UN Chief Says Myanmar to Allow in Aid Workers 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Myanmar’s ruling junta has now agreed to allow “all aid workers” into the country. Questions, however, remain as to how and when that is actually going to happen.

According to an article on the PBS website, Ban, visited Myanmar last week in an effort to get the country’s reclusive military leaders to allow international disaster assistance. Until last week, the junta has refused to allow foreign aid workers into the country.

“I had a very good meeting with Senior General Than Shwe and particularly on the aid workers. He has agreed to allow all the aid workers, regardless of nationality” into the country, Ban told the Associated Press.

However, according to PBS, even though the regime has granted an increasing number of visas to foreign workers, it has barred all but a handful of them from the hardest-hit region, the Irrawaddy delta.

“This is a significant step forward, and could be a turning point in the aid response,” Brian Agland, who heads the U.S.-based aid group CARE in Myanmar, told the AP. “We welcome the agreement that has been reached between the UN secretary-general and government authorities in Myanmar that will facilitate the immediate entry of emergency response experts.”

To read the full article, click here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/asia/jan-june08/myanmar_05-23.html