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Foreign aid agencies concerned over Myanmar

AP - Thursday, June 12

YANGON, Myanmar - International aid agencies expressed concern Wednesday over new and complicated guidelines established by Myanmar's government for carrying out assistance programs to victims of last month's cyclone.

The guidelines, distributed Tuesday by the government at a meeting with U.N. agencies and private humanitarian organization, would require a large amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with national and local government agencies.

The new guidelines require most activities by the foreign agencies to be cleared with not only the relevant government ministry and local authorities concerned, but also with the so-called Tripartite Core Group, comprising representatives of the government, U.N. agencies and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nation, ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member.

ASEAN helped establish the core group last month as a way of expediting assistance, though it has no independent authority.

Foreign aid organizations have faced a series of hurdles in trying to provide help for victims of the May 2-3 storm, starting with the government's reluctance to grant anything but a handful of visas to foreign helpers.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month traveled to Myanmar to meet with the chief of the ruling junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, who agreed to allow aid workers into the affected area "regardless of nationality," according to Ban. The general also agreed to allow the U.N. to bring in 10 helicopters to fly supplies to the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta.

Although the helicopters have been allowed in _ with some delay _ aid agencies say the government has continued dragging its feet over visa applications and allowing foreigners access to the most devastated areas.

The government's briefing paper setting out the guidelines complained that there had been a lack of coordination in aid efforts.

"Where there is no orderly and systematic distribution, it would thus lead towards duplication and uncoordinated activities should not take place in aid and assistance rendered to cyclone victims," it said.

Responding to the meeting announcing the guidelines, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the humanitarian community was expressing concerns that "additional steps for seeking approval may unnecessarily delay the relief response."

"The meeting was assured by the concerned ministries that this would not be the case and that delays would definitely not be a consequence of the approval process outlined," the IFRC said a report issued Wednesday.

The U.N. estimates that Cyclone Nargis affected 2.4 million people and that more than 1 million of them, mostly in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta, still need help. The cyclone killed at least 78,000 people, according to the government.

Although the government says the relief operations have now reached the post-emergency, recovery phase, aid agencies are concerned that many people still are lacking necessities.

"What we're concerned about is premature returns to areas where the services are not yet in a position to be used, to try and make sure we can reach people the best we can no matter where they are," said Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

France Hurtubise of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said providing shelter remains a priority. According to the organization, only 107,000 of some 341,000 households had received shelter kits, which are supposed to include two tarpaulins each.

Aid agencies project that tarpaulin supplies will fall short of demand in the coming weeks, in part because of the competing need for such supplies for victims of China's May 12 earthquake.

On Tuesday, a major operation was launched to assess the needs of storm survivors in a sign the junta is finally cooperating in international aid efforts five weeks after the cyclone buffeted the country.

Some 250 experts from the U.N., the government and Southeast Asian nations _ under the leadership of the Tripartite Core Group _ headed into the Irrawaddy delta Tuesday by truck, boat and helicopter for a village-by-village survey, the United Nations said.

Over 10 days, they will determine how much food, clean water and temporary shelter the 2.4 million survivors require, along with the cost of rebuilding houses and schools and reviving the agriculture-based economy.

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