By Patrick Worsnip
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta agreed onFriday to admit cyclone aid workers "regardless ofnationalities" to the hardest-hit Irrawaddy Delta, abreakthrough for delivering help to survivors, U.N. officialssaid.
Western disaster experts, largely kept out of the delta andrestricted to the former capital Yangon, welcomed the news butwanted more details on the deal struck by U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and junta supremo Than Shwe.
"The general said he saw no reason why that should nothappen ... as long as they were genuine humanitarian workersand it was clear what they were going to be doing," a U.N.official with Ban said.
The U.N. chief and his aides, on a mission to help 2.4million left destitute by the storm that struck three weeksago, met Senior General Than Shwe for more than two hours inthe remote new capital of Naypyidaw.
Ban said Than Shwe had also agreed to allow the airport inYangon to be used as a logistical hub for distribution of aid,which is still only trickling in.
Asked whether the agreement on relief experts was abreakthrough, Ban replied: "Yes, I think so. He has agreed toallow all aid workers regardless of nationalities."
Later, at a news conference in Yangon, he said he hoped theagreement "can produce results quickly. Implementation is thekey."
Disaster experts say that unless the generals open theirdoors thousands more people in the Irrawaddy Delta could die ofhunger and disease, adding to the nearly 134,000 reportedkilled or missing in Cyclone Nargis.
World Vision, one of the few charities operating in Yangon,said any concessions from the junta were welcome, howeversmall.
"Any positive noises are better than nothing," spokesmanJames East said in the Thai capital, Bangkok. "We arecautiously optimistic. The critical thing is access to thedelta."
POLITICS AS USUAL
Ban was accompanied to Naypyidaw, 250 miles (390 km) northof Yangon by reporters from international media, a rareconcession from the reclusive junta, which is under tougherWestern sanctions for cracking down on pro-democracy protestslast year.
On the political front, the government was going ahead onSaturday with a referendum on an army-drafted constitution inYangon and the Irrawaddy Delta.
The plebiscite was held in the rest of the country on May10 despite the disaster, with a "yes" vote of 92.4 percentafter citizens were repeatedly told to approve a constitutionthat is part of the military's "roadmap to democracy".
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San SuuKyi, under house arrest for the last five years, voted onFriday when officials visited her central Yangon house tocollect her ballot paper, a source at the local electoralcommission said.
For the meeting with the top U.N. diplomat, 75-year-oldThan Shwe wore his habitual dark green shirt, open at the neck,laden with medals and decorations befitting a man who has spent55 years in the former Burma's all-powerful army.
"We got the impression that the man in control is prettysharp," one U.N. official said.
When his aides suggested that maybe too many concessionswere being made, Than Shwe butted in: "I don't see a problem."
The junta has accepted relief flights into Yangon from manycountries, including the United States, its fiercest critic.But it rejected offers of French and American ships deliveringaid.
U.N. officials said the ships were "a very sensitive ideafor them -- any suggestion they should dock".
Than Shwe said Myanmar was open to receiving reliefsupplies and equipment from civil ships and small boats.
Ban saw the extent of the disaster for himself on Thursday,flying in a helicopter over flooded rice fields and destroyedhomes in the delta, the former "rice bowl of Asia" that borethe brunt of the storm and its 12 foot (3.5 metre) sea surge.
Ban will attend a joint U.N. and Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) donor-pledging conference in Yangon onSunday. However, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan saidcountries would be reluctant to commit money until they areallowed in to assess the damage for themselves.
(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley in Bangkok; Writing byGrant McCool; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
