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US Disaster team waits for Myanmar’s response to provide assistance
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May 05, 2008, 18:15
Myanmar, which is under heavy US sanctions, has so far refused an offer of help from a US disaster response team after a cyclone killed thousands of people at the weekend, the State Department said today.
The US Embassy in Myanmar issued a disaster declaration authorizing the immediate release of $250,000 in assistance after the cyclone hit the impoverished country, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
"We also have a disaster assistance response team that is standing by and ready to go in to Burma to help try to assess need there," Casey said, using the former name for the country, which has been ruled by the military for 46 years.
"At this moment as I understand it the Burmese government has not given them permission to go into the country. ... My understanding was they had asked for permission but the initial response from the government was that they weren't inclined to let them in," Casey told reporters.
The Myanmar authorities did, however, give the U.N. World Food Programme permission to send in emergency supplies through United Nations agencies to help the hundreds of thousands of victims, the WFP spokesman in Bangkok said.
This was a rare concession from the Junta, which rejected such offers after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Death toll
The Myanmar government had a provisional death toll of 10,000 from the cyclone, with 3,000 others missing, a diplomat said after a briefing from Foreign Minister Nyan Win.
At the White House, spokesman Scott Stanzel said the US government was concerned about the reports and mourned the loss of life.
Stanzel said the money released by the US Embassy would go through the World Food Program and other aid entities.
"The US Embassy is in touch with Burmese authorities ... It doesn't necessarily go directly to the government. But we're in the process of assessing what more we can do," he said,
Myanmar has been shunned by Western governments for its repression of pro-democracy activists and Washington imposed more sanctions after a violent crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks last September.
Last week, US President George W. Bush said a vote on a new constitution in Myanmar this month would not be "free, fair or credible" and imposed new sanctions on state-owned companies to put pressure on the junta to end human rights abuses and make political changes.
Casey said the American Embassy was moving to authorize US diplomats and families to leave the country temporarily if necessary. - Reuters
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