Foreign aid begins to reach some 1.5 mil affected by Myanmar cyclone

by Jarrett Martineau | May 8, 2008 at 05:47 pm | 300 views | add comment

UPDATE: 9:28 p.m. May 8 First big aid flight finally lands in Myanmar

Myanmar government has allowed aid supplies, but not aid personnel from the west to trickle into its devastated regions.

"Currently Myanmar has prioritized receiving emergency relief provisions and making strenuous effort delivering it with its own labor," the Foreign Ministry said in the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The United Nations and other agencies have complained that Myanmar is dragging its feet on the issuing of visas for its personnel they say are badly needed to cope with the crisis.

The statement expressed government gratitude to the international community for its assistance, which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies. But it emphasized that the best way to help was just to send in material rather than personnel.

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One American official, Ky Luu, director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance, created a stir by saying one option being considered was air-dropping aid without permission. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates quickly said he couldn't imagine that happening.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of Thailand offered to negotiate on Washington's behalf to persuade Myanmar's government to accept U.S. aid.

France is arguing that the U.N. has the power to intervene without the junta's approval to help civilians under a 2005 agreement that the world body has a "responsibility to protect" people when governments fail to do it. That agreement did not mention natural disasters.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband asked Myanmar's junta to "lift all restrictions on the distribution of aid." Separately, Kouchner said France would make $3 million available to French aid groups operating in Myanmar.

The Association of Southeast Nations appealed to the international community to send relief supplies through Thailand.

"Please keep the help coming, keep the contributions coming, and if you have to, go to Thailand, park there and wait for redistribution from there," said ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.

UPDATE: 9:20 p.m. May 8 Thai PM to travel to Myanmar to argue for western Aid

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said on Friday he will fly to cyclone-stricken Myanmar this weekend after British and American envoys urged him to ask the ruling generals to open the door to Western aid. "I have already contacted them. I will see them on Sunday," Samak told reporters after meeting British Ambassador Quinton Quayle in the Thai capital.

Previously, what will it take for Myanmar's government to speed up the process of facilitating much needed aid to its own citizens?

The U.N. is now suggesting that as many as 1.5 million people may be affected by the storm -- while death toll projections have risen to a staggering 100,000.

The United Nations estimated 1.5 million people have been "severely affected" by the cyclone that swept through Myanmar, with the United States expressing outrage on Thursday at delays in allowing in aid.

In Myanmar, desperate survivors cried out for food, water and other supplies nearly a week after 100,000 people were feared killed by Cyclone Nargis as it roared across the farms and villages of the low-lying Irrawaddy delta region.

International relief efforts are underway but have been hindered and there is growing frustration about the inability for aid to reach many of the country's hardest hit areas.

The UN says it is "disappointed" with Myanmar over its failure to allow foreign relief workers and supplies into the country quickly after being hit by one of the worst cyclone's in living memory.

The UN's secretary-general has called on the country's military rulers to postpone a referendum due on Saturday on the country's constitution. Despite more than a million people being left homeless after Cyclone Nargis swept through the country on Saturday leaving an estimated 100,000 people dead, the government plans to press ahead with the vote.

International attempts to get relief supplies and aid workers into the isolationist country were still encountering problems on Thursday, six days after the cyclone hit, with many residents remaining without food and shelter. Corpses rotting in the flood waters are adding to the health hazard.

John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, told reporters on Thursday: "I am disappointed that we have not had more results.