New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to
hold talks with Myanmar's military government on Wednesday in Yangon
and will co-chair with ASEAN the pledging conference by the
international community also to be held in that city next weekend,
the United Nations announced Monday.
Ban, who has been unusually outspoken over the last week about
Myanmar's refusal to allow outside help in, was to leave New York
Tuesday and arrive in Yangon on Wednesday for meeting with Myanmar's
senior government officials, spokesperson Michelle Montas said.
'The secretary general was invited to come,' Montas said, adding
that the invitation was forwarded to Ban by Myanmar's UN ambassador.
Following the talks in Yangon, Ban will be in Bangkok for
discussion with Thai officials on the Myanmar situation and then
return to Yangon on Sunday for the UN-ASEAN conference, which was
designed to scale up relief activities that have been so far
restricted by the military junta in Myanmar.
The UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have
urged governments to send ministers to the meeting in Yangon, hoping
that their presence would increase pressure on Myanmar to open its
doors to international relief aid and workers.
The junta had let the top UN emergency humanitarian coordinator,
John Holmes, visit the delta on Monday for the first time while it
still refused to allow more international relief workers into the
country.
The unusual move by the two organizations was announced following
the meeting in Singapore this past weekend by ASEAN in Singapore.
The UN said in New York that UN-ASEAN pledging conference on May
25 will be in 'recognition of the outpouring of international
solidarity and support for alleviating the devastating impact of
Cyclone Nargis on Myanmar, and the widespread suffering caused to its
people.'
'The conference will focus on the needs of those affected by the
cyclone, and seek international support and financial assistance for
the international humanitarian response to meet the most urgent
challenges, as well as longer term recovery efforts,' the UN said.
Both the UN and ASEAN urged the international community 'to rise
to the occasion and translate their solidarity and sympathy into
concrete commitments to help the people of Myanmar emerge from the
tragedy and rebuild their lives.'
At the weekend's ASEAN conference in Singapore, Myanmar's foreign
minister informed that Cyclone Nargis caused over 10 billion
US dollars in damage to the empoverished nation ruled by the military
for more than four decades.
Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said at a news conference
in Singapore that Myanmar's needs are 'enormous,' both for the
immediate relief and rescue and the full recovery for the country's
economy.
'They have many needs, not only for food and clean water, but many
homes have been lost,' Yeo said. He cited those needs range from
galvanized iron sheets for shelter to new schools and infrastructure.
Yeo said the 10-member ASEAN countries will be represented by
foreign ministers at the UN-ASEAN meeting in Yangon. He urged other
governments outside of ASEAN to send high-ranking officials if their
foreign ministers cannot attend.
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