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BANGKOK - THAILAND'S premier expressed irritation at the US and Britain on Sunday for asking him to act as a go-between in the Myanmar aid crisis while criticising his links with the country's ruling generals.
'I already told them that I am not Myanmar's spokesman,' Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said in his weekly television broadcast.
Mr Samak complained that Washington and London expected him to negotiate access for Western aid workers, who are being prevented from entering the country to direct the massive relief effort needed after last weekend's cyclone.
'The US and Britain usually seem to prefer that Thailand not associate with Myanmar. But Thailand and Myanmar are neighbours while you are far away - and still you kept pressuring,' said the outspoken premier.
'In the Western view, those who are friends with Myanmar are bad guys.' Despite that, Mr Samak said that he had agreed to negotiate with the regime about the recovery effort.
He announced last week that he was heading to Myanmar to conduct talks, but later officials said he was forced to call off the trip when Prime Minister Thein Sein said he was too busy to see him.
A Thai government spokesman said two top officials had been sent to Myanmar on Sunday to deliver a letter from Samak to Mr Thein Sein.
'The letter to Myanmar included information about requests from the US and Britain, asking for Myanmar to allow their personnel and goods into Myanmar for humanitarian support,' the spokesman said.
He said the envoys were expected to return later on Sunday with a reply from Myanmar.
Mr Samak related a recent conversation with Mr Thein Sein and said Myanmar was ill-prepared to deal with severe storms because it did not experience them often and did not have damage-prevention strategies in place.
'Thein Sein and I just had a casual conversation during our dinner when he was in Thailand recently. He said his country was rarely affected by heavy storms,' he said. -- AFP
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