After a fortnight of rejecting foreign aid Burma's military dictatorship is showing signs of giving ground after pressure from inside and outside the isolated country.

Outspoken criticism from foreign governments at the junta's neglect of the victims of Cyclone Nargis has combined with a grassroots movement of citizen aid workers to create the most serious challenge to the Government since the democracy protests in September. Convoys of aid organised by Buddhist monks, opposition activists, Burmese companies and actors are underlining the inadequacy of the aid effort mounted by the authorities.

Despite the relentlessly upbeat and sanitised coverage of the disaster in the state media, footage showing the devastation and human suffering inflicted by the storm is being sold covertly. Local aid workers tell stories of members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a state-run organisation, raging against the indifference of the Government.

“Now's the time for the opposition to organise, while people are feeling so angry,” a Burmese journalist said.

The Burmese junta is one of the most uncompromising dictatorships in the world, confident in the power of its troops to suppress dissent at home. But in the past two days a series of announcements has been made, which seem designed to portray the Government as sensitive.

Twenty-four hours after China made the same gesture for victims of its earthquake, the junta announced three days of mourning. The day before, Than Shwe, the country's Senior General, made his first trip to the Delta to console the victims. He will also receive Ban Ki Moon, the Secretary-General of the UN, on Thursday. Mr Ban will press him to accept more aid under a framework organised by the Association of South-East Asian Nations, of which Burma is a member.

The focus on aid has distracted from politics, particularly from the referendum on a “democratic” constitution, which was held ten days ago. When it was announced that the Government had won an unbelievable 92.4 per cent of the vote it went almost without comment.

“This military Government will never kneel down,” Zarganar, a comedian, who is organising aid convoys, said. “But through all this, the people of the world came to know the character of this Government.”

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