Myanmar: Envoys called to capital

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Myanmar's military junta has summoned diplomats to its new remote capital to meet with the U.N. envoy attempting to end the country's political crisis and promote democratic reform, foreign officials said Tuesday.

The diplomats were asked to meet on Wednesday with envoy Ibrahim Gambari in Naypyitaw, where he has been holding talks with Cabinet ministers but has yet to meet with the junta's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe. The agenda for the meeting was not known.

Gambari was expected to talk with the recently appointed prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, before Wednesday's meeting with diplomats. Despite his title, the premier holds only nominal power, with real authority resting with the junta.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern later Tuesday at the "lack of progress" in Gambari's mission.

Ban said he had instructed Gambari to get talks going between pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar's leadership, seek the release of all detained monks, students and other demonstrators, and press the government to "take necessary democratic measures."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the U.S. wanted Gambari to be allowed to "convey his message directly to all the parties he wishes to see" so he could tell Myanmar's leaders of "the need for them to change their policies."

Suu Kyi was treated for a minor ailment Friday and Saturday at her home by her personal physician, said a person familiar with her condition who asked not to be quoted by name because news about her is a sensitive topic.

Rumors had swept Yangon that Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, was in ill health. But a spokesman for her National League for Democracy party, Myint Thein, said that "from looking at her physical condition it can be assumed it is not very serious."

Speaking to the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based opposition radio station, the spokesman blamed the problem on a lack of regular visits by her doctor. The junta allows virtually no access to Suu Kyi.

Gambari met with both Than Shwe and Suu Kyi when he last visited in early October following the junta's bloody Sept. 26-27 crackdown on anti-government protests.

The U.N. special envoy on human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, announced Tuesday that he had been invited for a visit next week by the country's military authorities.

Pinheiro, who has been barred from visiting since 2003, said in a statement that he welcomed the invitation to make a five-day visit beginning Sunday. E-mail to a friend

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