Burma must deliver "low-hanging fruits" soon, says Asean sec-gen

"What has to be delivered is real activities," said Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) that along with the United Nations co-hosted a pledging conference for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Rangoon over the weekend.

While the conference, attended by some 500 delegates from 51 countries and various UN agencies, failed to attract an outpouring of pledges for Burma's post-cyclone reconstruction efforts, it was deemed an important first step in building up trust between the international aid community and the country's notoriously paranoid military rulers.  

The regime has been under intense criticism for hampering an international relief effort for the estimated 2.4 million people affected by Cyclone Nargis, which swept the country's central coast on May 2-3 leaving at least 133,000 dead or missing.

More than three weeks after the storm hit, international aid has reached only 40 per cent of the affected population, a poor performance generally blamed on the government's refusal to facilitate logistics and allow more international relief experts in the Irrawaddy delta region, the area hardest hit by the cyclone.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday won assurance from Burma junta chief Senior General Than Shwe that his country would allow "all" aid workers unhindered access to the storm-affected areas, a message that was seemingly supported at Sunday's aid pledging conference.

Although there have been signs of speeding up visa approvals and access to the delta for UN relief experts, there are still complaints of unnecessary delays to the big aid push.

"There are many low-hanging fruits that can be harvested and those include accessibility, delivering of supplies already on the ground, monitoring and the ability to admit and allow foreign aid workers in to the field with less obstacles and less delay," said Surin of what was immediately expected of the junta.

He called on the international community to allow the regime a few more days before deciding whether it was renigging on its commitment to allow more foreigners in.

"I think we need to give it a week to say the curve is rising, or the curve is being maintained at the same level, or the curve of access is actually going down," Surin told a press conference.

Several UN agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP), have said they have been granted more visas and greater access to the delta since Friday, although still with the need for permission on a case by case basis.

"Yesterday was a red-letter day," said Paul Risley, spokesman for WFP. "We had seven application in and we got seven approvals." 

Over the weekend, for the first time in three weeks, at least one WFP foreign expert was allowed to tour the delta region to assess food needs, and on Wednesday the UN agency will be permitted to fly its own helicopter to three remote destinations in the delta that were previously off bounds, said Risley.//DPA - May 27, 2008