Myanmar death toll soars

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta took diplomats on a tourof the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy delta on Saturday as its toll ofdead and missing soared above 133,000 people, making CycloneNargis one of the most devastating ever to hit Asia.

In the last 50 years, only two Asian cyclones have exceededNargis in terms of human cost -- a 1970 storm that killed500,000 people in neighbouring Bangladesh, and another thatkilled 143,000 in 1991, also in Bangladesh.

However, with an estimated 2.5 million people clinging tosurvival in the delta, and the military government refusing toadmit large-scale outside relief, disaster experts say Nargis'body count could yet rise dramatically.

Cases of cholera, endemic to much of the former Burma, havebeen found although the number of outbreaks are no more thanwould normally be seen at this time of year, health officialssaid.

Meanwhile, the military, which has ruled unchecked for thelast 46 years, continues to insist it is capable of handlingaid distribution, seemingly out of fear that an influx offoreigners might loosen its vice-like grip on power.

With heavy tropical downpours also hampering the aideffort, the generals took Yangon-based diplomats into the deltato see the army's relief operations, although it was expectedto be a stage-managed and highly sanitised trip.

One envoy who went on a similar tour of a storm-hitdistrict of Yangon, the former capital, described the neat rowsof tents on display as "happy camps".

In the delta, the junta will have to work much harder tokeep the diplomats away from the destitute.

Near the town of Kunyangon, columns of men, women andchildren stretched for miles alongside the road, begging in themud and rain for scraps of food or clothing from the occasionalpassing aid vehicle.

"The situation has worsened in just two days," one aidvolunteer said as children mobbed his vehicle, their grimyhands reaching through the window for something to eat.

Many storm refugees are crammed into monasteries andschools and are being fed and watered by local volunteers andprivate donors who have taken matters into their own hands,sending in trucks laden with clothes, biscuits, dried noodlesand rice.

DEATH TOLL SOARS

In a rare sign of agreement with international aidagencies, the junta sharply raised its toll from the May 2disaster on Friday night to 77,738 dead and another 55,917missing.

It has also been admitting a steady stream of aid flightsto Yangon, including around four a day from the U.S. military,the generals' arch enemy.

However, aid agencies say only a fraction of the requiredrelief is getting through to the inundated part of the delta --a stretch of land the size of Austria -- and unless thesituation improves, thousands more lives are at risk.

Given the junta's ban on foreign journalists andrestrictions on the movement of most international aid workers,independent assessment of the situation is difficult.

With international concern and frustration mounting, astream of envoys are flying in to try to coax the generals outof their deep distrust of the outside world.

The latest is the United Nations' top humanitarianofficial, John Holmes, who is expected to arrive in Yangon onSunday and meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, the fourth-highestranking member of the junta.

The European Union's top humanitarian officer, LouisMichel, left empty-handed on Friday night but continued to urgethe generals to shelve their pride and paranoia.

"Time is life," he told reporters at Bangkok airport. "Nogovernment in the world can tackle such a problem alone. Thisis a major catastrophe."

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY?

Holmes will be carrying a third letter from U.N. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon to junta supremo Than Shwe, who hasrepeatedly ignored Ban's requests for a conversation, aspokeswoman said.

Ban is not the only one loosing patience.

France's U.N. ambassador said the junta was on the verge ofa "crime against humanity", and dismissed claims by his Myanmarcounterpart that Paris was sending a warship to sit off thecoast.

French envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert said the ship, Le Mistral,was operated by the French navy but was not a warship. It iscarrying 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine as well as smallboats, helicopters and field hospital platforms.

"We are still trying to convince the authority of Burma toauthorize us to go there," Ripert said. "The ship will be offthe coast of the delta, but in international waters, tomorrow.We still hope they will not refuse that."

Three U.S. Navy vessels are already hovering off the coastready to go in with relief supplies, but the Pentagon insistsit will not do so until it gets the go-ahead from the Myanmarauthorities.

(Writing by Ed Cropley; editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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