BURMA (MYANMAR) (ANS) -- Burma's military regime is distributing international aid today (May 10). But it is covering the boxes with the names of top generals in an effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise, say news agencies.

According to www.ekklesia.co.uk, the United Nations sent in three

This image from a propaganda video issued by state-run Myanmar TV shows an unidentified military official passing out food aid plastered with names of top generals

more planes and several trucks loaded with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. The government agreed to let a US cargo plane bring in supplies Monday, but foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.

“State-run television continuously ran images of top generals — including the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe — handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies,” said the Ekklesia story.

One box bore the name of Lt. General Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand.”

“We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then distributing it in their region,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country.

“It is not going to areas where it is most in need,” he declared.

Burmese state media say 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis, which submerged entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta. International aid organizations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The Ekklesia story concluded by saying, “The United Nations estimates that 1.5 million to 2 million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of bodies.”

Dan Wooding, 67, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 44 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.