World turns up heat on Myanmar

[The Smoking Man]

World turns up heat on Myanmar

Sat May 17, 2:04 PM ET

World frustration with Myanmar boiled over on Saturday, with accusations of negligence and crimes against humanity over the regime's slow-moving response to the cyclone disaster.

US President George W. Bush extended sanctions on Myanmar while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denounced the junta's "inhuman" treatment of around two million survivors battling to stay alive two weeks after the storm hit.

With the toll of dead and missing now 134,000, the pressure appeared to mark a shift in tactics in the face of the junta's reluctance to allow a full-scale emergency effort, despite fears more people could die of hunger or disease.

"We have an intolerable situation created by a natural disaster," Brown, whose country was the colonial power when Myanmar was known as Burma, told the BBC.

"It is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do."

Wary of any foreign influence that could weaken its 46 years of iron rule in Myanmar, the junta has insisted on managing the operation itself and kept most international disaster experts away.

But aid groups say the government cannot possibly handle the tragedy by itself, with hundreds of tonnes of supplies and high-tech equipment piling up in warehouses, bottle-necked by logistics and other problems.

After announcing Friday that the toll from the tragedy had nearly doubled -- to 77,738 dead and 55,917 missing -- state television did not issue new figures on Saturday night.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu wrote to Brown, Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, calling on the UN Security Council to authorise aid drops over the objections of the generals.

He said the regime had "effectively declared war on its own population and is committing crimes against humanity."

Jean-Maurice Ripert, France's UN ambassador, told a meeting of all members of the United Nations that the situation was turning "slowly from a situation of not helping people in danger to a real risk of crimes against humanity."

Bush announced that sanctions on the junta would be extended for a year because of its "large-scale repression of the democratic opposition." The statement stressed it would not affect US humanitarian cyclone aid.

Faced with the mounting criticism, the junta flew some diplomats and aid workers Saturday into the heart of the disaster zone -- which has been all but sealed off to the outside world.

"What they showed us looked very good," said Chris Kaye, Myanmar director for the UN's World Food Programme. "But they are not showing us the whole picture."

One diplomat said: "It was like a steam-roller had gone through the entire delta region."

The junta has blocked journalists from getting to the southern Irrawaddy Delta, the rice-growing region hardest hit when Cyclone Nargis hit on May 2-3, bringing powerful winds and massive waves that wiped whole villages away.

But those who have got through have returned with tales of unspeakable misery, including from some survivors who said they had received very little assistance from the government.

Survivors have also reported that the military was pushing them out of temporary shelter in monasteries, whose revered Buddhist monks helped lead massive anti-government protests last year that were eventually put down.

Navy ships from France and the United States are positioned off the Myanmar coast stocked with emergency supplies, but have not been able to enter.

The regime is said to fear a possible invasion by the United States, which has criticised Myanmar for keeping democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest -- and for its slow moves toward elections promised by 2010.

The government said this week that 99 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots last Saturday in a referendum it said approved a new constitution which would bar her from office.

Her party rejected the result and said the vote should never have been held amid the cyclone tragedy. The regime has scheduled round two of the vote, in the disaster areas, on May 24.

[The Smoking Man]

World faces limits to getting aid into Myanmar
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer
Sat May 17, 2:15 PM ET

It is a life-or-death question: If millions of people are at risk, is it acceptable to sit on the sidelines and watch an undemocratic and unprepared regime mismanage a crisis?

With the death toll climbing, foreign leaders and international aid organizations are faced with an increasingly urgent need to balance respect for Myanmar's sovereignty with a moral responsibility to help its population.

Just hoping the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, will do the right thing may not be enough. And though it appears unlikely they will be called in, several military powers are capable of intervening, whether the junta likes it or not.

"We want to do this in a collaborative, cooperative way with the authorities in Burma," said Mark Malloch-Brown, the British minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations.

But he stressed "a lot of lives are at risk."

"The international community cannot take 'no' for an answer," he said here Thursday. "It's a race against time, and we are not racheting up fast enough."

Options available to foreign powers include unauthorized airdrops, coastal landings or helicopter operations. But considering the junta's current stance, any such moves could potentially spark a military incident.

Authorization of intervention by the United Nations Security Council remains unlikely. China, Myanmar's biggest ally, has veto power and has in the past blocked resolutions against the junta.

Some aid, perhaps just enough for Myanmar's leaders to keep foreign governments from making unauthorized aid drops or boat landings, was getting through two weeks after the deadly cyclone of May 2-3.

