Myanmar stops US delivering aid to cyclone victims

Myanmar: Myanmar will not allow US naval ships and helicopters poised off its shore to deliver aid to cyclone victims, according to state-controlled media on Wednesday, which cited fears of an American invasion aimed at grabbing the country's oil reserves.

The New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece for Myanmar's ruling junta, said that such assistance "comes with strings attached" and referred to an article on a website saying that Washington wants to overthrow the country's government and seize its oil.

The United States, as well as France and Great Britain, have naval vessels loaded with humanitarian supplies off the Myanmar coast, and had been waiting for a green light to deliver them. The article did not mention the French and British navies.

Despite Wednesday's announcement, the junta appeared to be slowly relenting to foreign pressure to accept more outside help for an estimated 2.5 million survivors faced with hunger, loss of their homes and potential outbreaks of deadly diseases.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was headed to Myanmar, said the world body had received permission from the junta to use nine helicopters to carry aid to stranded victims.

So far, the few foreign aid workers allowed inside the country have been banned from the areas of the worst devastation in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta.

The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis was over 78,000 with 56,000 more people missing.