Earlier on Thursday, when Holmes launched the revised appeal for cyclone victims in Burma, various countries spoke. Thailand emphasized that humanitarian aid should not be politicized. The U.S. spoke about its C-130 cargo flights which ended on June 22. The UK chimes in that it is contributing a further $90 million. (The U.S. has given $47). And then the representative of France spoke, saying

“My country and the international community in general is gravely preoccupied by the situation in Burma… Let me remind our partners that the Security Council is dealing with the situation on the political side, independent of the mission of Mr. Gambari.”

Various Ambassadors scoffed, one told Inner City Press that France was just grandstanding. Afterwards, a Permanent Five member of the Security Council told Inner City Press that France has “embarrassed John Holmes.” Inner City Press asked Holmes to respond to this; he said that France “was trying to make a political point. They want to pursue the political agenda. But… that’s why Ibrahim Gambari is preparing to go back there. I didn’t feel embarrassed by it. It just wasn’t particularly relevant to what we were saying.”

An irony is that those who pushed so loudly to get their own humanitarians into Myanmar have not pushed at all to make sure that through currency exchange aid meant for victims of the cyclone is not siphoned off to benefit the military government. One diplomat remarked to Inner City Press, France just wanted to “film its MSF and ACF workers there in Myanmar.”

Read more on http://www.innercitypress.com/un8myanmar071008.html