Myanmar

Ban visits disaster area, junta prepares for more voting

Article published on the 2008-05-22 Latest update 2008-05-22 13:16 TU

Cyclone victims in a relief camp
(Photo: AFP)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Myanmar's military rulers have shown some "flexibility" over calls for increased international relief after Cyclone Nargis. Ban is visiting cyclone-hit areas. The military government is organising a vote in its constitutional referendum in the ravaged areas on Saturday.

As the first of ten World Food Programme helicopters arrived in the area hit by Cyclone Nargis, Ban made the first visit to Myanmar for four decades by a UN chief.

"I'm quite confident we will be able to overcome this tragedy. I've tried to bring a message of hope to your people," he said as he visited the country's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda, in Yangon.

Myanmar officials say he will visit Bogolay and Labutta, two of the worst-hit towns.

He has already met Prime Minister Thein Sein and expressed frustration over "the inability of the aid workers to bring assistance at the right time to the affected areas".

Ban is due to meet top military ruler Than Shwe, whom he had difficulty contacting before the trip, on Friday.

Polling in the constitutional referendum, which was postponed in the disaster area when the rest of the country voted on 10 May, will now take place on Saturday.

The government has already declared 92.4 per cent of its proposals.