May 16, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

UNITED NATIONS: To underscore sense of urgency to send help to Myanmar UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said he will send the organisation’s highest ranking aid official to the country to boost efforts to tackle the crisis caused by Cyclone Nargis.

Ban said there was “a sense of great urgency”, and that much more needed to be done in Myanmar. “The first few days, even a few more hours, will be crucially important in reaching these needy people with the necessary relief items and humanitarian goods,” he said in New York on Wednesday. He said that he is considering sending Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes to Myanmar in the coming days.

Ban was speaking following his meeting with members of Asean, the Association of South-east Asian Nations, on the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

He said that they discussed appointing a joint UN/Asean humanitarian coordinator, as well as establishing a regional hub for aid supplies outside Myanmar and also holding a high-level pledging conference.