U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon headed to southeast Asia on Wednesday on a mission to secure more help for cyclone victims in Burma, whose military rulers have finally granted an aid agency the use of helicopters to deliver supplies.
Before leaving New York, Ban said he hoped to meet reclusive junta supremo Than Shwe, who emerged from his bunker-like new capital 250 miles (390 km) north of Yangon to see the destruction for himself and meet victims - two weeks after the disaster.
Diplomats say his rare appearances in public in the recent days could be a sign of the top brass realising the enormity of the destruction of Cyclone Nargis, one of the worst to hit Asia with nearly 134,000 people dead or missing.
The U.N. says up to 2.4 million people are struggling to survive in the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon.
The U.N. World Food Programme said the first of nine helicopters would arrive in Yangon on Thursday.
"These helicopters will provide critical life-saving capacity to bring urgently needed relief supplies to cyclone victims deep in the delta," spokesman Marcus Prior said.
With each day it appears the junta is making small, but in the case of one of the world's most closed countries, unprecedented concessions to foreign governments and relief agencies appealing for more access to victims in the devastated delta.
However, on the streets of Yangon there was little hope the visit of U.N. Secretary-General Ban makes much difference to the behaviour of a military that has ruled the country's 53 million people for the last 46 years with an iron grip.
"I'm not really sure whether there will be any impact. The authorities seem to be more conciliatory these days, but it could be all talk and no action," one 30-year-old Burmese relief volunteer said.
