First U.S. aid flight lands in cyclone-hit Myanmar

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - The first U.S. military aid flight to Myanmar landed in Yangon on Monday but emergency supplies remained at a trickle for 1.5 million people facing hunger and disease in the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta.

The C-130 military transport plane left Thailand's U-Tapao air base carrying water, mosquito nets and blankets to the military-ruled country, branded an "outpost of tyranny" by Washington.

The Myanmar junta's navy Commander-in-Chief Soe Thein greeted the U.S. supplies, which were accompanied by Admiral Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, and Henrietta Fore, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made clear his exasperation with the junta and its "unacceptably slow" delivery of aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis since it struck Myanmar on May 3.

Fore told reporters in Bangkok she had won permission to fly in two more planes on Tuesday but there was no breakthrough on the important issue of letting foreign helicopters and boats ferry supplies into the delta.

"It's a good first step," she said, adding that Washington was increasing its humanitarian aid to $16 million, from $3.5 million.

Delivery of the aid shipment was broadcast on Myanmar state television.

Keating said the U.S. navy would have three ships in international waters off the coast of Myanmar in 36 to 48 hours. It also had 4,000 Marines and a "large number" of cargo-carrying helicopters on stand-by in Thailand.