BURMA 'WANTS AID NOT FOREIGNERS' !

People in affected regions are living in horrific conditions, experts say

Burma wants supplies but not foreign aid workers, its foreign ministry says, hours after the UN chief urged military leaders to prioritise relief work.

Burma is "making strenuous efforts" to get aid to affected areas by itself and was not ready for foreign teams, a statement in a state daily says.

UN officials have expressed mounting frustration over Burma's failure to accept international help.

Some aid has made it in, but experts stress that it is nothing like enough. The UN says that up to 1.5 million people may have been affected by Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the Irrawaddy Delta region on Saturday. Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise to 100,000.

There is a real danger that an even worse tragedy may unfold if we cannot get the aid that's desperately needed in quickly John Holmes UN humanitarian head Burma: How you can help Eyewitness: Terrible disruption Burma: The aid effort

Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water or shelter. Officials say people could die because no help is getting to them.

In a statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the junta to prioritise the aid effort over tomorrow's nation-wide referendum on a widely-criticised new constitution.

It would be "prudent to focus instead on mobilising all available resources and capacity for the emergency response efforts", he said. In a foreign ministry statement carried by The New Light of Myanmar daily, Burma's government said it would accept cash or emergency aid, but not international teams.

EXTENT OF THE DEVASTATION See map and satellite images Send us your comments In pictures: Burma five days on Blogging the cyclone

"Currently Myanmar (Burma) has prioritised receiving emergency relief provisions and is making strenuous efforts to transport those provisions without delay by its own labours to the affected areas," it said.

"As such, Myanmar is not ready to receive search and rescue teams as well as media teams from foreign countries."

A BBC correspondent in the storm-hit region says Burmese troops have begun distributing significantly more aid.

But international experts agree that the military regime lacks the resources to coordinate an effective relief effort, given the magnitude of the disaster. It has accepted limited help - some countries which have good relations with Burma have flown aid in.

Four flights carrying supplies from the UN's World Food Programme arrived in Rangoon on Thursday, as did an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) flight. But at least 40 UN expert staff are waiting in Bangkok for visas - and two members of a specialist UN disaster assessment team were also denied access when they arrived in Burma, despite apparently having the correct documents.

On Thursday, the UN's humanitarian chief, John Holmes, told reporters that Burma's response to the disaster was "nothing like as much as is needed". As many as 1.5 million people were severely affected, he said, and there was a "real danger that an even worse tragedy may unfold if we cannot get the aid that's desperately needed in quickly".

Reports yesterday suggested the US had been granted permission to fly in supplies using military planes - but officials later said no agreement had been reached. "We are in a long line of nations who are ready, willing and able to help, but also, of course, in a long line of nations the Burmese don't trust," US Ambassador Eric John said in Bangkok. "It's more than frustrating. It's a tragedy," he said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.