Top UN official tours Myanmar
19/05/2008 11:07  - (SA)  

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Yangon - Myanmar's military regime allowed a United Nations envoy into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour on Monday after barring almost all foreigners from the cyclone disaster zone for days, a UN official said.

John Holmes, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, flew by helicopter into an area where hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims suffer from hunger, disease and lack of shelter.

The UN official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media, said that after a few hours in the delta Holmes would meet with international aid agencies in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.

In what appeared to be a thaw in the junta's dealings with the United Nations, the government also gave permission for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to travel to the delta after his scheduled arrival in the country on Wednesday, UN spokesperson Michele Montas said in New York.

Earlier, junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe had refused to take telephone calls from Ban and had not responded to two letters from him, Montas said. Holmes, who arrived in Yangon on Sunday, was to deliver a third letter about how the UN can assist the government's immediate and long-term relief effort.

Medics, aid coming in

A team of 50 Chinese medics arrived in Yangon on Sunday night, following in the footsteps of medical personnel from India and Thailand, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. On Monday some 30 Thai doctors and nurses began working in the delta - exceptions to the regime's ban on foreign aid workers in the region.

The US-based disaster relief agency AmeriCares said the regime had cleared its initial 15-ton shipment of medicines and medical equipment into Myanmar.

A senior British official hinted on Sunday that a breakthrough may also be near that would allow foreign military ships to join the relief effort, but warnings grew of a potential second wave of deaths - this time among children who lack fresh water and proper shelter.

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