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YANGON: UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari met Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders of the ruling junta on Sunday, as he tried to broker an end to a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests.
Ibrahim Gambari met with Aung San Suu Kyi for more than an hour, the UN said in a statement. The rare encounter, seen as a sign of intense pressure on the military government, took place at a government guest house in the main city of Yangon.
Gambari was dispatched by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to intervene after the military government unleashed a military campaign to shut down the demonstrations several days ago, leaving at least 13 dead and hundreds arrested.
The four days of repression, which has seen live rounds, baton charges and tear gas used against monks, protesters and civilians alike, succeeded in largely shutting down the demonstrations over the weekend.
Gambari arrived in Myanmar on Saturday and travelled to the remote official capital of Naypyidaw for talks with senior leaders where he was expected to convey worldwide outrage over the violence.
The UN said the Nigerian-born envoy has not yet seen junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe but "looks forward" to meeting him before departing from Myanmar. It did not say when he would leave.
It said Gambari "conveyed a message" from the UN chief in talks with Acting Prime Minister Lieutenant-General Thein Sein and Minister for Information Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan.
The White House had led the international community in urging the military government to allow Gambari to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who has spent much of the past two decades in detention at her lakeside home.
In dramatic scenes a week ago, the 62-year-old opposition leader stepped out of her home in tears to greet Buddhist monks who marched past the house where she has been confined for most of the past 18 years.
The march was part of nationwide rallies which erupted two weeks ago led by the revered Buddhist monks, and have evolved into the most potent challenge to the ruling junta for some two decades.
Myanmar analyst Win Min said the rare meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi showed the military government was feeling the heat from intense worldwide criticism.
"There is a lot of pressure from the UN Security Council," he said, adding it could raise hopes for progress in the stalled reconciliation process between the Myanmar military government and its opponents.
"Initial signs are that some kind of negotiations could follow, through Gambari, but we have to be cautious because, in the past, they sent signals of opening but changed course later on," he said.
Gambari's predecessor as UN envoy to Myanmar, the veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, said he must come away from Yangon with a real result.
The envoy "must get a promise from the military that they will not shoot the people who express their views. We cannot let the people down," he told AFP.
"The people should be allowed to march on the streets and protest," Razali said. "The economic policies of the junta are wrong. It has not benefited the people."
The protests first erupted last month after a massive hike in fuel prices, but escalated two weeks ago with the emergence of the Buddhist monks on the front line and drew up to 100,000 people onto the streets last week.
Yangon remained in lockdown on Sunday, with thousands of police and soldiers effectively repressing major demonstrations as they patrolled the city and crushed any sign of dissent.
Troops focused on areas near Aung San Suu Kyi's home and major roads where Gambari's convoy was travelling.
Major monasteries were blockaded, gatherings of more than five people were banned, and soldiers stopped and checked cars and pedestrians as military trucks rumbled through the downtown area.
Myanmar's closest ally China on Saturday made its most direct appeal yet for restraint, with Premier Wen Jiabao calling for "stability through peaceful means" as well as reconciliation.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's main Internet connection remained cut for a third day, drastically reducing the flow of video, photos and first-hand reports of the violence which have helped inform the world of the crisis.
- AFP/so
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