The United Nations mania for the status quo ante results in a naked disgrace. A captive people can expect no help. Jaw jaw leads nowhere. Note that the visa section of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok burned down in a mysterious fire less that 12 hours after Moon announced a breakthough in Rangoon.
Nervous junta opens door to relief workers
By Amy Kazmin in Bangkok
Published: May 26 2008 23:36 | Last updated: May 26 2008 23:36
Foreign relief workers began filtering into Burma’s devastated Irrawaddy delta on Monday as aid agencies tested the ruling military junta’s contention that it would allow a big international effort to help 2.5m victims of cyclone Nargis.
Unicef, the United Nations children’s agency, said it had received permission over the weekend for six foreign technical experts to work in the delta, which had been off limits to foreign aid workers.
The World Food Programme also had several international staff, including a logistics officer, travelling to the region.
However, a foreign doctor and sanitation specialist working for a British charity who attempted to travel to the delta without permission were turned back 50km outside Rangoon.
Most international aid agencies are seeking official sanction for their foreign staff to visit the delta so they can cross military checkpoints ringing the affected region. “A disorderly mass influx of internationals into the delta will make them very, very nervous,” said Andrew Kirkwood, country director of Save the Children.
Aid agencies are cautiously optimistic that they will finally be able to deploy foreign technical specialists to support overstretched Burmese aid workers, who have been running the relief efforts for the past three weeks.
“Things seem to be progressing,” said John Sparrow of the International Federation of the Red Cross, which has 30 foreign technical experts in Rangoon. “We are hopeful that in the next couple of days we will get some news about what we can do and how we can progress.” Cyclone Nargis and the subsequent tidal sea surge killed an estimated 133,000 people and left a further 2.5m in need of food, clean water, shelter and medical care.
After three weeks of barring foreign aid workers from the delta, Senior General Than Shwe, the Burmese army chief, told Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, that “genuine” humanitarian workers could join the relief effort.
At a weekend meeting in Rangoon, global governments promised significantly to scale up their support for the aid effort if the generals allowed greater international access to the area.
However, the regime has still refused to permit US, French and British naval vessels carrying large quantities of relief supplies to airlift their life-saving cargo directly to needy survivors in the delta. France said it was “shocked”, but ordered its ship to neighbouring Thailand, where the supplies can be unloaded before being flown to Rangoon.
The UN estimates that about 1m people – 41 per cent of the 2.5m affected – have received some help since the cyclone, but mainly around Rangoon and not in the worst affected, hard-to-reach areas of the Irrawaddy delta.
UN officials say many survivors from the worst affected areas are migrating to the north of the country in search of help.
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