Burmese junta: Aid workers welcomed "with no strings attached"
Burmese junta: Aid workers welcomed "with no strings attached"
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Sunday, 01, Jun 2008 02:00
A new row is brewing after the United Nations and US issued frustrated claims that aid to the Burmese survivors of Cyclone Nargis was still not reaching the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta region.
At a conference in Singapore, the Burmese deputy defence minister, Aye Myint, said that the Burmese military had acted swiftly and that they had responded to offers of foreign aid with "no strings attached."
The United Nations, however, has predicted that as many as 200,000 people had still not received any food aid since the hurricane.
American defence secretary, Robert Gates, also in Singapore for the security conference, has said that the naval fleet, despatched to aid the relief operations, could be recalled if they could not be engaged in active measures.
Asked about the possible withdrawal from service, Mr Gates commented: "I think it's matter of days."
"No decision has been made at this point but I think they've obviously been out there steaming round in circles for a long time at this point."
The ruling committee of military generals are encouraging the survivors to irrigate the land and plant new crops, while staying in their home environs rather than evacuate victims to other areas. They say that state media had given plenty of advance warning of the May 2nd cyclone, which they say left 134,000 dead or missing and up to 2.4 million others destitute, and have since reported, in official propaganda, that the citizens did not need 'foreign chocolate bars'.