Burma wants supplies but not foreign aid workers, its foreign ministry says, hours after the UN chief urged military leaders to prioritise relief work. Burma was "making strenuous efforts" to get aid to affected areas by itself and was not ready for foreign teams, a statement in a state daily said. On Thursday UN officials expressed mounting frustration over Burma's failure to accept international help. Some aid has made it in, but experts stress that it is nothing like enough. The UN says that up to 1.5 million people may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the Irrawaddy Delta region on Saturday. Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise to 100,000.
Burma wants supplies but not foreign aid workers, its foreign ministry says, hours after the UN chief urged military leaders to prioritise relief work.
Burma was "making strenuous efforts" to get aid to affected areas by itself and was not ready for foreign teams, a statement in a state daily said.
On Thursday UN officials expressed mounting frustration over Burma's failure to accept international help.
Some aid has made it in, but experts stress that it is nothing like enough.
The UN says that up to 1.5 million people may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the Irrawaddy Delta region on Saturday. Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise to 100,000.
The US and France yesterday called for international aid to be delivered to cyclone victims without the permission of the Burmese military government if the regime continues to block the arrival of foreign aid workers and material assistance.An airplane loaded with UN aid was allowed to land yesterday, but it represented a tiny trickle compared with the humanitarian needs in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which is feared to have killed 100,000 people and made up to a million homeless.The US made its navy and air force available to deliver aid to the worst-hit areas, but suggestions yesterday that the Burmese regime might let food deliveries land were denied by government officials later. The White House said it was still lobbying Burma, but Ky Luu, head of the US office of foreign disaster assistance, said the administration was considering air-dropping aid without the junta's permission.
The US and France yesterday called for international aid to be delivered to cyclone victims without the permission of the Burmese military government if the regime continues to block the arrival of foreign aid workers and material assistance.
An airplane loaded with UN aid was allowed to land yesterday, but it represented a tiny trickle compared with the humanitarian needs in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which is feared to have killed 100,000 people and made up to a million homeless.
The US made its navy and air force available to deliver aid to the worst-hit areas, but suggestions yesterday that the Burmese regime might let food deliveries land were denied by government officials later. The White House said it was still lobbying Burma, but Ky Luu, head of the US office of foreign disaster assistance, said the administration was considering air-dropping aid without the junta's permission.
They don't need these people to support their lifestyle as they get their money from mineral resources rather than peasant productivity. It's just a way of saying "we don't care if you live or die, so believe us when we tell you that we will slaughter you like dogs if you threaten us again" keep to the Fen Causeway
Also, there is internet already in the town, the one thing actually lacking being water. Not a small problem, but do aid workers actually help ? Burma isn't a failed state.
Finally, the US calling on bypassing government authorisation is quite rich, when Bush behaved at least as badly in New Orleans.
Not to say that the Burmese government doesn't do propaganda ; but the western governments are engaging in similar actions, right now. Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
