First UN Relief Heads to Myanmar U.S. Also Expects to Fly in Disaster Aid, but Experts Say Time is Running Short

By Seth Mydans

The first aircraft carrying UN relief supplies headed for Myanmar on Thursday after an excruciating delay during which the insular ruling junta resisted international offers of large-scale aid.

American officials said they appeared to be close to an agreement with the Myanmar government to send in aid and disaster experts, despite the acrimonious relations between the two countries and recent blunt criticisms of the junta by President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura.

“This morning, we and our Thai allies thought we had a decision from the Burmese leadership to let the C-130 in,” the U.S. ambassador, Eric John, said at a news conference here, referring to an aid aircraft that has been standing by.

“We don’t have permission yet for the C-130 to go in,” he said, “but I emphasize ‘yet.’ ” The ambassador said he did not know whether the Myanmar authorities had changed their minds or whether there had been a misunderstanding.

A spokesman for the UN World Food Program said one aircraft was en route to Myanmar from Dubai carrying high-energy biscuits, large medical kits and storage tents and that two more aircraft were expected to follow soon.

The government’s permission for these deliveries marked a first crack in its resistance to a large-scale involvement by foreigners.

Its slow response to the disaster has drawn pressure and criticism from abroad that is reminiscent of the condemnation it received after its brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations in September.

“This is one small step forward but hopefully it will allow us to begin an expansion of our own program,” the spokesman, Paul Risley, said. “At this point it’s a race against time.”

He added: “The delays in responding to this humanitarian crisis are unprecedented.”

Aid has been trickling in from some countries that Myanmar considers friendly, and agencies like the World Food Program have distributed stockpiled grains and supplies within the country.

But this does not approach the huge relief effort that experts say is badly needed.

The official government death toll is 22,500 but the top American diplomat in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, said Wednesday that the toll could rise to 100,000 if aid does not reach the survivors soon.

Many people in the worst hit areas have not had any food or safe drinking water or medical treatment since the cyclone hit early Saturday, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving as many as one million homeless, Risley said.

“As those days go by the threat of water borne diseases and further death caused by exposure to the elements increases,” Risley said. “There is a ten-day window after which the number of deaths spikes.”

Half that time has already elapsed, and aid officials say they will face huge difficulties in transporting aid into remote areas, many of which are now isolated by floodwaters.

Despite the permission received by the World Food Program, international donors expressed continuing frustration over the delays.

Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the United Nations disaster response office in Bangkok, said the government was still holding back clearances for the delivery of supplies and visas for most of the international experts needed to direct their distribution.

“Agencies are becoming concerned and frustrated that the call from Myanmar authorities for international assistance is not translating itself quickly enough into action,” he said.

The apparent hesitancy of the military government caused some confusion Thursday when there seemed to be an agreement to allow American aid to enter the country.

The Thai supreme commander, Boonsrang Niumpradit, told Reuters that Thailand, which has recently developed warm relations with Myanmar, had helped persuade the junta to let the Americans in.

“They were very suspicious that the Americans would do more than just distribute relief supplies, but we helped convince the Burmese to allow the Americans in,” Boonsrang said, using the former name of Myanmar.

The United States has insisted that American relief experts be allowed to enter the country along with donations of American aid.

The military government has sealed the country off from the outside world for decades and the barriers and the mistrust have grown even higher in recent years with the imposition of economic embargoes.

Political analysts say that an influx of foreign aid and experts could undermine the junta’s standing with the population it controls, by demonstrating its inability to care for its people and by allowing foreign influences into the closed nation.

“The disaster has demonstrated that their omniscient power has been greatly exaggerated,” said Sean Turnell, an expert on the Myanmar economy at Macquarie University in Sydney.

The foreign aid they are resisting “would show them up terribly, organizationally and in terms of equipment and would be quite a loss of face.” he said.

“This is a regime that is extremely close to totalitarian,” Turnell added, “so I think an infusion of aid around the country would have a big political effect.”

In its statements to its people, the ruling junta has insisted that the situation is “returning to normal” and that everything is under control.

On Thursday, state television showed the prime minister, Lieutenant General Thein Sein, distributing food packages to the sick and injured as well as film of soldiers dropping food supplies from helicopters over villages.

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

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