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World News|
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - Web posted at 10:08:49 GMT Three days of mourning for Myanmar cyclone victims YANGON - Myanmar's military government yesterday announced a three-day mourning period for victims of the cyclone that left at least 130 000 people dead or missing earlier this month. |
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The mourning period starting today comes as people remain angry at what appears to be an inadequate government effort to help the storm's survivors, including the ruling junta's rejection of much foreign assistance. It also follows on a declaration by China of three days of mourning, that started yesterday, for the more than 32 000 dead from its own disaster, an earthquake in Sichuan province last week. Myanmar's military regime, meanwhile, allowed the United Nations humanitarian chief into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour yesterday, a UN official said. But the United Nations said its foreign staff were still barred from the delta and described conditions there as "terrible," with hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims suffering from hunger, disease and lack of shelter. John Holmes, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, flew by helicopter to the delta before returning to Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, to meet with international aid agencies, said a UN official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Others, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also will be allowed into the disaster zone this week. An Asian diplomat said Myanmar has invited at least three representatives of several countries to tour the delta on Friday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the news has not been made public. Ban is to travel to the delta after his scheduled arrival in the country on Wednesday, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York. Earlier, junta leader Senior General Than Shwe had refused to take telephone calls from Ban and had not responded to two letters from him, Montas said. Holmes, who arrived in Yangon on Sunday, was to deliver a third letter about how the UN can assist the government's immediate and long-term relief effort. Amanda Pitt, a UN spokeswoman in Bangkok, said the world body was seeing "some progress in terms of pipelines starting to come through" but that the aid operation was still unsatisfactory. At least 78 000 people were killed in the May 2-3 storm and another 56 000 were missing. The situation remained grim in the Irrawaddy delta south of Yangon. Nampa-AP |
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