The Associated Press

Fri, May 16, 2008 (4:27 p.m.)

Supplies from U.S. relief flights were given directly to nongovernmental organizations Friday to help with the aftermath of Myanmar's disastrous cyclone, the State Department said.

Spokesman Sean McCormack said direct distribution also was being sought for as many as five flights during the weekend.

U.S. C-130 cargo planes began flying aid to the Southeast Asian nation on Monday. McCormack said the direct deliveries to relief organizations were the first allowed by Myanmar's ruling junta.

Two of Friday's U.S. flights carried supplies from Thailand's government. McCormack did not say whether those might have been the planes that bypassed Myanmar government distribution.

Myanmar authorities say almost 135,000 people are dead or missing from the May 3 cyclone. Independent estimates run higher.

The junta's reluctance to allow direct support from nongovernmental organizations has caused strong reactions among some in Congress. More than 40 lawmakers sent President Bush a letter asking that the United States join any international effort to intervene in Myanmar's stricken Irrawaddy Delta region by bypassing efforts by the junta to interfere with aid.

Signatories to the letter, including Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said they are troubled by the junta's refusal to allow entry by damage assessment teams from the United States or elsewhere. The effect has been to deny critical aid to millions of suffering cyclone victims.

The lawmakers also protested the junta's demands that only the Myanmar military be allowed to offload U.S. relief supplies.

The State Department's McCormack said it was unclear whether the decision to allow direct supply to nongovernmental organizations Friday was the start of a trend.

"There have been a lot of questions about whether or not the aid that we provide is delivered down to the affected areas, and we're doing our best to make sure that what is delivered in Rangoon makes it down to the affected areas to those who need it," McCormack said. The Bush administration refers to Myanmar by its traditional name, Burma, and its former capital as Rangoon instead of the junta's "Yangon."

McCormack said the U.S. charge d'affaires in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, will be among a small group of diplomats to be escorted by the Myanmar government to the disaster area on Sunday.

"It's a trip that has been organized by the Burmese government down to the affected areas," McCormack said. But he added, "I'm not going to make any predictions for exactly what they are going to see and how widely and freely they are going to be able to travel."

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Associated Press writer Foster Klug contributed to this report.