BURMA:THE UNITED Nations is struggling to raise $200 million (€126.78 million) for short-term emergency relief for an estimated 2.5 million survivors of Burma's tropical cyclone Nargis, with many donors still deterred by the military junta's restrictions on foreign aid workers.
To date, the UN said, it had received only $46.5 million (€30m), or 23 per cent of what it has sought, for its emergency "flash appeal" to provide food, water, shelter, health kits, cooking sets, mosquito nets and other supplies to those who lost everything. Another $42.5 million has been promised to the UN relief effort, but such pledges are not binding.
In total, about $100 million has been given to cyclone relief in Burma so far, including cash and supplies given directly to the Burmese military by Asian countries, and global contributions to the International Federation of the Red Cross. Yet the pace of fundraising is far short of the outpouring that followed the 2004 Asian tsunami.
European Union MEPs said yesterday the world should force aid on Burma, accusing the junta of crimes against humanity for being reluctant to allow aid in. The European Parliament will vote today on a resolution urging the UN Security Council to consider whether such aid shipments were possible.
"The Burmese authorities are responsible for a crime against humanity," said Polish MEP Urszula Gacek . "We cannot sit by passively and allow them to continue on this crime," she said during a debate in the EU assembly.
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, is to arrive in Burma today to try to persuade army chief Than Shwe to ease restrictions on foreign aid workers and other hindrances to the relief effort. He said in Bangkok last night rudimentary aid had reached only a quarter of the survivors of the cyclone.
- (Financial Times/Reuters)