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U.N. Diplomat Meets With Opposition Leader, Junta In Myanmar Crisis

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By SETH MYDANS, The New York Times

Published: October 1, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand - A U.N. envoy to Myanmar met Sunday with the detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and with several members of the military junta that last week crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, the United Nations said.

The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, spent more than an hour at a government guesthouse in the main city, Yangon, with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years. He spent Saturday and Sunday nights in the administrative capital, Naypyidaw, 200 miles north of Yangon, where he met with government officials but not the top two leaders of the junta.

Soldiers patrolled the quiet streets of Yangon on Sunday after days of the military's violent crackdown on demonstrations, led by Buddhist monks, that had grown over more than a week to as many as 100,000 people.

More arrests were reported overnight, and hundreds of monks remained in detention after leading the biggest challenge to the junta since it took power 19 years ago. Human rights groups and diplomats said the death toll was far higher than the nine reported by the junta.

'The crackdown appears to have terrified people enough to stay out of the streets,' said Shari Villarosa, the chief representative of the United States in Myanmar. She said some monasteries appeared to be deserted Sunday and that 'one can only wonder what has happened to all the monks.'
Villarosa said the military must seek a peaceful resolution through a dialogue with the opposition 'rather than just relying on gunfire, which has succeeded in clearing the streets but does not address the underlying grievances of the people.'

Gambari traveled to Myanmar as the representative of a world that has watched in outrage as a military government that has ruled through force and intimidation called out its troops to fire into crowds of demonstrators.

Some analysts doubted that the visit could have a significant effect on a ruling clique that has resisted all international efforts to modify its behavior.

Repeated visits by U.N. envoys have failed to bring reconciliation between the junta and the political opposition or secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. Gambari visited her a year ago, the last time she had been seen by any senior foreign diplomat.

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