UN chief warns Myanmar inaction may be deadly

Reuters

US Marines remove cargo nets from pallets of food, water and emergency supplies delivered to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Essex off the coast of Myanmar yesterday. The Essex is the lead ship of the only forward-deployed US expeditionary strike group and was participating in Cobra Gold 2008, a military exercise centred around a humanitarian assistance mission in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar's military government yesterday to allow aid and humanitarian workers into the cyclone-hit country "without hindrance", saying the survival of its people was at stake.

Mr Ban spokesman Marie Okabe told reporters at UN headquarters that the secretary-general, who is in Atlanta on a visit, had "warned that inaction could be deadly".

Mr Ban has been trying to contact Myanmar's senior general, Than Shwe, to persuade him to remove restrictions on aid workers. But his attempts have been unsuccessful.

"I have been trying to speak directly to the leadership of Myanmar," Mr Ban told reporters during a visit to the Carter Centre in Atlanta.

"Regrettably I have not been able to contact them. I am still trying to talk with them as well as with leaders in neighboring countries."

Ms Okabe said aid workers had still not reached some areas devastated by Cyclone Nargis last Saturday.

"The United Nations has personnel on the ground but their capacity is stretched to the limit," she said, Ms Okabe said the UN World Food Programme was sending in two aid flights today while discussions continue with the military junta on how the aid will be distributed.

The WFP had said earlier yesterday that it was suspending flights after authorities seized food supplies the agency sent in to Yangon airport.