General Ban Ki-moon is urging the Burmese government to [br] [originaltext]

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that hundreds of thousands of Burmese lives could be at risk unless the military government removes all restrictions on foreign aid following Cyclone Nargis a week ago. The UN has appealed for almost $200 million in aid. The Burmese ambassador to the UN said his country would accept help from any quarter. His government has said that it is not ready to allow in foreign search and rescue teams. But the UN’s Head of Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said he believed Burma could become more flexible after the constitutional referendum.
    "The pressure on them from everyone, from us of course, but also from many states around the world, including their friends in ASEAN, in China and India, they are all saying please be more open because there is no time to lose to get the aid in and I hope they will begin to listen." Holmes said.
    Polling in the referendum is now underway. In his BBC interview, Mr. Holmes described as naive suggestions that the UN and the aid organizations could impose help on Burma without the agreement of the government He said air-dropping supplies would be very much a last resort.