Burma to allow UN helicopters for cyclone aid: Ban
Regime won't accept aid from U.S. warships: state media
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 | 12:31 AM ET
CBC News
Children in Burma sit at their damaged house, destroyed by Cyclone Nargis, in the outskirts of the country's largest city, Rangoon. (Associated Press) Burma's reclusive military government has agreed to allow nine United Nations helicopters to bring relief supplies to victims in the country's cyclone-devastated regions, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.
"We have received government permission to operate nine WFP [World Food Program] helicopters, which will allow us to reach areas that have so far been largely inaccessible," Ban told reporters in New York Tuesday before departing on a mission to the country, also known as Myanmar.
But Burmese state media reported early Wednesday the government will not accept any disaster relief from U.S. warships. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that such U.S. military assistance would come "with strings attached."
The state media report said that other U.S. aid airlifted into the country was welcome, an apparent reference to ongoing relief flights of cargo planes from Thailand to Rangoon. The United States has been sending about five such flights a day.
Ban's announcement came as Burma began observing three days of official mourning for victims of Cyclone Nargis, amid international pressure on the regime to allow more foreign aid and relief experts into the country.
Flags flew at half-mast outside government buildings, schools and large hotels, news agency reports said, but there seemed to be little popular support for, or even awareness of, the mourning period.
"I don't think flying flags at half-mast is going to help. If they are sincere, they should welcome help from everyone," said Zin Moe, 32, a clothing seller in the country's largest city, Rangoon. "They are not letting in aid quickly enough and people are angry."
CBC's Stephen Puddicombe, reporting from Mae Sot, Thailand, on the Burmese border, said the storm wrecked homes and whirled away people's possessions, including radios.
"Very few of those inside the affected areas know the full extent of the devastation beyond their own community," Puddicombe said. "So they don't even know that they should be in mourning."
'I don't think flying flags at half-mast is going to help.'— Zin Moe, clothing seller, Rangoon
The government says the storm killed 77,238 people and nearly 56,000 are confirmed missing.
The United Nations warns that the regime's reluctance to allow a large-scale internationally led aid effort will lead to many more casualties from disease and starvation among the 2.4 million people left homeless after the massive May 3 cyclone, although officials did welcome recent relaxations of the rules by the junta.
Regime, agencies differ on aid
On Monday, the Burmese regime approved a visit this week by Ban, who has been harshly critical of the regime's response to the storm.
Aid shipments have been arriving in the country from Thailand, Singapore and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has been cleared to send aid teams. UN officials said they would work closely with ASEAN on a big relief effort, but would also continue to press for wider international access to the cyclone zone.
The country's military leader, Gen. Than Shwe, on Monday toured the Irrawaddy River delta, where the storm hit nearly three weeks ago. State radio quoted him as saying that his government had "promptly carried out rescue and rehabilitation tasks."
A child peers out of a home destroyed by Cyclone Nargis nearly three weeks ago. The Burmese miltiary regime says it's getting aid to people affected by the storm, but the UN says much more needs to be done. (Associated Press) The general said the government, which has said it has spent more than $45.5 million US on its relief operations, had met immediate needs such as food, shelter and health care and was now moving into the reconstruction phase.
But his assessment contrasted with those of foreign aid agencies and the UN, which said that only about 500,000 of the 2.4 million storm victims have received some form of international assistance.
"It is clear that the emergency phase is set to continue for some time," the UN said.
The International Federation of the Red Cross said it remained concerned about the distribution of relief supplies.
"In most of the bigger affected townships, basic relief and food is available but much less so in the more remote areas," the organization said in a situation report.
Although the Red Cross, the global charity World Vision and other international relief agencies are working inside Burma, they have not been allowed to deploy large teams of experts, who usually arrive in acute disaster zones within hours of news trickling out.
Ban is expected to keep up pressure for foreign agencies to be given more access to the storm's victims when his visit begins Thursday. There is to be an aid donors' conference in Burma's largest city, Rangoon, this coming weekend that Ban will attend, officials said.
Asked whether he would meet Burmese leaders, who have so far refused to take his calls, Ban replied: "I will be, I hope I will be meeting senior Gen. Than Shwe and other senior government officials."
He warned that the impact of the tragedy could be far worse than earlier disasters.
"The economic effects of the natural disaster that has struck Myanmar could be more severe and longer-lasting than the 2004 tsunami," he said, referring to the south Asian disaster that killed more than 200,000 people.
World Bank says 'no'
In a separate development, the World Bank said Tuesday that it could not provide new loans to Burma because the country hadn't met its repayment obligations for years. A spokesman for the organization, a lender of last resort to desperately poor countries, said the move wasn't aimed at pressuring the Burmese government to open up to foreign aid.
"We haven't been in a position to lend to Burma for about 10 years," Peter Stephens of the World Bank told CBC News, "but we are providing all technical assistance and support to recovery teams and disaster teams. "
Meanwhile, a Canadian military official said Tuesday that approval is still being sought from the junta to allow Ottawa to send in its Disaster Assistance Response Team to help cyclone victims.
Col. Chris Weicker, military attaché to the Canadian embassy in Beijing, told a news conference in Hong Kong that an advance party for the relief team had arrived in Bangkok.
A Canadian military cargo plane carrying 40 tonnes of aid supplies, including 2,000 emergency shelter kits for cyclone victims, was dispatched to Bangkok last week. Another Canadian aid flight is to follow.
Burma's generals estimate that the cyclone has already cost the country more than $10 billion, with its impact on the country's food supplies and tourist industry yet to come.
With files from the Associated Press
