Former Norwegian diplomat Jan Egeland Thursday questioned the delay in channelling relief aid to the cyclone victims in Myanmar, DPA reported. Egeland, who from 2003 to 2006 was head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said he feared "many more would perish" in Myanmar over the delay, he told public broadcaster NRK. The UN and others should analyse the chain of events to see if the UN could possibly have "earlier put more pressure" on the military rulers to allow relief shipments, Egeland said. After the devastating 2004 tsunami that impacted South Asia it took five, six days before the relief arrived, Egeland said, noting that now it might even be "even later, arriving day 10, 15 or possibly 20" days after the Myanmar cyclone. "Many will have perished due to injuries that have not been treated and infections," he said. Egeland in September 2007 assumed the post as director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).
