UN peace envoy meets Myanmar's Suu Kyi

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari met detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday but had yet to hold talks with the head of the junta on ending a bloody crackdown on protests against 45 years of military rule.

"He looks forward to meeting Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, before the conclusion of his mission," the United Nations said in a statement.

It gave no indication of when Mr Gambari might meet Than Shwe, who is based in Naypyidaw, the new capital 385 kilometres north of Yangon, and whose government rarely heeds pressure from outside.

Diplomats said Mr Gambari met Ms Suu Kyi for more than an hour at a Yangon government guest house near the lakeside villa, where she is confined without a telephone and required official permission, granted rarely, to receive visitors.

They met after Mr Gambari flew back from Naypyidaw where he had talks with acting Prime Minister Thein Sein, Culture Minister Khin Aung Nyint and Information Minister Kyaw Hsan - all generals - after his arrival on Saturday, the diplomats said.

There was no word on whether he had made progress towards ending the crackdown on the biggest anti-junta protests for nearly 20 years, in which hundreds of monks were arrested, central Yangon was sealed off and troops were deployed on the streets.

There were no crowds visible yesterday in central Yangon, where security forces have snuffed out the protests by barricading off the two major pagodas at their heart and keeping away the revered Buddhist monks who led them.

Troops and police searched bags and people for cameras and the internet remained off line.

Soldiers were posted on nearly every street corner in the city of five million people and groups could not gather without attracting attention, witnesses said.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said at least 700 monks and 500 other people had been arrested throughout the country.

The protests began with small marches against fuel price rises in mid-August and intensified when soldiers fired over the heads of protesting monks, causing monasteries to mobilise. The crackdown, in which soldiers shot into crowds, raided monasteries and took monks away in trucks, provoked an outraged response from governments around the world.

The heavy-handed suppression even prompted criticism from China, the closest the junta has to an ally, and rare condemnation from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), of which Myanmar is a member.

Pope Benedict yesterday appealed during his weekly Angelus blessing for a peaceful solution to the "extremely serious" events in Myanmar and expressed his solidarity with the country's poor during their "painful trial".

In Singapore, about 1,500 Myanmar citizens thronged to a temple for a special prayer session calling for a peaceful end to the crackdown.

The government has acknowledged that 10 people were killed on Wednesday, the first day of the crackdown, although Western governments say the real toll is almost certainly higher.

Adding to the pressure on the generals, a Japanese envoy arrived yesterday to ensure a full investigation into the death of Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai, 50. Footage of his death appeared to show a soldier shooting him at point-blank range as security forces began to clear central Yangon of protesters.

In Tokyo, 20 Myanmar nationals living in Japan went on a hunger strike to demand an end to the crackdown.

Myanmar's state-run media have proclaimed the restoration of peace and stability after security forces handled the protests "with care, using the least possible force".

State television has shown marches elsewhere in the country condemning the Yangon protests and officials say there will be more during Mr Gambari's visit.

Ms Suu Kyi's meeting with Mr Gambari was a rare excursion outside her home, but the second in little more than a week.

Since she was last detained in May 2003, her fellow countrymen have seen her just once - when she appeared at the gates of her lakeside villa to pay respects to a monk allowed through the barricades sealing off her street.

Riot police stood between the monks and Ms Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990 only to be denied power by the generals.