Tons of foreign aid including water, blankets, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, medicines and tents have been sent to Myanmar, but its delivery has been slowed down by bottlenecks, poor infrastructure and bureaucratic tangles.

The highest hurdle is political — persuading a fearful and out-of-touch military regime to give up, even temporarily, a bit of its control.

The junta has allowed the U.N. and some other agencies to hand out the aid directly but prohibited their few foreign staff allowed into Myanmar from leaving Yangon, the country's largest city and former capital.

Under intense pressure from Washington and the United Nations, the junta has allowed the U.S. military to ferry in emergency supplies provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

After initially agreeing to one flight on Monday, Myanmar's leaders have opened the door to daily flights by Marine and Air Force C-130 cargo planes. As of Saturday, the U.S. military had flown 21 C-130s loaded with about 500,000 pounds of aid into Yangon from their makeshift base in Utapao, Thailand.

Another four flights left Friday from the U.S. military's emergency headquarters at Utapao Air Base, in central Thailand.

"At this time, the needs are so immense, they are so large, that we're taking some risks to hope that we can get the assistance through to the ones who are most in need," said USAID administrator Henrietta Fore. "There is an enormous humanitarian urgency to this effort."

Thai and Indian military missions also have been approved, and British, French and Australian warships were converging on the area.

Still, the U.N. and the international Red Cross say that between 1.6 and 2.5 million people are in urgent need of food, water and shelter. Only 270,000 have been reached so far by the aid groups.

Malloch-Brown estimated that 24 C-130 flights a day would be needed to meet the crisis — far higher than the current level. And, so far, U.S. requests to bring in helicopters, one of the few means of reaching the worst-hit regions, have been denied.

Myanmar's government has less than 40 helicopters, most old and in disrepair, and some 15 transport planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of tons of supplies.

The lack of motion is all the more visible because of the vast resources that are available to help.

Because of an annual exercise scheduled well before Cyclone Nargis hit, the U.S. has 11,000 troops in and around Thailand, and a Marine ship capable of conducting amphibious landings and long-range helicopter operations is just 30 miles off Myanmar's coast.

The French navy ship Le Mistral was waiting some 13 miles outside Myanmar's territorial waters, hoping to go in and unload its cargo of 1,000 tons of food — enough to feed 100,000 people for 15 days. The aid also includes shelters for 15,000 people.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert warned Friday that the government's refusal to allow aid to be delivered to people "could lead to a true crime against humanity."

Frustrated by the inability to use such resources, dozens of U.S. congressmen signed off on a letter to President Bush asking that the United States join any international effort to intervene in Myanmar's stricken Irrawaddy Delta region by bypassing the junta's efforts to interfere with aid.

For the time being, the U.S. military will not send in aid without Myanmar's approval. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. forces in the Pacific, have publicly stated that coercive intervention is not on the plate.

"We're not going to do anything unilaterally," said Lt. Col. Douglas Powell, a spokesman for the U.S. relief effort, dubbed Operation Caring Response.

"Our hope is that they will see we have the means and the capabilities," he said. "We need them to take the next step and allow us to do more."

Aid organizations also expressed doubt that unauthorized air drops would be effective.

"At best aid air-drops can only be a partial solution, at worst they give the illusion that somehow we are addressing this ever worsening humanitarian crisis," said Jane Cocking, a spokeswoman for the British aid group Oxfam. "The biggest risk is that aid airdrops will be a distraction from what is really needed — a highly effective aid operation on the ground."

___

Associated Press Writer Grant Peck contributed to this report.

[Art]

A few cruise missiles would solve the problem instantly.

[The Smoking Man]

A few cruise missiles would solve the problem instantly.

What part of Texas are you from, Art?

[Art]

A few cruise missiles would solve the problem instantly.

What part of Texas are you from, Art?

I wouldn't have a problem with a few corrupt incompetent arseholes being wiped out if it means help can then go to the millions who need it.

[The Smoking Man]

I know what you mean.

It's just the only other time I have heard those words in that configuration was just a few years ago when each new generation of Americans came on to Shanghai-ed ranting on about 'sand-niggaz' in the Middle East.

They seemed to trail off as they realized they were full of shit though.

No doubt the only places fortified against missile attack will be the military locations in Yangon and if the Americans take it on, they'll blow up another market.

