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The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, has told The Irrawaddy in a New York interview that he hopes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon can persuade the regime to grant access to international relief workers.

Question: The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is in Burma. What do you expect from his visit?

Zalmay Khalilzad

Answer: The most important thing of course is to open up the (Irrawaddy) delta area to more assistance for him to get a clear understanding to the maximum extent possible of the needs of the people that have been affected by the cyclone and to then convince the government in Burma that the assistance that is needed is allowed to get to the people. I am not only talking about the commodities that are needed but also people, experts who can assist and also transportation needs being able to get the material to the affected areas. There has been progress in recent days and we welcome that, but there is a sense that we all have that much more is needed; therefore the secretary-general has spoken on this himself, that he would do what he can to make sure that the needed assistance gets to the affected people.

Q: The day before yesterday, at a congressional hearing, the Burmese Prime Minister in exile, Sein Win, said there is no time left for diplomatic options and pursuing them means leaving people to die. He asked the international community and the US in particular for help. Do you agree with his views?

A:  Of course, we want to help and we have been helping. Now, on an average five [US] planes have been flown in to assist and we have been pleased also that some of the flights that have gone in and the assistance has been delivered and directly to the NGOs who operate in the area. We have been concerned that what is necessary, what is needed, has not yet reached the people because the quantity of need is higher than the quantity of the assistance so far. That is why we have urged the government in Burma to remove any and all restrictions on commodities and on people and on logistical assistance that is being provided. That is why we have spoken clearly and repeatedly on this issue and I have worked with others in the region, with the UN, with the international community at large, to encourage the government in Burma to allow the needed assistance to get to the affected people. Nobody would want a situation in which people who could have been saved, could have been helped, lose their lives because assistance was not allowed to get to them in a timely manner.

Q: How long do you think that the diplomatic option would continue to be relied upon, while people continue to die there?

A: Of course, we use various channels, to keep pressing for the needed assistance to get there. And as I said, it's our view that there have been some positive moves in recent days, but a lot more needs to be done. So, therefore, we are pleased that the secretary- general is there, we are pleased that Mr Holmes and his team was also allowed to go and look at the affected area and we want to see more done to open up the area for the international community to provide the necessary assistance.

Q: What are the other things that the US would like to see done by the Burmese military junta?

A: What we’d like to see happen with regard to the humanitarian situation is access to the international community to those who can help—the NGOs, the governments, the UN; access for people, access for goods, and access for transportation. We are also happy to hear that some UN helicopters from the World Food Program have been allowed to transport goods to the affected areas. More is needed with regard to that. This is a humanitarian issue and we want to make sure that those who can be saved are saved and those who are in need of help are helped. As for our concern with regard to the future of Burma, they are well known but at this point, we are focused on humanitarian assistance.