The Most Reverend Desmond M Tutu, O.M.S.G.   D.D.   F.K.C.
15th  May 2008
A letter to:

President George W Bush
President Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Your Excellencies

We appeal to you to immediately use your capacity as members of the Security Council to send humanitarian aid to Burma.

The effect of the cyclone on the Burmese people has been devastating. Perhaps 200,000 are dead and 1.5 million more face imminent death from thirst, hunger, and disease.

The refusal of the Burmese military regime to accept fuIl, adequate humanitarian aid from the international community is nothing short of criminal, and unprecedented in recent history. By’refusing aid, the Burmese regime has effectively declared war on its own population and is committing crimes against humanity.

The solution to this problem lies in the United Nations Security Council authorizing immediate shipments of aid to Burma over the objections of the military regime. However, China, Russia and others have paralysed the Council. As a result the world is making the same mistake it made on Rwanda, accepting solutions that were guaranteed to fail.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of food – helicopters, ships and amphibious vehicles lie ready, waiting, off Burma’s shores while the Burmese
people die.

There is no time to wait. Thirteen full days after the cyclone, it is clear that the Burmese military regime will not accept humanitarian aid.

The UK, United States, and France have the capacity to respond immediately. Please use your ships, helicopters, and all other tools within your capacity to immediately deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Burma. We must wait no longer for permission from China and Burma’s military regime. The time to save 1.5 million lives is now.

God bless you

*Desmond M Tutu Archbishop Emeritus, Nobel Peace
Laureate – 1984

co-signed by :

Betty Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate 1977
Adolfo Perez Esquival, Nobel Peace Laureate 1980
Sally Milne for Pugwash, Nobel Peace Laureate 1995
H.E. President Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Peace Laureate 1996
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate 1997
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate 2003

cc: Ban ki Moon
Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation
Chancellor Ansela Merkel