Ban Ki Moon was refused a meeting with the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday — an unpromising start to an important two-day visit to Burma by the UN Secretary-General.

In a risky move that will be denounced by human rights groups if it fails to achieve results, Mr Ban travelled to Naypyidaw, the ruling junta’s remote new capital, to meet Burma’s senior general, Than Shwe. The meeting with Ms Suu Kyi, which would have been at the heart of his visit, appeared to have been vetoed by the general because of her current trial over a bizarre visit by an American wellwisher.

“I told him that I wanted to meet her, but he told me that she is [on] trial,” Mr Ban told reporters.

He promised to press the case for releasing Ms Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners in Burma. “I’m going to urge [them] to accelerate their political process and release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The genuine will of the Myanmar [Burma] people should be reflected,” he said. If he comes away without a significant compromise by the regime, however, he risks undermining the UN’s authority in a country where neither punitive sanctions nor diplomatic engagement have brought any obvious improvements.

Ms Suu Kyi’s trial had been scheduled to resume yesterday after a month-long adjournment, but after Mr Ban’s arrival it was announced that it had been delayed for another week. She and two female companions are accused of violating the terms of her house arrest by giving food and shelter to John Yettaw, an American who swam uninvited to her lakeside home in Rangoon after he had a dream of her assassination.

She has spent more than 13 years under house arrest since 1989 when her political party, the National League for Democracy, won an overwhelming victory in an election that has never been acknowledged by the Government. Since her arrest in May she has been held in a guest house at the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon, where their trial has been conducted. If convicted she would face a sentence of as much as five years, rather than being held under house arrest. Conveniently for the junta, this would take her out of circulation until well after the election that it promises to hold next year.

“I was assured that the Myanmar authorities will make sure that this election will be held in a fair and free and transparent manner,” Mr Ban said — a statement that will do little to placate those urging him to take a much tougher line.

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