February 11, 2009 2:59 PM
- Text
Myanmar Allows U.N. Aid But Snubs U.S.
(CBS/AP)
Relief supplies from the United Nations began arriving in Myanmar on Thursday, but U.S. military planes loaded with aid were still denied access by the country's isolationist regime five days after a devastating cyclone.
The military junta also continued to stall on visas for U.N. teams seeking entry to ensure the aid is delivered to the victims.
The greatest fear is that people who barely survived the cyclone might not be able to hang on much longer for aid to arrive as they battle the possibility of disease and dehydration, reports CBS News reporter Celia Hatton.
The problem for the Burmese generals may well be that accepting outside aid means bringing in outsiders. The Myanmar regime has kept power for decades in part by keeping the country isolated, Hatton reports.
Four airplanes carrying high-energy biscuits, medicine and other supplies arrived in Yangon Thursday, U.N. officials said. Two of four U.N. experts who had flown to Myanmar to assess the damage were turned back at the Yangon airport for unknown reasons, said John Holmes, the U.N. relief coordinator. But the other two were allowed to enter.
By rejecting the U.S. offer of help, the junta is refusing to take advantage of Washington's enormous ability to deliver aid quickly, which was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.
"We have demonstrated in crises around the world ... our logistical capability to get humanitarian assistance quickly in to the people who need it," said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.
President George W. Bush's national security spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said Washington was still working to gain permission to enter Myanmar.
Ky Luu, the director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance, said one option would be to airdrop relief aid. But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he could not imagine doing so without the military junta's permission.
France has argued that the U.N. has the power to intervene to help civilians because of an agreement by world leaders at a 2005 summit that the international body has a "responsibility to protect" people sometimes when nations fail to do it. But that agreement did not mention natural disasters.
Myanmar's generals, traditionally paranoid about foreign influence, issued an appeal for international assistance after the storm struck Saturday. They have since dragged their feet on issuing visas to relief workers even as survivors faced hunger, disease and flooding.
"What is critically needed at this point is for Myanmar authorities to open up to a major international relief effort," said U.N. spokesman Richard Horesy. "If that is not done quickly, there is a major risk that there will be a second phase to this disaster where large numbers of people will die of communicable disease."
The military junta also continued to stall on visas for U.N. teams seeking entry to ensure the aid is delivered to the victims.
The greatest fear is that people who barely survived the cyclone might not be able to hang on much longer for aid to arrive as they battle the possibility of disease and dehydration, reports CBS News reporter Celia Hatton.
The problem for the Burmese generals may well be that accepting outside aid means bringing in outsiders. The Myanmar regime has kept power for decades in part by keeping the country isolated, Hatton reports.
Four airplanes carrying high-energy biscuits, medicine and other supplies arrived in Yangon Thursday, U.N. officials said. Two of four U.N. experts who had flown to Myanmar to assess the damage were turned back at the Yangon airport for unknown reasons, said John Holmes, the U.N. relief coordinator. But the other two were allowed to enter.
By rejecting the U.S. offer of help, the junta is refusing to take advantage of Washington's enormous ability to deliver aid quickly, which was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.
"We have demonstrated in crises around the world ... our logistical capability to get humanitarian assistance quickly in to the people who need it," said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.
President George W. Bush's national security spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said Washington was still working to gain permission to enter Myanmar.
Ky Luu, the director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance, said one option would be to airdrop relief aid. But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he could not imagine doing so without the military junta's permission.
France has argued that the U.N. has the power to intervene to help civilians because of an agreement by world leaders at a 2005 summit that the international body has a "responsibility to protect" people sometimes when nations fail to do it. But that agreement did not mention natural disasters.
Myanmar's generals, traditionally paranoid about foreign influence, issued an appeal for international assistance after the storm struck Saturday. They have since dragged their feet on issuing visas to relief workers even as survivors faced hunger, disease and flooding.
"What is critically needed at this point is for Myanmar authorities to open up to a major international relief effort," said U.N. spokesman Richard Horesy. "If that is not done quickly, there is a major risk that there will be a second phase to this disaster where large numbers of people will die of communicable disease."
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