On Wednesday, amid unprecedented security, Burma's military leaders celebrated one of the most important dates in the Burmese military calendar Armed Forces Day or Resistance Day.

This is the anniversary of the day when General Aung San, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's father, declared war against the occupying Japanese forces 57 years ago. And as the country's military brass oversaw the celebrations, the country's top three generals, Than Shwe, Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt, were desperately trying to create an image of unprecedented unity. But as the junta stressed unity and the army's unique role in ensuring national security and stability, time seems to be running out for the generals, and they must know it.

The international community, and even United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, have warned the junta in recent weeks that they are growing impatient with the lack of progress in the dialogue process. Eighteen months of secret talks between the generals and the opposition leader have produced very little in the way of concrete results.

More than 250 political prisoners have been released, the opposition National League for Democracy has been allowed to open most of its offices in Rangoon, and it hopes to open its divisional headquarters throughout the country soon. But opposition activists cannot travel relatively freely. ``And most importantly NLD activists are no longer harassed by the military,'' said U Lwin, the opposition spokesman.

But more than 1,300 political prisoners remain in jail, according to international human rights groups, including the Red Cross. There are still more than 600 NLD activists in jail, and of course Ms Suu Kyi is also still under house arrest.

There are fears that the foiled coup plot is going to continue to be used as an excuse to delay the dialogue process further. That is the reason the military gave for the postponement of the UN envoy's scheduled trip to Burma last week. This decision has disappointed even Rangoon's supporters, such as the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, who is reported to have written to Gen Than Shwe urging him to reschedule Ambassador Razali's visit as soon as possible, before the water festival in the middle of April.

The clean-up of the alleged coup plot by the Ne Win family against the government also appears to be causing the military far more problems than was originally expected. Many diplomats in Rangoon remain convinced that there is a power struggle within the upper echelons of the military between the liberals around Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and the hardliners, led by Gen Maung Aye, who are opposed to the talks with the opposition leader Ms Suu Kyi. But the constant show of unity even the almost unprecedented photograph of Gen Maung Aye and Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt inspecting the troops together in preparation for the Army Day rehearsal, in the Burmese-run newspapers seems to suggest that there is no power struggle.

So far the generals have only confirmed the sacking of four top soldiers, including two regional commanders, and these seem to be linked to business operations involving members of the Ne Win family. There have been other sackings too, according to military sources in Rangoon, including the head of the military's medical services because he sanctioned the provision of nursing support for the ailing Gen Ne Win.

The question of soldiers, police and civilians is still going on. It could be as many as a thousand have been picked up and questioned, according to military sources in Rangoon.This massive investigation is now beginning to sew mistrust and suspicion within the ranks of the army. For the first time since 1988, the army seems to be turning against itself.

Until now, the army has in fact remained extremely cohesive and unified, despite constant rumours of internal power struggles. ``It's been a monolithic organisation, running on unquestioning loyalty within the ranks,'' said an Asian diplomat in Rangoon. The process of cleaning up the coup plotters is now endangering the very fabric of the army which enabled it to wield power so effectively till now. ``There is a very real danger of the army imploding on itself if these investigations continue for much longer,'' said diplomats in Rangoon.

While there is no power struggle within the triumvirate, Gen Than Shwe, Gen Maung Aye and Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, the future of the intelligence chief must now be in doubt. He owes his meteoric rise with army to Gen Ne Win's patronage. He's also been very close to Sandar Ne Win, although he has distanced himself from her and family's business dealings over the last 18 months. And now that the junta has moved against the first family, his position is likely to become increasingly untenable.

Gen Than Shwe has now emerged as the unchallenged power in the military government. Some analysts believe this will favour the dialogue process in the long-run. Gen Ne Win's influence, if indeed he still had any, has been dramatically ended and the junta have proven they can accommodate the unexpected and the unthinkable if they feel they need to.

But UN officials fear that the process of rooting out the coup plot will be Gen Than Shwe's priority and he's likely to concentrate on that to the exclusion of everything else. They draw comparisons with the situation last year when Secretary Two Lt-Gen Tin Oo was killed in a helicopter crash, and the military's pre-occupation with internal matters stalled the talks, and almost caused them to collapse altogether.

The hope is that this time the talks won't suffer in the same way. Mr Razali hasn't minced his words when telling the junta he needed to return to Rangoon as soon as possible in the interests of the process. ``I hope the events surrounding the coup plot don't derail the reconciliation process,'' he said. ``It's too important to the Burmese people for the government to allow this to happen.''

In fact the junta is running out of time, as the international community are anxious to see significant progress in the talks before the end of April. ``They've dragged out the secret talks with the opposition leader Ms Suu Kyi as long as they could without giving any significant concessions to the democracy movement,'' said a Rangoon-based diplomat. ``Now they will have to show their commitment to the process or risk the international community increasing Rangoon's isolation.''

Already the United States is openly threatening the regime with stiffening economic sanctions. ``If there's no progress soon,'' said senior US officials, ``the US will come down on them like a ton of bricks.'' That's likely to mean trade sanctions. Currently the US imports nearly four million dollars of goods from Burma, mainly textiles. That will be a significant dint to the already crippled economy.

Nothing less than Ms Suu Kyi's release will satisfy their impatience. ``We are going through a crucial and delicate stage,'' said U Lwin, the NLD spokesman. And there also hints that the opposition leader herself is getting frustrated by the lack of progress and may even decide to break her self-imposed silence if the generals don't move the dialogue process onto substantive political talks soon.