The United Nations Special Envoy to Burma arrived this morning in Rangoon to face the daunting task of convincing Burma's generals to reform their "road-map to democracy."

Since the junta's surprise announcement last month of a timetable for a constitutional referendum in May and elections in 2010, voices from across the international spectrum have unequivocally given notice of what the Special Envoy must accomplish on his current trip to the troubled Southeast Asian nation if his efforts are not to be in vain.

As early as October of last year, politically aware Burmese citizens in the country's urban centers were pessimistic on the chances of success for Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nation's Special Envoy to Burma. The predominant feeling then on the streets was that, like his predecessor Ismail Razali, Gambari would prove to be too soft on the generals and not backed by sufficient power.

A similar worry was aired yesterday in New York by Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. "Gambari should not confuse this sham constitutional process with progress. If the Burmese generals continue their obstructive tactics during Gambari's visit, the UN Security Council must react to such contempt for UN officials."

Consistent with other organizations and Western governments weighing in on Gambari's dilemma, Human Rights Watch demands that the public and opposition parties be permitted to actively engage in the referendum process, already underway.

The rights group stresses that for the referendum to be considered free and fair Gambari must gain assurances for an independent election commission, a free media and the rights to public assembly and debate.

Drawing attention to Gambari's failure to date to meet one critical component of his mission, the United States State Department issued its official position at the end of February: "The path to national reconciliation in Burma lies in the release of all detainees and political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and the establishment of a genuine dialogue between the regime leadership and Burma's democratic and ethnic minorities leading to a transition to democracy."

"It [The referendum procedure] needs to involve the National League for Democracy, and be a process which can genuinely lead to democracy, not something that is just put in place to satisfy the pressure that is there from the international community for change," Meg Munn, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, informed reporters in Bangkok last Friday.

Regional concerns have to some extent paralleled those of the wider international community. Though typically more receptive of the junta's announced timetable for polls, there is still an acknowledged need to refine the process so that voting results can be regarded as legitimate.

"Our concern is how to make the process in Myanmar more credible, meaning to make the process more inclusive by allowing the participation of groups including Madam Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told the press following a meeting with Gambari last month in Jakarta.

Speaking in the Thai capital on the same day as Munn, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill told an audience at Chulalongkorn University that it is time for ASEAN and its constituent parts to take the lead in ensuring progress inside Burma.

In recognition of the chorus of calls for reform in the referendum process, it is believed Gambari will take the current opportunity to urge upon the generals acceptance for public discussion and campaigning over the constitutional process.

Adams singled out Thailand, China and Russia, as "backers" of the regime in Naypyitaw, to stand with the international community in confronting Burma's generals and demanding change.

The itinerary for the Special Envoy, on this his third trip to the country since last year's mass protests, remains unspecified.