AP

Posted: 2007-11-15 01:43:10

YANGON, Nov. 15 (Kyodo) – U.N. human rights envoy to military-ruled Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro renewed his call for meetings with nongovernmental interlocutors as he continued in government organized meetings, according to a U.N. statement issued in Yangon late Wednesday.

“While thanking the authorities for the wide range of meetings with government officials, the Special Rapporteur renewed to the authorities his request to be given access to other nongovernment interlocutors,” the statement said.

Pinheiro had to continue meetings with government ministers Wednesday in the capital Naypyitaw on the fourth day of his five-day mission to Myanmar, despite assurance given by authorities earlier that he would be allowed to meet with detainees.

He met with Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Labor Minister Aung Kyi, who is also relations minister appointed to liaise with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Information Minister Kyaw Hsan in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, after meeting with the U.N. country team and diplomats from 24 embassies.

On Tuesday, Pinheiro met with National Planning Minister Soe Tha, Religious Affairs Minister Thura Myint Maung, and the joint secretary of the government-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association, Zaw Min, before meeting with some representatives of international nongovernmental organizations.

He also met Tuesday with Home Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Oo, who gave him assurances he would be able to interview detainees before the end of his mission as requested, according to U.N. sources.

Pinheiro arrived in Yangon on Sunday to investigate the bloody crackdown on antigovernment protesters in late September.

On Monday he visited, under junta’s arrangement, Insein Prison in a northern suburb of Yangon, a government technical school near the prison that was used as a detention camp and another detention center inside a police compound in a southern suburb of Yangon.

He had earlier met with home ministry officials and the senior monks from the state religious governing body.

He also visited two monasteries, including Ngwe Kyar Yan in northeastern Yangon that was stormed by troops in late September to arrest dozens of monks.

Meanwhile, a prominent labor activist, who had been hiding for nearly three months, was arrested Tuesday while posting an anti-junta notice near a hotel where Pinheiro had stayed until early Tuesday morning before he left for Naypyitaw, an official source confirmed.

Pinheiro said he was disturbed by fact that the arrest had been made, according to news reports.

On Wednesday, three people were arrested near a busy market in the west of Yangon for distributing leaflets educating the public about human rights situations in the country, according to opposition sources.

Pinheiro is scheduled to arrive in Yangon on Thursday afternoon before leaving for Bangkok in the evening.

The anti-junta protests began in August in response to a huge jump in fuel prices, with thousands of monks taking to the streets.

At least 10 people, including a Japanese video journalist, were killed during the military crackdown on the protesters, according to official figures.