Yangon  - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to the Myanmar military's new capital of Naypyitaw Friday for talks with junta chief Senior General Than Shwe about the need to speed up disaster relief efforts for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Ban arrived in Yangon on Thursday, where he held talks with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein and visited the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta.

At his meeting with Thein Sein, Ban expressed frustration over "the inability of the aid workers to bring assistance at the right time to the affected areas," said a UN official who attended the meeting.

He is expected to raise the issue again with Than Shwe, who heads Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta styles itself.

Myanmar's ruling junta has come under increasing condemnation for impeding an international aid programme under way for victims of Cyclone Nargis which swept over Myanmar's central coastal region on May 2-3, leaving 133,000 dead or missing, according to government figures.

The UN estimates that the storm left another 2.5 million people in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medicine. Almost three weeks after the storm, international aid has reached only 25 per cent of the affected people, a poor performance that is largely blamed on Myanmar's rulers.

Ban, who on Thursday was flown by military helicopter to the Kyondah relief camp, about 75 kilometres south of Yangon in the Irrawaddy delta, has refrained from publicly criticizing the regime's performance, while stressing his "solidarity" with the Myanmar people.

"The United Nations is here to help you. The whole world is trying to help Myanmar," he told one woman at Kyondah who had lost her home and family to the cyclone.

In an interview with TV journalists, Ban said the military, "have shown some signs of flexibility recently."

Myanmar's regime maintains that the "rescue and relief" phase of the emergency assistance for the cyclone victims is over, an outlook that clashes with that of the international aid community.

It is hoped that the regime will backtrack on its stance before a pledging conference is held on Sunday, co-hosted by the UN and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member.

The disaster has put the spotlight on Myanmar's rulers, a military dictatorship that has lorded over its people for the past 46 years, earning the country pariah status among Western democracies and proving an embarrassment for even its closest Asian allies.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta styles itself, has drawn international criticism for failing to facilitate international aid for its own people in the aftermath of the cyclone, and for refusing to hand out more visas to foreign aid workers and allow those inside the country to work in the most affected areas such as the Irrawaddy Delta.

Ban will return to Bangkok Friday night in order to hold talks on Saturday with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and other Thai ministers.

Thailand, Myanmar's eastern neighbour, has turned into the main logistical and organizational hub for the current international relief effort.

The UN secretary general will return to Yangon on Sunday to preside over a UN-ASEAN pledging conference for Myanmar, for the cyclone victims' short-term and long-term needs.

Last Monday, ASEAN agreed to act as a liaison between the international aid community and Myanmar's junta. The grouping includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Myanmar estimates it will take 11 billion dollars to rehabilitate areas hit by the cyclone. (dpa)