The visit to Burma of a top-ranking UN official from Monday is being closely watched because it comes at a time when the country’s military rulers are restive at the role of the world body in pushing democracy. Jim Morris, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), is the most senior UN official to visit Burma since pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in May 2003. Suu Kyi, the world’s only Nobel laureate in detention, was first placed under house arrest after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the Burmese elections in 1990. Morris will visit the humanitarian agency’s projects in Burma, especially in northern Shan state where the UN has been supporting former poppy growers who lost their main livelihood when authorities banned opium production two years ago.

“The purpose of my trip is to review WFP humanitarian operations in Burma,” Morris told IPS in an interview. However, the trip comes at a sensitive time when most UN agencies and INGOs working inside the country have had their activities severely restricted by the military regime. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council named Burma among 54 governments and regimes that could face sanctions for recruiting child soldiers. International pressure also compelled the military regime to renounce this week Burma’s turn at chairing the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc, ASEAN, in 2006.

Over the past six months, volunteers have been prevented from visiting projects, especially in the ethnic border areas. Regional military commanders have been instructed to make it difficult for foreign workers to operate, especially in the border areas. Some three months ago several government ministries, including legal and financial departments, were ordered by the regime to prepare briefing papers on the effect and implications of a pullout by the International Labour Organisation which has charged the regime with failing to stop forced labour. A few months ago Burma’s top general Than Shwe asked a former Burmese ambassador to a European country whether Burma could withdraw from the UN, according to a source close to the senior general. When the diplomat replied in the negative Than Shwe reportedly flew into a rage. UN efforts to help broker political change in Burma are now in danger of being derailed. Both the UN special envoy for Burma, Razali Ismail, and the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, have been denied access

to Rangoon for well over 12 months. UN officials in New York have been seeking ways to revive the world body’s role in promoting democracy in Burma. A key initiative seems to be a possible visit to Rangoon by the UN secretary general. Than Shwe invited Kofi Annan to visit Burma when they met in Jakarta earlier this year. But the UN needs guarantees before the UN head contemplates any trip to Rangoon and these include an opportunity to meet Suu Kyi. — IPS