US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has accused the regime of "criminal neglect" for refusing their help, saying Myanmar's initial delays could have cost tens of thousands of lives.
"Unless the regime changes its approach, its policy, more people will die," he said after a weekend regional security forum in Singapore.
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02 June 2008: AFP
BANGKOK: More people will perish in Myanmar's cyclone disaster zone unless the regime lifts restrictions on foreign aid, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned Sunday, accusing the junta of "criminal neglect."
Nearly a month after the storm tore through swathes of Myanmar, about 60 percent of the 2.4 million survivors remain without foreign aid, despite some opening-up by the military rulers after an intense UN-led diplomatic push.
The junta blocked entry to overseas aid workers in the critical days after Cyclone Nargis pummelled the impoverished nation on May 2-3, leaving 133,000 people dead or missing. "Unless the regime changes its approach, its policy, more people will die," Gates said en route to Bangkok after a regional security forum in Singapore.
"I would describe it as criminal neglect." Gates, who earlier said that Myanmar's initial delays could have cost tens of thousands of lives, added that the United States would decide within days whether to recall four US Navy ships waiting to deliver aid.
He said it was "becoming pretty clear" the junta would not accept military help from the United States, which has been a fierce critic of the regime. The USS Essex and three other ships have been off the coast of Myanmar for more than two weeks with a dozen helicopters, landing craft and Marines, but have been refused permission to use them to distribute relief.
Malaysia's deputy prime minister Najib Razak, speaking at the same forum in Singapore that Gates attended, urged the regime to accept military helicopters and rubber boats from its Southeast Asian neighbours.
"The only organisation that can be effective in terms of disaster relief operations is the military," Najib told reporters.
"There is a huge human tragedy of the highest proportion that might befall the people of Myanmar if the government does not allow greater participation by the (Southeast Asian) countries and by the world," Najib added. Supplies are slowly trickling through to worst-hit areas, but the generals-notoriously suspicious of the West-are wary of what is coming in. "We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine goodwill from any country or organisation, provided that there are no strings attached, or politicisation involved," Deputy Defence Minister Aye Myint said in Singapore.
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