Burma's military regime has distributed international aid, plastering the boxes with names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the cyclone relief effort into a propaganda exercise.

The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid even though the junta took over its first two shipments.

The government agreed to let a US cargo plane bring in supplies on Monday, but foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.

UN dispute resolved

In what a spokesman for the UN World Food Program described as "basically good news," aid flown in Saturday on two flights was released to agencies that brought it in.

A day earlier, two planeloads of supplies flown in by WFP was impounded in what appeared to be a procedural wrangle.

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.

One box bore the name of Lieutenant 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."

Propaganda campaign

"We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was gift from them and then distributing it in their region," says 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 said in London.

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 organisations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The UN estimates 1.5 million to 2 million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of bodies.

Isolated villagers

With phone lines down, roads blocked and electricity networks destroyed, it is nearly impossible to reach isolated areas in the delta, complicated by the lack of experienced international aid workers and equipment.

But the junta has refused to grant access to foreign experts, saying it will only accept donations from foreign charities and governments, and then will deliver the aid on its own.

Farmaner said the world needs to move to deliver aid directly to victims in Burma where Cyclone Nargis struck last week.

"People we are speaking to in Burma say aid must be delivered anyway even if the regime doesn't give permission. We have had a week to convince the regime to behave reasonably, and they are still blocking aid. So the international community needs to wake up and take bolder steps," he said.

But aid providers are unlikely to pursue unilateral deliveries like airdrops because of the diplomatic firestorm that it could set off.