The powerful cyclone which hit Burma last Saturday is thought to be the worst natural disaster the country has experienced in modern times.
Sadly, the death toll has been enormous with over a 100,000 people feared dead, and thousands still missing.
The disaster has been compared with the Indian Ocean tsunami which hit in 2004, the crucial difference between the two: in Burma’s hour of need the government refuse to accept aid.
Burma has accepted only limited aid from their ‘friendly’ neighbours such as Jakarta, but help from the US and Britain has so far been rejected.
The US Ambassador to Thailand, Eric John, has said on BBC News “It’s more than frustrating – it’s a tragedy.”
France has even threatened to air-drop aid into Burma without the permission of the government, but the UK International Development Secretary, Douglas Alexander has said “the best way forward was an international united front”, the question is; how realistic is a “united front” and if it does happen, will it happen in time?
Menzies Campbell, former Liberal Democrat leader, said on BBC News “I don’t think we have a legal right to impose it [air drops] – we might have a moral obligation.”
It seems insane that hundreds of thousands of Burmese people are starving to death and homeless as a result of a natural disaster, yet help is more than available and still the Burmese government reject aid from certain countries. Surely this goes against what ‘government’ is all about; of course government is about politics and relations with other countries, but at the heart of that is meant to be the interests of the people.
Indisputably, this is one of the worst political failings the world has ever seen.
To make matters worse, people in the countries that have been rejected by Burma, such as the UK, could now be reluctant to donate towards the crisis because there is obviously no evidence that their donations will reach Burma.
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