Visa Formalities Holding Up UN Team

Burmese visa formalities are holding up UN efforts to rush emergency aid to victims of Saturday’s disastrous cyclone, a UN official said in New York.

A UN “disaster assessment” team and a group of experts was waiting in Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, for clearance to travel to Burma, said Rashid Khalikov, director of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in New York.

"We hope that the [Burmese] Government would understand the requirements of international assistance, in terms of easing up regulations for visa applications, as well as for relief supplies to cross the customs borders of the country," Khalikov told reporters.

The issue of visas and the smooth transportation of relief aid had been taken up at the highest level, Khalikov said. There had been a meeting with the Burmese Ambassador to the UN, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had written to junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

The Burmese government was being urged to “change and adapt” regulations governing the movement of UN staff to meet the current emergency, Khalikov said.

The OCHA also announced that the UN has made available an initial sum of US $5 million from its central emergency relief fund to finance emergency relief.

UNICEF field staff in Burma had started delivering emergency supplies to stricken areas of the Irrawaddy delta, a UN spokesman said. Laputta Township, where thousands died, had been supplied with essential drugs, first-aid kits and oral rehydration tablets.

Khalikov said the UN country team in Burma had reported a critical need for food, water purification and cooking equipment, mosquito nets, emergency health kits and plastic sheeting.

The OCHA estimated that hundreds of thousands of people needed help, he said.