Bangkok/Yangon - A plane carrying 18 tons of high-energy
biscuits arrived in Yangon Friday, a small part of a massive aid
programme for cyclone-struck Myanmar that continues to be hampered by
government-restrictions and logistical stags.
A plane carrying 18 tons of biscuits and medical supplies from
stockpiles in Dubai landed at 7:30 am in Yangon, and another delivery
from Dhaka, Bangladesh, with 20 tons of biscuits was en route, said
World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Marcus Prior in Bangkok.
The WFP has had less luck getting food supplies out to the
Irrawaddy delta, where more than 1 million people are in need of
food, water and medicines in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, that hit
Myanmar's central coastline on May 2 and 3, leaving tens-of-thousands
dead or missing.
According to the government's latest figures, the cyclone claimed
22,997 lives, left 42,119 missing and 1,403 injured.
Other sources claim the real death toll is closer to 100,000.
Most of the casualties were in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, the
country's low-lying coastal plains where an estimated 60 per cent of
the nation's rice is grown.
Faced with devastated infrastructure and security obstacles, only
a trickle of emergency aid has made it out to the delta.
'We got four tons of energy biscuits down to Labutta yesterday and
20 tons of rice was expected to arrive Thursday night but Labutta is
obviously critical,' said Prior.
Labutta and Bogalay, two of the largest coastal cities in the
Irrawaddy, were among the hardest hit by the cyclone. Six days after
the storm, they remain largely cut off from assistance, primarily
because of restrictions placed on international aid workers by
Myanmar's military regime.
The regime, which plans to hold a referendum Saturday designed to
seal its political dominance by getting the public's endorsement of a
pro-military constitution, has proven the biggest impediment to the
disaster-relief effort underway.
Visas needed to get UN experts in to the country to set up the
logistics for the relief programme were still facing delays in
Bangkok, said Richard Horsey, spokesman for the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN agency that is
heading the Myanmar aid effort.
OCHA is expected to issue an international 'Relief Appeal,' some
time Friday, after trying to assess the extent of the calamity.
The biggest tragedy remains the reluctance with which the Myanmar
government is handling the global outpouring of aid to its stricken
people.
'Myanmar has not completely waived visa requirements to foreign
aid workers ready to bring much needed relief goods to the more than
1 million people severely affected by the cyclone,' said John Holmes,
the UN undersecretary general for emergency humanitarian assistance.
The Myanmar government has also not clearly answered queries by
the United Nations as to whether the relief goods would be exempted
from customs charges. In addition, it was demanding that foreign
relief workers be escorted.
'I am disappointed by the progress received since yesterday
(Wednesday), a little of progress as I said, but nothing like as much
as needed given the desperate situation,' Holmes told reporters
Thursday.
The UN echoed the frustration of willing contributors of aid,
saying that Myanmar has been slow to welcome and accept international
aid.
Holmes described the military government in Myanmar as an
'isolated and suspicious regime,' that has so far failed to welcome
outside help to the worsening humanitarian conditions created by the
cyclone that hit a wide part of the country's delta, killing more
than 23,000 people.
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