YANGON - THOUSANDS of children who survived Myanmar's cyclone will starve to death in two to three weeks unless food is rushed to them, an aid agency warned yesterday.

The warning by Save The Children came as the international community stepped up efforts to get Myanmar to approve an all-out relief effort.

United Nations' chief Ban Ki-moon will leave New York tomorrow to visit Myanmar to discuss the delivery of international aid, a spokesman said yesterday.

Save The Children's head of operations in Britain, Ms Jasmine Whitbread, said: 'We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger.'

Humanitarian aid agency Action Against Hunger has described the situation in the Bogale region where it was working as 'extremely alarming'.

'All day long, people are looking for food and for a way of cooking the food they find,' the group said.

'The survivors have mainly been feeding themselves with wild fruits and vegetables and mouldy rice, which they are trying to dry.'

Meanwhile, Senior Gen Than Shwe, 75, yesterday made his first visit to the cyclone-hit area on the outskirts of Yangon.

It is not known if he visited the Irrawaddy delta region which was hardest hit by the May 3 cyclone, which left 133,000 people dead and missing.

His visit was on the same day that the UN's top disaster official John Holmes arrived on a three-day visit to urge the regime to accept a massive relief effort.

Mr Holmes will meet senior government leaders, visit the delta and hold meetings with aid groups.

And in Thailand, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said South-east Asian foreign ministers will consider sending Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan to Myanmar.

The proposal will be discussed at a special meeting of Asean foreign ministers in Singapore today, he said.

The Myanmar junta has continued to insist it can handle most of the relief work by itself, and state media has been full of photos of smiling citizens receiving handouts from generals.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper yesterday carried more than two dozen stories praising its own relief efforts. But not everyone is convinced.

Britain's Asia Minister, Mr Mark Malloch-Brown, said a framework was being set up for a UN- and Asian-led system that could solve the impasse and make it easier to channel in aid.

'I think we're potentially at a turning point but, like all turning points in (Myanmar), the corner will have a few 'S' bends in it,' he said.

He added that the Asian/ UN-led process had already begun, with Asian nations considered friendly by Myanmar sending aid teams in, and an Asean assessment team on the ground. The team will report to the foreign ministers meeting in Singapore today.

Other countries would make their contributions through this channel, Mr Malloch-Brown added.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS, AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE