UN envoy meets Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar

[seafan]

Source: Channel NewsAsia

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.

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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.

Read more: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/303038/1/.html

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1. Report: Generals snub UN envoy

Generals snub UN envoy




September 30, 2007

Burma’s two junta leaders, General Than Shwe and his deputy, General Maung Aye, both snubbed UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari when he flew to their sealed-off capital, Naypyidaw, today for talks to solve the crisis now shaking the country, writes Edward Loxton from Thailand.

Observers said the absence of the two leaders from talks Gambari held with lower-ranking military officers did not necessarily represent evidence of a split in the regime. “It’s a snub,” said Burma expert Bertil Lintner, author of several books on the country. “The regime is showing its utter disdain for international opinion.”

Gambari also met in Rangoon with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was taken from her home, where she has spent a total of 11 years under house arrest, to a government guesthouse for the encounter. No details emerged on their talks.

Meanwhile, a Burmese businesswoman back in Thailand from a visit to her parents in Mandalay, said it was rumoured that two key generals, including Mandalay’s commander, Kin Zaw, and a Rangoon divisional commander, Hla Htay Oo, had been relieved of their duties. Both were said to have opposed the use of force against monks.

In continuing raids on the country’s Bhuddist monks, troops stormed several waterside monasteries from naval vessels patrolling the Rangoon River. “The violence and the looting is on a dreadful scale,” said one resident. “Troops are breaking their way in and lashing out indiscriminately. It’s a bloodbath. When is the world going to act to stop it?”