U.N. Leader Tells Myanmar to Hurry on Aid

May 13, 2008
U.N. Leader Tells Myanmar to Hurry on Aid
By WARREN HOGE and SETH MYDANS
UNITED NATIONS — As the authorities in Myanmar raised the cyclone death toll to nearly 32,000 and admitted one American military aircraft, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pressed the junta on Monday to accept international assistance. He expressed “deep concern and immense frustration” with what he called “the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis.”
In unusually blunt language for a United Nations leader, Mr. Ban said: “This is not about politics; it is about saving people’s lives. There is absolutely no more time to lose.”
The sharp comments from Mr. Ban came on a day when the authorities in Myanmar allowed a United States military aircraft to land with relief supplies, crossing one barrier that has hindered the delivery of large-scale aid to more than a million people affected by the May 3 cyclone.
State television has put the death toll at 31,938, with 29,770 people missing.
The United States landing was the most public example of what aid groups said was a slight easing of restrictions over the last day, though not nearly enough to provide for what they said was a desperate, growing need. On Monday, the United Nations estimated the dead at 62,000 to 100,000.
And even with the American flight — the first of three that the Myanmar government has approved — President Bush said that the slow flow of aid suggested that the generals in charge were either “isolated or callous.”
“It’s been days, and no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response,” he told CBS News in a radio interview. “An American plane finally went in, but the response isn’t good enough.”
Remarkably, a government newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, carried eight photos on Tuesday of the arrival of the American aid shipment, a rare acknowledgment of any cooperation with the United States. Long-time foreign residents of Yangon marveled that government censors would approve pictures of the C-130, clearly marked “U.S. Air Force,” sitting on the tarmac at the Yangon airport. The government often lumps the United States in with other “foreign saboteurs” who want to invade Myanmar and establish military bases there.
Mr. Ban, in clear frustration, said he had been trying without success for four days to reach the country’s senior general, Than Swe, and that he had sent a second letter to him on Monday alerting him to the United Nations’ efforts to help and its need for “greater access and freedom of movement.” John Holmes, the under secretary general in charge of emergency, said that while there had been “slight progress” in granting visas to relief workers, only 34 of more than 100 applications had been approved.
United Nations officials said the distribution of most deliveries of international relief supplies to the most badly affected parts of the country was still being blocked. They said help was reaching fewer than one-third of those in need.
The United Nations World Food Program said that it needed to move 375 tons of food a day to keep up with the urgent needs, but that it was shipping less than 20 percent of that — and that it was close to running out of rice.
At the airport in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, a group of high-level officials greeted the unarmed C-130 in an extraordinary scene of cooperation between nations whose only relations in recent years have been acrimonious.
In a sign of the significance of the American aid delivery, the aircraft also carried Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of the American military in the Pacific.
In a telephone interview, Admiral Keating said it had been years, if not decades, since an American military officer of his rank had visited Myanmar.
He said the United States had about a dozen medium- and heavy-lift military helicopters on standby in Thailand, ready to assist. In addition, Admiral Keating said a three-ship naval task force with another dozen transport helicopters was 24 hours away and ready to help relief efforts.
“We told them we could come in during the day and leave at night, that they could put Burmese officials on our planes and ships, and that we would provide our own fuel,” he said. “We told them we wouldn’t stay a day longer than they wanted.”
Reports out of the Irrawaddy Delta, the worst-hit area, continued to reflect a growing and gruesome catastrophe, according to Western diplomats in Yangon.
People whose homes, farms and food stocks were destroyed have been making their way to more than half a dozen refugee camps north of the delta, although these were more like gathering places than organized camps with food, water, shelter and medical assistance.
“It’s grim, and getting grimmer,” said one Western diplomat in Yangon. “The vast majority of people out there haven’t been reached. It’s a challenge to get stuff there anyway. Now it’s a double challenge.”
At the United Nations, Mr. Ban specifically mentioned disease. “We are at a critical point,” he said. “Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today’s crisis.”
Another worry is the start of the rainy season, which usually begins in mid-May. Rice stocks need to dry, and new rice needs to be planted. Aid workers said there was one possible upside to more rain: People without fresh water might be able to collect rainwater for drinking.
Although United Nations officials have criticized the government for blocking efforts to help its citizens, spokesmen from the various aid groups — relieved to have even one toe in the door, and clearly worried that harsh words might slam it shut again — have adopted a tone of cautious hope. “We are optimistic that the restrictions will be relaxed,” said Rigoberto Giron, a spokesman for CARE, based in Atlanta.
But he said the group had not been granted visas to bring in international staff members whom it needed. Another CARE spokesman said over the weekend that the group had been waiting to ship in supplies until it could be sure that CARE would control their distribution.
Doctors Without Borders, another international aid group, also said the government had allowed it to take possession of a planeload of supplies and to begin distributing them.
But there are still problems, the group said. Three of its workers in the devastated city of Bogale — a physician, a water and sanitation expert and an aid coordinator — were refused permission to travel or even to enter hospitals to consult on problems.
“We are worried,” said Hugues Robert, a spokesman for the group in Geneva. “This has been happening for a few days.”
By their stubbornness in refusing to allow the rapid distribution of relief supplies, the generals who rule Myanmar are turning the cyclone that struck more than a week ago from a devastating natural disaster into a man-made disaster of huge proportions.
As the disaster grows and pressure from the outside world intensifies, the junta faces a dilemma.
If it opens its doors to large numbers of foreigners, it may never be able to seal the country again against the outside influences and interference it dreads.
By keeping most foreign assistance out, though, the generals must be ready to accept the deaths of hundreds of thousands more people, according to foreign relief officials. At the moment, that is the choice it appears to be making.
Even if there are divisions within the leadership over policy, most analysts say, the junta is likely to maintain its grip.
“I don’t think anything is going to happen,” said Terence Lee, an expert on regional militaries from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “They have too much invested in the regime to have any ideas of jumping ship.”
Warren Hoge reported from the United Nations, and Seth Mydans from Bangkok. Reporting was contributed by a correspondent for The New York Times from Yangon, Myanmar; Eric Schmitt from Washington; and Graham Bowley and Denise Grady from New York.