The top United Nations emergency humanitarian coordinator, John Holmes, is expected to travel to Myanmar to try to open up access for relief workers and international supplies for victims of Cyclone Nargis, a UN spokeswoman said Thursday, the dpa reported.Holmes is expected to fly to Myanmar with the World Food Programme in "five or six days" and has applied for a visa with the Myanmar authorities, said Michelle Montas.
"Essentially the trip is to open up access for more humanitarian aid to the delta" of Myanmar, Montas said.
The delta in southern Myanmar was hardest hit when Nargis inflicted a swath of destruction and deaths about two weeks ago.
Montas said Holmes was expected to receive the visa and the UN was studying a "suitable date" for him to go to Myanmar.
The option to dispatch Holmes was raised Wednesday when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and some Western countries, including those in the UN Security Council, to discuss the situation in Myanmar.
The UN had been complaining about the military government's lack of cooperation with the international community to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to victims of the cyclone.
ASEAN foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on Monday in Singapore to discuss problems in Myanmar.