AP

Posted: 2007-10-02 06:20:31

YANGON, Myanmar  (AP) – A U.N. envoy met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, hours after an audience with Myanmar’s military leader, pressing ahead his quest to end the junta’s crackdown on democracy advocates.

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.’s special envoy to Myanmar, met with Senior Gen. Than Shwe in the junta’s remote new capital, Naypyitaw, two foreign diplomats said. Other diplomats said he then flew to Yangon to see Suu Kyi, who has come to symbolize the yearning for democracy in Myanmar.

The meeting with Than Shwe was expected but the one with Suu Kyi came as a surprise, raising hopes that Gambari’s shuttle diplomacy was making some progress. The U.N. has said that Gambari’s mission is to persuade the generals to take the people’s demand for democracy seriously.

Dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were slain and 6,000 detained in the junta’s crackdown last week, compared to the regime’s report of 10 deaths.

Foreign governments have been urging the junta to free the detainees, who include thousands of Buddhist monks who led last month’s protests. In addition, freeing Suu Kyi from her long years of house arrest has been one of the main goals of all U.N. envoys and Myanmar’s international critics.

Gambari left Myanmar for Singapore en route to New York soon after the brief meeting with Suu Kyi at a state guest house, just 300 meters (yards) from the Nobel laureate’s house. He had also met Suu Kyi on Sunday in the middle of his four-day mission.

Earlier in the day, the U.N. envoy met Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye – who is one rank below Than Shwe, as well as the No. 3 and No. 4 generals in the ruling coterie. No details of Gambari’s meetings were available.

While the envoy tried to broker peace, the junta’s security forces lightened their presence in Yangon, the country’s main city, which remained quiet after troops and police brutally quelled mass protests last week.

The 9 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew was scaled back to 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Kept off the streets, many residents launched a new form of protest Monday evening by switching off their lights and turning off television sets from 8 p.m.- 8:15 p.m. during the nightly government newscast. It was unclear how many homes heeded calls for what activists are calling a “silent protest” against the junta and whether it would continue.