May

13

Myanmar Junta Pressed by UN,India, U.S. to Take Aid

Filed Under World News | Posted By Jennifer Sullivan |

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12myanmarxlarge2.jpgThe United Nations, U.S. and India told Myanmar’s military rulers to allow international aid to reach the country, where more than 1.5 million people need help after Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck 10 days ago.

As many as 100,000 people may have died in the disaster, according to UN officials. The death toll reached 33,416 people with 29,770 missing, Myanmar’s state radio announced late yesterday, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

The junta must “put its people’s lives first,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday in New York. The delay is “another reason why the world ought to be angry and condemn the government,” President George W. Bush said in an interview with CBS Radio.

India, which shares a 1,460-kilometer (907-mile) border with Myanmar, called on the junta to accept more aid when Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke by telephone with his counterpart Nyan Win.

Mukherjee pledged more assistance from India and “also urged Myanmar to accept international relief supplies to supplement their efforts,” India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said the junta has approved only 34 of more than 100 visa applications by relief workers.



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