Junta leader pledges schools for Myanmar's cyclone orphans

Yangon: Myanmar's reclusive junta leader Than Shwe on Tuesday pledged to build schools for children orphaned by the cyclone, state television reported, in his third day of public remarks about the tragedy.

Until Sunday, the 75-year-old senior general had not made a single public comment about the May 2-3 disaster that left 133,000 dead or missing.

Now the general who normally stays carefully out of public view has appeared or made remarks in state media for three days running.

State television said that Than Shwe gathered with orphans during his tour of the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta on Monday, and promised to construct trade schools for them in the devastated towns Pyapon and Labutta.

The report did not say how many children had been orphaned by the storm, or how many the schools would help.

The government-controlled media said children orphaned by the storm have been sheltered in Maubin and Myaungmya, two townships less affected by the storm, as part of a special cyclone response programme.

The UN children's fund UNICEF said 3,000 schools were wiped out by the cyclone, leaving 500,000 children without classrooms. Many schools are also being used for shelter by families whose homes were destroyed in the storm.

The UN estimates that as many one million children in Myanmar need immediate assistance, about 40 percent of those severely affected by the cyclone.

Before the storm, about one-third of children under five in the Irrawaddy delta suffered from from malnutrition, it said.