(RANGOON, Burma)— Burma's ruling junta, faced with global outrage about its low-key response to last month's deadly cyclone, said Sunday that recovery from the catastrophe will be speedy and extolled the country's top leaders for their actions in the crisis.
But criticism of the military junta's response to the storm continued, with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying the government had acted with "criminal neglect" in responding to the crisis.
The regime has limited foreign relief workers' numbers and added conditions to their movement despite agreeing more than a week ago to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's request that they be allowed into worst affected areas in the Irrawaddy delta.
The junta has also refused to allow military ships off Burma's coast to bring in aid.
Deputy Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Aye Myint, attending an international security meeting in Singapore, praised the government's relief operations as Burmese authorities back home pushed ahead with plans to open schools Monday in several cyclone-battered areas — a move that aid groups fear could put children in harm's way.
Aye Myint told the conference that the military junta broadcast warnings about the May 2-3 cyclone more than a week in advance and moved quickly to rescue and provide relief to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.
"Due to the prompt work" of the military government, food, water and medicine were provided to all victims, the defense minister said. "I believe the resettlement and rehabilitation process will be speedy."
The comments came a day after the junta came under sharp criticism for kicking homeless cyclone survivors out of shelters and sending them back to their devastated villages. Cyclone Nargis killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced people have recently been expelled from their temporary shelters in schools, monasteries and public buildings, Human Rights Watch said Saturday.
"The forced evictions are part of government efforts to demonstrate that the emergency relief period is over and that the affected population is capable of rebuilding their lives without foreign assistance," Human Rights Watch said.
Some international aid agencies said their staffers were still meeting survivors deep in the delta who have not received any help since the storm hit.
Gates, who also attended the conference in Singapore, said a Burma representative at the forum did not seem interested in speaking with him.
Speaking Sunday in Thailand, Gates said Burma's reluctance to allow a free flow of foreign assistance and aid workers meant that many more people would die. He was referring particularly to the refusal of the junta to allow U.S., British and French military ships off Burma's coast to bring in aid.
Gates told reporters that he will make a decision within "a matter of days" about withdrawing U.S. Navy ships off Burma, because "it's becoming pretty clear the regime is not going to let us help."
As a result, he said many more people will die, particularly those in areas that can only be reached by helicopters, such as those sitting idle on the U.S. ships.
Asked if the military junta there is guilty of genocide, Gates said, "I tend to see genocide more as a purposeful elimination of people, this is more akin, in my view, to criminal neglect."
Burma leaders have also been criticized for not immediately visiting cyclone-affected areas. Junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe visited some refugee camps two weeks after the storm.
An article Sunday in
New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Than Shwe had intended to visit the affected regions as soon as the storm occurred.
"But the Senior General with farsightedness went to those regions later so that the Prime Minister, head of the National Disaster Management Committee, could carry out the relief and rescue work more effectively," it said.
The article, "Parents' loving-kindness and goodwill towards offspring" gave a detailed account of the guidance given by Than Shwe during his visit to cyclone-hit regions starting on May 18.
"His loving kindness and goodwill for the people is much better than that a parent has for his children," the newspaper said.
The junta planned to reopen many schools Monday in areas hit by the cyclone, though some were scheduled to reopen in July.
UNICEF said more than 4,000 schools serving 1.1 million children were damaged or totally destroyed by the storm and more than 100 teachers were killed. As a result, the government planned to train volunteer teachers and hold some classes in camps and other temporary sites, the U.N. Children's Fund said.
"What is normally a safe space can become an unsafe space," said Gary Walker, a spokesman for the U.K. charity Plan. "Sending (children) to what can be unsafe buildings with ill-trained and ill-equipped teachers can actually set them back rather than leading them on a road to speedy recovery."
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