GENEVA (AP) - Ships and cargo planes carried relief supplies to Burma on Wednesday as aid groups distributed food and other supplies to people left homeless by a deadly cyclone.Operations continued to be hampered by the Burmese government's delay in issuing visas to aid workers. But U.N. and other agencies said they were making progress in persuading the government to let in more experts to help get aid to those who need it most.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Burma's government to speed the arrival of aid workers and relief supplies "in every way possible" and welcomed initial approval for a team of experts from the world body.John Holmes, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said four Asian members from the U.N's disaster coordination team have clearance to fly to Burma on Thursday. A fifth member is seeking a visa.The U.N.'s World Food Program said four flights carrying food and other supplies would arrive in Rangoon on Thursday morning — the first U.N. flights to reach the country since the storm hit Saturday.Planeloads of supplies arrived from Japan, Bangladesh, India, Laos, China, Thailand and Singapore, Burma's state television said.Mike Kiernan, spokesman for Save The Children, said local officials were responsive, especially in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta region."We have reached 50,000 people in the first two days in the delta region, delivering 30 tons of materials," he said, adding that flooded roads, communications and electric outages are still a problem.France's Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors without Borders, said its workers have been giving out food and supplies in Rangoon, its outskirts and farther south along the coast but the group still lacks personnel and supplies to meet the need."It is essential that emergency visas are issued and that relief shipments are allowed to arrive," the group said, adding its teams have been waiting for 48 hours for permission to enter Burma.In a closed session, the U.N. Security Council discussed an informal proposal by France to authorize the U.N. to enter Burma and deliver aid without waiting for approval from the military. Diplomats said the U.S., Britain and five other members supported the idea, but eight nations opposed it.France argued the Security Council has the power to intervene to help civilians because world leaders agreed at a 2005 summit that the U.N. has a "responsibility to protect" people when a government fails to do so. That agreement, however, did not mention natural disasters, referring only to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing."We think it is time for the U.N. to intervene," French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters. "If we don't do anything, people will continue to die, epidemics will spread out and it will be a catastrophe."Holmes, the U.N. humanitarian chief, questioned whether "a confrontational path" would help cyclone victims. "Would it actually get aid to the people who are really suffering on the ground any quicker? Personally, I doubt it," he said.Some aid workers have told The Associated Press that Burma's government wants food and supplies distributed by relief workers who are already in place, rather than by new foreign staff.The outpouring of aid is aimed at an estimated 1 million people left homeless by the storm, which killed tens of thousands.Experts said the impact of Cyclone Nargis on food supplies will be long-lasting because the storm hit Burma's rice-growing heartland.Britain has offered about $9.8 million to help the crisis, and the U.S. offered more than $3 million in aid. President Bush has said Washington was prepared to use the U.S. Navy to help search for the dead and missing.However, the Burmese military, which regularly accuses the United States of trying to subvert its rule, was unlikely to accept U.S. military presence in its territory.The U.S. Navy has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in the relief effort.One of them, the USS Essex, is an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 that are capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, which could prove vital in getting supplies to hard-to-reach areas. France, too, has vessels with helicopters aboard in waters near Burma and could move quickly if given the green light, said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. "We can intervene in the hours, or minutes, to come" if Myanmar grants its approval, he said. He also said that a crisis team was ready to leave France, but was waiting for visas.Indonesia, the country worst hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, said it would soon send emergency aid worth $1 million and that two military planes and 55 relief workers would leave on Thursday.To The Top
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