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U.S. Navy Ships Leave Myanmar’s Coast after Government Refuses Aid

NO MILITARY: After trying 15 times to help with cyclone relief efforts and being turned away by Myanmar's leaders, U.S. Navy ships headed home yesterday. Myanmar's government-run media had warned citizens that the American military planned to invade the country for its oil.

by Thea Deley
Informify Staff Writer
June 5, 2008

U.S. military ships anchored off the coast of Myanmar carried 22 heavy transport helicopters that could have delivered aid to remote villages or rescued cyclone survivors trapped in flooded delta regions. After a month of waiting to be allowed into the country, Pacific Commander Admiral Timothy Keating ordered the ships to leave Myanmar's coast.
Cyclone Nargis: Quick Facts
Storm Hit: May 2, 2008
# Dead: 78,000
# Missing: 56,000
# People Needing Food/Shelter/Medical Care:
2.4 million
# People Receiving Aid:
1.3 million
Damage Estimates: $10 billion
Aid Needed:
food, water, shelter, medicine, medical attention, evacuation from flooded areas
Myanmar Regime Turns Back Foreign Military Assistance

Much of the Irrawaddy Delta—one of the hardest hit areas—remains inaccessible to vehicles. The only way to deliver aid to hard-to-reach villages would be by helicopter.

Generals running Myanmar's government refused help from foreign military helicopters, however, even those from its Asian neighbors and fellow ASEAN members Thailand and Singapore.

Aid agencies needed to find privately owned helicopters instead. The UN chartered 10 commercial helicopters. They cost more, though, and getting them to the region delays aid to people who have already waited a month for help.

The private choppers also don't have the same heavy-lift capabilities military choppers do. Myanmar has only seven of its own heavy-lift helicopters.
American, French and British Military Ships Leave Myanmar

When Cyclone Nargis hit last month, the U.S. Essex and its fleet were running exercises in the region. Keating sent them to Myanmar's coast to see if they could help. But Myanmar's leaders refused to allow the American ships into the country's waters.

French and British navy ships have already left the area after encountering the same roadblocks from the junta.
Military Helicopters Historically Help Disaster Victims

After the Asian tsunami in 2004 and the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, military helicopters from around the world flew in emergency supplies and medical staff. The UN had hoped to use them again for Cyclone Nargis.
Original Story

Myanmar Cyclone Disaster

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WORLD & NATION UPDATE: ABROAD

Myanmar's military regime extended the house arrest of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday, refusing to bow to international pressure of the sort that persuaded the generals to let in foreign help for cyclone victims. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years, had her detention extended by one year, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Her detention has long been the symbol of the regime's heavy-handed intolerance of democratic opposition to its rule, and there is a worldwide campaign lobbying for her release. President Bush said he was "deeply troubled" by the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest but stressed that the U.S. would continue to provide aid for Myanmar's cyclone survivors.

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/wednesday/news/ny-world285704586may28,0,2318710,email.story

Myanmar's military regime extended the house arrest of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday, refusing to bow to international pressure of the sort that persuaded the generals to let in foreign help for cyclone victims. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years, had her detention extended by one year, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Her detention has long been the symbol of the regime's heavy-handed intolerance of democratic opposition to its rule, and there is a worldwide campaign lobbying for her release. President Bush said he was "deeply troubled" by the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest but stressed that the U.S. would continue to provide aid for Myanmar's cyclone survivors.