France Backtracking on Intervention

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

France appeared to be backing down Sunday on claims it would send a naval vessel carrying 1,500 tonnes of aid to Burma “without waiting any further” on permission from the Burmese authorities, after a French foreign ministry source said France would not send the ship into Burmese waters, according to a Reuters report on Sunday.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had on Saturday told reporters that France had decided to go it alone and deliver relief supplies to victims of Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy delta after Burma’s ruling junta failed to respond to calls for international aid and relief teams to be allowed access to survivors.

France had suggested invoking a little-used "responsibility to protect" concept to deliver aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis without Burmese government approval.

“We have decided to act without waiting any further,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters on Saturday. “The aid is to be directly distributed to the affected, either by the ship’s crew or by French aid organizations.”

According to press reports, a French 22,000-ton amphibious naval craft, Mistral, moored in India, had been loaded with 1,500 tons of rice and medical supplies on Saturday and was sailing to the Irrawaddy delta to distribute the supplies, either through the ship’s crew or using non-governmental staff already on the ground.

The French foreign minister also hinted that the Burmese military junta would face a resolution by the UN Security Council condemning its irresponsibility toward the people of Burma during the disaster.

Speaking to clarify Kouchner's comments, the ministry source said France did not intend to send the Mistral into Burma’s territorial waters and start distributing aid without permission from the junta, the report said.

"As long as the Security Council has not authorised countries to intervene directly in Burma, our aid will require explicit or implicit approval from the authorities," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

According to Thailand’s Bangkok Post, former Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont reportedly would fly to Burma’s new capital, Naypyidaw, on Sunday to convince the junta to accept humanitarian aid for cyclone victims.

Former Prime Minister Surayud is to go to Naypyidaw along with a six-member delegation, including the Royal Thai Air Force’s commander in chief, Chalit Pookpasuk, and Prasong Phithunkijja, secretary-general of Raja Prachanukroh Foundation, a charity under the Thai King’s patronage.

Meanwhile, a number of Burmese celebrities and young people went to disaster areas in the Irrawaddy delta at the weekend to aid victims by themselves, according to a celebrity who participated on Sunday.

“At least 14 celebrities joined the aid action with 30 million kyat (US $26,500) in donations, 5,000 items of clothing, and 4 million kyat ($3,500) worth of medicines and blankets,” said Zarganar, a famous Burmese comedian.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Sunday, he said: “Rivers in the delta are full of dead bodies and the smell is horrific. I think many diseases will be breaking out here soon. And still, the victims are without any effective help.”

On Sunday evening, a source in Rangoon who arrived from Laputta on Sunday evening, told The Irrawaddy by telephone that aid agencies, including Médecins Sans Frontières, have been denied permission to distribute medical aid in the region by the military authorities in Laputta.

The source said that about 100,000 people, currently sheltering in various monasteries in Laputta town, are surviving on rice soup, but have yet to receive any aid from international agencies or local authorities.