The nightmare of Burma

The news filtering through from Burma becomes increasingly more horrifying. The death toll from last week's cyclone is estimated at 100,000 with thousands more homeless and hungry. It would not surprise me, given that representatives of World Vision who were in the Irrawaddy Delta said that thee region affected housed nearly 2 million people, if that toll did not rise even higher.



Compounding the problem alarmingly, we have one of the world's most secretive military regimes anxious, even given the scale of this disaster, not to lose face and to prove they are still in control. The regime is paranoid about foreign aid workers being allowed in for they are frightened of their own security, terrified that the situation could be forced out of their own control.

Now, added to the cyclone damage, there is fear of disease on a massive scale if the necessary food and medicines do not get through. The Burmese junta has said they are prepared to accept the aid but not the aid workers to help disperse it efficiently.

This is unacceptable. It is quite clear that the Burmese government does not have the resources to cope with a tragedy on this scale and that thousands more will die unless they can be compelled to change their policy.

A lot of pressure is being put on them by the United Nations and by western governments to accept foreign help, but I suspect this will only make the regime more stubborn, more intransigent.

It has been suggested at aid be flown in and dropped at key sites without the permission of the Burmese government. Although, on the surface, this is an attractive proposition it fraught with danger and the likelihood of failure. It could provoke a military confrontation and that's the last thing needed in this situation.

It is frustrating to watch a nation suffering in this way , more than they need to do, because of the ridiculous posturing of its government. But I don't see an easy way round this and, it seems to me, the best approach is to work with Burma's greatest ally, China, in persuading the Burmese Government to open its borders to foreign help. It needs to happen soon or what is already a major disaster will assume cataclysmic proportions.