The United Nations is appealing to the international community to provide 187 million dollars in emergency aid for the victims of last week's killer cyclone in Burma. The U.N. announcement in New York (Friday) said the aid would help address the needs of more than one-and-a-half million people.
Earlier, officials with the U.N. World Food Program said the agency will resume aid flights to Burma on Saturday even after Burmese authorities seized relief supplies flown into the country. The U.N. agency had suspended flights after two shipments of food and equipment to Burma were impounded. In Washington, U.S. officials said Burma's government has agreed to allow a single U.S. military aircraft carrying relief supplies for cyclone victims to land in the country on Monday. Burma has agreed to accept foreign aid, but insists that its own nationals be used to distribute relief supplies. The Burmese government's actions have sparked international outrage. Burmese officials say about 65-thousand people are dead or missing nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis struck the country.