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ABC: Children 'dying of starvation' in Burma

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/18/2248218.htm?section=justin

There are fears children are dying in Burma because not enough aid is getting through. (File photo)

There are fears children are dying in Burma because not enough aid is getting through. (File photo) (Getty Images)

A British-based charity says young children in Burma may already be dying of starvation in the Irrawaddy delta, which was hit hard by cyclone Nargis two weeks ago.

Save the Children says even before the cyclone, it had identified about 30,000 children under five years old suffering from malnutrition in the region.

Save the Children now believes that some youngsters in the areas devastated by the cyclone could starve to death within days and says they urgently need foods rich in energy.

It claims to have already helped more than 140,000 people and needs to reach many more before it is too late.

But like everyone else, its efforts are being hampered by the Burmese junta. Their officials say 78,000 people have been killed by the cyclone and 56,000 others are still missing.

 

Praise

 

Meanwhile, Burma's state press has painted a picture of a country swiftly recovering from cyclone Nargis, despite an outcry from foreign nations which have branded the regime's response "inhuman".

The state-run New Light of Burma (Burma) newspaper carried more than two dozen items extolling the relief effort of Government agencies after the cyclone.

"Rescue and relief works can be expedited effectively thanks to the measures the Government has taken to materialise the relief undertakings as scheduled," the official mouthpiece said.

Aid agencies and foreign governments have become increasingly angered by the regime's insistence that it can supervise the relief effort, even as up to 2.5 million survivors languish without food, medicine and clean water.

People are still emerging from the Irrawaddy region with tales of desperation and misery. Bodies remain rotting in rice paddies, and many say they have still not received Government help since the May 2-3 storm.

The English-language daily insisted it was accepting foreign aid, and listed various shipments that have arrived.

"However, some foreign news agencies broadcast false information, and thus some international and regional organisations are assuming that the Government has been rejecting and preventing aids for storm victims," it said.

"Those who have been to [Burma] understand the actual fact."

Wary of any foreign influence that could weaken its 46 years of iron rule in Burma, the military has insisted on managing the relief operation itself and kept most international disaster experts away.

But aid groups say the Government cannot possibly handle the tragedy by itself, with hundreds of tonnes of supplies and high-tech equipment piling up in warehouses, bottle-necked by logistics and other problems.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has denounced the junta's reaction as "inhuman", while Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu has accused the regime of crimes against humanity.

- AFP