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UN is preparing to send two planeloads of aid to Burma

Burma's military regime distributed international aid but plastered the boxes with names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.

Despite the growing crisis, the military government pushed ahead with a referendum, although balloting was postponed for two weeks in the areas hardest hit by the cyclone.

Aid agencies reported that Burmese officials started to slowly allow more aid into the country.

UNHCR spokeswoman Vivian Tan travelled with the first UN aid convoy to cross from Thailand into Burma. She said it was desperately important that more aid got into the crippled country as soon as possible.

She said: "It's been a week since the disaster and very little aid is getting in. It's urgently needed and critically important that it reaches those who need it.

"The whole process should be moving a lot faster but this is a positive step. Things finally seem to be speeding up a bit, the authorities are now helping. It could be a lot faster but they are not putting obstacles in our way." Foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.

State-run TV continuously ran images of top generals - including the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe - handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies.

One box bore the name of Lt Gen Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand."

State media say 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing after Cyclone Nargis, which submerged entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta. International aid organisations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The UN estimates 1.5 million to two million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of bodies.