Myanmar junta seizes food shipments as UN says more aid needed
Source: 12-MAY-2008 Intellasia | Bloomberg
May 12, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM Myanmar's military government seized United Nations food shipments and said it would distribute them to the 1 million people left homeless by last week's cyclone.

The UN will fly in more food today as it tries to reach an agreement with the regime, ranked as the world's most corrupt leadership. Governments and relief agencies have offered US$38 million in aid, the UN said, though much more is needed.

Volunteers stand next to boxes of aid intended for delivery to areas in Myanmar affected by Cyclone Nargis, in Singapore May 9, 2008. (Vivek Prakash/Reuters)

About US$178 million is required ``to support the government of Myanmar in addressing the needs'' of 1.5 million people for three months, according to a statement from UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes.

The seizure yesterday came as aid began to trickle into the isolationist nation, where as many as 100,000 died in the May 3 storm. For a week, the country formerly called Burma has rejected calls to admit relief workers and accept the aid piling up on its doorstep.

The White House said Myanmar had agreed to let a US plane land in Myanmar on May 12 with relief supplies.

``One flight is much better than no flight,'' said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. The contents of the plane are still being worked out, he said.

Less than a fifth of the people needing aid had received it as of May 7, Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the UN's disaster- response unit, said yesterday.

Ban's attempt

``I am trying to speak directly with the leadership of Myanmar,'' UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday in Atlanta. ``Regrettably, I have not been able to have a direct contact.''

The junta plans to press ahead with a referendum today for a new constitution before elections in 2010. The ballot will be delayed until May 24 in the worst-affected areas.

The UN's World Food Program has sent three planeloads of high-energy biscuits to the Southeast Asian nation since yesterday, said Marcus Prior, a spokesman for the UN agency in Bangkok. Three more should land today.

``The food that we flew in hasn't been released to us as had been promised,'' Chris Kaye, Myanmar country director for the World Food Program, said in a phone interview from Yangon. ``If the government's doing that to give priority to certain groups, that's going to make it very difficult for us to operate.''

Myanmar was ranked last year as the world's most corrupt country by the nonprofit group Transparency International.

While 156 tons of rice stockpiles are on hand in Yangon, local volunteers had distributed less than a fifth as of May 8.

More rain

As the aid standoff continues, rain is forecast. Torrential rains, marking the start of monsoon season, are likely to make remote devastated regions even harder to reach and expose homeless people to the elements.

Myanmar has about 350,000 troops, many of them conscripted, according to Human Rights Watch. It's unclear how capable the military is at distributing humanitarian aid.

``Where are these soldiers?'' asked Sein Win, Myanmar's prime minister-in-exile, in Washington. ``Where are the helicopters?''

Win was elected in 1990 along with Aung San Suu Kyi as part of the National League for Democracy. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, is under house arrest.

Myanmar's ``food basket'' bore the brunt of the cyclone and supplies in the nation are now threatened, the UN said. The five worst-affected states produce most of the fish, rice and pork for the nation's 47.8 million people, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said.

Myanmar's restrictions are keeping out UN and Western relief workers with experience assessing and distributing aid amid disasters.

`Very frustrating'

``It's very frustrating,'' Prior said. ``The situation isn't sustainable.'' The WFP has 16 visa applications for staff pending, with only one accepted so far.

Myanmar deported a search-and-rescue team and reporters who arrived on a May 7 flight from Qatar because it expected the plane to carry only emergency aid, not workers, Agence France- Presse cited the Myanmar Foreign Ministry as saying.

Heads of state from Germany and the UK urged Myanmar to issue visas and allow aid workers and supplies.

France said a naval ship was headed to Myanmar from India carrying 1,500 tons of rice and emergency supplies, with an expected arrival in the middle of next week. Airplanes loaded with supplies are on standby, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It didn't say how the rice would be distributed.

The WFP flights will bring to at least 45 tons the amount of food the organization has sent, Prior said. The group already had 10 international and 200 local staff in the country, which isn't enough to oversee the distribution.

``We have to direct the aid by remote control, which doesn't allow us to put in place a sustainable effort,'' he said.

A Boeing 747-400 from China, a neighbor and key ally of Myanmar, landed yesterday carrying supplies including medicine, tents, food and water-purification tablets, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. Two Russian planes similarly loaded should land today.