WFP says Myanmar food relief hit by protest crackdown

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta has clamped down on U.N. food relief to 500,000 people, many of them children, as it battles mass protests against 45 years of army rule, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Saturday.

Food deliveries from the northern city of Mandalay, where monk-led protests began 11 days ago, were stopped early this week, strangling WFP operations in Shan State and central areas.

"The immediate concern is in Mandalay, which is our logistics hub for delivering food assistance to vulnerable people that we serve in Myanmar," WFP Asia spokesman Paul Risley said.

The restrictions would be raised by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who flew into Myanmar on Saturday to press the generals to stop a crackdown in which the official death toll is 10, but diplomats say is likely to be much higher.

Some 570 tonnes of food was stuck in Mandalay after authorities required transport permits from contractors hired by the food agency, which expects to feed 200,000 Shan this year.

Another 1,200 tonnes was sitting in the north-western port of Sittwe, where tens of thousands of people have joined anti-junta protests in Mandalay and Myanmar's main city, Yangon.

Sittwe, from where the WFP will feed 180,000 people in North Rahkine State this year, was quiet on Saturday after young protesting monks were ordered home. Mandalay was also reported to be quiet.

"We are advocating with the authorities as far as we can access them," Chris Kaye, WFP coordinator in Myanmar, said in an e-mail from Yangon.