Mizzima News

New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma’s ruling military supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe, who was scheduled to pay a two-day visit to the Irrawaddy Delta, has postponed his trip to mid-October, at the eleventh hour, military sources said.

According to the source, Than Shwe had earlier planned a trip to the delta, as part of a good will measure to show solidarity and support to victims of Cyclone Nargis. He had also planned to inaugurate the Yuzana Cyclone Shelter in Pyar Pone Township.

“[Than Shwe] postponed his delta trip to the middle of the month… everything was prepared there and ministers waiting in the delta area are calling back…...he must have changed his mind at the last minute,” the source said.

Cyclone Nargis (2008) left over 140,000 dead and several missing. It destroyed the lives of over 2.4 million people in the Irrawaddy Delta and Rangoon Division.

Than Shwe is reportedly in Rangoon, meeting and accepting gifts and offerings from military officials and his business cronies as part of the ceremony of the end of Buddhist lent.