Bangkok  - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will go to cyclone-hit Myanmar this week to personally hand over a message from the head of the United Nations to Myanmar's ruling junta, the Thai foreign minister said Tuesday.

"Samak will go to Burma (Myanmar) tomorrow (Wednesday) to deliver a message from Ban Ki-moon," said Thai Foreign Minister Noppodon Pattama.

The Thai cabinet was scheduled Tuesday to approve 500,000 dollars in emergency aid for Myanmar, in addition to the 100,000 already pledged last week, and another
500,000 for China's earthquake victims.

UN chief Ban reportedly phoned Samak on Monday to ask for his assistance in persuading Myanmar's junta to allow more international aid workers and aid into Myanmar to speed up a multi-million-dollar disaster relief operation for the victims of Cyclone Nargis, which killed an estimated 100,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless.

It was not the first time for Samak to offer his services as middle-man between the international community and Myanmar's xenophobic generals.

Last Friday Samak announced plans to fly to Yangon to persuade the ruling junta to accept aid workers and supplies for the cyclone-devastated country from the United States, but he had to cancel the weekend visit when he heard that the junta "was not ready" to accept foreign aid workers.

Samak has cultivated warm relations with Myanmar's military rulers since coming to power in January. After a state visit in March, Samak described the ruling generals as "good Buddhists," months after they launched a crackdown on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks that left at least 31 people dead and the world appalled.

The international aid community has expressed growing frustration with Myanmar's military for throwing up unnecessary obstacles to a massive disaster relief programme for victims of Cyclone Nargis, which crashed into central Myanmar May 2 and 3, leaving an estimated 100,000 dead and up to 2 million desperately in need of food, water, shelter and medicine.

Thailand was the first country to fly in emergency aid into Yangon on May 8. The government proposed using a Thai military C-130 cargo plane to deliver US aid, but the offer was rejected by Myanmar authorities.

Instead, the junta has permitted the US to fly its own military C-130 flight with aid on board into Yangon from Thailand's U-Tapao military airbase. The first US aid delivered via Thailand was on Monday with a second planned Tuesday.

Thailand is one of Myanmar's main trading partners. Last year Thailand imported more than 2 billion dollars worth of natural gas from Myanmar, providing much-needed foreign exchange to the ruling regime. (dpa)