GREG BLUESTEIN

Burma's military leaders seized aid shipments intended for cyclone survivors and yesterday told the top US diplomat there that they are not ready to let in American aid workers despite warnings the country is on the verge of a medical catastrophe.

Another four inches of rain was forecast to fall next week as more than one million people waited for food, clean water, shelter and medicine to reach them. Diplomats and aid groups warned the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because of illnesses and said thousands of children may have been orphaned.

The UN World Food Programme said two planeloads of supplies containing enough high-energy biscuits to feed 95,000 people were seized yesterday, prompting the world body to say it was suspending aid flights.

Later, WFP chief spokeswoman Nancy Roman said the flights would resume today while talks continued for the release of the supplies.

Burma's government acknowledged taking control of the shipments and said it will distribute the aid itself.

In a statement, government spokesman Ye Htut said the junta had clearly stated what it would do and denied the action amounted to a seizure.

The UN requires experienced aid workers to accompany relief supplies in every recipient country until they are delivered, officials said.

"We have to be accountable to our donors in the states that paid for this assistance and we have to be transparent," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Members of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group of British aid agencies and charities, said they "could do more" without opposition from the military junta.

The DEC appeal has raised £4m in two days. A total of £400,000 has been raised in Scotland.

The WFP's regional director, Tony Banbury, appealed to Burma's military leaders, saying: "Please, this food is going to people who need it very much. You and I, we have the same interests. Please release it."

Shari Villarosa, the US charge d'affairs in Yangon, said she met Burma's deputy foreign minister Kyaw Thu to discuss US relief operations.

Burma said it will accept aid from all countries, but prohibits the entry of foreign workers who would deliver and manage the operations. The junta is not ready to change that position, Villarosa was told.

But Burma has agreed to allow a single US cargo aircraft to bring in relief supplies on Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday.

More than 60,000 people are dead or missing and entire villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta after Saturday's cyclone. The UN estimates 1.5 million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of the dead.

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children, urged the public to carry on giving.

She said: "We are reaching these people and we desperately need the funds to keep flowing so our operations can continue."

She said there was concern people would stop giving if they doubted the aid was getting through. "It would be a tragedy if aid stopped flowing in the next few days," she said.

The junta broadcast a message yesterday urging citizens to do their patriotic duty and vote today for a constitution drafted by the government.

It made no mention of the cyclone, or even the fact that voting in the affected areas has been postponed. Opponents have suggested the reason for the delays in allowing in aid workers could be that the generals do not want an influx of foreigners before the ballot.

The UN has grown increasingly critical of Burma's refusal to let in foreign aid workers.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged Burma's generals to accept aid and humanitarian workers "without hindrance."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Burmese government must remove its restrictions on aid and pledged to work with the UN to put pressure on the country.

Mr Brown said it was "unacceptable" that restrictions were being put on help.

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