The leader of Burma’s junta met a United Nations envoy today as reports emerged of poor conditions in a mass detention centre in Rangoon holding hundreds of government critics.

Ibrahim Gambari met General Than Shwe after days of attempting to open discussions between the UN and the military rulers of Burma about the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests.

Surprisingly, Mr Gambari travelled to see Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader, immediately after his meeting with General Than Shwe, raising hopes that the UN had been able to open communications between the two sides through shuttle diplomacy.

The second meeting with Ms Suu Kyi was only 15 minutes long, but any discussion between the Government and the opposition would represent a significant breakthrough as the international community attempts to broker a dialogue.

Who will win? Can the world help?

What can the world do about the situation in Burma? Will it make any difference? Who, if anyone, can really have an influence?

Multimedia

• In pictures: Burma violence

• Video: protests in Rangoon

BACKGROUND

• Burmese bloggers defy the censors

• After 45 years, is this the end?

• How monks became threat to regime survival

• World split over response to Burma crisis

• Burma: a travellers' guide

Related Links

• Burma's generals agree to meet UN envoy

• Junta chief's family 'have left Burma'

• Bloggers risk all to reveal junta’s brutality

Multimedia

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• In pictures: Burma violence

No details of today’s meetings were released by Mr Gambari as he flew to Singapore on his way back to the UN headquarters in New York. The organisation said that his mission was to persuade the generals to take the demand for democracy seriously.

An estimated 100,000 protesters took to the streets of Burma in peaceful protests last week following the example of tens of thousands of monks.

The strength of the army’s crackdown on those emboldened to defy the military and call for democracy and an end to the junta has been disputed, with the official death toll of ten not accepted by opposition groups or foreign governments. Dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were killed and 6,000 detained.

Reports from Rangoon today suggested that pro-democracy protesters were being held in poor conditions in temporary mass detention centres. UN and junta officials told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that at least 1,000 people have been kept in a windowless warehouse at the government Technical Institute campus.

A Burmese official, talking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that up to 1,700 people had been detained at the campus, including about 200 women and at least one child, a novice monk believed to be 10 years old.

Monks have been disrobed and many of them were refusing to eat food from the military because it arrived in the afternoon when they are barred by religious oath from eating, according to the official.

Tony Banbury, Asia regional director for the UN World Food Programme, said that he was concerned at reports that the detainees, including some 500 monks, were now being moved to another location en mass.

Relative calm has been restored to the streets of Rangoon. Western diplomats estimated that 15,000 troops were deployed to end protests last week, but with gunmen on every street corner demonstrations have mostly petered out and soldiers were less in evidence today. The 9pm to 5am curfew has been eased to 10pm to 4am.

After the violent crackdown on marches through Burma’s biggest city and the reported mass arrests, defiant residents have been forced to resort to a more subtle form of protest. They launched a campaign last night by switching off their lights and turning off television sets from 8pm to 8.15pm during the nightly government newscast. It was unclear how many homes heeded calls for the “silent protest” against the junta.

“This is the least dangerous anti-government activity that I can take,” said a Rangoon resident, who refused to give her name for fear of reprisals, after taking part in the protest. “By doing this, I am showing that I am not listening to what the Government is saying.”

In New York last night Nyan Win, the Burmese Foreign Minister, denounced foreign interference in Burma, which he blamed for the violence last month. “Recent events make clear that there are elements within and outside the country who wish to derail the ongoing process [toward democracy] so that they can take advantage of the chaos that would follow,” he told the UN General Assembly.

He said that security forces acted with restraint for a month but had to “take action to restore the situation”. The minister made no reference to the number of deaths.

Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said that the US wanted Mr Gambari, the UN envoy, to convey a clear message that the junta must start “a serious political dialogue”. He said that would include government talks with Ms Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for nearly 12 of the past 18 years.

After Mr Gambari’s meeting with General Than Shwe it is unlikely that the general will offer any immediate concessions, such as the release of Ms Suu Kyi or other political prisoners. But diplomats and UN officials hope that the visit will maintain pressure on the junta and encourage less hardline generals to take power.

The military has ruled Burma since 1962, and the current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a large pro-democracy movement in which about 3,000 people are believed to have been killed.

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