(Photo: AP / ) The Australian
May 19, 2008
RANGOON: Thousands of children in Burma will starve to death in two to three weeks unless food is rushed to them, an aid agency warned yesterday as an increasingly angry international community pleaded for approval to mount an all-out effort to help cyclone survivors.
The UN said Burma's isolationist ruling generals were even forbidding the import of communications equipment, hampering already difficult contact among relief agencies.
A UN situation report said yesterday that emergency relief from the international community had reached an estimated 500,000 people. But the regime insists it will handle distribution to victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The World Food Program, which is leading the outside emergency food effort, said yesterday it had managed to get rice and beans to 212,000 of the 750,000 people it thinks are most in need after the May 2 storm, which has left at least 134,00 dead or missing.
"It's not enough. There are a very large number of people who are yet to receive any kind of assistance and that's what's keeping our teams working round the clock," WFP spokesman Marcus Prior said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been unable to sway Burma's leaders by telephone, said UN humanitarian chief John Holmes was expected to arrive last night in Burma's largest city, Rangoon.
"He's going at the request of the Secretary-General to find out what's really going on the ground, to get a much better picture of how the response is going and ... to see how much we can help them scale up this response," said Amanda Pitt, a UN spokeswoman in Bangkok.
Mr Holmes is expected to meet ruling members of the junta and hand over a third letter from Mr Ban, to junta leader Than Shwe, who has refused to talk to Mr Ban on the phone since the cyclone and its massive sea-surge slammed into the delta.
The UN report said all communications equipment used by foreign agencies must be purchased through Burma's Ministry of Posts and Communications - with a maximum of 10 telephones per agency - for $US1500 ($1572) each.
State-run radio said the Government had so far spent 20 billion kyat (about $US2 million) for relief work and has received millions of dollars worth of relief supplies from local and international donors.
It said the Government was distributing assistance promptly and efficiently to the affected areas. Aid agencies were not convinced.
Save the Children, a global aid agency, said yesterday thousands of young children faced starvation without quick food aid.
"We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger," said Jasmine Whitbread, who heads the agency's operation in Britain. "When people reach this stage, they can die in a matter of days."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused authorities in Burma of preventing foreign aid from reaching victims and said the military regime cared more about its own survival than its people's welfare. "This is inhuman," Mr Brown told the BBC.
"The farther you go, the worse the situation," said a doctor in the town of Twante, southwest of Rangoon. "Near Rangoon, people are getting a lot of help and it's still bad. In the remote delta villages, we don't even want to imagine." The Government flew 60 diplomats and US officials in helicopters to three places in the Irrawaddy Delta, the hardest-hit area, on Saturday to show them progress in the relief effort. The diplomats were not all swayed.
"It was a show," said Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Burma. "That's what they wanted us to see."
A French navy ship that arrived on Saturday off Burma's shores loaded with food, medication and fresh water was given the now-familiar red light. France's UN ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, called it "nonsense".
"We have small boats, which could allow us to go through the delta to most of the regions where no one has accessed yet," he said. "We have small helicopters to drop food, and we have doctors."
The USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship, and its battle group have been waiting to join the relief effort. US marine flights to Rangoon from Utapao, Thailand, continued on Saturday - bringing the total to 227 tonnes of aid delivered - but negotiations to allow helicopters to fly directly to the disaster zone were stalled.
Burma been slightly more open to aid from its neighbours, accepting Thai and Indian medical teams, which arrived on Saturday.
The International Red Cross said the death toll was probably about 128,000.
AP
May 19, 2008
RANGOON: Thousands of children in Burma will starve to death in two to three weeks unless food is rushed to them, an aid agency warned yesterday as an increasingly angry international community pleaded for approval to mount an all-out effort to help cyclone survivors.
The UN said Burma's isolationist ruling generals were even forbidding the import of communications equipment, hampering already difficult contact among relief agencies.
A UN situation report said yesterday that emergency relief from the international community had reached an estimated 500,000 people. But the regime insists it will handle distribution to victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The World Food Program, which is leading the outside emergency food effort, said yesterday it had managed to get rice and beans to 212,000 of the 750,000 people it thinks are most in need after the May 2 storm, which has left at least 134,00 dead or missing.
"It's not enough. There are a very large number of people who are yet to receive any kind of assistance and that's what's keeping our teams working round the clock," WFP spokesman Marcus Prior said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been unable to sway Burma's leaders by telephone, said UN humanitarian chief John Holmes was expected to arrive last night in Burma's largest city, Rangoon.
"He's going at the request of the Secretary-General to find out what's really going on the ground, to get a much better picture of how the response is going and ... to see how much we can help them scale up this response," said Amanda Pitt, a UN spokeswoman in Bangkok.
Mr Holmes is expected to meet ruling members of the junta and hand over a third letter from Mr Ban, to junta leader Than Shwe, who has refused to talk to Mr Ban on the phone since the cyclone and its massive sea-surge slammed into the delta.
The UN report said all communications equipment used by foreign agencies must be purchased through Burma's Ministry of Posts and Communications - with a maximum of 10 telephones per agency - for $US1500 ($1572) each.
State-run radio said the Government had so far spent 20 billion kyat (about $US2 million) for relief work and has received millions of dollars worth of relief supplies from local and international donors.
It said the Government was distributing assistance promptly and efficiently to the affected areas. Aid agencies were not convinced.
Save the Children, a global aid agency, said yesterday thousands of young children faced starvation without quick food aid.
"We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger," said Jasmine Whitbread, who heads the agency's operation in Britain. "When people reach this stage, they can die in a matter of days."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused authorities in Burma of preventing foreign aid from reaching victims and said the military regime cared more about its own survival than its people's welfare. "This is inhuman," Mr Brown told the BBC.
"The farther you go, the worse the situation," said a doctor in the town of Twante, southwest of Rangoon. "Near Rangoon, people are getting a lot of help and it's still bad. In the remote delta villages, we don't even want to imagine." The Government flew 60 diplomats and US officials in helicopters to three places in the Irrawaddy Delta, the hardest-hit area, on Saturday to show them progress in the relief effort. The diplomats were not all swayed.
"It was a show," said Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Burma. "That's what they wanted us to see."
A French navy ship that arrived on Saturday off Burma's shores loaded with food, medication and fresh water was given the now-familiar red light. France's UN ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, called it "nonsense".
"We have small boats, which could allow us to go through the delta to most of the regions where no one has accessed yet," he said. "We have small helicopters to drop food, and we have doctors."
The USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship, and its battle group have been waiting to join the relief effort. US marine flights to Rangoon from Utapao, Thailand, continued on Saturday - bringing the total to 227 tonnes of aid delivered - but negotiations to allow helicopters to fly directly to the disaster zone were stalled.
Burma been slightly more open to aid from its neighbours, accepting Thai and Indian medical teams, which arrived on Saturday.
The International Red Cross said the death toll was probably about 128,000.
AP
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