UN Burma envoy set to brief Ban

Critics say Mr Gambari has achieved little in Burma UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has left Burma after a two-day visit aimed at paving the way for a possible visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. State media reported that Mr Gambari met Foreign Minister Nyan Win on two occasions to discuss a visit by Mr Ban. But he is not believed to have met jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, currently on trial accused of breaking the terms of her detention. Mr Gambari is now expected to brief Mr Ban before a possible visit in July. Correspondents say Mr Ban is wary of his trip being used by the generals to endorse their treatment of Ms Suu Kyi. The trial has been widely condemned as a ruse to keep Ms Suu Kyi in jail during a general election which the ruling junta has scheduled for next year. Progress stalled? After arriving in Rangoon on Friday Mr Gambari travelled to Burma's capital, Nay Pyi Taw, where he held talks with the foreign minister. "Mr Gambari met Nyan Win on 26 and 27 June. They discussed Mr Ban Ki-Moon's visit to Myanmar [Burma]," AFP news agency quoted state television as saying. Mr Gambari has now visited Burma eight times as special envoy. He has spent many of those visits trying to promote political reconciliation between the military government and the pro-democracy movement led by Ms Suu Kyi. But critics say he has managed to change little. And the position of Ms Suu Kyi, under house arrest for most of the past 19 years, seems to have become yet more precarious. She has been moved to Rangoon's Insein jail during her trial - sparked when a US man swam to her home and stayed the night, which the junta said amounted to her breaking the terms of her detention. She faces five years in jail if found guilty. But the trial was again postponed last Friday until 3 July - the latest in a series of delays over allowing more defence witnesses. Burma's military rulers have refused to recognise the results of a general election in 1990, won by Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.