UN Envoy Enters Crisis Talks to Stop Burma Bloodshed

The United Nations' special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, flew into a crisis-stricken Burma yesterday on a mission to persuade its aging junta of generals to settle the country's political crisis without further bloodshed.

Three days of violence have claimed up to 200 lives as the military launched a brutal clampdown after weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations led by tens of thousands of monks. But by this weekend the junta appeared to be becoming increasingly isolated even among its closest Asian allies - including China.

A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, was 'very much concerned about the current situation' and assured world leaders that China wanted to see stability restored in a peaceful manner.

After discussions with Wen, President Bush and other world leaders, the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said: 'I hope the Burmese regime can be told today by Mr Gambari just how seriously we view this and that there is huge anger across the world about the deaths and about the violence that has been perpetrated against the Burmese people.'

Gambari indicated that he expected to be allowed to speak to the pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is presently under house arrest in Rangoon.

'I expect to meet all the people that I need to meet,' he told reporters. Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister, landed first in Rangoon, then flew on to the generals' new capital, the bunker city of Naypyidaw, where he was due to meet dictator General Than Shwe. He said he was going 'to deliver a message from the secretary-general to the leadership' in line with last week's condemnation by the UN security council.

On the streets of Rangoon yesterday, handfuls of people turned out to jeer at soldiers and witnesses reported seeing several people being dragged off by troops. A crowd of around 100 protesters were baton charged and beaten by security forces on Rangoon's Pansoedan bridge. 'They beat people so badly,' one witness said. 'I wonder how these people can bear it. I saw the security forces arrest about five people on the streets.'

The junta has ignored international demands for a peaceful end to their crackdown on a mass uprising led by monks after the government imposed huge fuel price rises on its impoverished people. The latest clampdown was only achieved at the cost of increasingly wide divisions in the military itself - including, some reports alleged, between the General Than Shwe and the head of the army, Vice General Maung Aye. It is also believed that Maung Aye is thought to have sought a meeting with Suu Kyi.

There were reports yesterday of possibly thousands of monks being rounded up and taken from monasteries to a temporary detention camp in the Government Technology Institute School on the outskirts of Rangoon.

Yesterday, there was increased pressure on China to exert its influence when Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, called for neighboring rulers to 'act now'. European countries, he said, wanted reconciliation but were checking on what other options there would be if the violence escalates.

Even Japan, Burma's largest aid contributor, expressed anger over the death of a Japanese journalist who was killed when soldiers fired into a crowd of protesters. So far Japan has ruled out sanctions against Burma but there were signals yesterday that tougher steps could be taken.

The plight of the protesters in Burma has touched people across the world with supporters lighting candles yesterday in many cities, including Prague and Seoul, and rallies in Hong Kong and New Delhi.