Aid agencies still in the dark after relief pledge

Relief workers who joined international delegations at the conference in Myanmar’s main city Yangon said many important questions remain unanswered, including how the ASEAN regional bloc would coordinate the relief effort.

“This system of ASEAN — I wonder how that will work,” Frank Smithuis of Doctors Without Borders said after the conference.

“The details... that’s key of course,” he told AFP. “It was not clear and I don’t think it will be clear in the next couple of days.”

Myanmar has agreed to allow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to coordinate an expanded aid programme.

ASEAN, the United Nations and Myanmar have formed what they call a “core group” that is meant to clear any obstacles to the relief effort.

But the details remain murky.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said it still didn’t know if their international staff would be allowed into the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, despite assurances given by the regime to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“One of the things they’re there to do is get clarification on the announcement from Ban Ki-moon,” said the group’s spokesman in Bangkok, John Sparrow.

“At this moment, there hasn’t been any change in the situation,” he added, saying he was cautiously optimistic.

The U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, said it had received permission to send six foreign aid workers to the delta.

“We have enough assurances to the point that they can leave tomorrow,” spokesman Michael Bociorkiw said.

Aid agencies say more than half of the 2.4 million people severely affected by Cyclone Nargis remain in need of emergency help. Myanmar’s government has said its focus was now on reconstruction, which it claims will cost 10.7 billion dollars.

It has listed a remarkably detailed picture of its needs — saying 1,614,502 chickens and 665,271 ducks had perished among others — but donors and aid agencies say the figures must be checked.

“These numbers, I would be very cautious,” said Smithuis.

“The U.N. says so many people have been reached but nobody knows how many have been reached by the authorities, which makes it very difficult to find out what’s going on.”

Latest official figures say 133,000 people were dead or missing as a result of Cyclone Nargis, which destroyed large swathes of the country May 23.

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