BANGKOK (AFP) — The US government's relief arm Friday welcomed news that Myanmar's reclusive junta would give access to foreign aid workers, with a spokeswoman saying it was "very promising" for cyclone survivors.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said after meeting junta leader Than Shwe in Myanmar's new capital Naypyidaw that the secretive senior general would allow in all aid workers "regardless of nationalities".
Rebecca Gustafson, a USAID media officer, told AFP that they were looking into the details of the statement.
"We've been working to try and get aid to the people as quickly as we can and it would be great news if we could get international relief workers on the ground as well," she said from Bangkok.
"It sounds very promising and we hope that it turns out that we can actually get the DART (Disaster Assistance Response Team) in as soon as possible to assist, so that we can get aid to the people as rapidly as possible.
"Obviously we have a vast capacity within the US government to assure that aid gets to people as quickly as possible, and we want to make sure we can help do that with the international community," she said.
Gustafson said the four US navy ships loaded with supplies were still waiting off the coast of Myanmar, ready to rush aid to about two million survivors if they got the green light from the junta.
The United States, a fierce critic of Myanmar's military regime, has been flying supplies into Yangon airport since May 12, and the junta recently gave permission for a US government relief expert to enter the cyclone-hit areas.
But it has rebuffed offers of US military aid, saying in state media Wednesday that they did not need aid from US warships and military helicopters as there were "strings attached ... not acceptable to the Myanmar people."
The United States has said that all its aid to the country is unconditional.
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