By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - Western powers kept up the pressure onMyanmar's generals on Thursday to allow a massive aid effort asrelief workers struggled to help an estimated 2.5 millionpeople left destitute by Cyclone Nargis.
The European Union's top aid official has warned that themilitary government's restrictions on foreign aid workers andequipment were increasing the risk of starvation and disease inthe country formerly known as Burma.
Nearly two weeks after the deadly storm tore through theheavily populated Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, leaving up to127,990 people dead, supplies of food, medicine and temporaryshelter have been sent out in dribs and drabs to devastatedcommunities.
In Myanmar's main city, Yangon, foreign aid expertsprevented from accessing the delta play pool in the eveningsand watch, in frustration, television footage of the miserableconditions.
"People all over the world want to help Myanmar but thegovernment is blocking medical teams," said one relief worker.
The United Nations has ramped up its estimate of the numberof people in urgent need of aid to 2.5 million, roughly thepopulation of the U.S. state of Nevada, and has called for ahigh-level donors conference to deal with the crisis.
POLITICAL PRESSURE
Louis Michel, the European Union's top aid official, is inYangon for talks with the junta but his mission comes a dayafter Thailand's prime minister was told Myanmar could dealwith "the problem" by itself.
"We want to convince the authorities of our good faith. Weare there for humanitarian reasons," Michel earlier toldreporters.
He dismissed suggestions from some European countries thatthey should bring in aid without waiting for permission fromthe authorities.
But as the clock ticks and conditions in refugee sheltersdeteriorate the political pressure on Myanmar is likely togrow.
Britain's U.N. ambassador, John Sawers, has indicated thata high-level conference would be more than a donors' meeting,calling it a "major international meeting" in line with PrimeMinister Gordon Brown's calls for a U.N. summit on coordinatingaid efforts in Myanmar.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also proposedappointing a joint coordinator from the U.N and the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to oversee aid delivery andhas said he would soon send the U.N's humanitarian chief JohnHolmes to Myanmar.
The Secretary-General of ASEAN urged patience when dealingwith the generals.
"We are trying to work around a very, very strictresistance and mentality and mindset that have been there for along, long time," Surin Pitsuwan, a former Thai foreignminister, told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relationsin Washington.
JUST HELP
The former Burma was once the world's biggestrice-exporting country, but more than 40 years of military rulehave left it impoverished. The military rulers have repeatedlycrushed pro-democracy movements and tightly restrict visits byforeigners.
A senior U.S. military official in Washington said therewere signs aid was stacking up at Yangon airport and saidWashington wanted to fly choppers to the areas hit worst.
Officials said that despite reports some supplies werebeing stolen or diverted by the army, the humanitarian needswere so great that they would keep making deliveries -- whilecontinuing to urge that U.S. aid workers be granted visas.
As diplomatic efforts roll on, U.S. emergency aid flightswill continue and non-governmental organisations with localstaff continue to do what they can.
"I think at this moment we have to drop politics and justhelp," said Frank Smithius, head of Medecins Sans Frontieres.
"The army is definitely distributing food in certain areas,they're not doing nothing. But it's not enough. In some areasthere's enough food but not enough water and shelter. In otherareas we see that they have nothing."
(Writing by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by John Chalmers)
(For more stories on Myanmar cyclone follow the link toReuters AlertNet http://www.alertnet.org)
