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.
The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded
with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. 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 shipments 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
transport 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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