[The Smoking Man]

Relief groups ready to step up Myanmar aid

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 51 minutes ago

Myanmar's promise to open its doors to aid workers sparked hope Friday among relief agencies that they could soon bring food, shelter and medicine to more of the country's cyclone victims, but they cautiously awaited practical details.

U.N. and other agencies have been building up stocks for the operation to provide supplies to the estimated 2.5 million people made homeless or otherwise affected by the May 2-3 storm and subsequent flooding, officials said.

Neither the United Nations nor the international Red Cross, which have been taking a lead in the operations, could say how many staff would be sent in or how much the relief effort can be increased.

"Any move that enables more assistance to get out to people who are affected we would welcome, but we just don't know," said Matthew Cochrane, spokesman for the Geneva headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Agencies and countries have been flying in large amounts of supplies after initial reluctance from the government to allow planes to land, but many of the foreign aid workers have been restricted to Yangon, the country's largest city.

The Myanmar Red Cross and local employees of other agencies have handled much of the distribution, but supplies have only been brought to about 500,000 of the estimated 2.5 million in need, the U.N. says.

Bill Dowell, spokesman for CARE International, said U.N. and other agency representatives met in Geneva on Friday to discuss the assurances given to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during his meeting with Myanmar's Senior Gen. Than Shwe earlier in the day.

"One issue is getting into the country," Dowell said. "The next issue is getting out into the field where things are actually happening. We're taking it positively but with some caution to see how it actually works out in the long run."

World governments are also preparing to provide more aid funds. More than 45 countries and regional organizations have signed up to attend a donors conference in Yangon on Sunday for immediate humanitarian assistance, the United Nations said Friday.

U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said the conference will also start looking into medium- and long-term needs.

The United Nations has already launched an emergency appeal for $201 million, and has so far received about $50 million in contributions and about $42.5 million in pledges.

Many international workers have been prevented by lack of permission or transportation to move out into the Irrawaddy delta and other coastal areas hard-hit by the high winds, sea surge and flooding.

With much of the area still under water, there is a critical need for more boats, including inflatable craft, to distribute supplies to people cut off by water after the flooding and storm damage, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The U.N. has a large warehouse in Yangon and a fleet of 30 trucks, four barges and two boats, she said. Other storage facilities have been set up or are being finished in five other cities.

Byrs said the United Nations had been gradually increasing the number of international staff in Yangon to the current total of about 100.

The Red Cross federation so far has 28 international staff in the country, passing on supplies to the 27,000 volunteers of the national Red Cross who have the widest humanitarian distribution network in Myanmar, said spokesman Cochrane.

"They're getting out further and further," he said, but added, "We don't have a clear idea of the amount of people they reach. Communication with the delta is difficult. They're having to return to Yangon to report back to us, which slows us down."

So far, 146 relief flights have arrived in Yangon since the storm. They include 22 from the United Nations, 72 from individual countries, 38 from the international Red Cross and 14 from other organizations, officials said.

Contributions have also been flowing in, Byrs said. Some $110 million has been committed overall to relief operations and a similar amount pledged.

A new relief center has been set up for international operations in the delta township of Bogale, said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration.

He said the organization, U.N. and other agencies will use it to provide tents, plastic sheets and other shelter items to homeless survivors.

The IOM has already set up a medical center in Bogale, where its doctors are treating more than 100 cyclone victims every day, Chauzy said.

[The Smoking Man]

"No time to lose" after Myanmar cyclone deal
By Aung Hla Tun Reuters - 57 minutes ago

YANGON (Reuters) - Disaster relief officials said there was "no time to lose" to help Myanmar's cyclone survivors after the secretive military government promised the United Nations it would allow in more aid workers.

The junta, criticised by the West for failing to accept a full-blown aid operation following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis three weeks ago, went ahead on Saturday with a constitutional referendum in the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon.

The rice-growing Delta and the former capital were hit by the vicious storm in which nearly 134,000 people were left dead or missing. The plebiscite on the army-drafted constitution was held in the rest of the country on May 10 with a 92.4 percent approval after voters were repeatedly told by authorities to vote "Yes".

Voting started on Saturday in Yangon, the country's biggest city, but officials said many residents had voted in advance, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for five years.

Disease, hunger, lack of shelter and medical treatment threaten up to 2.5 million people in the delta, according to United Nations humanitarian aid officials.

"We have no more time to lose, so it's imperative that the Myanmar authorities immediately provide the international community with the practical details of the agreement," European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said.

