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WASHINGTON: The United States said on Thursday it was mulling dropping food and aid into cyclone-ravaged parts of Myanmar and did not rule out doing so without approval from the country's military rulers.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the crisis with her Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, urging Beijing to use its sway with Myanmar's authorities to convince them to open up to international aid.
Fast Facts
That would "really open up the spigot of international assistance to help with what is quite clearly a humanitarian disaster," said Rice's chief spokesman, Sean McCormack.
Facing the junta's refusal to grant US disaster relief teams access to some of the most hard-hit areas, Washington has been looking at other ways to get food, clean water, and shelter to victims of killer tropical cyclone Nargis.
"If we were given permission to go in, we would do so. If, let's say, we were only given permission to be able to drop food, again that is something we would do," said Ky Luu, director of the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.
"Anything that might have a positive impact is being looked at and is being discussed," Luu told reporters at the US State Department. "Everything within the law is considered at this point."
His comments came after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested the international community should force Myanmar's secretive authorities, who are under heavy US sanctions, to accept outside help.
Luu repeatedly refused to say whether an airlift over Myanmar's objections would be legal or illegal.
"But in terms of planning for it and what it might look like and what the resources would be required and how we might be able to plan for it in-country, as I said, any and all options are being planned," he said.
Luu noted that the French were considering the option, and said a similar approach was taken to help the then-breakaway province of Kosovo during the conflict with Serbia in the 1990s.
But an airlift "is not the most efficient manner in terms of providing relief assistance. And, in the end, it may create more harm than anything else," said Luu.
"So our point is that, yes, we're looking at it, but the immediate needs are for open access" for relief workers, said Luu.
At the State Department, McCormack played down the chances that Rice would reach out directly to the junta, but said: "I mean, look, frankly, if we thought that would help, I assume that we would consider doing it."
The White House, meanwhile, continued its public campaign to convince the junta - which is under heavy US sanctions - to open up, as the death toll six days after the storm neared 100,000 with more than one million homeless.
"We want to get aid into Burma as quickly as possible," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe, referring to the country by its previous name, as he added Washington was lobbying for the entry of "all sorts of international aid," not just supplies from the United States.
"We are involved in negotiations with the Burmese government, as are many governments and aid organisations from all over the world," Johndroe said.
The military government in Myanmar has limited foreign aid, but Johndroe said Washington was "trying to make arrangements so that our assistance and these other countries' and aid organisations' assistance can get into Burma" where survivors of the calamity are fighting to stave off disease and hunger.
The United States has offered 3.25 million dollars in aid. An official with the US Agency for International Development said some US supplies have already been sent to Myanmar through the United Nations.
At the United Nations, humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Thursday that he was "disappointed" with Myanmar's refusal to allow in more foreign relief workers and supplies.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hopes to talk junta leader Than Shwe into granting such access, and "we need to continue to urge the government to cooperate," he added.
Washington also said that it was prepared to send four US Navy ships, laden with emergency relief supplies like blankets and water purification tablets, to Myanmar. The vessels were off Thailand's coast in a disaster-response exercise. - AFP/de
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