendum. However, China blocked two earlier drafts of the resolution that specified freedoms and made reference to Aung Sann Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League of Democracy under house arrest, and said that the SPDC should allow independent monitoring of the vote. The SPDC decided to proceed with the referendum in the areas unaffected by Cyclone Nargis. It announced on May 15 that the voters had approved the constitution by 92.5%. The cyclone affected areas voted on May 24, 2008. The government reported that 92.9% of these voters had approved the constitution. A number of reports indicated that the referendum did not meet objective standards for being a free and fair process. The SPDC reportedly instituted a number of policies to ensure that the vote would approve the constitution by a wide margin. It instituted selected arrests of people who attempted to campaign in public for a "no" vote. It allowed no access to the media for advocates of rejection of the constitution. It rejected international monitors of the vote, including United Nations proposals for such monitors. It reportedly forced civil servants and teachers to vote "yes" publicly in their workplaces. The coercion of civil servants and teachers reportedly was part of a government plan, which also included a scheme under which precinct monitors were limited to the last ten voters. The regime organized members of its mass political organization, the Union Solidarity Development Association, to vote last in the precincts. Moreover, there was no counting of votes at the precinct level. All results were announced by the central government in the capital of Naypidaw. By October 1, 2007, the Burmese military government had suppressed with force large-scale anti-government protests that began in late August 2007 and escalated in size and objectives in mid-September. Thousands of protesters led by Buddhist monks marched in Rangoon and Mandalay, Burma's two largest cities. The size of the protests reached a reported 100,000 in Rangoon on September 24. Anti-government, pro-democracy activists joined the protests along with thousands of ordinary citizens. Equally as important, the objectives of the protests became more political. The early protests called for a rescinding of the August 15 fuel price increases. Spokesmen for the monks joined the pro-democracy activists in calling for political reforms, including a release of political prisoners and negotiations between the government and opposition leader Aung Sann Suu Kyi. Several hundred monks visited Aung Sann Suu Ky on September 22, 2007, at her home where she is under house arrest. An organization called the All Burma Monks Alliance issued a statement calling for an expansion of protests "in order to banish the common enemy evil regime from Burmese soil forever;" in short, regime change. The growth of the size and objectives of the protests led to the government's decision to crack down with military force. The crackdown began on September 25, 2007, with a ban on assemblies and a curfew. Troops entered Rangoon and Mandalay. They employed tear gas and warning shots, and there were reported instances where the troops fired into crowds of protesters. The military began mass arrests, especially of monks. Troops surrounded and fenced off Buddhist monasteries. The government announced ten deaths, but opposition groups claimed a much higher death toll. The government cut off access to the internet and arrested a number of domestic and foreign journalists. A Japanese journalist was murdered by Burmese soldiers in Rangoon. Arrests continued into October 2007. An official of the United Nations Human Rights Commission estimated in December 2007 that at least 31 people were killed in the September 2007 protests and that the Burmese government was detaining 500 to 1,000 people arrested during and after the protests. On October 4, 2007, the official Burmese media reported that General Than Shwe, the top official of the government told the U.N. envoy that "he would meet directly with her [Aung Sann Suu Kyi] for dialogue" if she promised to stop "promoting four things—confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions on Myanmar, and other sanctions." The government's media did not provide explanations of these conditions, but they appear to focus on Aung Sann Suu Kyi promising not to encourage street demonstrations and protests against the government and to cease calling on foreign governments to impose economic and other sanctions on Burma. The SPDC appointed a cabinet minister as a liaison with Sung Sann Suu Kyi. He met with her four times as of the end of January 2008.