Asia-Pacific News
EU looks to world bodies to help in Myanmar crisis (Roundup)
By DPA
May 13, 2008, 16:51 GMT

Brussels - The European Union's aid ministers on Tuesday turned to world bodies to help pressurize the Myanmar regime into allowing aid workers into the country in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

At an emergency meeting, the aid ministers of the EU's 27 member states agreed that the bloc 'supports any initiative, including in the UN bodies, which would help to meet the humanitarian needs of the Burmese people,' a joint statement said.

The meeting 'made clear ... the desire of the EU for regional partners, principally India, China and other members of ASEAN, to bring to bear their influence on the regime in Myanmar to allow free and unfettered access' for aid workers, British development minister Douglas Alexander said.

But it did not give explicit backing to a French proposal that the Myanmar regime should be forced to accept aid if it does not do so voluntarily, with EU officials instead pinning their hopes on a planned visit by EU aid commissioner Louis Michel to Myanmar.

'There is no doubt that the Myanmar authorities trust the European Commission: it is a question of good faith. They can believe that the commission is only working with a humanitarian aim in mind because that is what it has done for two years already,' Michel said.

The commission is one of a handful of foreign agencies to have an office in Yangon, and its espousal of 'impartial, independent and neutral aid' has convinced the Myanmar authorities that 'we are not playing politics in Myanmar,' Michel said.

The commission is also ready to help China in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake which struck on Monday, Michel said.

However, both in Myanmar and in China, the EU will only be able to provide aid effectively once it has more information regarding conditions on the ground in the stricken areas, making access all the more important, ministers said.

The EU 'calls on the authorities in Myanmar to offer free and unfettered access to international humanitarian experts' and 'underlines that the effective delivery of aid must be monitored by expert humanitarian staff,' the statement said.

That call for access initially extended to Michel himself. On Monday the commissioner announced that he was planning to fly to Bangkok straight after the meeting to try and arrange talks with the Myanmar authorities, even though he did not yet have a visa.

'I'm hoping for an answer (on the visa question) before I leave, but I'm going to go anyway,' Michel told journalists at the meeting.

Belgian news agency Belga later reported that Michel had obtained a visa just before his departure.

The commission is also ready to make more aid available as soon as it becomes clear how much is needed. The body has already pledged 2 million euros (3.1 million dollars) in emergency aid and 5 million euros in food aid, and could add another 10 million, Michel said.

But ministers were silent on the key question of how the EU should react if the Myanmar authorities rejected Michel's overtures and those of other major players in the international community.

'It's not a question of compulsion. It has nothing to do with sanctions or military threats: if a government doesn't accept that it can be helped, there is a duty to protect the people,' German development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said.

Michel will assess 'quite quickly' whether or not his visit has made progress, but if he decides that it has not, 'my conscience will be clear,' he said.