France's UN ambassador has warned Burma's junta is on the verge of a "crime against humanity", as its toll of dead and missing rose to more than 133,000, making Cyclone Nargis one of the most devastating ever to hit Asia.
French envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert dismissed claims by his Burma counterpart Paris was sending a warship to sit off the coast. He said the ship, Le Mistral, was operated by the French navy but was not a warship. It is carrying 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine as well as small boats, helicopters and field hospital platforms.
However, the French Defence Ministry said today it is in talks with the Burmese military government about a possibly delivery of aid to victims of the country's cyclone. It said the ship had supplies to feed 100,000 people over a 15-day period and shelter at least 60,000 people. "The details on how this aid will be delivered have not yet been finalised," the defence ministry said in a statement.
Three US Navy vessels are also hovering off the coast ready to go in with relief supplies, but the Pentagon insists it will not do so until it gets the go-ahead from the Burma authorities
In a rare sign of agreement with international aid agencies, the junta last night sharply raised its toll from the May 2nd disaster to 77,738 dead and another 55,917 missing. The news came on state TV, which aside from offering updated casualty figures has mainly shown footage of generals handing out food at the model tented villages.
Disaster experts have warned that the death toll could rise dramatically, and British officials say the actual toll may already be more than 200,000.
An estimated 2.5 million people are clinging to survival in the delta, but the military government is refusing to admit large-scale outside relief.
The generals have been admitting a steady stream of aid flights to Yangon, including around four a day from the US military.
However, aid agencies say only a fraction of the required relief is getting through to the inundated part of the delta - a stretch of land the size of Austria - and unless the situation improves, thousands more lives are at risk.
With international concern and frustration mounting, a parade of envoys has been flying in to try to coax the generals out of their deep distrust of the outside world. The latest is the UN's top humanitarian official, John Holmes, expected to arrive in Yangon tomorrow and meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, the fourth-highest ranking junta member.
Holmes will be carrying a third letter from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to junta supremo Than Shwe, who has repeatedly ignored Ban's requests for a conversation, a spokeswoman said.
Cases of cholera, endemic to the region, have been found although the outbreaks are no more than would normally be seen at this time of year, health officials said.
With heavy tropical downpours continuing to hamper the aid effort today, the generals took Yangon-based diplomats into the delta to see the army's relief operations, although it was expected to be a stage-managed and highly sanitised trip.
One envoy who went on a similar tour of a storm-hit district of Yangon, the former capital, described the neat rows of tents on display as "happy camps".
In the delta, the junta will have to work harder to keep the diplomats away from the destitute. Near the town of Kunyangon this week, columns of men, women and children stretched for miles alongside the road, begging in the mud and rain for scraps of food or clothing from the occasional passing aid vehicle.
"The situation has worsened in just two days," one aid volunteer said as children mobbed his vehicle, their grimy hands reaching through the window for something to eat.
Many storm refugees are crammed into monasteries and schools and are being fed and watered by local volunteers and private donors who have taken matters into their own hands, sending in trucks laden with clothes, biscuits, dried noodles and rice.
Reuters