IRIN
MYANMAR: Access to cyclone-hit delta eases
29 May 2008


BANGKOK, 29 May 2008 (IRIN) - Almost a month after cyclone Nargis hit
Myanmar, a small but increasing number of international aid workers is
now gaining access to the worst-affected Ayeyarwady Delta, aid agencies
report.

This follows a reversal of policy, which had effectively barred foreign
aid workers from travelling to the area, by the authorities last week.
The delta was devastated on 2 and 3 May, leaving at least 134,000 people
dead or missing.

"We have seen an improvement in terms of access to the delta for our
international staff," Veronique Terasse, a spokeswoman for Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF), which has 250 staff on the ground, including more than
a dozen international staff members, told IRIN in Bangkok on 29 May.

"There has been an easing," Daniel Collision, regional programme manager
for Save the Children UK, agreed, reporting that two of its
international staff members had been authorised for travel in the past
week alone, with five applications pending.

Access remains contentious issue

But more than three weeks on, as aid workers continue to struggle to
reach some 2.4 million cyclone survivors in need, the issue of access
remains contentious.

"The need for more experienced staff in the delta is and remains
critical," Terasse said.

On 25 May at the international donors conference in Yangon, the former
Burmese capital, many donors made the issue a pre-condition for millions
of dollars in cyclone assistance.

Other NGOs still report no improvement in their ability to access the
area.

"Our staff is not finding access to the field any easier than before,"
complained one aid worker, who asked not to be identified.

Entry process remains difficult

The process remains difficult, he said, with international aid workers
in Yangon wishing to travel to the field now obliged to apply to
respective ministries as well as the military. The application is then
sent to Myanmar's remote capital of Naypyidaw for approval - a process
that can take two or three days.

Moreover, most NGO workers are obliged to travel to the field with a
liaison officer, typically from the Ministry of Social Welfare, he
added.

Added to this is the uncertainty of the current atmosphere and the speed
at which the whole process is taking place.

"It is still too early to understand exactly what this new operational
environment means," Marcus Prior, a spokesman for the UN World Food
Programme, said.

"We would like to be getting access as quickly as possible for our
international staff," James East, a spokesman for World Vision, added.

Yet with so many aid workers now wishing to enter the delta, coupled
with the government's resolve to manage that process, it is difficult to
see that speeding up soon. NGOs or organisations that already had a
presence in the country appear to fare better in the application
process, while those not formally recognised by Myanmar struggle.

"We do not have an MoU [memo of understanding] so we are not
represented. We have zero access to the delta," Graham McKay, acting
regional director for Oxfam International, which is working through
international or national partners that do have access, confirmed.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International              web: www.cidi.org
.  Disaster Information          listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
.                              guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis           www.cidi.org/incident/myanmar-08e