UN envoy meets Burma's leaders

A UN envoy held back-to-back meetings today with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s military rulers, trying to find a peaceful solution to the crisis that has engulfed the impoverished country.

The separate talks occurred as thousands of troops locked down Burma’s largest cities. Scores of people were arrested overnight, further weakening an uprising to end 45 years of military dictatorship.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s special envoy to Burma, went to the remote bunker-like capital Naypyitaw yesterday to meet with the junta and stayed overnight, diplomats said

This morning he returned to Yangon and was whisked to the State Guest House to meet pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi, who was brought out of house arrest to see the UN envoy.

The meeting lasted about 90 minutes, said the diplomats.

Details of the meeting were not immediately known.

The flurry of diplomatic efforts came after the military government launched a bloody crackdown last week on demonstrations that began on August 19 in protest at a sharp increase in fuel prices.

The protests garnered international interest after thousands of Buddhist monks joined the people in venting anger at decades of brutal military rule. At the height of the protests, some 70,000 people turned out.

The junta, which has a long history of snuffing out dissent, cracked down Wednesday and Thursday, firing into a crowd of peaceful protesters and chasing others down with batons.

Though the official death toll is 10, foreign diplomats, dissident groups say the number is likely to be much higher.