Junta supremo Than Shwe gave an assurance to visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday to allow in aid experts "of all nationalities" after weeks of restrictions in the delta.

NAVY SHIPS REJECTED

But it rejected offers of U.S., French and British Navy ships delivering supplies, U.N. officials said.

They said the military vessels were "a very sensitive idea for them -- any suggestion they should dock", but that Than Shwe said Myanmar was open to receiving relief supplies and equipment from civil ships and small boats.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the refusal to let the navy ship Mistral enter Myanmar territorial waters.

"I profoundly regret this decision. Once again the junta has made the wrong choice," Sarkozy said during a visit to Angola.

The United States said it would not keep its ships waiting off the coast indefinitely for the generals' permission.

"We're going to continue to try to encourage them ... We're still hopeful," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

The reclusive junta has accepted relief flights into Yangon from many countries, including the United States, its fiercest critic. Supplies and medical teams from several Asian countries have also been allowed in, but many westerns working with humanitarian groups were denied visas or restricted to Yangon.

Ban's mission to meet Senior General Than Shwe in his isolated new capital of Naypyidaw, 250 miles (390 km) north of Yangon was seen as a breakthrough, but aid groups were waiting for details on how the agreement would work. The U.N. chief himself said he hoped that the deal "can produce results quickly. Implementation is the key."

State-run TV showed officials from donor groups and diplomats of the U.N. and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) touring delta towns on Friday in preparation for a pledging conference in Yangon on Sunday. Myanmar has said it needs more than $11 billion (5.5 billion pounds) in pledges.

Ban, who was going to China on Saturday to show support for victims of last week's earthquake that killed 55,000 people, would attend the joint U.N.-ASEAN conference in Myanmar, officials said. (Additional reporting by Brussels and Washington bureaux; Writing by Grant McCool; Editing by John Chalmers)

[Art]

So Myanmar are looking for $11 billion in pledges. Why? Are the victims going to eat money? I wouldn't give that corrupt evil dictatorship a cent. There are ships lying off their shore loaded with free aid which they refuse to accept.

I'd say the chances of even a cent of that $11 billion they are looking for being spent on relief work is less than zero. It will be invested in military hardware to tighten their grip on power.

Ban's so called breakthrough agreement is a joke. If the guy can't help he should piss off and let others take charge of the negotiations. The agreement he delivered was more about Myanmar buying more time in return for saving his face than any practical help for the people suffering.

[The Smoking Man]

And why would they?

They just spent billions building their new capital where the government resides and which even Ban Ki-moon was not allowed to enter (They probably think he's there to gather intel for an attack).

One good thing though ... they are so paranoid that they don't live near the population.

Nuke em with bunker busters and have no fear of bombing the market this time.

Amerikkka ... this one you can win and will have the support of the French and the rest of the world.

George, this is the one time you can regain the respect of all the world except Polly.

[The Smoking Man]

Sounds more like a ransom situation to me:

Aid workers await access as Myanmar seeks billions to rebuild

by Hla Hla HtaySat May 24, 7:51 PM ET

Myanmar's failure to grant foreign aid workers unfettered access to cyclone devastated areas threatened Sunday to overshadow a vital conference aimed at securing billions of dollars for reconstruction.

Disaster experts were still awaiting delivery on the Junta's promise to allow international helpers in to the Irrawaddy Delta, three weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had persuaded military leader Than Shwe to relent on accepting all foreign aid workers, but it was unclear when they would get in -- or how much they would be allowed to do once there.

With time running out for 2.4 million desperate survivors, disaster workers remain uncertain about when they will get full access to Myanmar, which wants the world to donate nearly 11 billion dollars to rebuild the country.

Some aid groups warned that the international community was unlikely to give the regime all the money it will request at Sunday's donor conference in the main city Yangon. There was also renewed international pressure on the junta to give way.

"We want to see full and unfettered access for the international aid workers," Douglas Alexander, Britain's secretary of state for international development, told AFP in Bangkok ahead of his attendance in Yangon.

"We want to see an increase in the number of flights," Alexander said, noting that any progress was cause for optimism for cyclone survivors but insisting that the regime must deliver on their promises.

He said the challenge would be to "make sure the regime hears a clear and unequivocal message that we want their word to be translated into actions."

Sunday's conference will be jointly chaired by the United Nations and regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Details of an ASEAN-led aid mission are due to be presented.

Myanmar's secretive leadership has kept all but a handful of foreigners out of the disaster zone, hampering relief efforts since the May 2-3 tragedy hit the country formerly known as Burma.

