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A debate over whether to air-drop humanitarian aid into Myanmar without the junta's consent has intensified as almost all foreign relief workers continue to wait to be allowed entry into the isolated nation.
While the United Nations Security Council remains divided on a French call for aid to be forcibly delivered to Myanmar by invoking the principle of "responsibility to protect", UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon criticised Myanmar's military junta for what he called its "unacceptably slow response" to helping cyclone victims.
Last week, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested the Security Council could use the UN's mandate adopted in 2005 that nations have a "responsibility to protect" their own citizens to bypass Myanmar's military leaders and drop supplies by air.
The junta says it wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own.
In Britain, Gordon Brown's Government and the Opposition expressed sharply different views over the most effective way of overcoming the junta's resistance to the international aid effort.
Prime Minister Brown has called for "unfettered access to humanitarian agencies".
But British officials, speaking ahead of a Security Council meeting on the crisis, said the British Government opposed aid drops without the military's consent.
David Cameron, the Conservative leader, told the BBC that "if the situation hasn't radically improved by [today] then we need to consider the further steps of direct aid being dropped to help people".
But Oxfam, the British charity, said air drops were "hugely expensive, very limited in what they can deliver and are far from being smart aid bombs".
Jane Cocking, Oxfam's humanitarian director, said air drops of food and mosquito nets could not target the most vulnerable, while clean water systems and safe sanitation could not be dropped from the sky at all.
"The biggest risk is that aid air drops will be a distraction from what is really needed - a highly effective aid operation on the ground," Cocking said.
The British Ambassador to the UN, John Sawers, said the concept of "responsibility to protect" was adopted relating to "acts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity" and was therefore inappropriate for natural disasters.
Ban warned that the delay in getting aid to cyclone survivors could lead to a much greater crisis. "I want to register my deep concern - and immense frustration - at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis.
"Unless more aid gets into the country - very quickly - we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's crisis. I therefore call, in the most strenuous terms, on the government of Myanmar to put its people's lives first. It must do all that it can to prevent this disaster from becoming even more serious."
Three of the Security Council's five veto-wielding members - France, Britain and the United States - remain interested in possible action to require Myanmar's Government to open its doors to more aid.
"We'll be pushing the issue in the council," deputy US ambassador Alejandro Wolff said.
There is no agreement on proposed wording for a statement or resolution, but US officials say their aim is to craft language saying authorities in Myanmar must do everything possible to accept international help.
Western powers were taking a wait-and-see approach in their discussions, based on indicators such as how many US flights are allowed into Myanmar.
Wolff noted Myanmar gave the US permission to bring in two more C-130 flights with emergency supplies yesterday.
The first one flew into the country on Monday carrying water, blankets and mosquito nets.
Previous discussions last week to pressure Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to accept more aid were temporarily set aside after the nation began taking steps to let in a few flights and aid shipments.
Myanmar's UN ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, declined to discuss any proposal to put pressure on the junta but suggested it was unnecessary.
"We are doing everything we can," he said.
Last week he told a UN meeting, appealing for US$187 million ($243 million) in emergency aid for Myanmar, that his country was prepared to co-operate with the international community and accept help from all quarters, but that the aid "has to be orderly and systematic".
Nearly 32,000 people were killed by the cyclone and almost 30,000 others are still missing, Myanmar state television reported yesterday.
- INDEPENDENT, AP
Use the links below to donate to aid organisations helping in the relief effort Red Cross World Vision Salvation Army Oxfam Tear Fund
