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A reconnaissance unit from the Canadian Forces' Disaster Response Assistance Team is en route to Thailand to pave the way for a deployment to cyclone-stricken Myanmar.

The country, also known as Burma, has not accepted Canada's offer to send DART to help the starving survivors of a cyclone that observers have projected could claim as many as 100,000 lives.

But the "recce" team is preparing for the possibility Canada's offer will be accepted and is setting up a site in Thailand, which is adjacent to Myanmar.

The DART is a team of about 200 members of the Canadian Forces created to bring disaster relief around the world. It can provide medical aid and drinking water until longer-term help is arranged.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in an interview with Toronto radio station CFRB Friday that it is frustrating to be prevented from entering Myanmar, a country also known as Burma.

"This is a regime that hasn't been known to take the interests and rights of its people to heart. We know about their abuses, not just of democracy but of human rights in Burma," Mr. Harper said.

"Nevertheless, the Burmese people are suffering. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, are dead or displaced. The world community wants to help, and I think we're all prepared to put aside our concerns about how Burma is run for the next few weeks, just to deliver humanitarian assistance."

Canada strongly urges Myanmar to allow that kind of assistance, the Prime Minister said, "and we obviously will condemn them if they do not allow that kind of assistance."

Mr. Harper emphasized, however, that the Canadian government would deliver assistance on the condition that it goes directly to the people. "We will not assist the regime, but we would urge the regime to allow us to help."

Alexa McDonough, a New Democratic MP from Halifax, Friday urged the government to appoint an envoy to provide Canada with high-level representation in Myanmar to ensure that Canadian aid and Canadian relief workers get into the country.

United Nations humanitarian flights are arriving in the largest city of Rangoon from India, Indonesia and Bangladesh but, without experienced disaster relief personnel on the ground, there is no assurance that aid will reach the people in greatest need, Ms. McDonough said.

"What has the government done to ensure that Burmese authorities cannot siphon off Canadian aid and ensure that the sanctions regime does not restrict humanitarian organizations in their relief operations?" she asked yesterday.

Bev Oda, the Minister of International Co-operation, said yesterday that Canada is asking the UN to ensure that Canadian aid organizations can enter the country.