Envoy confident of progress in Myanmar

Ismail was instrumental in securing the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest earlier this year

YANGON, Myanmar -- The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar has wrapped up a six-day mission to Yangon intended to speed up foundering reconciliation talks between the ruling military and the pro-democracy opposition.

Razali Ismail's visit was his eighth to the country in the space of two years.

Speaking to reporters at Yangon airport Tuesday morning he said he was confidant his visit had been a success and had helped two narrow differences between the two sides.

"I had very productive meetings with all those concerned," Reuters quoted the U.N envoy as saying.

Asked what he expected his visit to achieve, he said: "Further progress in national reconciliation."

During his visit Razali held talks with leading generals in the government and two meetings with the leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) Aung San Suu Kyi.

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During his previous visit to Myanmar in May, Razali helped secure the NLD leader's release from 19 months of house arrest.

No contact

Since then however, despite initially high hopes, there has yet to be any direct contact between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military government.

Razali, a Malaysian-born career diplomat, said before leaving Yangon that he expected to return again within two or three months.

Myanmar, once one of the wealthiest and economically promising countries in Southeast Asia, has been under military rule since the 1960s.

During that time, development has stagnated with the economy hit particularly hard by international sanctions imposed following the military government's refusal to accept the result of a 1990 election.

That vote gave a landslide victory to the NLD, but the generals have refused to transfer power.

Hundreds of opposition members have been jailed without trial and Aung San Suu Kyi herself has been subject to lengthy periods of house arrest and restrictions on her movements.

The military government has said on several occasions it is working towards full democracy in Myanmar, but the transitional process must be gradual, it says, because too rapid a change could cause anarchy in the multi-ethnic country.

Observers say the real driving force behind the government's recent apparent softening of its attitude towards Aung San Suu Kyi was the effect of sanctions, which have threatened to bankrupt the nation's economy.

Augn San Suu Kyi herself has said she is opposed to the easing of sanctions until there is real political change in her country.

Reuters contributed to this report.