Below The Beltway

I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that the aftermath of the Burmese cyclone is nothing short of a catastrophe on a part with the Indonesian Tsumani, and, thanks largely to a government that clearly doesn’t care about it’s citizens, it looks to be only getting worse.

For one thing, the military junta that controls Burma is refusing to allow foreign aid workers into the country:

BANGKOK — Myanmar is willing to receive disaster relief from the outside world but not relief workers, the country’s military government said Friday, as supplies into the country were still being delayed nearly one week after a devastating cyclone and aid experts were being turned back as they arrived. In a statement, Myanmar’s military junta said it would distribute international relief supplies itself.

Myanmar said it had turned back one relief flight because, in addition to disaster relief supplies, it carried disaster assessment experts and an unauthorized media group.

“Myanmar is not in a position to receive rescue and information teams from foreign countries at the moment,” the statement, from the Foreign Ministry, said. “But at present Myanmar is giving priority to receiving relief aid and distributing them to the storm-hit regions with its own resources.”

Of course, without outsiders on the ground, it’s unclear if the aid is even actually getting to the people who need it, as this story makes clear:

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) — Authorities in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar have seized United Nations aid intended for victims of the disaster, a move that “shuts down” future flights from the organization, according to a U.N. World Food Program official.

The organization, which insists on distributing its own relief supplies, said the seizure of two aircraft-loads of food, medcine and equipment, has already hit out at Myanmar’s refusal to all access to foreign aid workers.

“This is another example of them actively getting in the way of relief getting to the victims,” said Tony Banbury, Asia director of the World Food Program.

Asked whether the move would jeopardize future U.N. aid flights, he said, “absolutely, from our perspective, it shuts them down.”

And, as if to confirm that statement, the UN has announced that aid flights into Burma are suspended:

The United Nations has halted aid flights to Burma after the country’s military rulers impounded food supplies intended for victims of Cyclone Nargis.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had “no choice” but to stop its relief flights, with 38 metric tonnes of high-energy biscuits stuck at Rangoon airport.

“We’re going to have to shut down our very small airlift operation until we get guarantees from the authorities,” WFP regional director Tony Banbury told CNN.

“It should be on trucks headed to the victims. You’ve seen the conditions they are in. That food is now sitting on a tarmac doing no good.”

The death toll from the cyclone has already been bad enough, how many more people will die because the people who claim to rule Burma refuse to help them ?