'No time to lose' for cyclone-hit Myanmar

Yangon: Disaster relief officials said there was "no time to lose" to help Myanmar's cyclone survivors after the secretive military government promised the United Nations it would allow in more aid workers.

The junta, criticised for stalling a full-blown aid effort for 2.4 million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis three weeks ago, went ahead on Saturday with a referendum on an army-drafted constitution in cyclone-devastated areas.

Low turnout

Turnout was low in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta and areas in and around the former capital, Yangon, hit hard by the storm which left 134,000 people dead or missing.

In an apparent breakthrough to ramp up the international aid effort, junta leader Senior General Than Shwe assured U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that Myanmar would allow in aid experts "of all nationalities".

"We have no more time to lose, so it's imperative that the Myanmar authorities immediately provide the international community with the practical details of the agreement," European Union aid chief Louis Michel said.

Ban, who met Than Shwe in his isolated new capital of Naypyidaw said afterwards he hoped the deal on aid experts "can produce results quickly".

A 39-year-old Myanmarese aid worker who returned from abroad to help with the aid effort, was sceptical. "I'm worried that the government is going to tighten the regulations later on because they think they have given in enough," she said.

In Yangon yesterday, lines at polling stations were thin as many residents had voted in advance, officials said.

However, yesterday's vote will have little impact on the final result of the referendum.

The charter, which critics say will entrench military rule, won 92.4 per cent approval in a first-round vote on May 10 in parts of the country unscathed by the cyclone.