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The EU has signalled that it may consider getting foreign help to Burma without the consent of the military junta if it continues to bar access to aid workers.
Britain and Germany are supporting French-led calls to invoke a United Nations clause to force aid to reach the victims of the cyclone. The little-known 'responsibility to protect' principle would put the issue in the hands of the UN Security Council, which could vote to push aid through.
The EU's development ministers voiced their rising frustration during an emergency meeting in Brussels called to discuss ways to speed up aid deliveries for 1.5 million stricken Burmese.
"The decisions taken in recent days by the regime to restrain access to aid workers put thousands of peoples' lives at risk," said Douglas Alexander, Britain's Development Minister. He added that Britain was looking at "all options" available to bring about an improvement in access if the situation did not change in the coming days.
Antagonising Burma?
But the move does not have unanimous support among the 27 EU member states. There was anxiety among some nations about antagonising a regime that is already extremely anxious about foreign intervention in the relief operations.
"There has to be free and unfettered access for aid workers," said the EU's Development Commissioner Louis Michel. "But we have to make clear that there are no political strings attached."
Shortly after the Brussels meeting, Mr Michel flew to the region in the hope of being able to talk to Burma's reclusive leaders despite not having secured a visa for his visit.
Gamble
"I hope they will allow me in and that they will realise that this trip is strictly humanitarian," he told reporters before his flight. Mr Michel's gamble is a bid to force a dialogue; a denial of entry would be a public embarrassment for the junta.
Despite the increasingly desperate need, ministers said they were cautiously optimistic that access would improve. Sweden, Denmark and Germany have succeeded in despatching supplies of tents and plastic sheeting to the country whilst France has sent a navy ship with emergency supplies.
Tags: Burma, Cyclone, Louis Michel, Relief