World frustration has been boiling over at the military, which has ruled the country with an iron fist for 46 years and long spurned the overtures of the international community.

For weeks the Junta insisted it could handle the relief effort alone, even though reporters who have reached the delta say many are still without government assistance and that the situation is grim.

Bodies of some of the estimated 133,000 people left dead or missing are rotting in canals. There is little food, rice paddies are in ruins, and there have been international warnings of a possible famine ahead.

But aid workers said Saturday there was no sign yet of changes on the ground regarding access, despite the fact that hunger and disease are stalking survivors.

"There are no clear guidelines so far," said one foreign relief worker in Yangon, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Myanmar has rejected aid from French and US naval ships loaded with relief supplies which are in nearby waters. The handful of foreign aid staff in the country are largely banned from the delta.

The regime has agreed to let the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, oversee the relief effort.

The details of that arrangement will be presented at Sunday's donor conference -- where Myanmar is expected to ask for 10.7 billion dollars in assistance.

UN Secretary General Ban has said he has confidence in the pledges received from Myanmar's military leader Than Shwe and his inner circle to let foreigners in.

"That is what I have agreed with Senior General Than Shwe," he said in neighbouring Thailand on Saturday, where he inaugurated a UN aid facility at an airport that will be a major transport point for relief flights into Myanmar.

"I'm sure that they'll keep their commitment," Ban said. He was to return to Yangon on Sunday for the donor meeting having spent most of Saturday visiting the epicentre of the earthquake that struck China on May 12.

ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said Sunday's conference would also look at the agreement on allowing in foreign aid workers.

[The Smoking Man]

Maybe it is time to stop negotiating with terrorists?

[The Smoking Man]

Aid donors turn up heat on Burma
International aid donors who have been meeting in Rangoon have put pressure on Burma to grant unhindered access to the areas devastated by Cyclone Nargis.

A top US official, Scot Marciel, said further US aid depended on Burma giving disaster experts access to the affected areas, where at least 78,000 have died.

This was "established practice readily accepted by other nations" responding to natural disasters, he added.

Burma's military government wanted some $11bn (£5.5bn) to fund relief work.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan, in Rangoon, says the conference has ended and officials are currently adding up how much money has been pledged.

American, French and British military ships full of aid are waiting just outside Burma's waters.

But, diplomats say, the Burmese government is concerned that these ships could somehow be used to launch an invasion.

Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein said on Sunday Rangoon would accept supplies from foreign warships off its coast, but only if they came in on civilian boats.

The conference came as Burma's pro-democracy opposition, the National League for Democracy, renewed calls for the release of its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her five-year house arrest is due to expire on Tuesday, according to official documents seen by the NLD, although the military rulers have previously extended the detention period a number of times.

'Saving lives'

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said he was encouraged that dozens of countries were represented at the conference.

He said Burma had begun honouring an agreement struck on Friday to allow in foreign aid workers.

But Mr Ban rejected Burma's insistence that relief work was already over.

"I ask all of us to keep our eye firmly on the immediate objective - saving lives," he said.

"I expect the relief effort will run for several months, probably six months at least, as we feed and care for those who have lost everything."

Three weeks on, many of the 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have not received help. More than 50,000 people are still missing, in addition to those confirmed dead.

Our correspondent says the donor governments have been reluctant to give aid funds until their experts have been able to go in and assess the damage for themselves.

Invasion fear

Forty-four countries signed up to attend the conference, jointly organised by the UN and the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

Douglas Alexander calls for action at the UN aid conference

While Burma will not get the $11bn it seeks pledged, the talks mark the beginning of a process, our correspondent says.

Mr Marciel, from the US State Department, said his country was ready to pledge millions more in aid, but that it was conditional on the Burmese allowing "international disaster assistance experts to conduct thorough assessments of the situation in the affected areas".

"These requests are not unusual, but rather established practice readily accepted by other nations around the world when they are confronted with a natural disaster of this magnitude," he added.

Britain's International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander, also took a tough line.

"The real test of the promises from the regime will come in the days ahead when the suffering people of the Irrawaddy Delta need action and not simply words from their government," he said.


On Saturday, Mr Ban opened a new logistics hub at Bangkok airport, in Thailand, to help speed up the delivery of outside aid to victims of the cyclone.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Bangkok says some aid has already accumulated in a cavernous warehouse in the city's old airport, which will be sorted so that the most urgent shipments can be prepared for loading. The UN has chartered three cargo planes to carry it into Burma.

