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R E G I O N: New Delhi rejects Annan’s bid to visit tsunami-hit south

* India in no mood to have a high-profile international visitor

NEW DELHI: India rejected a request by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit tsunami-hit areas of the country, fearful such a trip would interfere with relief efforts, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

India, which has insisted it is capable of dealing with the immediate task of relief without international help, has had no stream of high-profile visitors unlike other nations affected by the December 26 catastrophe. “India politely turned down a request last week from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit Tamil Nadu,” The Indian Express said.

Annan wanted to see India’s relief work in southern Tamil Nadu state which has had the most number of deaths with 7,960 fatalities out of the country’s 10,136 total, the newspaper said.

Some 5,630 people are still missing and feared dead, mainly in India’s far-flung Andaman and Nicobar islands. But the government, which has been discouraging its own ministers from travelling to tsunami-affected areas “was in no mood to have a high-profile international visitor like Kofi Annan adding to the burden of the local administration,” The Indian Express said.

There was no comment immediately available from the United Nations or the New Delhi government on the report. Annan, who has visited tsunami-wrecked regions in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives, was headed on Tuesday for a UN-convened international conference meeting to be held this week to discuss aid commitments to tsunami-hit nations.

New Delhi turned down offers of international tsunami aid, saying it had the resources to deal with the destruction and wanted foreign relief to be directed to countries in greater need. At the same time India has said it will seek funds from global financial institutions for longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction.

With India pressing for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, New Delhi has been keen to show itself as a regional power rather than a victim and has dispatched aid to other countries hit by the tsunamis. Pushed by unprecedented global sympathy for victims of the Asian disaster, the meeting being convened under UN auspices in Geneva Tuesday will seek to ensure the generous pledges of aid find their way to those most in need.

About 250 representatives of governments, aid agencies and the nations hit by the disasters are expected to attend the conference chaired by UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland. afp

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