EU piles up pressure on Myanmar to allow aid

By David Brunnstrom and Ingrid Melander

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU piled pressure on Myanmar's junta on Tuesday to allow in aid workers to help the victims of cyclone Nargis and warned of "an even greater tragedy" and possible U.N. action if it did not cooperate.

The European Union's top aid official Louis Michel has received a visa to go to Myanmar to urge the authorities to allow in aid workers and relief supplies.

In a statement after emergency talks on Myanmar in Brussels, EU development ministers called on Yangon "to offer free and unfettered access to international humanitarian experts, including the expeditious delivery of visa and travel permits".

The military government has accepted aid from the outside world but it has only trickled into the devastated Irrawaddy Delta of the former Burma because its military rulers have largely barred foreign teams.

Spain said on Tuesday failure to allow in aid could amount to a crime against humanity. The United Nations says more than 1.5 million people are struggling to survive and up to 100,000 are dead or missing after cyclone Nargis hit.

The EU ministers stopped short of endorsing a French call to deliver aid if necessary without the junta's permission.

AID WITOUT AUTHORISATION?

France's junior minister for human rights said it had the backing of Britain and Germany to call on the United Nations Security Council for aid to be taken into Myanmar without the government's green light if necessary.