UN loads aid planes amid row over access to cyclone areas

Burmese junta urged to grant visas to relief workers

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AID GETS THROUGH: Some of the few foreign aid workers allowed into Burma deliver relief goods at Twantay in the south

The UN is preparing to send two planeloads of food and relief items to Burma today to provide aid in the aftermath of the cyclone that has killed tens of thousands.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made the announcement as Burma’s military leaders seized aid shipments headed for cyclone survivors and told the top US diplomat there they are not ready to allow US aid workers into the country.

Mr Ban said he had received reports from his staff that conversations had begun with Burmese officials to break the gridlock, although he said leaders of the military junta had “regrettably” not yet made direct contact with him.

“It’s moving toward the right direction,” he said.

Bush administration officials said last night that Burma’s governing military junta had agreed to allow a single US cargo aircraft to bring in relief supplies for victims of the devastating cyclone.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the US welcomed the go-ahead to land a US military Lockheed Hercules in the country on Monday. The breakthrough came after days of waiting on the US side.

The UN planes are to arrive in the country today, Mr Ban said at a global health conference during a visit to Atlanta Georgia. At the meeting, Mr Ban again urged Burma’s leaders to grant visas to aid workers to enter the country. “I appeal to them strongly to do all they can to facilitate this aid,” Mr Ban said. “We must put aside all political differences.”

He also urged the junta to postpone indefinitely a constitutional referendum scheduled for May 24.

Officials have said that up to 1.9million people are homeless, injured or threatened by disease and hunger.

Another 10cm of rain was forecast to fall next week. Diplomats and aid groups warned the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because of illnesses and said thousands of children may have been orphaned. Relief workers have reached 220,000 cyclone victims, only a small fraction of the number of people affected, the Red Cross said yesterday.

“Believe me, the government will not allow outsiders to go into the devastated area,” said shopowner Joseph Kyaw. “The government only cares about its own stability. They don’t care about the plight of the people.”

Three Red Cross aid flights loaded with shelter kits and other emergency supplies landed in Burma yesterday without incident. According to state media, 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing after cyclone Nargis.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last night the Burmese government must remove its restrictions on aid and pledged to work with the UN to put pressure on the country. He said he understood the death toll had risen to 100,000 and added that the Burmese government must take responsibility for what was happening.

Meanwhile, the Burmese government was accused last night of effectively condemning more than a million people to death by Gordon Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce, who is chairman of the Commons overseas development committee.

Mr Bruce, whose committee conducted an inquiry into British aid for Burma last year and called for it to be quadrupled, said he was appalled at the way the junta was frustrating attempts to distribute medicines, food and hygiene equipment needed to prevent an epidemic caused by bodies decaying in flood waters in the tropical sun, and starvation. He said: “Disaster is being turned into a human catastrophe for which the Burmese generals will stand indicted.”