THE number of people "severely affected" by the Burma cyclone was put by the United Nations at up to 2.5 million yesterday, as the country's junta continued to limit foreign aid
John Holmes, the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, said all those people urgently needed aid, while the European Union's top aid official warned that the military government's restrictions were increasing the risk of starvation and disease.
But Sa
mak Sundaravej, the Thai prime minister, who urged the junta to ease visa rules for relief workers during a two-hour meeting in Rangoon, said he was told that Burma could "tackle the problem by themselves".
In New York, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, who has expressed frustration over the response by Burma's reclusive leaders, called a meeting of key donor states and Asian powers to discuss "what kind of concrete measures we can do from now on".
He said: "Even though the Burmese government has shown some sense of flexibility, at this time it is far, far too short. The magnitude of this situation requires much more mobilisation of resources and aid workers."
Nearly two weeks after the cyclone swept through the Irrawaddy delta, killing tens of thousands of people, foreign aid still amounts to little more than a trickle.
Mr Samak told reporters in Bangkok that Burma's leaders had insisted that teams of foreign experts, who have been refused entry, were not needed.
"They are confident of dealing with the problem by themselves. There are no outbreaks of diseases, no starvation, no famine. They don't need experts, but are willing to get aid supplies from every country," he said.
Louis Michel, the top EU aid official, disagreed. He said: "There is a risk of water pollution. There is a risk of starvation because the stores of rice have been destroyed," he said in Bangkok, before flying to Rangoon to seek better access for international aid workers and relief efforts. "We want to convince the authorities of our good faith. We are there for humanitarian reasons."
In Burma, a group of Christian doctors has been treating children in churches, operating below the government's radar. "We have to try to do something," said one Asian doctor, giving out diarrhoea medicine to children in a wooden church north of Rangoon.
Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme, said: "A critical issue now is access. WFP has managed to reach more than 28,000 people with food aid so far, with 14 international and 214 national staff in-country."
Asked if the UN might have to consider air drops to get food and other aid to the cyclone victims, Mr Holmes said it was not an ideal form of distributing aid, but might become an option. If barriers to aid workers were not lifted "one might have to look at it".
Burma state television yesterday raised its official toll to 38,491 dead, 1,403 injured and 27,838 missing.
