A high-powered UN representative arrives in Rangoon today on what observers say is a bid to break the political deadlock in the country.
The United Nations' Under-Secretary of Asian Affairs, Alvaro de Soto, arrives in Burma two months after a far-reaching revamp of the ruling junta that should give it greater political flexibility.
Diplomats in Rangoon also said that Asia's economic collapse appeared to have drawn some attention away from a regime widely reviled for its human rights abuses and its refusal to hand over power to the leading opposition party after the population decisively rejected military rule in a 1990 general election.
'The regime has an opportunity to show that the reshuffle had some meaning. There is a window here for the generals to bend a little - indicate that some kind of political deal with the opposition is at least a possibility,' said a Western diplomat.
A clutch of the most reputedly corrupt members of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, as the junta styled itself, were sacked late last year and power concentrated in the hands of a four or five generals. The council was renamed the State Peace and Development Committee.
Analysts said the overhaul appeared to be a victory for the powerful intelligence chief, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, who, if certainly no liberal, is widely seen as smarter and potentially more flexible than most of his colleagues.