The leader of Burma’s ruling junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, has finally agreed to allow in “all aid workers” after meeting with the head of the United Nations in the country’s capital, Naypyidaw. But given the regime’s history of mistrust towards non-governmental organizations and UN agencies, most greeted the news with cautious optimism.

“I had a very good meeting with the Senior General and particularly on these aid workers,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “He has agreed to allow all aid workers regardless of nationalities.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (L) met with Burma’s junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe on Friday in Naypyidaw. (Photo: AP)

Ban Ki-moon also said it was “an important development” that Than Shwe agreed to make Rangoon the logistics center of the aid operation.

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), called the news a positive step, provided the junta keeps its promises.

“We will be very glad if that news comes true,” Nyan Win, a spokesman for the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Friday. “But the good news should have come for survivors immediately after the cyclone hit the country. Now it has been three weeks.”

Several Bangkok-based aid workers who were waiting to get a visa to enter Burma also responded cautiously to the announcement, noting that the regime has a history of not keeping its promises.

Foreign aid workers already inside Burma need permission to travel outside of Rangoon—another hurdle that will need to be cleared before an effective response to the disaster is possible.

But some Burma watchers regarded Than Shwe’s decision to allow foreign aid workers into the country—after weeks of refusing to even respond to telephone calls from the UN secretary general—as a genuine concession.

Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst, said that Than Shwe needed to make a compromise after facing weeks of unrelenting pressure.

He said that this pressure was both internal and external, leaving the junta’s top general with no other choice than to end his resistance to calls for a larger international aid effort.

“I heard even Burmese military officials are displeased with the junta’s poor relief distribution system in the delta region and slow response to international aid,” he said.

Many local Burmese aid workers who have been to delta region said that doors that have been opened slightly can just as easily be closed again. “This is the nature of the Than Shwe regime,” they said.

Larry Jagan, a British journalist who writes on Burma affairs, said he was rather doubtful that Ban Ki-moon’s remark represented a major breakthrough.

“I cannot believe that Snr-Gen Than Shwe is going to allow thousands of foreigners to delta region,” he said.

Some analysts said that Than Shwe may be worried about the possibility of the Burma issue being raised again at the UN Security Council.

France said on Thursday that it would push for a Security Council resolution authorizing the aid delivery to Burma’s cyclone victims “by all means necessary” if pressure from Ban Ki-moon and neighboring countries doesn’t work.

The French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said that France will wait to hear from Ban Ki-moon and John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, as well as from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to see if there is any concrete progress on the issue of access to the victims.

“If not, we will have to go back to the Security Council,” said the ambassador.