EU aid chiefs hold emergency Burma talks

Europe's development ministers are to hold emergency discussions in Brussels today (13 May) on how to respond to the devastation wrought by Cyclone Nargis in Burma.

Called by aid commissioner Louis Michel, the meeting is expected to result in a sharp increase to the €2 million of support already pledged by the EU.

The debate will also look for the best way to mobilise and deliver international humanitarian assistance, with commissioner Michel later to meet with the Burmese military junta to urge the country to open up to foreign aid workers.

"Myanmar [Burma] should embrace the experience of the international humanitarian community gained in crisis zones around the world," he said in a statement. "Their work is independent and impartial."

Since the cyclone hit on 3 May, some 62,000 people have died or are missing, according to the Burmese government.

Some aid agencies estimate that the death toll has already exceeded 200,000 however, and the UN has warned that up to 2 million people are in desperate need of aid with no support reaching the worst-hit zones.

The Burmese generals have appealed for international help but are reluctant to issue visas to foreign aid workers.

"I urge the government to let more relief workers in and to let them go to the stricken zone to work alongside the local authorities in assisting the victims," the EU's Louis Michel said. "The commission is ready to give more but the funds won't be much use without professional delivery on the ground."

French tactic rejected

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner last week called on the UN to invoke its "Responsibility to Protect" principle and force through the delivery of aid, without the generals' permission.

His voice was joined by leading NGO the International Crisis Group on Monday, with the organisation's president, Gareth Evans, saying "There is at least a prima facie case to answer for their intransigence being a crime against humanity – of a kind which would attract the responsibility to protect principle."

Both the EU and UN have so far argued that diplomatic pressure is preferable, however.

"We cannot force the entry, the delivery of aid, we are not in a position to do that," commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio recently said.

"I do not believe confrontation with the government is likely to result in more help for the cyclone victims," UN humanitarian aid chief John Holmes told AFP.