Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers said London looked to the Yangon regime "to take the necessary measures to allow humanitarian relief in."

"They have taken some steps in that direction, but obviously a lot more needs to be done," he added.

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert again pressed for a briefing of the 15-member council by UN humanitarian chief John Holmes on the cyclone which may have left more than 100,000 people dead, according to a US diplomat in Yangon.

"We're shocked by the behavior of the (Myanmar) government," his US counterpart Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters. "It should be a no-brainer to accept the offer made by the international community, by states, by organizations, by international organizations."

But Chinese deputy ambassador Liu Zhenmin said the issue involved a natural disaster that should be handled by competent UN agencies and not by the Security Council, which is tasked with handling threats to international peace and security.

"That's what a majority of members of the Security Council, including my country, believe," he added.

Sawers, the council chairman for May, said members decided in the end that Holmes would not report to the council, but would instead brief UN member states, in the UN Trusteeship Council, in the context of his flash appeal for aid from donors Friday.

Khalilzad said his delegation wants Holmes to tell UN member states "what the situation is, what the needs are, and for the UN to urge and press the authorities in Myanmar to welcome any and all help that can make a positive difference in terms of helping the people of Myanmar."

Holmes' predecessor as UN humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland of Norway, appealed to China, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to use their considerable leverage on Yangon to coax it into allowing foreign aid.

"My strong sense is that the Security Council powers led by China and the trading partners of Burma (Myanmar) led by India need to do more to ensure the right of assistance of the Burmese population," said Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

"The ball is in their court. They have to use their economic, political, social (leverage)," he told AFP fom Oslo.

Earlier Thursday, Holmes said that he was "disappointed" with Myanmar over its failure to facilitate entry to more foreign relief workers and supplies to cope with the cyclone disaster.

"I am disappointed that we have not had more results" from discussions with the Myanmar government to enable the arrival of disaster relief teams and the distribution of badly-needed emergency supplies, he told reporters.

"We need to continue to urge the government to cooperate," he added.

Holmes said UN chief Ban Ki-moon was trying to talk to Myanmar's junta leader Than Shwe to urge him "strongly to facilitate access" for foreign relief workers.

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