The United Nations special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has left
that southeast Asian country after failing to meet with detained
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Gambari extended his
visit by one day Saturday in hopes of meeting with the Nobel laureate.
Officials with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party
said she declined an invitation to meet with him. They did not say why.
The
U.N. envoy also failed to get an audience with Burma's senior leader,
General Than Shwe. However, he did meet Saturday with Prime Minister
Thein Sein.
Gambari's mission to Burma was meant to revive talks
between Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's military government. He has
visited Burma four times since the country's leadership carried out a
bloody crackdown on democracy protests last September. But so far, the
talks have yielded few results.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.