Burma "guilty of inhuman action"

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned Burma's military government for not allowing international aid to reach the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Brown told the BBC that a natural disaster had been turned into a "man-made catastrophe" because of the negligence of the ruling generals. Burma "guilty of inhuman action" There is growing condemnation of Burma's response to the May 2 cyclone, said to have killed at least 78,000. France has said Burma is on the verge of committing a crime against humanity. France and the U.S. both have ships carrying large consignments of aid waiting off the Burmese coast, but so far the government has refused to allow relief aid arriving by sea directly to the worst affected areas. Some 56,000 people are thought to be missing, according to the latest official figures - double the previous estimate. "Rule nothing out" In an interview for the BBC World Service, Brown said that Burma's ruling generals would be judged by the world and their own people for thwarting the assistance offered by the rest of the world. "This is inhuman. We have an intolerable situation, created by a natural disaster," he said. "It is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do. "The responsibility lies with the Burmese regime and they must be held accountable." Aid agencies have also become frustrated by the slow progress at which relief supplies are getting to the areas worst hit, with many survivors still without food, water and shelter. Aid workers already inside Burma have been prevented from entering some areas. However, the Burmese authorities have allowed the UN and some other agencies to hand out supplies directly. A team of 50 Indian medical personnel is also being allowed to fly into Rangoon on Saturday, equipped with medical supplies. Asked if he believed it was time for forced air-drops of aid, Brown said it remained an option. "We rule nothing out and the reason we rule nothing out is that we want to get the aid directly to the people." But he said aid bodies were advising that the most effective course of action was to apply international pressure on Burma to force it to accept foreign aid. The UK government was working with the international community to channel British aid through China and the countries forming the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), Brown added. "That's what we're trying to do as quickly as possible and with great speed." Asean is due to hold a high-level meeting on Monday that is expected to lay the framework for a broader aid donors' conference. "Time is life" Earlier, France's UN envoy angrily rejected Burmese allegations the French ship in international waters off Burma's coast was a warship, saying it was carrying 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Jean-Maurice Ripert warned that the Burmese military's refusal to allow aid to be delivered to those who needed it "could lead to a true crime against humanity". "Hundreds of thousands of lives are in jeopardy and we think that the primary responsibility of the government of Myanmar (Burma) is to help and open the borders so that the international aid could come into the place," he said. The BBC says there has been little sign of official help in the delta this week and that foreign aid workers have been barred from the area. She saw muddy river banks are lined with white, swollen bodies, and found survivors with barely enough rice to live on. Heavy rain has been lashing the region, compounding the survivors' misery. A Reuters team traveling to Kunyangon, around 100km (60 miles) south-west of Rangoon, found rows of beggars stretching for miles on either side of a road. Men, women and children stood in the mud and rain, hands clasped together in supplication at the occasional passing aid vehicle. The UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator, John Holmes, is due to visit Rangoon on Sunday in a bid to persuade the government to grant more access to UN relief workers and expand its aid effort. Correspondents say that at this stage it is not clear who he will be able to talk to given that Burma's leader, Gen Thein Sein, has refused to answer calls from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

Burma "guilty of inhuman action"

There is growing condemnation of Burma's response to the May 2 cyclone, said to have killed at least 78,000.

France has said Burma is on the verge of committing a crime against humanity.

France and the U.S. both have ships carrying large consignments of aid waiting off the Burmese coast, but so far the government has refused to allow relief aid arriving by sea directly to the worst affected areas.

Some 56,000 people are thought to be missing, according to the latest official figures - double the previous estimate.

"Rule nothing out"

In an interview for the BBC World Service, Brown said that Burma's ruling generals would be judged by the world and their own people for thwarting the assistance offered by the rest of the world.

"This is inhuman. We have an intolerable situation, created by a natural disaster," he said.

"It is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do.

"The responsibility lies with the Burmese regime and they must be held accountable." Aid agencies have also become frustrated by the slow progress at which relief supplies are getting to the areas worst hit, with many survivors still without food, water and shelter. Aid workers already inside Burma have been prevented from entering some areas.

However, the Burmese authorities have allowed the UN and some other agencies to hand out supplies directly. A team of 50 Indian medical personnel is also being allowed to fly into Rangoon on Saturday, equipped with medical supplies.

Asked if he believed it was time for forced air-drops of aid, Brown said it remained an option.

"We rule nothing out and the reason we rule nothing out is that we want to get the aid directly to the people."

But he said aid bodies were advising that the most effective course of action was to apply international pressure on Burma to force it to accept foreign aid.

The UK government was working with the international community to channel British aid through China and the countries forming the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), Brown added.

"That's what we're trying to do as quickly as possible and with great speed."

Asean is due to hold a high-level meeting on Monday that is expected to lay the framework for a broader aid donors' conference.

"Time is life"

Earlier, France's UN envoy angrily rejected Burmese allegations the French ship in international waters off Burma's coast was a warship, saying it was carrying 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Jean-Maurice Ripert warned that the Burmese military's refusal to allow aid to be delivered to those who needed it "could lead to a true crime against humanity".

"Hundreds of thousands of lives are in jeopardy and we think that the primary responsibility of the government of Myanmar (Burma) is to help and open the borders so that the international aid could come into the place," he said.

The BBC says there has been little sign of official help in the delta this week and that foreign aid workers have been barred from the area.

She saw muddy river banks are lined with white, swollen bodies, and found survivors with barely enough rice to live on. Heavy rain has been lashing the region, compounding the survivors' misery.

A Reuters team traveling to Kunyangon, around 100km (60 miles) south-west of Rangoon, found rows of beggars stretching for miles on either side of a road.

Men, women and children stood in the mud and rain, hands clasped together in supplication at the occasional passing aid vehicle.

The UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator, John Holmes, is due to visit Rangoon on Sunday in a bid to persuade the government to grant more access to UN relief workers and expand its aid effort.

Correspondents say that at this stage it is not clear who he will be able to talk to given that Burma's leader, Gen Thein Sein, has refused to answer calls from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.