International Agencies Regret US Decision to Abort Burma Mercy Mission
Jun 4, 2008 – By Ron Corben, VOA
Bangkok -- United States naval ships with relief
supplies for cyclone victims in Burma are leaving the area, because the
Burmese government refused their help. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok,
international agencies trying to help more than two million storm survivors
regret the loss of the navy's resources.
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The USS Essex , center, and the Essex Amphibious Ready Group steam
in formation, in the Andaman Sea, 23 May 2008 (photo released by U.S.
Navy)
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The USS Essex and several support vessels are
leaving the seas near Burma after spending three weeks trying to deliver aid
to the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
The French navy also has given up efforts to send in aid
and is heading away from the Bay of Bengal.
Burma's government has rejected offers to use other
country's military helicopters to carry relief supplies.
Instead, in the past week the World Food Program received
two helicopters from Africa, but aid experts say that is not enough.
WFP spokesman Paul Risley says it is unfortunate that U.S.
Navy helicopters will not be available to bring aid across the Irrawaddy
Delta.
"And this is truly unfortunate because these
helicopters represented immediate heavy lift capacity in the area and would
have been a standard operating procedure for the U.N. for relief agencies in
responding," he said.
Military helicopters from several nations played a vital
role in relief efforts in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami. They also helped
in the aftermath of a cyclone that hit Bangladesh last year.
Burma's state media say the government rejected the U.S.
military aircraft because it feared an invasion, despite U.S. assurances that
wanted only to provide aid.
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This aerial view shows a devastated town, with many roofs missing,
in the Irrawaddy Delta region, Burma, 06 May 2008
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The cyclone that hit a month ago left more than two
million people in need of food, shelter and medical care. The storm killed
78,000 and left 56,000 missing.
International donors have condemned the Burmese
government's roadblocks to relief efforts. U.S. officials say the delays may
have cost "tens of thousands of lives."
The United Nations and ASEAN recent reached an agreement
with Burma to allow international aid workers more access to the areas worst
hit by the storm.
But U.N. officials said Wednesday relief efforts need to
expand rapidly, since just one point three million people had gotten any sort
of assistance.
The Irrawaddy Delta is Burma's main rice-growing region,
but U.N. officials said Wednesday that 60 percent of the paddy fields were
damaged in the storm. About 16 percent are too badly damaged for the next
planting season, in July.
The WFP's Risley says international food aid to the
hardest-hit areas could last a year.
"In a situation such as this it would be very typical
for the World Food Program to continue providing food rations through general
deliveries for families and farmers in the delta area, certainly through the
next six months, certainly through the next harvest. It is likely that
harvest will not be able to take place for an entire year," he
said.
U.N. officials say few farmers have returned to their land
because they have no food, shelter or farm tools. In addition, roads
throughout the region remain unusable.
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