A United Nations envoy has met Burma's army commander in a bid to persuade the military government to let him see detained pro-democracy leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi.
Veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, visiting the country to try to secure Ms Suu Kyi's freedom or at least see her, met General Maung Aye, second in the junta's hierarchy, this morning, a UN source told Reuters.
International concern has intensified over the health and whereabouts of Nobel peace prize winner Suu Kyi since a clash between her supporters and those of the junta on May 30 as she was touring a provincial town in the north.
Mr Razali left the meeting with Gen Maung Aye and headed for another meeting with interior minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, the source said, with apparently still no decision by the junta on whether the UN envoy would be allowed to meet Ms Suu Kyi.
He was also expected to meet the education minister, who heads a government-affiliated youth group, some of whose members were suspected of involvement in the May 30th violence.
The junta has shut opposition NLD offices and closed universities, which are seen as hotbeds of support for the party, which easily won Burma's last election in 1990 but was never allowed to rule. The military has ruled the country since a 1962 coup.