PARIS, May 10, 2008 (AFP) - France will not send any direct aid to Myanmar's ruling junta but will deliver help to cyclone victims independently, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview published Saturday.
    "We will use our own channels, which is probably better than using food drops," he told the Figaro newspaper.
    Kouchner had said Friday that a French navy ship loaded with 1,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid for cyclone victims was en route to Myanmar and should arrive by Thursday.
    "The aid will be distributed directly to the needy by small boats or helicopters and personnel of the ship or French non-governmental organisations already there," he added.
    Kouchner had called Thursday on Myanmar's military junta to end restrictions on foreign aid coming in.
    Many of the survivors of the cyclone, which according to US officials is believed to have killed around 100,000 people, can only be reached by helicopter.
    Many of those affected are facing serious health worries more than a week after the disaster, with everything from disease to snake bites putting some 1.5 million people at risk, aid groups say.