UN special envoy arrives in strife-torn Myanmar
AFP / September 29, 2007

A UN special envoy arrived in Myanmar Saturday for talks with the ruling junta, which has locked down the nation's biggest city in a violent campaign to choke off mass demonstrations.

The United States has called on Myanmar's generals to also allow Ibrahim Gambari to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy icon who is being held under house arrest.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon dispatched the Nigerian-born Gambari to broker negotiations between the military and its pro-democracy opponents, who have mounted two weeks of mass nationwide rallies.

A violent operation to close down the demonstrations, which has run for four days and claimed at least 13 lives, appeared to have largely succeeded in deterring anti-government campaigners from returning to the streets.

Yangon was mostly deserted on Saturday, although one group of about 100 protesters managed to gather on a bridge.

As they started clapping, police and soldiers swooped, clubbing them with batons.

"They beat people so badly. I wonder how these people can bear it. I saw the security forces arrest about five people on the streets," said one Yangon resident who witnessed the scene.

"Security members are outnumbering protesters in downtown. The protesters dare not to come here as they would certainly be badly beaten and arrested," another witness said.

The crackdown had already succeeded in reducing the intensity of the protests Friday, when only about 10,000 turned out in Yangon compared with tens of thousands in the previous days.

Troops armed with assault rifles and riot police locked down the eerily quiet city centre, surrounded Buddhist monasteries in outlying areas, and frisked many of those residents who dared to venture onto the streets.

However, in the central city of Pakokku, witnesses said that Buddhist monks led thousands of protesters in a peaceful two-hour march which appeared to have been mounted with the approval of local authorities.

"About 1,000 monks led the protest, and they were followed by more people on bicycles and motorbikes," said a witness, who estimated that several thousand people took part.

Gambari said before arriving in Myanmar that he was looking forward to "a very fruitful visit" and that he expected to "meet all the people that I need to meet."

After arriving in Yangon he flew straight to the new capital of Naypyidaw where he is expected to meet with regime leader Senior General Than Shwe.

Gambari has visited Myanmar twice before, and on one occasion was allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 18 years.

In Yangon, the troop presence was visibly stronger, with the two Yangon-based armyf divisions that have spearheaded the crackdown having been joined by 66 Division from Pago, which lies northeast of the city.

Only a few people ventured onto the streets, markets were closed, and a handful of private cars and taxis were on the roads, witnesses said.

The Buddhist monks who initially led the protests, turning out on the streets in their thousands, were nowhere to be seen after a brutal campaign of arrests, bashings and monastery raids which has shocked the country.

Troops have blockaded many big monasteries, including those in the religious capital of Mandalay in central Myanmar, and monks are only allowed to move around in small groups.

A Western diplomat based in Yangon said Saturday there were reports of divisions within the military on how to handle the crisis in Mandalay, home to the majority of Myanmar's 400,000 monks.

On Friday, diplomats said they had received information from several sources about "acts of insubordination" within the army and that some soldiers were willing to take the side of demonstrators.

Global pressure on the Myanmar regime has mounted in recent days as images of gunfire, baton charges and tear gas used against demonstrators has galvanised world opinion.

The World Food Programme said the bloody crackdown has hampered efforts to distribute food to 500,000 vulnerable people, mostly children, and appealed to the junta "for access to all parts of the country."

Myanmar's main Internet connection was cut Friday, severely reducing the flow of video, photos and first-hand reports of the violence, which helped inform the world of the crisis in the isolated nation.