Good News?
Jonathan Head, South East Asia correspondent, BBC News wonders – Will Burma keep its word on aid?
For nearly three weeks the Burmese government has insisted that, while it will take relief supplies from overseas, foreign personnel are not welcome.
Hundreds of disaster experts have been left stranded outside the country, waiting for visas, and most of those foreigners already inside have been confined to Rangoon – military checkpoints preventing them from reaching the stricken Irrawaddy Delta.
So the offer by senior General Than Shwe to UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon to allow in “all foreign aid workers, regardless of nationality”, appears to be a breakthrough.
My guess is that this is the standard stall by the junta, something they have done many times before. When it comes time for people to get to work, they will find out that they are so restricted by the military that accomplishing anything significant is impossible. The Burmese military fails to understand the giant boost the Chinese government received internationally and domestically with its reaction to the earthquake.
