On May 9, 2:03=A0pm, "Zomi" <z...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> Zomi says:
>
> The UN is powerless.
>
> The generals want only the aid, not the aid workers.
>
> Why should other countries deal with the generals as human beings? The
> generals are brutes in human form. They should be dealt with as the
brutes=
,
> which they are.
>
> Highlights:
>
> Myanmar's military regime seized United Nations food ****pments today and
> said it would distribute them to the 1 million people left homeless by
las=
t
> weekend's cyclone.
>
> UN and Western relief workers, with experience *****sing and
distributing
> aid amid disasters, have had little success gaining entry to Myanmar.
>
> Myanmar refused entry to two of four members of a previously approved UN
> *****sment team that arrived yesterday. Myanmar de****ted a
search-and-resc=
ue
> team and re****ters who arrived on a May 7 flight from Qatar because it
> expected the plane to carry only emergency aid, not workers, AFP cited
the=
> Myanmar Foreign Ministry as saying.
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> Myanmar Seizes Food ****pments, Assumes Distribution (Update1)
>
> By Gregory Viscusi and Demian McLean
>
> May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar's military regime seized United Nations
food
> ****pments today and said it would distribute them to the 1 million
people
> left homeless by last weekend's cyclone.
>
> The UN said it will fly in more food tomorrow as it tries to reach an
> agreement with the military-ruled country, ranked as the world's most
> corrupt by nonprofit Transparency International. About 276,000 of the
1.5
> million people needing aid received it as of May 7, Richard Horsey, a
> spokesman for the UN disaster- response unit, said in Bangkok today.
>
> The seizure came just as outside aid was beginning to get into the
> isolationist nation formerly called Burma, where as many as 100,000 were
> killed by the May 3 storm. Torrential weekend rains, marking the start
of
> monsoon season, are likely to make remote, hard-hit region more
difficult =
to
> reach and expose homeless people to the elements.
>
> ``The food that we flew in hasn't been released to us as had been
> promised,'' Chris Kaye, Myanmar country director for the UN's World Food
> Program, said in a phone interview from Yangon. ``If the government's
doin=
g
> that to give priority to certain groups, that's going to make it very
> difficult for us to operate.''
>
> The WFP has sent three planeloads of high-energy biscuits to the
Southeast=
> Asian nation since yesterday, said Marcus Prior, a spokesman for the UN
> agency in Bangkok. Two more should land tomorrow.
>
> `Urgent Need'
>
> The White House said Myanmar had agreed to let a U.S. plane land in
Myanma=
r
> on May 12 with relief supplies.
>
> ``One flight is much better than no flight,'' said White House spokesman
> Gordon Johndroe. The contents of the plane are still being worked out,
he
> said.
>
> UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the country may lack the capacity
to=
> distribute supplies. He told a meeting of health re****ters in Atlanta
toda=
y
> that there is an ``urgent need'' to allow aid workers to enter.
>
> While 156 tons of rice stockpiles are on hand in Yangon, local
volunteers
> had distributed less than a fifth as of yesterday.
>
> UN and Western relief workers, with experience *****sing and
distributing
> aid amid disasters, have had little success gaining entry to Myanmar.
>
> ``It's very frustrating,'' Prior said. ``The situation isn't
sustainable.'=
'
> The WFP has 16 visa applications for staff pending, with only one
accepted=
> so far.
>
> Entry Refused
>
> The U.S. State Department said on its Web site that Myanmar refused
entry =
to
> two of four members of a previously approved UN *****sment team that
arriv=
ed
> yesterday. Myanmar de****ted a search-and-rescue team and re****ters who
> arrived on a May 7 flight from Qatar because it expected the plane to
carr=
y
> only emergency aid, not workers, AFP cited the Myanmar Foreign Ministry
as=
> saying.
>
> German Chancellor Angela Merkel today called on Myanmar to allow aid to
> enter.
>
> ``I emphatically urge the government to live up to the responsibility it
h=
as
> for its people and quickly allow international aid into the entire
disaste=
r
> area,'' Merkel said in an e-mailed statement. ``Very many people are now
> dependent on fast aid.''
>
> In London, Michael Ellam, a spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Gordon
Brown=
,
> said ``we are pressing the Burmese authorities as a matter of urgency to
> address the barriers to rapid access for staff and supplies and to allow
> international agencies to disperse relief to worst affected areas within
> Burma now.''
>
> Forty-Five Tons
>
> The four WFP flights will bring to 45 tons the amount of food the WFP
has
> sent, Prior said. `
>
> `It's a trickle and they need an awful lot more,'' he said. The WFP
alread=
y
> had 10 international and 200 local staff in the country, which isn't
enoug=
h
> to oversee the distribution. ``We have to direct the aid by remote
control=
,
> which doesn't allow us to put in place a sustainable effort,'' he said.
>
> A Boeing 747-400 from China, a neighbor and key ally of Myanmar, landed
at=
> Yangon International Air****t today carrying supplies including medicine,
> tents, food and water-purification tablets, China's official Xinhua news
> agency re****ted. The government in Beijing will send additional relief
> supplies tomorrow, Xinhua cited unidentified government officials as
sayin=
g.
>
> The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
> flew in 6 tons of shelter supplies to Yangon from Kuala Lumpur yesterday
a=
nd
> will send a further 8 tons from Bangkok today, spokesman John Sparrow
said=
> by telephone from the Malaysian capital.
>
> Russian Aid
>
> Russia plans to send two planes carrying mobile electricity generators,
> tents, blankets, food, bandages, antiseptics and other medicine to
Myanmar=
> today and tomorrow, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on
its=
> Web site.
>
> ``Aid right now is going in at a trickle,'' Anne Richard of the
U.S.-based=
> International Rescue Committee said in an interview With Bloomberg
> Television today. ``Without the permissions to go into the country the
who=
le
> system is grinding to a halt.''
>
> Myanmar's ``food basket'' bore the brunt of the cyclone and supplies in
th=
e
> nation are now threatened, the UN said. The five worst-affected states
> produce most of the fish, rice and ****k for the nation's 47.8 million
> people, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said.
>
> Myanmar has been under international sanctions since the military
rejected=
> the results of elections in 1990, won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National
Leagu=
e
> for Democracy.
>
> The junta plans to press ahead with a referendum tomorrow for a new
> constitution before elections in 2010. The ballot will be delayed until
Ma=
y
> 24 in the worst-affected areas.
>
> To contact the re****ters on this story: Demian McLean in Wa****ngton at
> dmcle...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Gregory Viscusi in Paris at
gvisc...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Last Updated: May 9, 2008 12:44 EDT
>
>
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=3D20601087&sid=3Dae7eZFw_Jb7w&refe.=
...
>
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Myanmar should be invaded and liberated......the Junta are criminals,
and now murderers. They should be tried in an international court for
crimes against humanity, found guilty, and hung.
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