MyanmarÂ’s ruling junta, facing international condemnation over a violent crackdown on mass protests, on Sunday allowed a UN envoy to meet with detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.A security official said Ibrahim Gambari met her for more than an hour at a government guest house in MyanmarÂ’s main city of Yangon. Gambari was dispatched by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to intervene after the junta unleashed a military campaign to shut down the demonstrations several days ago, leaving at least 13 dead and hundreds arrested.
He arrived in Myanmar on Saturday and traveled to the remote official capital of Naypyidaw, where the generals have sat out the crisis, for talks with the regimeÂ’s number-one Senior General Than Shwe. Gambari was expected to convey worldwide outrage over the repression, which has seen live rounds, baton charges and tear gas used against monks, protesters and civilians alike.
The White House had led the international community in urging the regime to allow Gambari to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, whom he last saw here in November 2006 and who is held in detention at her lakeside home in Yangon.
In dramatic scenes a week ago, the 62-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate 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.