Burma military regime lets first cyclone aid into country

BURMA'S isolationist military regime today gave the go-ahead for the first major airlift of international aid into the country several days after a devastating cyclone.

The country's state media said Cyclone Nargis on Saturday killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing, but a top US diplomat said yesterday more than 100,000 may have perished.

News of the relief effort came as it emerged 17 Britons in Burma have failed to make contact since the cyclone hit, according to the Foreign Office.

Four aircraft loaded with critically-needed food from the UN World Food Programme were set to land at Rangoon airport today for rapid delivery to the Irrawaddy delta, where the cyclone wreaked the greatest damage

The flights included 45 metric tons of high-energy biscuits. As the international relief began to trickle in, hungry people swarmed to the few open shops in the swamped delta and fights broke out over food and water.

Minutes of a UN aid meeting, meanwhile, revealed that the military junta's visa restrictions were hampering international relief efforts.

Only a handful of UN aid workers have been let into the country.