U.N. envoy, Myanmar opposition head meet

Source: Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's government unexpectedly allowed the country's leading opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, to leave house arrest briefly on Sunday and meet with a U.N. envoy trying to persuade the junta to ease its crackdown against a pro-democracy uprising.

But thousands of troops locked down Myanmar's largest cities, and scores of people were arrested overnight, further weakening the flagging movement. And Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.'s special envoy to Myanmar, failed to see either the junta leader or his deputy in his scheduled meetings. The diplomat was returning late Sunday to the military government's headquarters for a possible third meeting.

The demonstrations seeking to end 45 years of military dictatorship drew international attention after thousands of Buddhist monks joined in. At the height of the protests, some 70,000 people turned out, but were crushed on Wednesday and Thursday when government troops opened fire into the crowds.

The government says 10 people were killed, but independent sources say the number is far higher. A video shot Sunday by a dissident group, Democratic Voice of Burma, showed a monk, covered in bruises, floating face down in a Yangon river. It was not clear how long the body had been in the river.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070930/ap_on_re_as/myanmar

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