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YANGON - The UN's World Food Programme said Friday it was suspending aid flights into cyclone-hit Myanmar because of "unacceptable" restrictions imposed by the country's military rulers.
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"Yes, WFP is suspending the flights," its Myanmar country director Chris Kaye told AFP. "The restrictions on us are unacceptable."
"Two flights landed this morning with food, which has not been taken out yet," he said, without specifying why the supplies had not been unloaded.
"We have made a request to the Social Welfare Ministry," Kaye said. "We have to find a way to resolve the problem as soon as possible."
Myanmar has maintained strict limits on foreign involvement in the relief effort after Saturday's devastating cyclone, despite calls for it to allow unfettered access to experts whose skills are vital for an effective response.
The government said earlier Friday that it was not ready to let in foreign aid workers, and although it needed supplies for the survivors of the cyclone, it would handle the distribution itself.
The United Nations warned that the cyclone death toll -- currently nearly 23,000 by the official count -- will rise dramatically unless Myanmar's military rulers let foreign disaster workers in.
"If we don't get this relief effort up to full scale quickly, there's significant risk of a second round of this disaster which could potentially kill as many people as the initial cyclone," said Richard Horsey from the UN's emergency relief arm.
"We need a major escalation of the relief effort, not just visas for a few key staff. That means boats, helicopters," he said. "That's what they have to open up to." - AFP/ir
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