UNITED NATIONS - A frustrated U.N. chief said Wednesday he secured support from Myanmar, its neighbors and key donors Wednesday to increase the flow of cyclone relief aid and to convene a possible donors' conference this month.
With the U.N. warning of a second wave of deaths among up to 2.5 million who survived Cyclone Nargis, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed sponsoring a "high-level pledging conference" where other concerns also could be discussed.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the idea was generally met with enthusiasm — and that many of the meeting's participants said Myanmar must lift its restrictions against freely distributing relief aid.
"It was a brainstorming session," said Myanmar's U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe. "Secretary-General came out with a number of important proposals, and everybody in the room (is) going to study it." But he stressed that the crisis "must not be politicized."
The U.N. already has collected three-quarters of the almost $200 million aid goal it set earlier, but would probably seek far more than that at such a conference.
"In view of the magnitude of this crisis, much more needs to be done," Ban told reporters after a nearly two-hour meeting behind closed doors. "Myanmese ambassador has assured that the Myanmese government will do all to assist."
Ban said he also was considering sending his top emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes, to Myanmar aboard a U.N. World Food Program plane carrying relief supplies to help try to speed up the delivery of that aid to people in Myanmar.
"There was some concern expressed that, while this will be a humanitarian crisis, if we are not able to address this issue in a proper way — reaching those people in need — then it may create inevitably some kind of political issues," Ban said.
Estimates of the impact of the May 3 cyclone vary widely. U.N. officials say that Myanmar's military government has now confirmed that 38,491 are dead and 27,838 missing.
The U.N. says the death toll could exceed 100,000, while the International Red Cross now estimates it is between 68,833 and 127,990.
Wednesday's meeting was called for key donor nations and included representatives of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the five permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, France, the United States, China and Russia — and of India, Bangladesh, Australia and Japan.
India's U.N. Ambassador Nirupam Sen said Myanmar has begun providing more access.
"The situation today is not what it was a few days ago, so there is a change," he said. "The access is already there. There may be an argument about how fast it is proceeding."
Earlier Wednesday, Ban said he spoke with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who proposed that the U.N. convene an emergency summit on Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma, and that Ban possibly visit the country.
On Monday, Ban toughened his comments on Myanmar, saying he felt deep frustration with what he called the junta's "unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis."
Ban, keeping up the pressure Wednesday, said he still had not been able to arrange direct talks with Myanmar's junta chairman, despite repeated calls and letters.
At a separate news conference with reporters, Holmes, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the U.N. had raised its estimate of survivors still in need of food, shelter and other emergency aid to between 1.6 million and 2.5 million. U.N. agencies and other groups say they have been able to reach only 270,000 people so far.
He criticized the government's "total blockage" of international relief workers in the disaster area. He called the situation "extremely regrettable and unacceptable."
The U.N. has applied for visas for about 100 U.N. international staff in Myanmar, and close to 40 have been granted, Holmes said. International staff of non-governmental groups have obtained at least 46 visas, he said, while Myanmar's immediate neighbors — Thailand, Bangladesh, India and China — have been allowed to send in 160 humanitarian workers.
