by Amy Kazmin in New Delhi
Published: July 3 2009 03:57 | Last updated: July 3 2009 17:15

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, met military-ruled Burma’s powerful army chief on Friday and pressed him to free Nobel Prize-winning democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners ahead of promised parliamentary elections next year.

In his two-hour meeting with reclusive Senior-General Than Shwe, Mr Ban held wide-ranging talks about the challenges facing Burma, an impoverished country treated as a semi-pariah for its ruthless suppression of dissent.

“I have had a very frank and extensive exchange of views on all the matters of the spectrum of issues,” Mr Ban said.

The UN chief said he pressed for freedom for Ms Suu Kyi and nearly 2,000 other political prisoners, and stressed that next year’s elections for a new parliament – which will have 25 per cent of its seats reserved for military appointees – be a “credible, fair, inclusive and legitimate” process.

“I urged that all political prisoners should be released before this election begins, so that this election can be all inclusive,” he told reporters in the regime’s isolated new capital, Naypitaw.

Mr Ban also reiterated the UN’s long-standing plea for the junta to hold a “substantive, meaningful political dialogue” with the democratic opposition, led by Ms Suu Kyi, the daughter of Burma’s independence leader.

The UN chief did not indicate how Sen-Gen Than Shwe – known for intense antipathy towards Ms Suu Kyi – responded, and is also still waiting for an answer to his request to see the Nobel laureate.

Mr Ban’s visit comes amid a furore over the junta’s trial of Ms Suu Kyi – who has been under house arrest for the last six years – in connection with a bizarre incident involving an American Mormon who swam across a lake then spent a night in her bungalow.

Both the junta’s long-time Western critics and Asian friends such as Singapore have condemned the trial, widely seen as intended only keeping Ms Suu Kyi locked up through the controversial election process.

Although Burmese are closely watching Mr Ban’s visit, most are sceptical about the prospects for a breakthrough after nearly two decades of failed UN efforts at political mediation in Burma.

“The generals don’t usually compromise – that doesn’t exist in their dictionaries,” said Aung Zaw, editor of Chiang Mai-based Burmese dissident magazine, The Irrawaddy. “Than Shwe could use this brief window of opportunity to turn a new page, to reopen dialogue, and make a more meaningful political process. But I don’t think he will.”

Mr Ban has got through to Sen-Gen Than Shwe before. After a massive cyclone devastated Burma’s rice-growing Irrawaddy Delhi last year, the mild-mannered Korean diplomat persuaded the isolated army chief to allow an international relief effort that the regime had been resisting.

But an academic who closely follows developments in Burma said the UN chief hopes for new progress. “He personally felt that he had a rapport with Than Shwe and he may be able to get where other people haven’t been able to get in terms of persuading Than Shwe to do something different.”

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009