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.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a mission to help2.4 million left destitute by the storm that struck three weeksago, reached the agreement with junta supremo Than Shwe in ameeting lasting more than two hours in the remote capital ofNaypyidaw.
A United Nations official with Ban said foreign aid workerswhose movements have been restricted since the May 2 disaster,would be given access to the delta, not just Yangon, the formercapital and biggest city.
"The general said he saw no reason why that should nothappen...as long as they were genuine humanitarian workers andit was clear what they were going to be doing," the officialsaid.
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 due to the restrictions onforeign relief operations.
Asked by a reporter whether the agreement on relief expertswas a breakthrough, Ban replied: "Yes, I think so, he hasagreed to allow all aid workers regardless of nationalities."
Disaster experts say that unless the generals open theirdoors, thousands more people in the Irrawaddy Delta could dieof hunger 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."
Than Shwe was taking "quite a flexible position on thismatter", Ban told reporters who travelled with him, a rareconcession from the reclusive junta, which is under tougherWestern sanctions for cracking down on pro-democracy protestslast year.
STONY SILENCE
At the start of the meeting, the 75-year-old SeniorGeneral's stony-faced silence gave no clues as to whether hewould overcome deep suspicions of the outside world and grantthe U.N. chief his request.
He was in dark green trousers and a shirt covered withmilitary decorations -- as he was when he emerged this weekfrom Naypyidaw, 250 miles (390 km) north of Yangon, to inspectthe destruction, the army relief effort and to meet survivors.
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.
Government officials told him the situation was undercontrol, repeating a line in army-controlled media that theimmediate emergency relief phase of the disaster was over andit was time to look to reconstruction.
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.
He said the amount "depends on the level of confidence,which will require those factors -- accessibility,participation, and verifiability".
Myanmar, one of ASEAN's 10 members, has accepted reliefflights into Yangon from many countries, including the UnitedStates, its fiercest critic, but has largely kept Westerndisaster experts out of the delta.
Ban's visit was the talk of Yangon for people desperate forpolitical change after 46 years of unbroken military rule --especially given the U.N.'s abortive attempts to mediate afterSeptember's bloody crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks.
But people accepted his visit would not stray from itshumanitarian mission.
Sunday's conference coincides with the expiry of the latestyear-long detention order imposed on opposition leader andNobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under continuous housearrest for five years. Nobody expects her to be released.
(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley and Rob Taylor inBANGKOK; Writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Darren Schuettlerand Alex Richardson)
