01/01/2005

The New York Times reports that President Bush is increasing emergency aid to stricken areas of Asia to $350 million from $35 million and that Secretary of State Powell will be visiting the region.

They report, "Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that he thought the visit by Mr. Powell would help to free up needed resources but said that it was a mistake not to include a high-level United Nations representative. 'We see in places like Aceh that they are still without any sort of relief presence yet and it may involve opening airports, bulldozing new airstrips and bringing in other help, and those are the kinds of problems that Powell can begin to solve with a phone call that would take the normal machinery days to turn around,' he said.

"'But I also think it is imperative to take a very senior member of the U.N. along,' he added, 'so that the U.N. leadership of the relief system remains intact and indeed enhanced.'"