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UN blasts Myanmar for visa policy on aid workers

The Associated Press

Myanmar men work to salvage a steel roof from the mud on the banks of the Yangon River, in Yangon, Myanmar on Thursday May 8, 2008. Myanmar's isolationist regime Thursday gave clearance for the first major international airlift carrying aid to survivors of a cyclone that may have killed more than 100,000 people, officials said.
Myanmar men work to salvage a steel roof from the mud on the banks of the Yangon River, in Yangon, Myanmar on Thursday May 8, 2008. Myanmar's isolationist regime Thursday gave clearance for the first major international airlift carrying aid to survivors of a cyclone that may have killed more than 100,000 people, officials said.

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's refusal to give visas to relief experts is "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian work, the United Nations charged Friday.

A spokesman of the World Food Program says the organization has submitted 10 visa applications around the world, including six in Bangkok, Thailand, and none of have been granted.

Spokesman Paul Risley said Friday "the frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts."

Myanmar's military government said more than 62,000 people died or are missing in a cyclone that hit the country's Irrawaddy delta last Saturday. The junta says it needs international aid but not the foreign experts and staff to deliver it.

No visas are expected to be issued in Bangkok on Friday because of a Thai holiday.