NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Despite Rebuff, U.S. Helicopters Stand by to Help Burma

By Jacquelyn S. Porth  

A U.S disaster assistance response team (DART) and heavy-lift helicopters are standing by in Thailand as part of an open-ended U.S. offer to assist humanitarian relief operations in Burma.

The offer of aid continues even though the U.S. Navy ordered its ships to sail away from Burma after an earlier offer to fly aid inland to people in need was rebuffed by the military government there. Burma declined that access because it remains wary of U.S. motives.

The ships attached to the USS Essex group, which were located off the coast of Burma, have resumed transit associated with other previously scheduled missions, but the United States has made clear that heavy-lift helicopters stationed in Thailand still could be called on to haul food, water and supplies into areas isolated by the devastating cyclone that struck in May. Most recent tallies report 130,000 dead or missing.

In announcing the redeployment of the ships and a Marine expeditionary unit June 4, the White House said these naval assets were sent to the region "in the spirit of goodwill to offer extensive and life-saving assistance" and that the Burmese authorities tragically refused that assistance.

The White House expressed the ongoing commitment of the United States to bring relief to cyclone victims and to work with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in doing so.

The United Nation estimates that around 54 percent of the Burmese people harmed by Cyclone Nargis probably have received some form of aid. The director of the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance said that means around 1 million Burmese have been without access to health care and adequate water, food and shelter for more than a month.

USAID's Ky Luu said the total U.S. contribution to relief operations for Burma had grown to $35 million. He told reporters in Washington June 5 that the supplies provided by USAID, including water purification units and Zodiac boats to ferry relief workers, are being channeled directly to nongovernmental organizations and U.N. partners. Their feedback, he said, indicates these supplies are of immediate benefit.

However, everyone is pushing for greater access, the USAID official said, "not just for our own DART team, but really for the international community." A DART adviser recently returned from a two-day assessment tour of the Irrawaddy Delta region, and officials are hoping for greater access for the rest of the team, which includes health experts and water-sanitation specialists. Luu said the team will remain in Bangkok, Thailand, as long as it serves "an intent purpose."

Additionally, a 200-member team of ASEAN technical experts will be carrying out thorough assessments, and Luu said: "We stand prepared and ready to be able to act and then support their findings." So far, USAID has provided ASEAN some disaster-management technical support and some initial administrative funding.

Efforts continue to persuade the Burmese authorities to lift restrictions that limit relief workers ability to move freely through the cyclone zone, Luu said, and to issue visas to additional, experienced workers who can help expand the operation. Planning is difficult, Luu said, without clear access and credible information.

Although the naval ships are leaving the immediate vicinity, U.S. Marine Lieutenant General John Goodman said, the United States remains ready to respond to any request from the Burmese government and the international community to distribute aid quickly.

Goodman, who is commander of Marine forces in the Pacific, said humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in this part of the world and elsewhere have shown that helicopters are the best way to ferry relief supplies into isolated areas such as the Irrawaddy Delta.

If asked, the Navy can deploy helicopters from Thailand and landing craft from the amphibious ships, he said, "to assist the world community in the distribution of relief supplies to relieve suffering."

The Burmese military has only seven helicopters flying supplies inland, whereas the U.S. military has 22 heavy-lift helicopters on standby.

U.S. HAS FLOWN 116 BURMESE RELIEF MISSIONS

The U.S. Air Force has flown more than 116 C-130 missions into Burma's capital with tons of relief supplies, including plastic sheeting and hygiene kits, but U.S. transport beyond the city limits has not been allowed despite personal overtures by the director of the USAID, Henrietta Fore, and the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Timothy Keating.

Keating said U.S. military and diplomatic officials made 15 attempts to persuade the Burmese government to let helicopters and landing craft deliver aid to remote sections of the country but were refused "each and every time."

Goodman told Reuters he did everything in his power to enlist the Burmese government to grant permission for helicopter access, including offering to fly along prescribed air corridors and inviting Burmese officers to accompany the air shipments.

The U.S. offer remains open and without any preconditions, Goodman said.

For more information, see American Giving ( http://fpolicy.america.gov/fpolicy/aid/index.html ).

Source: U.S. Department of State