Pressure increases on Burmese junta

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Mr Alexander said the eyes of the world would be on the Burmese in the coming weeks to ensure that aid workers were given "full and unfettered" access to deal with the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

His robust comments came as he addressed the one day, 52-nation conference with the United Nations and the ASEAN group of south eastern nations in Rangoon.

The secretive South East Asian country has been left crippled after the cyclone struck more than three weeks ago on May 2. Nearly 78,000 have been confirmed dead with a further 56,000 missing.

The Burmese authorities have come under concerted international pressure to allow more relief and aid workers into the country to help speed up the recovery process.

Over the weekend UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon revealed that Senior Burmese General Than Shwe had agreed to allow all aid workers into the stricken country "regardless of nationality".

Mr Alexander said: "The humanitarian crisis in Burma is grave and urgent. I have travelled here to Rangoon at the request of the United Nations Secretary General to press the regime to allow full and unfettered access for international aid workers.

"I have told the Burmese ministers that I have met: 'You will be judged not by your words but by your actions.' And action is what the world will be looking for in the days and weeks ahead."

The Department for International Development, (DFID) is to send 11 flights to the region carrying much needed materials for families that lost their homes in the disaster.

Mr Alexander added: "Today's conference must lead to a clearer assessment of what is needed and how to deliver it fast. We need to accelerate the efforts of the UN and ASEAN to get aid to those that need it - that means planes and helicopters in the air, trucks on the roads and boats on the rivers."