UN envoy in Burma visits junta, Suu Kyi

BANGKOK - A UN envoy to Burma met yesterday with both the leader of the military junta and the leader of the democratic opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, completing a four-day trip that followed the brutal suppression of mass popular demonstrations.

The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, met first with the country's military leader, Senior General Than Shwe, bringing a message of outrage from the outside world at the crackdown that began last week, with soldiers firing into crowds and arresting hundreds of the Buddhist monks who had led the demonstrations.

Gambari then flew from the country's remote, militarized capital, Nyapyitaw, to the nation's main city, Rangoon, where he met for a second time with Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he had also visited on Sunday.

These alternating visits raised hopes that he might be fostering some kind of rudimentary dialogue.

But one Western ambassador cautioned against expecting immediate results in a standoff that has continued since the junta took power after a bloody crackdown in 1988.

Than Shwe and his fellow generals have confined Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.

"I don't expect great changes to come from Gambari's visit," said the diplomat, who spoke anonymously according to his embassy's policy. "I expect the opening gambit of the generals to be a very tough one. But in the longer term, I think this is not going to go away. It is important to keep the pressure on them."

Rangoon was grimly quiet during Gambari's visit, with armed soldiers guarding streets that had been filled last week with up to 100,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks, the largest protests since this junta took power.

But the junta's crackdown on its people continued with reports of house-to-house searches and the continuing detention in harsh conditions of thousands of monks and their supporters.

There was no immediate word on the content of Gambari's visits. He is due to report back to the Security Council on his return.

But at the United Nations on Monday, Burma's foreign minister gave a taste of the junta's official position, accusing "neocolonialists" and "political opportunists" of exploiting "protests by a small group of Buddhist clergy" to undermine his country.

The junta renamed the country Myanmar.