Regime Seals Off the Irrawaddy Delta to Foreigners

Survivors of the cyclone Nargis are seen in Laputta, in the Irrawaddy delta of southern Burma. (Photo: AFP)

Burma’s reclusive military government is keeping most foreign aid workers away from the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

Local staff for international relief agencies are stretched to breaking point and facing tighter restrictions on their ability to deliver the trickle of foreign aid flowing in to 1.5 million survivors facing hunger and disease.

Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said its first cargo plane loaded with medical supplies landed in the cyclone-hit former capital, Rangoon, on Monday but it was facing "increasing constraints" imposed on its staff in the delta.

Damage from the cyclone Nargis are seen in Laputta. (Photo: AFP)"In Bogalay, for instance, the MSF team is unable to provide as much assistance as they could to respond to the enormous needs in terms of food and medical care," the aid group said of one devastated township where at least 10,000 people were killed.

Tens of thousands of people throughout the delta are crammed into monasteries, schools and other buildings after arriving in towns that were on the breadline even before the disaster.

Lacking food, water and sanitation, they face the threat of killer diseases such as cholera. Heavy rain was forecast for the delta this week, threatening more misery for survivors.

One Rangoon businessman just back from a personal aid mission to Bogalay said the army was appropriating aid. "There are still some villages in the worst-hit areas that nobody has got to," the man, in his late 30s, told Reuters.

"Around Bogalay, private donors are not allowed to distribute their assistance to the victims themselves. We had to hand over what we had."

The junta has welcomed "aid from any nation" but has made it very clear it does not want outsiders distributing it in the areas worst hit by Cyclone Nargis, which struck 11 days ago.

Speaking after the first US military aid flight to Burma on Monday, US President George W Bush condemned the junta for failing to act more quickly to accept international help, saying "either they are isolated or callous."

The US C-130 military transport plane flew in from an air base in neighboring Thailand carrying water, mosquito nets and blankets, but US officials aboard the aircraft were not allowed beyond Rangoon airport.

A stream of other aid flights have already landed in Rangoon, but only a fraction of the help is getting to where it is needed.

The World Food Programme said it was able to deliver less than 20 percent of the 375 tonnes of food a day it wanted to move into the flooded delta.

At the United Nations in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered his most critical comments so far.

"I want to register my deep concern—and immense frustration—at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis," he told reporters.

The UN said its top representative in Burma had flown to Naypyidaw, the generals' new capital, on Monday to hand over a list of 60 critical UN and relief agency staff. More than 30 visas had since been promised, the UN said.

In its latest assessment, its humanitarian agency said between 1.2 million and 1.9 million people were struggling to survive and the number of dead ranged from 60,000 to 102,000.

Burma's state television raised its official toll on Monday to 31,938 dead and 29,770 missing. Most of the casualties were killed by the 12-foot (3.5 meter) wall of water that hit the delta, with the cyclone's 190 kph (120 mph) winds.

The cyclone raged through an area that is home to nearly half of the country's 53 million people, as well as its main rice-growing region. About 5,000 sq km (1,930 sq miles) of land remain under water.

France was sending a warship carrying 1,500 tonnes of rice which was expected near Burma later this week. Paris says it wants to distribute the food directly itself, but will not do so without authorization.

The US will also have three ships near Burma this week, and Britain was sending a navy ship to the region to help humanitarian operations.

By AUNG HLA TUN / REUTERS WRITER / RANGOON
The Irrawaddy News