NEW YORK: The United Nations has expressed its "disappointment and frustration" at the limited access to Myanmar where some 1.5 million victims of Nargis cyclone are in desperate need of relief supplies and warned that more people will die due to this crisis.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was making efforts to reach Myanmar's senior General Than Shwe by telephone to urge him to remove obstacle in the way of delivery of relief supplies and allow aid workers immediate access to help people threatened by disease because of lack of clean drinking water and sanitation as also food. "I am concerned that if we lose time at this very critical time, then many more people will die because of this crisis," Ban said in a statement.

Ban said he has been "urging the authorities of Myanmar to be flexible in opening their boundaries" so that aid workers can enter. The United States officials too were expressing concern over delay in reaching aid to the victims. Four Naval ships, including destroyer USS Mustin and three vessel Essex Expeditionary Strike Force, were moving towards Myanmar for the gulf of Thailand but it was yet unclear whether Washington would try to airdrop supplies without consent of Myanmar.

As some reports coming out of Myanmar suggested that the military junta ruling the country might be wary of foreigner coming into country at a time when referendum on the new constitution is being held, UN officials, including Ban, suggested postponing the vote to a later date. Reports had suggested that the government plans to hold the referendum in unaffected areas and postpone in the areas devastated by cyclone Nargis.

PTI At the UN headquarters, France stood isolated in its effort to raise the issue in the 15-member Security Council with at least eight members strongly opposing even issuance of a statement on the issue, arguing that it is not a threat to international peace and security and hence out of the mandate of the Council.

Diplomats said given the opposition, there is little chance of the Council dealing with the issue but Ban stressed the French effort was born out of frustration. American Ambassador to UN Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States is outraged by the slowness of the government of Burma to accept the aid and it is clear its ability to deal with the "catastrophic" situation is limited. Nargis, which made landfall in the Irrawaddy delta region, left tens of thousands of people dead in its wake and hundreds of thousands without shelter.

The storm, which also hit Myanmar's largest city Yangon, tore down trees and power lines and caused widespread flooding. "There's a real danger that an even worse tragedy may unfold if we cannot get the aid that's desperately needed in quickly," John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, told journalists. He said that while there had been a little bit of progress in gaining access to the country since he last briefed the press, much more was needed in terms of the granting of visas and easing of regulations, given the "increasingly desperate situation" on the ground.

"Frustrations have been growing that this humanitarian response is being held back because of difficulties of access in different ways," he said. Holmes reported that two members of the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team that is supposed to travel to Myanmar to coordinate relief efforts together with the national authorities are now in Yangon. However, two other members were not allowed in when they arrived "for reasons which we are still trying to establish."

Since, the authorities have agreed that customs charges and clearances should be waived for aid delivery, Holmes said, adding it is not clear whether that has been made fully operational on the ground. "I do appeal very strongly indeed to the Government of Myanmar both to step up their own relief efforts to help people on the ground and to change their attitude completely to the efforts that we are making to get these relief supplies in."

"Due to the scope of the disaster facing Myanmar, however, the Secretary-General believes that it may be prudent to focus instead on mobilizing all available resources and capacity for the emergency response efforts," Ban's spokesman said. In terms of humanitarian aid getting through, Holmes reported that the UN World Food Programme was able to get four flights containing relief supplies into Yangon.