We don't need your skills: Burma

Aid arrives ... a Burmese soldier and a US airman
work together to unload food packages.
Photo: AP

A US military official says a second flight has left with relief supplies for Burma's cyclone victims, and more flights are expected.

Lt Col Douglas Powell said the Marine C-130 cargo plane left for Burma's main city, Rangoon, today carrying 43,780kg of water, blankets and mosquito nets.

He said a third flight carrying more supplies would leave later today.

Douglas said he expected flights would continue tomorrow. He did not give details.

The first US flight delivered relief material to Burma yesterday after prolonged negotiations with the country's ruling junta.

Burma is deeply suspicious of the West, and considers the United States its enemy. The agreement was to initially send three flights yesterday and today.

Burma's military regime today thanked the United States for the initial plane load of supplies, but said it still was opposed to letting in foreign aid workers to cope with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, quoted in government mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said the needs of hundreds of thousands of storm survivors "have been fulfilled to an extent".

He said the country was grateful for the shipment from the United States, one of the most vocal critics of the military regime - which US President George W Bush yesterday said was "isolated or callous".

"The donation will enhance friendship between the governments, armed forces and the peoples of the two countries," Soe Thein said.

But he reiterated that Burma, also known as Myanmar, was not open to foreign aid workers - a stance that has provoked the wrath of the international community.

"Relief and rehabilitation tasks call for a lot of relief supplies and funds," he said.

"So far, the nation does not need skilled relief workers yet."

Aid workers warn that far more relief supplies are needed to prevent a humanitarian tragedy in Burma's worst-hit areas, and that the junta is ill-equipped to distribute supplies.

Official media in Burma reports that nearly 32,000 people were killed when the cyclone slammed into the country overnight on May 2.

But the UN has warned the toll could be much much higher, and that up to two million people are in desperate need of aid.
A US military official says a second flight has left with relief supplies for Burma's cyclone victims, and more flights are expected.

Lt Col Douglas Powell said the Marine C-130 cargo plane left for Burma's main city, Rangoon, today carrying 43,780kg of water, blankets and mosquito nets.

He said a third flight carrying more supplies would leave later today.

Douglas said he expected flights would continue tomorrow. He did not give details.

The first US flight delivered relief material to Burma yesterday after prolonged negotiations with the country's ruling junta.

Burma is deeply suspicious of the West, and considers the United States its enemy. The agreement was to initially send three flights yesterday and today.

Burma's military regime today thanked the United States for the initial plane load of supplies, but said it still was opposed to letting in foreign aid workers to cope with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.

Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, quoted in government mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said the needs of hundreds of thousands of storm survivors "have been fulfilled to an extent".

He said the country was grateful for the shipment from the United States, one of the most vocal critics of the military regime - which US President George W Bush yesterday said was "isolated or callous".

"The donation will enhance friendship between the governments, armed forces and the peoples of the two countries," Soe Thein said.

But he reiterated that Burma, also known as Myanmar, was not open to foreign aid workers - a stance that has provoked the wrath of the international community.

"Relief and rehabilitation tasks call for a lot of relief supplies and funds," he said.

"So far, the nation does not need skilled relief workers yet."

Aid workers warn that far more relief supplies are needed to prevent a humanitarian tragedy in Burma's worst-hit areas, and that the junta is ill-equipped to distribute supplies.

Official media in Burma reports that nearly 32,000 people were killed when the cyclone slammed into the country overnight on May 2.

But the UN has warned the toll could be much much higher, and that up to two million people are in desperate need of aid.
AP/AFP