200805111256 | Burma votes amid cyclone aid row

Burma votes amid cyclone aid row

A constitutional referendum is being held in Burma despite calls from the outside world for a postponement after last week's devastating cyclone.
Voting is under way in most of the country - but has been delayed in the worst-hit areas, including Rangoon. The poll comes amid mounting international criticism of Burma's military rulers for their handling of the response to the crisis. They say they will welcome overseas aid but not foreign relief workers.

The UN fears the death toll from the cyclone could reach 100,000.
The referendum has been postponed for two weeks in Rangoon, the country's main city, and the Irrawaddy delta, which took the full force of Cyclone Nargis.

The country's ruling generals say the referendum will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010, while the opposition says it is intended to tighten the generals' rule.

Burmese anger grows. World wrestles with aid issue

Correspondents say many people in Burma are cynical about the vote.
"They take your name and ID number. Then they know if you give them a tick or a cross," an unnamed businessman told Reuters news agency.

Reporting on the referendum from Hlegu, 48km (30 miles) north of Rangoon, the Associated Press says turnout has been very light.
One voter, retired soldier Nyo Aye, said he had voted Yes even though he had not read the constitution.

"The government would not do anything inappropriate or bad for the country," the 65-year-old said.
Incommunicado

The Burmese generals have been criticised for their handling of the crisis in which officially 23,335 people were killed and 37,019 are missing.

Groups involved in last year's pro-democracy protests accused the junta of concentrating on a "sham constitutional referendum" instead of "putting all resources toward saving the lives" of cyclone victims.

The UN has launched a $187m (£96m) appeal for aid.
BBC Correspondent and Tim Costello from World Vision on Radio 4's The World At One (9 May).

On Friday Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned of "catastrophic" consequences if Burma continues to ban most foreign aid workers from its cyclone relief work.

Mr Ban also says he has not been able to get through to Burma's leaders to speak to them directly.

Aid agencies already on the ground say they have been doing what they can but are frustrated by the government's reluctance to allow international aid teams into the country and its insistence on distributing aid itself.

The UN believes as many as 1.5 million people could have been affected by Cyclone Nargis, which struck on 3 May, and many say Burma does not have the capacity to respond adequately on its own.

Obstacles

Two BBC correspondents who have travelled to the Irrawaddy delta say tens of thousands of bodies are strewn across the landscape, with houses toppled and trees uprooted.

They say diseases like dysentery are already starting to take hold, and although some aid has arrived there is still no relief effort to match the size of the catastrophe.

The World Food Programme says it is in talks with the government after tonnes of aid it flew into Burma was impounded by the military authorities who wanted to control its distribution.

The UN agency threatened to suspend relief flights, but later said they would resume on Saturday, while negotiations continued.
Burma's ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Tint Swe, said his country was ready to accept help from any quarter.

He said the first US relief flight was expected to arrive on Monday.
Other aid has been flown in from Burma's allies, such as China and Thailand.