New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday he planned to talk with donor countries and Asian governments about increasing the level of relief aid to Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis victims. Ban said Myanmar's military government has shown "some sense of flexibility (but) at this time, it's far, far too short."
"The magnitude of this situation requires much more mobilization of resources and aid workers," Ban told reporters.
He planned to meet with envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in New York to work out what he called "concrete measures" to help the cyclone victims, only a fraction of whom had received aid about two weeks after Nargis struck and according to government figures killed more than 34,000 people with more than 27,000 still missing. The UN and other observers have said the death toll could top 100,000.
The UN Security Council, divided between some Western members who wanted forceful action to assist Myanmar and Asians who opposed UN intervention in a humanitarian crisis, had not publicly responded to requests for urgent meetings on Myanmar.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday urged the council to hold an "emergency summit" over the coordination of international aid supplies to the cyclone victims.
Brown told parliament in London that he hoped the summit would be held "almost immediately" while indicating that Britain would continue to put pressure on countries which had so far blocked a UN Security Council meeting on Myanmar.
"We will not rest in our determination to get a concerted international response," said Brown.
Britain holds the current rotating presidency of the council in May, but its ambassador, John Sawers, cannot call for an urgent meeting unless nine of the 15 council members agree to it. China in particular is against even discussing a natural disaster by the council.
