United States warships will soon leave waters near Burma after the ruling military junta refused permission for the delivery of aid supplies to the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy Delta, a top US commander said on Wednesday.
Admiral Timothy Keating said the USS Essex group will sail away from the former Burma on Thursday but leave several heavy-lift helicopters in neighbouring Thailand to help in the relief effort.
”Should the Burmese rulers have a change of heart and request our full assistance for their suffering we are prepared to help,” Keating, commander of US forces in the Pacific, said in a statement.
Burma has been promised millions of dollars in aid from the US, other governments and aid organisations. Cyclone Nargis, which hit a month ago, is believed to have left 134 000 people dead or missing and 2,4-million destitute.
But the junta has refused to allow the US military to help distribute aid to affected areas, apparently fearing that a large-scale international relief effort would loosen the grip the generals have held since a 1962 coup.
In Washington, White House spokesperson Dana Perino again pressed the Burma government to allow in aid workers.
”The Burmese regime must permit all international aid workers the access necessary to provide the urgently needed assistance,” she said in a statement. ”There is no more time to waste.”
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in Bangkok on Sunday that the junta had rejected foreign military help in delivering cyclone aid because it feared it could be seen as an invasion.
Keating said they had made 15 attempts over the past three weeks to convince the regime to allow in US helicopters and landing craft, ”but they have refused us each and every time”. — Reuters