The United Nations urgently needs to appoint a High Commissioner for Disaster and Relief. Our foreign affairs commentator Bernard Hammelburg believes a special UN commissioner could be very useful in a disaster like the one we have seen in Haiti this month.

At the Haiti conference in Montreal, Italian special envoy to Haiti, Guido Bertuloso, called the aid effort a vanity parade, says Mr Hammelburg. Of course, countries want to help, but it creates chaos rather than a smooth aid operation. All kinds of people rush to Haiti to show how good their country is.

A new high commissioner could decide exactly what was needed for any country in the world in the event of a disaster and make sure the best soldiers, tracker dogs, logistic support, food and aid are ready to go on his orders. That is the only way to avoid the almost hysterical scenes with countries and organisations getting in each other's way in a disaster area like this.