Speaking to reporters, the UN humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said incidents of violence were not as widespread as reported in the media.

"The general security situation is calm and that was very much the impression we had ourselves when we were there yesterday," he said. "The tendency is to take an incident and assume that's happening all around the capital or that's the general situation. That is not the impression we have."

Six days after the earthquake, aid distribution is finally starting to ramp up, but not without tensions flaring up between individual countries and relief efforts. Over the weekend, the United States reportedly turned away French cargo planes, leading many to question whether the United Nations was in charge of operations.

Ban said he welcomed American support, especially in taking charge of the airport control tower, which was damaged in the earthquake. But the United Nations, he said, was undoubtedly the lead coordinator.

"There is no question about that," he said.

Holmes later acknowledged that there were problems in how flights were being prioritized but said that the United Nations created "a slot system" with clear priorities between all the different kinds of aid arriving.

"Lots of flights which wanted to land in Port-au-Prince at different times in the last few days have had to divert to Santa Domingo, including some humanitarian flights from the World Food Program and Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders), but usually they have been able to get in there a few hours later because the slots have been organized," he said.

The UN-led relief effort has been criticized as sluggish despite the sad fact that the world body suffered heavy losses itself -- the most in any single day -- with 46 staff confirmed dead, according to UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky, who noted that more than 500 were still missing.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2010)