The UN estimates that only a quarter of the 2.5 million Burmese affected by the cyclone have received the help they need.

But on Saturday Burmese state television ran a special programme celebrating the government's response to the disaster.

Meanwhile, the authorities decided to go ahead with polling for a controversial constitutional referendum, which had been postponed in those areas affected by the cyclone.

[The Smoking Man]

Come on. Somebody has to say it ... It's not even an anagram really: 'The Insane'

Donors pledging Myanmar cyclone aid

BY JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
36 minutes ago

Donor nations said they were ready to provide Myanmar with more than $100 million to help it recover from Cyclone Nargis, but warned the ruling junta Sunday they will not fully open their wallets until they are provided access to the hardest-hit areas.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking to The Associated Press after a one-day meeting of 51 donor nations, said he believed a turning point had been reached in getting Myanmar's isolationist junta to allow foreign aid workers unhindered entry into the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that this could be a turning point for Myanmar to be more flexible, more practical, and face the reality as it is on the ground," Ban told The AP.

But Myanmar's leaders — and potential donors — continued to take a guarded tone.

Myanmar's Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein said international aid "with no strings attached" was welcome. But he hedged on the sensitive issue of direct access, saying only civilian vessels could take part in the aid operation, and they would have to go through Yangon.

"Relief supplies can be transported by land, air or sea," he said. "But if relief supplies have to be transported by water, civilian vessels can come in through Yangon port."

That seemed to nix plans for U.S., British and French warships loaded with humanitarian supplies to join in the relief operation. The ships have been off Myanmar's coast for more than a week.

Myanmar's leaders have virtually barred foreign aid workers and international agencies from the delta because they fear a large influx of foreigners could lead to political interference in their internal affairs.

The junta is also hesitant to have its people see aid arriving directly from countries like the United States, which it has long treated as a hostile power seeking to invade or colonize the country.

Thein Sein, saying that 3,200 tons of humanitarian supplies have already been delivered from abroad, presented a long list of urgent needs, including temporary shelters, rice seeds, fertilizer and fishing boats.

Official estimates put the death toll about 78,000, with another 56,000 missing. Myanmar has estimated the economic damage at nearly $11 billion and the United Nations has launched an emergency appeal for $201 million.

At Sunday's meeting:

_The European Community, which has already pledged $72.5 million, offered another $26.8 million.

_China boosted its pledge to $11 million.

_Australia pledged $24 million.

_The Philippines doubled its previous pledge to $20 million.

_South Korea upped an earlier pledge for a total of $2.5 million.

Ban said the relief operation would last at least six months.

But skepticism hung over Sunday's conference.

"It is for a lack of information that not more has been given at this particular time," said George Yeo, who is Singapore's foreign minister and chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which co-hosted the meeting with the United Nations, adding, "the problem is one of establishing greater trust between Myanmar and the world community."

Washington's representative, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, said the United States was prepared to offer much more than the $20.5 million already donated, but not until international disaster experts were allowed to thoroughly assess affected areas.

Australia and European diplomats, including those from Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany, also offered conditional pledges.

"The reason we came is to support Ban Ki-moon," said Bert Koenders, the Dutch minister for development cooperation. "We're all very positive about what he has agreed with the government leader here, but also skeptical because you have to see the facts on the ground."

Myanmar's generals have a long history of making promises to top U.N. envoys, then breaking them when the international spotlight on their country fades.

The world body has repeatedly failed to convince the military to make democratic reforms and to release opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose five-year period of house arrest expires this week. Suu Kyi's house is just across a lake and visible from the hotel where the conference was held

Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, said Sunday there has been "no sign at all" that she would be released. He said a decision on whether to free her or continue her detention would probably come Monday.

Ban did not push the matter, but said he regretted not being able to argue her case.

"I feel also very much concerned and troubled by not being able to address completely this issue," Ban said.

An estimate released Saturday by the U.N. said of the total 2.4 million people affected by the storm, about 42 percent had received some kind of emergency assistance. But of the 2 million people living in the 15 worst-affected townships, only 23 percent had been reached.

"Only a few weeks remain until the rice planting season begins," Ban said. "A failure to deal with this problem today will immeasurably compound our problems tomorrow."

[The Smoking Man]

I am confused ... how does China get the ability to donate money to this cause when they just accepted it from other nations???

Somebody explain this to me.