Millions wait for aid in cyclone-stricken Myanmar

Canada May 07, 2008

BANGKOK - As a million hungry and homeless survivors of cyclone Nargis wait for help in Myanmar, foreign diplomats here were told the international community has no option but to stand by and watch as "a major humanitarian crisis" unfolds.

At a United Nations briefing Wednesday, diplomats - many from nations who have pledged support for cyclone victims - heard there was some hope Myanmar's military leaders would soon open their doors to aid, but there was no way to pressure them.

On the positive side, Richard Horsey, spokesman for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, announced that Myanmar's generals appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint to look into the problem of issuing visas for humanitarian workers.

But one Western diplomat admitted Myint's appointment also sent mixed signals.

"He doesn't even speak English," he lamented.

Few in the international community are willing to talk about the Myanmar regime "on the record" for fear of upsetting negotiations to get aid flowing into the impoverished nation.

While much is on hold, some international aid is trickling into Myanmar.

The Thai government was allowed to bring in a planeload of food, water and medicine on Tuesday and on Wednesday two planeloads of supplies from India and one from China arrived in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, carrying tents, food and blankets. Two Indian naval ships loaded with supplies are also on their way.

In Geneva, Elisabeth Byrs of the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters Myanmar had agreed to allow one UN aid flight to land and it would be sent from Brindisi, Italy, as soon as it is loaded with 25 tonnes of supplies.

She admitted to the BBC that only the flight has been cleared to land so far, aid workers experienced in distributing the supplies still have not received visas to enter the country.

At their briefing in Bangkok, the UN told diplomats that it was "fairly certain" its aid workers would be allowed to enter Myanmar soon.

Time has become a critical issue in the Myanmar crisis.

Since the cyclone hit last weekend, followed by a devastating 3.6-metre wave, more than 22,500 have been declared dead, 41,000 are missing and, according to the UN, at least one million have been left homeless. There is a desperate need for food and clean water and the concern now is over diseases that could spread quickly in the hot, humid conditions.

The government in Myanmar doesn't have the capacity to deal with a catastrophe on this scale and has said it would accept outside aid.

However, the country refuses to recognize it doesn't have the capacity to distribute the aid that has been pledged and that trained disaster relief teams are needed.

Another diplomat at the briefing suggested the junta leaders are so isolated in their new capital, Pyinmana - which was untouched by the cyclone - that they were actually "indifferent" to the disaster playing out around the country.

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