UN envoy to meet with Myanmar opposition leader News
UN envoy to meet with Myanmar opposition leader

[JURIST] UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari [official profile] will meet with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile] on Thursday, Gambari told diplomats during a one-hour briefing Wednesday. Gambari had originally proposed a meeting with both Suu Kyi and a member of the military government, but said that the junta rejected the idea. Gambari has met with several ranking officials during his visit to the country, but has been unable to arrange a meeting with junta leader Senior General Than Shwe [BBC profile].

Last week, officials said that the Myanmar junta had released an additional 46 people detained during the recent government crackdown on opponents of the military junta, after releasing 87 other demonstrators [JURIST reports] at the end of October. The government crackdown against protesters began in August, when Myanmar [JURIST archive] security officers arrested hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrating against rising fuel prices and human rights abuses by the military regime. Protests only subsided when junta troops effectively locked down Myanmar's major cities. At least 10 people were killed when government soldiers shot into protesting crowds [JURIST report] and the government has said that some 3,000 people were arrested for participating in the protests. It is unclear how many protesters remain in detention, but official media reported Wednesday that 2,836 people out of 2,927 detainees have been released [Xinhua report]. AP has more.