US increases cyclone assistance to Myanmar

By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer

May 6th, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- The United States is sending $3 million to help victims of this weekend's devastating cyclone in Myanmar, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000.

The additional commitment of funds, announced Tuesday by White House press secretary Dana Perino, comes even as Myanmar continues to resist entry for a U.S. disaster assessment team. The Bush administration insists that permission for such a team to enter the Southeast Asian nation and look at the damage would allow quicker and larger aid contributions.

In the meantime, the decision was made to funnel $3 million more to the United Nations and other international relief agencies.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush called on Myanmar's military junta on Tuesday to allow the United States to provide disaster assistance after a devastating cyclone.

"The United States has made an initial aid contribution but we want to do a lot more," Bush said in the Oval Office. "We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation. But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country."

The death toll from Tropical Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has soared above 22,000. The storm hit the Southeast Asian country early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph. Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless.

"So our message is to the military rulers: let the United States come and help you help the people," Bush said.

The U.S. Navy has three ships in the Gulf of Thailand that could be dispatched to Myanmar if needed. The USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship, as well as two other vessels in its strike group — the USS Juneau and the USS Harper's Ferry — are there preparing to participate in an annual exercise with Thailand naval forces.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. military is ready to move Navy ships to Myanmar but will not do that until assistance is authorized. The Navy said it would take the ships about four days to make the trip.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said a variety of Navy ships are within reach of Myanmar, including two aircraft carriers — the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Nimitz — as well as a command ship, the USS Blue Ridge, with the capability to coordinate the movement and activities of naval vessels.

Morrell said the USS Essex amphibious assault ship has 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 that are capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore. The Essex group also has 1,800 Marines aboard, he said.

"They (the ships) are all close enough that they could provide valuable assistance" if the Myanmar government requested it, Morrell said.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said members of a disaster assistance response team were standing by and could get to Myanmar "very, very quickly" when the government gives permission for them to enter the country.

He said the United States was looking at ways to augment an initial emergency contribution of $250,000 to the United Nations and other international relief agencies, but noted the process would be easier if U.S. experts were allowed to make onsite inspections.

"There are certain things with this kind of disaster that you know are needed, but it would help certainly in making our assessments to have people there on the ground to see what exactly is needed," McCormack told reporters.

First lady Laura Bush on Monday also appeared to link the provision of additional aid, beyond the initial infusion of $250,000 from a U.S. Embassy emergency fund, to entry permission for the assessment team.

But White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Tuesday that additional help is not conditional on the regime allowing the assessment team in. The government's permission would just allow "more aid, more quickly," mostly because it would allow the two ships in the region to use their considerable loads of emergency supplies to help, he said.

"I'd say there's multiple tracks," Johndroe said, referring to ways that the U.S. could help, with or without cooperation from Myanmar's military dictatorship. One option is to funnel all aid through non-governmental organizations already working on the ground.

In France, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also expressed regret over Myanmar's policy on international aid, saying the country insists only on aid that the government would distribute itself and has spurned French as well as U.S. offers of personnel. Kouchner, co-founder of French aid group Doctors Without Borders, said he had applied for a visa to travel to Myanmar to help coordinate, but was highly doubtful it would be granted.

France has so far proposed $309,200 in aid. "It's not a lot but we don't really trust the way the Burmese ministry would use the money," he said.

President Bush spoke at a ceremony where he signed legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.

"This is a fitting tribute to a courageous woman who speaks for freedom for all the people of Burma and who speaks in such a way that she's a powerful voice, in contrast to the junta that currently rules the country," Bush said.

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