By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - Torrential tropical downpours lashedMyanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Friday, deepening the misery of anestimated 2.5 million destitute survivors of Cyclone Nargis andfurther hampering the military government's aid efforts.
Despite the latest storm, which is likely to turn alreadydamaged roads to mud in the swamp-covered region, the formerBurma's ruling generals insist their relief operations arerunning smoothly.
However, they issued an edict in state-run newspapers onFriday saying legal action would be taken against anybody foundhoarding or selling relief supplies, amid rumours of localmilitary units expropriating trucks of food, blankets andwater.
If emergency supplies do not get through in much greaterquantities, foreign governments and aid groups say starvationand disease are very real threats.
The European Union's top aid official met ministers inYangon on Thursday and urged them to admit foreign aid workersand essential equipment to prevent the death toll, which theRed Cross says could be as high as 128,000, from going anyhigher.
The trip, like so many others before it, yielded noresults.
"Relations between Myanmar and the international communityare difficult," Louis Michel told Reuters. "But that is not myproblem. The time is not for political discussion. It's time todeliver aid to save lives."
FOREIGN ACCESS LIMITED
Earlier, the reclusive generals, the latest face of 46years of unbroken military rule, signalled they would not budgeon their position of limiting foreign access to the delta,fearful that it might loosen their vice-like grip on power.
"We have already finished our first phase of emergencyrelief. We are going onto the second phase, the rebuildingstage," state television quoted Prime Minister Thein Sein astelling his Thai counterpart this week.
Underlining where its main attentions lie, the juntaannounced an overwhelming vote in favour of an army-backedconstitution in a referendum held on Saturday despite calls fora delay in the light of the disaster.
Two weeks after the storm tore through the heavilypopulated Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, supplies of food, medicineand temporary shelter have been sent in dribs and drabs todevastated communities.
In the delta town of Bogalay, where around 10,000 peopleare thought to have died, people complained of forced labourand low supplies of food at state-run refugee centres.
"They have to break stones at the construction sites. Theyare paid K1,000 (50 pence) per day but are not provided anyfood," said Ko Hla Min, who lost nine family members in thestorm.
Along the river in Bogalay rotting corpses remain tangledin the scrub. Villagers fish, wash and bathe in the same river.
MORE U.N. PRESSURE
The United Nations, which says more than half a millionpeople may now be sheltering in temporary settlements, hasraised its estimate of the number of people in urgent need ofaid to 2.5 million.
It has also called for a high-level donors' conference todeal with the crisis.
Myanmar state television raised its official death toll onThursday to 43,328, while leaving the injured and missingfigures unchanged at 1,403 and 27,838 respectively. Independentexperts say the figures are probably far higher.
The United States and other countries continued to fly aidinto Yangon on Thursday despite unconfirmed reports somesupplies were being diverted by the army.
The United States has completed 13 flights with water, foodand other supplies. The U.S. military plans more flights forFriday but has not received clearance from Myanmar yet.
"To the best of our ability, to date, we have not seen anyU.S. assistance that has been diverted," Pentagon spokesmanBryan Whitman said.
France and Britain, Myanmar's former colonial master, saidthey were also sending emergency supplies.
Despite calls to postpone its constitutional referendum,the junta went ahead on May 10 in areas not hit by the cyclone.
According to official results, turnout was above 99 percentand more than 92 percent approval of the charter, which givesthe army a quarter of all seats in parliament, control of keyministries and the right to suspend the constitution at will.
The charter is a key step in the junta's "roadmap todemocracy", but critics dismiss it as an attempt to legitimisethe generals' grip on power.
"This referendum was full of cheating and fraud across thecountry," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the oppositionNational League for Democracy.
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Alex Richardson)
(For more stories on Myanmar cyclone follow the link toReuters AlertNet http://www.alertnet.org )