Cyclone hit country refuses aid from French

Australian News.Net
Monday 26th May, 2008

Efforts to deliver life-saving aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims has run into trouble with France abandoning efforts to unload a ship at a Myanmar port.

The vessel, the Mistral, had been poised to deliver enough aid to help 100,000 people.

The vessel has been at anchor off the Myanmar coast for a week, but the military junta consistently refused it permission to enter port.

In a statement, Paris said it was shocked by the junta's obstruction and decided to send the ship to Thailand, from where the aid goods were to be distributed by the United Nations.

On the weekend,UN Secretary General, Ban ki-Moon, said the Myanmar junta had promised to accept help and speed up the relief effort.

The French government says the Mistral incident is proof that there has been little change in the attitude of the military junta toward foreign aid.

At an international conference, the junta was warned it needs to admit foreign aid workers to become eligible for financial assistance.

Myanmar, in turn says all aid is welcome, as long as there are no political demands involved.

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