World has $100m to give Burma - if access is improved
Donor nations say they are ready to provide Burma with more than $100m (€63m) to help it recover from Cyclone Nargis, but are warning its ruling junta they will not fully open their wallets until they are given access to the hardest-hit areas.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking after yesterday’s meeting of 51 donor nations, indicated that Burma’s isolationist junta might soon allow foreign aid workers, unhindered, into the devastated Irrawaddy Delta.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that this could be a turning point for Burma to be more flexible, more practical, and face the reality as it is on the ground,” Mr Ban said.
Burma’s leaders – and potential donors – continued to take a guarded tone.
Burma’s Prime Minister Lieutenant General Thein Sein said international aid “with no strings attached” was welcome.
He hedged on the sensitive issue of direct access, saying only civilian vessels could take part in the aid operation and that they would have to go through Rangoon.
“Relief supplies can be transported by land, air or sea,” he said. “But if relief supplies have to be transported by water, civilian vessels can come in through Rangoon port.”
That seemed to rule out plans for US, British and French warships loaded with humanitarian supplies to join in the relief operation. The ships have been off Burma’s coast for more than a week.
Burma’s leaders have virtually barred foreign aid workers and international agencies from the delta because they fear a large influx of foreigners could lead to political interference in their internal affairs.
The junta is also hesitant to have its people see aid arriving directly from countries like the United States, which it has long treated as a hostile power seeking to invade or colonise.
The UN estimated Saturday that of the total 2.4 million people affected by the storm, about 42% had received some kind of emergency assistance. But of the two million people living in the 15 worst-affected townships, only 23% had been reached.
Saying 3,200 tons of humanitarian supplies had already been delivered from abroad, Lt Gen Thein Sein presented a long list of urgent needs, including temporary shelters, rice seeds, fertiliser, fishing boats and new salt factories.
