Date:23/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/23/stories/2008052352701900.htm

International

Accept aid, Ban Ki-moon tells Myanmar’s rulers

U.N. chief tours cyclone-devastated zone

— Photo: AP

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2nd left) talks to a displaced family in their tent in a village in Myanmar on Thursday.

YANGON: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew into Myanmar’s disaster zone on Thursday as he pressed the military leaders to open the doors to critical international aid for some 2.5 million cyclone survivors.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Thein Sein, Mr. Ban said international aid experts should be rushed in because the crisis had exceeded Myanmar’s capacity. He was then flown to the Irrawaddy Delta, the country’s rice bowl, where most of the 78,000 deaths from Cyclone Nargis occurred. Another 56,000 were missing.

“The U.N. and all the international community stand ready to help to overcome the tragedy,” said Mr. Ban, adding: “The main purpose of my being here is to demonstrate my solidarity.” But activists also called on Mr. Ban to meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and seek her release. “This crisis has highlighted the desperate need for democratic and accountable government in Burma [Myanmar],” said the Burma Campaign UK in a statement. As Mr. Ban began his visit, foreign aid agencies and Myanmar’s citizens stressed the need to quickly reach survivors. “In 30-plus years of humanitarian emergency work this is by far the largest case of emergency need we’ve ever seen,” said Lionel Rosenblatt, president of the U.S.-based Refugees International. “And yet right offshore, right here in Thailand, we have the means to save these people.” — AP