Impassive Myanmar general keeps guard up

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - The handshake was firm, but the face remained impassive throughout.

There was no way Myanmar junta supremo Than Shwe, one of the world's most reclusive leaders, was going to let his guard down in front of the first foreign reporters to get close to him in years.

Even though he was greeting United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on a mercy mission for 2.4 million destitute victims of Cyclone Nargis, the stocky 75-year-old Senior General was unable to forgo his habitual khaki-green military garb.

His dark green shirt, open at the neck, was laden with medals and decorations befitting a man who has spent the last 55 years moving up the ranks of the former Burma's all-powerful army.

The only time he has been captured on film wearing anything other than khaki was at the 2006 wedding of his daughter.

Secret video sneaked onto the Internet showed him looking awkward and uncomfortable in white shirt and traditional orange sarong at a lavish "champagne and diamonds" ceremony that sparked outrage among ordinary people in one of Asia's poorest nations.

There was little sign of moderation in Naypyidaw, the capital he carved out of the foothills of the Shan plateau in 2005 at the behest -- or so most Burmese believe -- of an astrologer.

The cavernous hall in which he received Ban was dripping with chandeliers and bedecked in ceiling-high tapestries of ancient Buddhist pagodas. The two men sat on padded wooden armchairs more akin to thrones.

Between them, a small tea set and huge arrangement of flowers was set on an oval table, along with a pair of microphones.

SHARP OLD MAN

An interpreter hovered at the ready, although the bespectacled "old man", as most Burmese refer to him, needed little prompting, one U.N. official present said.

"We got the impression that the man in control is pretty sharp," the official said, adding that Than Shwe had been polite and courteous throughout the meeting at which he agreed to allow all international aid workers into the country.

When aides suggested that maybe too many concessions were being made, Than Shwe butted in: "I don't see a problem."

Former U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail said he "can be very charming and friendly when he wants to be.

"He speaks English quite well and they try to be hospitable when you are there; but they don't like intrusiveness. They don't like you asking about things that they consider to be their internal affairs," Razali told Reuters.

It is not known if he has ever given a formal interview to outside journalists, although Bangkok-based reporter Dominic Faulder said Than Shwe had sat in on a three-hour interview in 1989 with his predecessor, Saw Maung.

"He said nothing at all at the time and appeared utterly dispassionate," Faulder said. "In fact, it was as if his English was not very good, which, according to others, is not the case."

One name Ban will not have mentioned is Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy who has spent more than 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest.

Than Shwe's personal dislike for the Nobel laureate and daughter of independence hero Aung San is said to be so intense he once walked out of a meeting with a foreign ambassador simply because the envoy uttered her name.

(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Alex Richardson)