International conference pledging aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims

International conference pledging aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims
The Associated Press , Rangoon Sun, 05/25/2008 3:52 PM World
A 50-nation conference to pledge funds for survivors of Myanmar's cyclone convened Sunday after the country's xenophobic junta promised to open their doors to critically needed foreign assistance.
Myanmar's military regime was expected to call for US$10.7 billion in foreign funds. But donors were unlikely to dig deep into their pockets until they actually gain access to devastated regions from which foreigners had been earlier banned.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who obtained the open-door agreement from the ruling generals, flew back to Yangon from Bangkok, Thailand, to attend the conference of some 50 countries along with U.N. and non-governmental aid agencies.
After weeks of stubbornly refusing assistance, Myanmar's ruling generals told the United Nations they were now willing to allow workers of all nationalities to go into the devastated Irrawaddy delta to assess the damage.
The ability to make such assessments will be essential in winning aid pledges from potential donors in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.
And some agencies voiced concern about how the junta would implement the agreement.
Myanmar's generals have a long history of making promises to top U.N. envoys, then breaking them when the international spotlight on their country fades.
The world body has repeatedly failed to convince the military to make democratic reforms and to release opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose five-year period of house arrest expires this week.
Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, said Sunday there has been "no sign at all" that she would be released. He said a decision on whether to free her or continue her detention would probably come Monday.
Sunday's donor conference in Yangon was aimed at finally bringing desperately needed help to homeless and hungry survivors of the cyclone.
An estimate released Saturday by the U.N. said of the total 2.4 million people affected by the storm, about 42 percent had received some kind of emergency assistance. But of the 2 million people living in the 15 worst-affected townships, only 23 percent had been reached.
The United Nations has launched an emergency appeal for US$201 million. That figure will likely increase further once disaster relief experts are able to survey the Irrawaddy delta.
So far, the U.N. has received about US$50 million in contributions and about US$42.5 million in pledges in response to the appeal, said Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ban said Myanmar's ruling generals had told him international aid workers would be able "to freely reach the needy people," a pledge the junta has not publicly acknowledged.
He made the comments during a Saturday afternoon trip to China's earthquake zone. While touring earthquake-hit areas with Ban, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China would pledge US$10 million at Sunday's conference.
Ban later returned to Bangkok where he and the Thai prime minister inaugurated a new hub for relief efforts, a warehouse at the city's former international airport. Ban said authorities were planning two flights a day into Yangon.
The World Food Program - which has gotten the go-ahead for helicopter operations - and NGOs will also use this hub.
On the first flight from the hub Saturday, UNICEF sent three mobile water treatment plants, donated by a Norwegian church, that can produce 10,000 liters (2,600 gallons) of water a day to help 3,200 people.
"It will save lives," Ban said.
The junta's apparent concession came Friday after three weeks of blocking international relief efforts for cyclone survivors.
"I want to be optimistic, but I'm skeptical," said Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of U.S.-based Refugees International.
"The devil is going to be in the implementation."
Aid agencies said much needs to be clarified from Ban's meeting, ranging from logistical issues about when aid workers' visas will be granted to how long they will be allowed to stay in Myanmar and where they can work.
"We're hopeful that it means more foreign aid workers will go to the worst-affected areas," said Save the Children spokeswoman Kate Conradt. "We already have a number of expatriate staff in Yangon. They just can't leave the city."
Official estimates put the death toll at about78,000, with another 56,000 missing. Myanmar has estimated the economic damage at about US$11 billion (euro7 billion). (*) from www.thejakartapost.com