United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is pressing the military junta in Burma to immediately accept more international assistance to help survivors of last week’s cyclone.

Ban Ki-moon: “We are at a critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today’s crisis. I therefore call, in the most strenuous terms, on the government of Myanmar to puts its people’s lives first. It must do all that it can to prevent this disaster from becoming even more serious.”

Authorities in Burma have raised the cyclone death toll to nearly 32,000, but aid groups said the final death toll will be much higher. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown criticized the military junta’s response to the cyclone.

Gordon Brown: “We now estimate that two million people faced famine or disease as a result of the lack of cooperation of the Burmese authorities. This is completely unacceptable. There must be unfettered access to humanitarian agencies. We’ve already made available five million pounds. We’ve got a humanitarian team now in Rangoon to assess all options for getting help through to people in need.”