Leading the one-day meeting, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said that the government was “moving fast in the right direction” and that he was confident Myanmar would honor the pledge, made to him on Friday by the leader of its military junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe….But he insisted that donors would need “unhindered access to the areas hardest hit by the disaster,” access that has been denied to most foreigners.
In the first public comment by the government since the pledge to Mr. Ban, Myanmar’s prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, appeared to confirm the new policy on access. “We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine good will from any country or organization, provided that there are no strings attached nor politicization involved,” he said.
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Bankok – Delegates from 52 donor nations meeting on Sunday in Myanmar pressed its government to make good on a promise to give foreign aid workers free access to millions of isolated cyclone survivors.
Leading the one-day meeting, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said that the government was “moving fast in the right direction” and that he was confident Myanmar would honor the pledge, made to him on Friday by the leader of its military junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Mr. Ban offered no details, according to reporters from news agencies who were permitted to accompany him in Myanmar.
“There is good reason to hope that aid to the worst affected areas of Myanmar will increase significantly in the coming days,” Mr. Ban said.
But he insisted that donors would need “unhindered access to the areas hardest hit by the disaster,” access that has been denied to most foreigners.
Several countries made preliminary pledges of more than $150 million in aid, The Associated Press reported, but most were contingent on gaining greater access.
Myanmar is asking for about $11 billion in reconstruction aid.
Asked at a news conference about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, whose year-to-year house arrest was expected to be extended soon, Mr. Ban said, “We must think about people just now, not politics.”
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who is the symbol of her people’s democratic aspirations, has been held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years. Until now, her freedom had been at the top of the agenda of the United Nations in its dealings with Myanmar.
Cyclone Nargis, which struck on May 3, left at least 134,000 people dead or missing. Three weeks later, only 23 percent of the two million people living in the hardest hit areas had been reached by aid, the United Nations said in a new assessment issued on Saturday.
Relief experts speak of a second disaster involving deaths from disease and lack of medical treatment should large-scale aid continue to be delayed.
In the first public comment by the government since the pledge to Mr. Ban, Myanmar’s prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, appeared to confirm the new policy on access. “We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine good will from any country or organization, provided that there are no strings attached nor politicization involved,” he said.
That invitation did not appear to include American, British and French naval ships that had been cruising off the Myanmar coast loaded with supplies, equipment and small boats.
The official news media in Myanmar has said no naval vessels would be permitted to deliver supplies. Over the past week, under an agreement with the government, American military aircraft have made 60 landings with relief supplies in Yangon, the country’s main city, but Americans arriving with the deliveries have been confined to the airport.
Americans took part in the conference and were among the parties seeking greater access for their aid workers.
At least one United Nations aid agency, Unicef, said there were signs that its foreign workers would be allowed to travel to the hard-hit countryside as early as Monday. Like most foreigners, the Unicef employees have been confined to Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
Until now, the military has mostly insisted that all aid go through its hands and has even confiscated supplies from residents who tried to distribute it.
Like some other relief agencies, including the Red Cross, Save the Children and World Vision, Unicef has been able to deploy local staff members in the affected areas and to deliver supplies, mostly those already stockpiled in the country.
But the groups say that foreign experts would bring crucial knowledge and experience to a huge and complex task.
About 500 delegates from donor nations attended the conference, headed jointly by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
A point of contention between Myanmar and potential donors is the nature of the emergency. The government asserts that the emergency phase of recovery is over, and it is asking for economic assistance to rebuild shattered towns, rehabilitate contaminated rice fields and replace livestock swept away by the storm.
But hundreds of thousands of survivors remain stranded without help. Mr. Ban emphasized that their basic needs remained unmet and said that he expected the relief effort to last several months.
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