U.N. says up to 2.5 million affected in Myanmar cyclone

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - The United Nations estimated those affected by the Myanmar cyclone at up to 2.5 million on Wednesday and called an urgent meeting of big donors and Asian states as the Myanmar junta continued to limit foreign aid.

The European Union's top aid official said the military government's restrictions were increasing the risk of starvation and disease.

U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes told reporters that there were now between 1.6-2.5 million people who were "severely affected" by Cyclone Nargis and urgently needed aid, up from a previous estimate of at least 1.5 million people.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said after a two-hour meeting in Yangon, where he urged his counterpart Thein Sein to ease visa rules for relief workers, that he was told Myanmar could "tackle the problem by themselves."

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has expressed frustration over the response by Myanmar's reclusive leaders, met key donor states and Asian powers to discuss "what kind of concrete measures we can do from now on."

"Even though the Myanmarese government has shown some sense of flexibility, at this time it is far, far too short," he said. "The magnitude of this situation requires much more mobilization of resources and aid workers."

Among those invited were the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, India, Bangladesh, Australia and Japan.