UN halts aid shipments to Myanmar after junta seizes supplies already there

By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YANGON, Myanmar - The United Nations suspended aid shipments Friday to the hungry and homeless survivors of last week's devastating cyclone in Myanmar after supplies already on the ground were seized by the military government.

"All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated," said UN World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley.

"For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time," he said.

The aid included 34 tonnes of high-energy biscuits and arrived in Myanmar on Friday on two flights from Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates.

At least 62,000 people are dead or missing in Myanmar, entire villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta and aid groups warned that the area is on the verge of a medical disaster.

The UN has grown increasingly critical of the refusal by Myanmar's military leaders to let foreign aid workers into the country to distribute aid.

Risley says the WFP has submitted 10 visa applications around the world, including six in Bangkok, Thailand, but none has been approved.

Even if the government changes its mind, there is no hope of getting any visas in Bangkok until Monday because of a Thai holiday Friday that has shut down the Myanmar Embassy, Risley said.

"The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts," Risley said. "It's astonishing."

The junta itself appears overwhelmed as an estimated one million or more homeless people wait for food, medicine and shelter.

The junta said in a statement Friday it was grateful to the international community for its assistance - which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies - but the best way to help was just to send in material rather than personnel.

"Currently Myanmar has prioritized receiving emergency relief provisions and making strenuous effort delivering it with its own labour to the affected areas," the junta said in a statement carried in the state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

Nearly a week after cyclone Nargis struck, survivors are now having to contend with rotting corpses of people and animals as they wait for food, clean water and medicine.

"Many are not buried and lie in the water. They have started rotting and the stench is beyond words," said Anders Ladekarl, head of the Danish Red Cross.

About 20,000 body bags were being sent so volunteers from the Myanmar chapter of the Red Cross can start collecting bodies, he said.

Ottawa has pledged up to $2 million and has also offered the services of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team, also known as DART.

"We urge the Government of Burma to move quickly to grant immediate full and unhindered humanitarian access, including the necessary visas and customs clearance, so that desperately needed assistance may reach the people of Burma," Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier and International Co-operation Minister Beverley Oda said in a statement late Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UN was putting together an urgent appeal to fund aid efforts over the next six months. Spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters that the exact amount of the appeal would be specified later Friday.

The International Organization for Migration says it was asking for $8 million as part of the appeal. The UN refugee agency said it needs $6 million to fund the immediate shelter and household needs of 250,000 people.

Critical aid and the experts to deliver it are already poised in neighbouring Thailand and elsewhere to rush into Myanmar, one of the world's poorest nations.

Among those waiting in Thailand were members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team. U.S. air force transport planes and helicopters packed with supplies also sat waiting for a green light to enter Myanmar, also known as Burma.

However, junta critics inside the country were doubtful they would ever see the aid.

"Believe me the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area," said Yangon food shop owner Joseph Kyaw. "The government only cares about its own stability. They don't care about the plight of the people."

With files from The Canadian Press