Outrage over Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest will not detract from relief work, key donors said, as the United Nations on Wednesday reported small gains in getting aid to cyclone survivors.
The military regime quietly informed the Nobel Peace Prize winner that she would spend another year confined to her home in Yangon, where she has been locked away for most of the last 18 years.
The decision came just two days after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left Myanmar following a donor conference that generated tens of millions of dollars in aid pledges in response to the cyclone that left 133,000 dead or missing.
Ban said that while he regretted the extension, Myanmar appeared "to be moving in right direction" with cyclone relief by allowing some international aid workers into the most devastated regions of Irrawaddy Delta.
That region had been sealed off to foreigners for three weeks after the storm, even though 2.4 million people were in desperate need of food, shelter and medicine.
During Ban's visit here, he convinced junta leader Than Shwe to give foreign disaster experts access to the region so that aid agencies can mount a full-scale aid effort.
"I hope that this marks a new spirit of cooperation and partnership between Myanmar and the international community," he said, adding that he planned to return to the country soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment