Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Financial Times
May 17, 2008 By Demetri Sevastopulo and Amy Kazmin
Burma has failed to respond to a series of increasingly creative offers from the Pentagon to let the US military deliver aid to the country, it emerged on Friday, as the official death toll from the cyclone of a fortnight ago rose sharply to 78,000.
Admiral Timothy Keating, the head of US Pacific Command who travelled to Burma this week, told the Financial Times he had made several suggestions to the junta during his visit, including allowing Burmese military officers on to US navy ships and aircraft, but he was “disappointed” at not receiving any response.
“I cannot imagine saying no to anything . . . we are not so picky,” said Admiral Keating. “We and the other agencies and countries are leaning as far forward as we know how.”
While the junta has allowed in some international aid, including relief from the US, it has refused to allow large teams of foreign relief workers.
The official death toll on Friday jumped to 78,000, up from a previous figure of 43,000, according to state media. However, relief experts estimate the real death toll is much higher.
Speaking from his Hawaii headquarters, Adm Keating said allowing Burmese military officers to ride aboard US navy ships, C-130 transport aircraft, and helicopters should ease their concerns that the US would use relief operations as a pretext for an invasion.
One senior US official said the Burmese generals appeared to have a genuine but “unreasonable” fear that the US would use relief operations to launch military action.
US navy ships that were in the Gulf of Thailand for military exercises have sailed toward Burma, carrying medical relief, transport helicopters, and amphibious landing craft that can be used in the shallow waters of the Irrawaddy delta. Adm Keating said the helicopters would be especially useful for transporting aid from Rangoon to the affected areas.
Adm Keating said the US was open to other creative ways to deliver aid, including having other countries’ militaries act as intermediaries. The US official said one idea would be to work with the Indian military.
Although Burma has been under military rule since 1962, Washington previously had friendly ties with the long-time dictator, the late Gen Ne Win, a staunch anti-communist. Relations deteriorated sharply in 1988, however, after the army brutally suppressed a massive pro-democracy uprising, and then in 1990 ignored the results of a 1990 election won by the opposition led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Adm Keating said the US had stressed to the junta that receiving international aid should not be viewed as a sign of weakness, by pointing to the willingness of China to receive outside help for its earthquake relief efforts.
Separately on Friday the US announced it would resume providing food aid to North Korea, which is facing a humanitarian food crisis.
May 17, 2008 By Demetri Sevastopulo and Amy Kazmin
Burma has failed to respond to a series of increasingly creative offers from the Pentagon to let the US military deliver aid to the country, it emerged on Friday, as the official death toll from the cyclone of a fortnight ago rose sharply to 78,000.
Admiral Timothy Keating, the head of US Pacific Command who travelled to Burma this week, told the Financial Times he had made several suggestions to the junta during his visit, including allowing Burmese military officers on to US navy ships and aircraft, but he was “disappointed” at not receiving any response.
“I cannot imagine saying no to anything . . . we are not so picky,” said Admiral Keating. “We and the other agencies and countries are leaning as far forward as we know how.”
While the junta has allowed in some international aid, including relief from the US, it has refused to allow large teams of foreign relief workers.
The official death toll on Friday jumped to 78,000, up from a previous figure of 43,000, according to state media. However, relief experts estimate the real death toll is much higher.
Speaking from his Hawaii headquarters, Adm Keating said allowing Burmese military officers to ride aboard US navy ships, C-130 transport aircraft, and helicopters should ease their concerns that the US would use relief operations as a pretext for an invasion.
One senior US official said the Burmese generals appeared to have a genuine but “unreasonable” fear that the US would use relief operations to launch military action.
US navy ships that were in the Gulf of Thailand for military exercises have sailed toward Burma, carrying medical relief, transport helicopters, and amphibious landing craft that can be used in the shallow waters of the Irrawaddy delta. Adm Keating said the helicopters would be especially useful for transporting aid from Rangoon to the affected areas.
Adm Keating said the US was open to other creative ways to deliver aid, including having other countries’ militaries act as intermediaries. The US official said one idea would be to work with the Indian military.
Although Burma has been under military rule since 1962, Washington previously had friendly ties with the long-time dictator, the late Gen Ne Win, a staunch anti-communist. Relations deteriorated sharply in 1988, however, after the army brutally suppressed a massive pro-democracy uprising, and then in 1990 ignored the results of a 1990 election won by the opposition led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Adm Keating said the US had stressed to the junta that receiving international aid should not be viewed as a sign of weakness, by pointing to the willingness of China to receive outside help for its earthquake relief efforts.
Separately on Friday the US announced it would resume providing food aid to North Korea, which is facing a humanitarian food crisis.