Burma’s military rulers continued to insist today that they needed no help from foreign aid workers despite increasingly desperate pleas from world leaders to issue visas for disaster relief experts and to allow more supplies into cyclone-wrecked areas of the country.

Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, of the military leadership, said that Burma was grateful for an aid flight that arrived from the United States in Rangoon on Monday after days of delicate negotiations, but added that there was no requirement for aid workers to help victims of last week's devastating storm.

His remarks came as President Bush called the junta “isolated or callous” for turning their backs on offers of assistance in the light of reports from the country of the rising threat of hunger and disease — and of the army seizing the few supplies that have got through.

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, expressed his "immense frustration" at Burma's "unacceptably slow" response to Cyclone Nargis which struck on May 2 and 3.

The EU announced today that it was sending Louis Michel, its Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, on a mission to speak to the Burmese rulers face to face, even though he has not yet been granted a visa. Mr Michel plans to travel to Bangkok in nearby Thailand tonight and wait there until he is granted an audience to explain how the world community can help.

A spokesman for Mr Michel said: “We recognise that this is a difficult process but that does not exclude trying. Any effort the commissioner can engage in to ensure that this message of solidarity with the victims of the cyclone gets across, and the importance of opening up Burma is very well worth undertaking.”

He added: “Every hour now is vital and the international community must convey a united message to Burma that our interests are of a humanitarian nature and are in no way political.”

The European Commission has released 2 million euros in aid (£1.58m) but up to 30 million euros is available pending better information from the ground.

Burmese state television has raised its official casualty toll to 31,938 dead and 29,770 missing. The United Nations said that more than 1.5 million people were struggling to survive and up to 100,000 were dead or missing.

Douglas Alexander, the Overseas Development Secretary, was representing Britain at emergency talks on Burma this afternoon among the EU’s 27 countries in Brussels. They are due to discuss the EU's financial response to the crisis and to analyse latest reports of logistical difficulties, finding out exactly the scale of the disaster as well as the best means to help.

Meanwhile, EU countries are organising immediate aid, co-ordinated by the Commission, including thousands of emergency health kits, tarpaulins and sheets, tents, blankets and water purification systems.

Mr Alexander described the unfolding crisis as “a natural disaster that now threatens to become a man-made catastrophe”.

A first British aid flight was given approval to leave for Burma yesterday as London warned of a “second tragedy” if the country continued to drag its feet over allowing aid in.

Mr Alexander said that he hoped the European ministers would “make clear to the Burmese regime that we want to see unfettered access for international agencies to provide support that is so desperately needed by the people of Burma at this time.”

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the German Development Minister said: “The junta is little by little, in a hesitant way, giving ground but it's crucial to be able to get to people in the delta. Every hour, every day, counts.”

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