Aid breakthrough in sight for Burmese storm victims

By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor

Monday, 19 May 2008

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A British envoy has spoken of a possible breakthrough in overcoming the Burmese junta's resistance to foreigners distributing aid to 2.5 million survivors of Cyclone Nargis, as the UN secretary general, Mr Ban Ki-moon prepared to fly to Rangoon.

With international pressure on the military junta mounting, Lord Malloch-Brown, the minister for Asia and the UN, said that a compromise appeared to be in sight, under which the UN and Burma's Asian neighbours would deliver foreign aid into the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta. The junta's obstruction of a foreign-led relief operation has triggered sharp condemnation in the West, where Gordon Brown described the government's attitude as "inhuman".

"I think we're potentially at a turning point but, like all turning points in (Burma), the corner will have a few S-bends in it," Lord Malloch-Brown said.

The junta says 78,000 people have died. The UN estimates that at least 200,000 are dead or missing. John Holmes, the UN humanitarian coordinator, arrived in the Burmese capital last night with an appeal from the UN secretary general to the junta's commanders about widening the aid effort. The senior leader, Gen Than Shwe, appeared on television meeting survivors for the first time since the cyclone on 2 May.

He had earlier refused to take telephone calls from Mr Ban who is due in Rangoon later this week.

The junta is apparently blocking a massive aid package out of fears that Western countries could be intent on regime change. The French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, told reporters that France had been accused by the Burmese delegate of sending "a warship" to Burma. French, US and British ships have gathered in international waters to dispatch aid to the delta.

The British charity Save the Children, based inside Burma, warned yesterday that thousands of children under five could die within weeks if food is not rushed to them.