Myanmar

UN's disaster official in Yangon to speak with officials

Article published on the 2008-05-18 Latest update 2008-05-18 18:37 TU

Children waiting for aid
(Photo: L. Auberger)

UN top disaster chief John Holmes landed in Yangon on Sunday to convince officials to allow a larger flow of aid into the country in an effort to feed the more than two million survivors of devastating Cyclone Nargis. Holmes is carrying a letter from UN chief Ban Ki-moon to top junta official Than Shwe. Ban is scheduled to arrive in Myanmar on Wednesday.

A UN report released on Sunday said that basic needs were still critical, as people are lacking food and water more than two weeks after the storm devasted the country.

Thousands of children in Myanmar will starve to death within weeks unless food reaches them soon, UK charity Save the Children has warned. The charity said 30,000 under-fives in the Irrawaddy Delta were malnourished before the cyclone struck, and that energy-rich food needs to reach them "before it is too late".

"We are searching for all sorts of items within Burma [former name of Myanmar, ndlr]... but it's not enough. That's absolutely for sure," Amanda Weisbaum, of Save the Children in London told RFI.

"But we are working with the government to try to get them to get more... goods that we need down in the [Irrawaddy] Delta and in the urban areas of Yangon," she added.

The Burmese military junta ruling the country has been slow to allow international aid teams in to help the millions in dire need. UN's Ban is also hoping to meet with officials so they will open the borders to grant more access to relief workers.

Meanwhile, a member of Myanmar's political opposition, who asked to remain anonymous, told RFI she is angry with the military regime's reluctance to allow humanitarian organisations free access to the disaster areas.

"They don't care...that's why they've treated people very badly. They even dare to announce that the recovery period is over and we are now in the rehabilitation period," she said.

She said that the government is also using aid manipulatively. "They...want all the credit. So that's why they keep saying all the donors should deliver the stuff to them and they will distribute it. And they never, ever distribute," she added.