THE international community should forcibly intervene to ensure aid reaches the hundreds of thousands at risk of a catastrophic epidemic in Burma, a leading South Yorkshire MP has said.
Former Europe minister Denis MacShane said any resistance from the Burmese military should be met by "obliterating counter-force".
The Rotherham MP has written to David Miliband demanding action.
He wants the Foreign Secretary to convene an eme
rgency meeting of the UN Security Council to demand the establishment of safe zones for relief ships off the Burmese coast. They would then be able to airlift clean water, food and shelter to the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
Oxfam has warned that disease could raise the death toll to more than 1.5 million – six times that of the 2004 tsunami.
Much of the southern Irrawaddy delta region is still submerged in water contaminated by bloated corpses and human and animal waste.
But 11 days after the cyclone hit, the country's military leaders are still dragging their feet in allowing aid and relief experts into the country.
In his letter, Mr MacShane says: "By any definition there is now a crime against humanity being committed by the Burmese junta against the Burmese people. When, in Rwanda or Darfur, governments did nothing to prevent the death of scores of thousands of their own people we rightly called such action genocide. Are the Burmese generals guilty of anything less?"
On Thursday a committee of peers in the House of Lords will quiz Sheffield Heeley MP and Foreign Office minister Meg Munn about Burma.
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