UN's appeal to Burma: let the aid in

Last Modified: 08 May 2008
By: Jonathan Miller

With up to 100,000 feared dead after cyclone Nargis, the United Nations appeals to Burma's military junta to change permit emergency relief.

Tonight the UN is appealing directly to Burma's generals to let aid in, asking the country's military rulers to "change its attitude completely".

It is five days since cyclone Nargis hit Burma, killing up to a 100,000 people and leaving another 1.5 million others "severely affected" - without shelter and provoking massive sympathy and offers of aid from around the world.

But still the military junta that rules that country seems largely deaf to the offers from outside and blind to its people's suffering.

The US has now asked the Thai premier to step in to persuade the Burmese generals to allow access to their country.

So far £22 million has been pledged in emergency relief. But so far only one UN plane carrying food aid has landed in Burma, while two others have just been given landing permission.

The United States, which has a large presence in the region, has been denied permission to land any aircraft in the country.

Aid workers are still waiting for long-promised visas, and there are severe restrictions on movements outside of Rangoon.

As the aid stacks up outside Burma, Channel 4 News has learned that the US has now asked the Thai prime minister to step in to persuade the Burmese generals to allow access to their devastated country.