Cyclone victims 'can cope alone'

Burma's military junta has slammed offers of foreign aid saying Cyclone Nargis' 2.4 million victims can "stand by themselves".

According to the tightly-regulated Kyemon newspaper, which is thought to reflect the thinking of the country's top officials, donors' requests for access to the devastated Irrawaddy delta have been criticised.

The paper said: "The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliance without chocolate bars donated by foreign countries."

Until now the junta had been showing signs of a somewhat grudging acceptance of outside assistance as survivors struggle without food or shelter as thousands of grotesquely bloated and rotting corpses litter fields and waterways.

The tone of the editorial is at odds with recent praise of the UN relief effort but follows criticism of the extension of the five-year house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday.

The paper also accused the international community of being stingy amid a $201 million (£100m) UN donation for the victims of the cyclone four weeks ago which left 134,000 people dead or missing in the delta - the "rice bowl of Asia".

"Myanmar needs about $11 billion. The pledging amounted to over $150 million, less than the $201 million mentioned by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon as emergency aid," it said.

The paper added: "There is one big nation that even extended economic sanctions on Myanmar although it had already been known that Myanmar was in for a very powerful storm."

The State Department has said the decision to keep Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest will not affect its donations, but a top US commander said warships laden with aid will leave waters near the delta if a green light is not given soon to distribute it.

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