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Myanmar Faces Storm Of Critics

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The Washington Post

Published: May 6, 2008

First lady Laura Bush condemned the military government in Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Monday for its "inept" response to a deadly weekend cyclone, marking an unusual foray by the president's spouse into a high-profile foreign policy crisis.

Appearing at a White House news conference, Laura Bush said the military junta in Myanmar is preventing the United States and other nations from providing help in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Nargis, and also alleged that the country's rulers purposely declined to warn people of the impending danger.

"Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path," she said. "The response to this cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta's failures to meet its people's basic needs."

Myanmar state television reported an official death toll of just under 4,000 Monday, but Foreign Minister Nyan Win told diplomats and United Nations representatives in a closed-door meeting that the final tally could exceed 10,000.

Late Monday, however, Myanmar's official media reported 10,000 were killed in one town alone.

Bush also called the Myanmar regime "very inept" and urged it to cancel plans for a referendum Saturday, which she said would "give false legitimacy to their continued rule."

The remarks underscore the first lady's emergence as the administration's most visible spokesperson on Myanmar.

White House and State Department officials said the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has authorized an emergency release of $250,000 for humanitarian aid, but further efforts have been stymied by the refusal of the military junta to allow outside access to the country.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said a disaster response team was "standing by and ready to go into Burma" but "the Burmese government has not given them permission to go into the country."

The European Union has pledged $3 million in aid for Myanmar. Bush said the United States was preparing to offer "substantial" assistance, but officials have not settled on an amount.

Residents of Yangon, the former capital of 6.5 million, said they were angry the government failed to adequately warn them of the approaching storm and has so far done little to alleviate their plight.

"The government misled people. They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared," said Thin Thin, a grocery store owner.

Some in Yangon complained the 400,000-strong military was only clearing streets where the ruling elite resided, while leaving residents, including Buddhist monks, to cope on their own against the huge tangles of uprooted trees.

"There are some army trucks out to clear the roads, but most of the work was done with a dah (knife) by the people. Some of these tree trunks are 4-feet thick," said Barry Broman, a retired U.S. State Department officer who was in Yangon when the cyclone struck. "Thousands of trees were uprooted. All the roads were blocked by the trees."

If the numbers are accurate, the death toll would be the highest from a natural disaster in southeast Asia since the tsunami of December 2004, which killed 229,866 people as it devastated coastlines in Indonesia, Thailand and other parts of southeast and south Asia. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless and without clean drinking water, said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The diplomats said they were told Myanmar welcomed international humanitarian aid, including urgently needed roofing materials, medicine, water purifying tablets and mosquito nets. The first 10-ton shipment was scheduled to arrive from Thailand today.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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