Navy ships ordered to leave Myanmar

[unhappycamper]

Essex, strike group to head out Thursday
Keating says he asked to help junta 15 times.


Navy ships ordered to leave Myanmar
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jun 4, 2008 8:18:10 EDT

HONOLULU — The U.S. military ordered Navy ships loaded with relief aid off Myanmar’s coast to leave the area Thursday after the country’s xenophobic junta refused to give them permission to help survivors of last month’s devastating cyclone.

Adm. Timothy Keating, the top commander in the Pacific, ordered the amphibious assault ship Essex and accompanying vessels to depart the Myanmar area after what he said were 15 separate attempts in recent weeks to get the junta’s authorization to help with relief efforts.

Myanmar’s state media has said it feared a U.S. invasion aimed at seizing the country’s oil deposits.

The ruling generals also have forbidden the use of military helicopters from friendly neighboring nations, which are vital in rushing supplies to isolated survivors in the Irrawaddy delta. This has forced aid agencies to scour for civilian aircraft around the world, and bring them in at dramatically increasing costs.

The U.N. has estimated 2.4 million people are in need of food, shelter or medical care as a result of the storm, which the government said killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_myanmar_navy_060308/