AFP - 2 hours 8 minutes agoWA****NGTON, May 14, 2008 (AFP) - The ASEAN
group said Wednesday it would lead an international "coalition of
mercy" to provide assistance to cyclone-hit Myanmar.
"We are now trying to build what we call a coalition of mercy because
nothing else has worked," Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said in Wa****ngton.
"There is a consensus emerging now that ASEAN has to take the lead and
ASEAN has risen to the occasion," he told a forum of the Council on
Foreign Relations.
Surin said Myanmar's military junta had already agreed to issue visas
to an ASEAN rapid *****sment team, with some officials already on the
ground and more expected to enter the reclusive nation soon.
"It is the beginning. With help and encouragement, we will accomplish
our task," he said.
The government of Myanmar, which is an ASEAN member, has come under
fire across the globe for refusing to allow foreign aid experts into
the country to distribute badly needed relief supplies following the
devastating May 2-3 storm.
Even ASEAN teams have not been welcomed.
The disaster has left around 62,000 dead or missing and British
minister Douglas Alexander said re****ts from agencies on the ground
indicated the number could rise above 200,000.
Aside from Myanmar, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singa****e, Thailand and Vietnam.
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