Cyclone aid conference in Burma

Cyclone aid conference in Burma

Delegates from more than forty countries and regional organisations are gathering in Burma, to pledge aid following Cyclone Nargis.

Only a quarter of the 2.5m affected have received help, the UN says

At a donor conference in Rangoon, the Burmese military government is expected to ask for a total of nearly eleven billion dollars to fund relief work.
The conference is being sponsored jointly by the United Nations and the South-East Asian regional organisation, ASEAN.

On Friday, the Burmese authorities gave a verbal promise that they would lift restrictions on access by foreign aid workers to the area worst affected by the cyclone, the Irrawaddy Delta.
But correspondents say many countries are reluctant to pledge more aid without clear-cut assurances.
Cyclone Nargis is estimated to have left more than 130,000 people dead or missing.

In the aftermath of the cyclone, many people are less interested in the voting, say local peopole

Meanwhile Burma's military government has pushed ahead in cyclone hit areas with a delayed vote on a new constitution that would legitimise military rule - the rest of the country voted on May 10th - though state media said the delayed vote could not reverse its reported approval.