Red Cross Officials Say Myanmar Government Has Paralyzed Aid Work
March 16, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The International Committee of the Red Cross says the Myanmar military government is paralyzing aid work in the country by restricting visits to prisoners and civilians displaced by fighting with rebels, Bloomberg news service reports.
“The ICRC’s humanitarian work in Myanmar has now reached near-paralysis,” Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the organization’s director of operations, said in Geneva yesterday, according to the group’s Web site. “A recent meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs made no headway,” he said.
The organization said it plans to close two offices because its workers aren’t able to operate freely, and the group has reduced its expatriate work force in the country to 16 from 56 over the past year.
