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UN chief Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in military-ruled Myanmar Friday on a diplomatically risky mission to seek the release of political prisoners including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ban is to hold talks with the head of the ruling junta, Senior General Than Shwe, but said he had not received any confirmation that he would be allowed to meet the jailed Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy icon.
The two-day trip comes amid warnings from rights groups that it will be a "huge failure" if he does not secure the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest.
On the eve of his trip, Ban underscored the challenges he faced but said he would raise the issue of meeting Aung San Suu Kyi when he meets Than Shwe, in in the remote capital Naypyidaw later Friday.
"It is a very difficult mission," Ban told reporters in Singapore.
"I will try to meet with representatives of all registered political parties including Aung San Suu Kyi, that's my hope. But I have to raise this issue with the Senior General directly, in person."
He said that UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari had also "clearly conveyed" Ban's wish to meet her when he visited Myanmar last week and that he would pursue the world's interest in seeking reform in the country.
"Through my meetings... I will convey exactly what the international community expects and wishes (regarding) the way they want to see changes in Myanmar."
Ban said however he was aware that he was visiting Myanmar "under certain uncertainties," apparently referring to the resumption on Friday of Aung San Suu Kyi's trial.
The 64-year-old faces up to five years in prison if convicted over a bizarre incident in which an American man, John Yettaw, swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May. Yettaw is also on trial, as are two of Aung San Suu Kyi's aides.
As well as Senior General Than Shwe, Ban said he will also meet with Prime Minister Thein Sein and representatives of all registered political parties and former armed groups.
Ban has faced recent criticisms for his softly-softly approach to the job of secretary general, but diplomats say he is hoping that his quiet brand of diplomacy will pay dividends with Myanmar's generals.
The visit is Ban's first to Myanmar since he persuaded the junta to accept international aid in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which killed around 138,000 people.
He is set to visit the region hit by Nargis on his latest trip.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention or under house arrest for most of the time since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy party's landslide victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.
Party spokesman Nyan Win said he and the rest of her legal team had met her for two hours in Yangon on Thursday and discussed Ban's upcoming visit.
"She made only one comment regarding the release of political prisoners, dialogue with the opposition and free and fair elections -- she said these three things should be discussed," Nyan Win said.
Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up for elections that the ruling generals have promised in 2010.
Human Rights Watch said Ban should not accept the apparent concession from the junta of a return of Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest, instead of imprisonment, as a sign of a successful visit.
"Time and again, the UN has politely requested Aung San Suu Kyi's release, but her 'release' back to house arrest would be a huge failure," Kenneth Roth, New York-based HRW's executive director, said in a statement.
He said there was also a risk that Myanmar's generals would try to use Ban's visit to legitimise the elections, which rights groups say will be neither free nor fair.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962.
