PARIS, May 10, 2008 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday denounced the Myanmar regime as "utterly reprehensible" for blocking vital food aid to victims of last weekend's cyclone.
    Speaking in the Luxembourg gardens in Paris during a ceremony to commemorate the abolition of slavery, Sarkozy slammed "an utterly reprehensible regime which is preventing the unloading of foodstuffs" in a country "ravaged by nature."
    "Today, in the 21st century, the international community is unable to freely help men and women...who have the distress of having a government which refuses international aid," he said.
    Paris announced on Friday that a French navy ship was being loaded with aid in India for Myanmar, without saying whether it would be able to distribute it directly to victims of the cyclone, which left tens of thousands dead and missing when it swept across southern Myanmar.