China and Indonesia reject France's Myanmar push

By Louis Charbonneau Reuters - Thursday, May 8 05:36 pm

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China and Indonesia on Thursday rejected France's idea of having the Security Council ratchet up the pressure on cyclone-devastated Myanmar to grant full access to foreign aid workers.

The United States was awaiting approval from Myanmar's ruling junta to start military aid flights, but the U.N. food agency and Red Cross/Red Crescent said they have finally started flying in emergency relief supplies after foot-dragging by the generals. Western diplomats say progress is too slow.

France has suggested invoking a U.N. "responsibility to protect" in the reclusive Southeast Asian state to deliver aid without the government's approval, but its bid to make the U.N. Security Council take a stand was rebuffed on Wednesday by China, Vietnam, South Africa and Russia.

U.N. envoys of Indonesia and China spoke against politicizing the issue and dismissed reporters' suggestions that Myanmar was stonewalling international aid workers, including U.N. officials, by not issuing visas.

"We think there are other better forums to discuss the humanitarian dimension of the Myanmar situation," Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa told reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting.

"There is a already a readiness on the part of Myanmar to open itself to assistance," he said. "The last thing we would want is to give a political spin to the technical realities and the situation on the ground."

French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Maurice Ripert vowed that he would try again on Thursday to persuade the 15-nation council that it was time to intervene and try to help the estimated 1 million victims of Saturday's cyclone.

Beijing's deputy permanent representative, Ambassador Liu Zhenmin, made it clear that China, which has veto powers on the council, opposed any involvement of the U.N. Security Council.

"The current issue of Myanmar is a natural disaster," he said. "It's not an issue for the Security Council. It might be a good issue for other forums of the U.N."

Liu said the council should not politicize the issue and should "let the humanitarian assistance go on."

U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes has indicated that the French approach would not be helpful and could be seen by some as confrontation.

Western diplomats acknowledged that it would be difficult to persuade sceptics on the council about the need for getting the council involved. But they said they would continue trying to support the French.

State Myanmar radio and television, the main official sources for casualties, reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in Asia's most devastating cyclone since a 1991 storm in Bangladesh that killed 143,000.

A U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said diplomats there were receiving information that there may be over 100,000 deaths.

The United Nations said it had obtained permission from the military government to fly emergency supplies to Myanmar, but aid workers were still waiting for visas.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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