On May 10, 12:21=A0pm, bmo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/05/10/ap4993788.html
>
> YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military regime distributed international
> aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in
> an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's
> devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.
Disgusting.
>
> The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded
> with aid, though the junta took over its first two ****pments. The
> government agreed to let a U.S. cargo plane bring in supplies Monday,
> but foreign disaster experts still were being barred entry.
>
> Despite international appeals to postpone a referendum on a
> controversial proposed constitution, voting began Saturday in all but
> the hardest hit parts of the country. With voters going to the polls,
> state-run television continuously ran images of top generals including
> junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, handing out boxes of aid at
> elaborate ceremonies.
>
> "We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the
> side of aid ****pments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and
> then distributing it in their region," said Mark Farmaner, director of
> Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in
> the country.
>
> "It is not going to areas where it is most in need," he said in
> London.
>
> [...]
>
> The government's abilities are limited. It has only a few dozen
> helicopters, most of which are small and old. It also has about 15
> trans****t planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of
> tons of supplies.
>
> "Not only don't they have the capacity to deliver assistance, they
> don't have experience," said Farmaner, the British aid worker. "It's
> already too late for many people. Every day of delays is costing
> thousands of lives."
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