Burma junta claims visas granted to 911 disaster relief workers

"Altogether 911 persons have been permitted to enter the country from 5 May to 5 June," said The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece.

According to the newspaper, visas have been granted to 458 people working for the United Nations and non-governmental organisations, 357 to relief workers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) and 96 foreigners attending a UN-Asean donors meeting held last month.

Burma's ruling junta drew international criticism for failing to waive visas requirements for international aid workers in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, that left at least 133,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million in desperate need of emergency assistance.

A breakthrough of sorts was achieved by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on May 25 when he met with Burma junta chief Senior General Than Shwe and won a promise from the autocrat that he would allow "all" foreign experts to enter the country to assist the aid effort.

Later, the junta clarified that aid workers would be welcome providing they represented registered agencies that offered aid with "no strings attached."    

While there has been a marked improvement in access since Than Shwe's commitment, international aid agencies still complain that the process of being given travel permits to the Irrawaddy delta, the region hardest-hit by the cyclone, is time-consuming and unsystematic.

There are also complaints about the short duration of many visas and travel permits. dpa