Washington: As a neighbour to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, India can help Yangon in a much better way than the United States, American First Lady Laura Bush has said.

Speaking at a news conference at White House, the wife of US President George Bush said that Myanmar's military junta might accept help from New Delhi "more readily", even as she urged India and some other nations to "use their influence to encourage a democratic transition" in that country.

"I think India can help. India is close on the border there. I think there are a lot of ways they could help and get help there quickly and maybe the Burmese government would accept it more readily from the Indian government than they do from the US government", she said.

"I hope that the military will realise they have to accept aid from everybody they can possibly accept it from. And maybe that will be the something good that can come out of this terrible destruction," she said.

Stating that the "sanctions" were the "only kind of pressure the United States can put on Burma", the first lady said, "Certainly we hope that India, for instance, and other countries in the neighbourhood can step (aid) up if they won't accept aid from the United States".

The US First Lady had yesterday accused the Myanmar military regime of failing to warn its citizens in time about the approaching cyclone Nargis, which has left over 10,000 people dead according to the latest official figures.

Laura Bush, who has expressed deep concerns over human rights situation in Myanmar, also announced that President Bush will sign a legislation today that will confer the Congressional Honour of Medal on the NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house-arrest for years now.
Source : PTI