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UN envoy in Burma in vital year UN envoy meets Burma opposition
(about 9 hours later)
A special United Nations Human Rights representative is in Burma for the start of a planned five day trip. A special UN Human Rights envoy has met lawyers for Burma's opposition party on the first day of a five-day visit to the country.
Ahead of what will be his third visit to the country since being appointed, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said Burma was facing a critical year. Tomas Ojea Quintana has said that with elections due sometime in 2010, Burma is facing a critical year.
Elections are due to be held sometime in 2010, for the first time in two decades. Opposition groups welcomed the UN visit, with one activist saying human rights in Burma were "at the abyss".
Mr Quintana's visit comes after the release on Saturday of a leading pro democracy campaigner. It comes two days after pro-democracy leader Tin Oo was released following seven years in prison.
Tin Oo had been detained for almost seven years. A lawyer for the National League for Democracy party (NLD) told the BBC Mr Quintana had spoken with them in Rangoon for about an hour.
During his trip, Mr Quintana is expected to meet several ministers in the military government. The lawyer said the group had discussed Burma's legal system and the detention of their party leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Detainee's release Senior NLD member Win Tin called on Mr Quintana to "be decisive and perform his duties in the strictest manner without falling prey to the lies of the government".
"Myanmar's human rights conditions are at the abyss. The government continues to violate human rights and they don't have the will to alleviate human rights conditions," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.
Mr Quintana is also expected to meet several ministers in the military government and to visit Rangoon's notorious Insein prison.
Election question
But he has not been granted an audience with the man who makes all key decisions in Burma - General Than Shwe.But he has not been granted an audience with the man who makes all key decisions in Burma - General Than Shwe.
The UN envoy is also likely to hold talks with opposition figures, and visit Rangoon's notorious Insein prison. Mr Quintana has also asked for permission to visit Ms Suu Kyi in detention, but on Monday said that he had not yet received a response to his request.
He has not yet received a response to his request to meet the detained pro democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Tin Oo, vice-president of the NLD was released from prison on Saturday, having been in prison since 2003.
The release of political prisoners is one of the main items on Mr Quintana's agenda. As he visited NLD headquarters on Monday, he said he was optimistic that "things can be resolved" through Mr Quintana's visit.
It is perhaps no coincidence then that a high profile detainee won his freedom just ahead of the UN envoy's arrival. Gen Than Shwe said Burma's elections would be held 'soon'
Tin Oo, who is 82 years old, is deputy head of the National League for Democracy (NLD) - the party led by Ms Suu Kyi. He said he thought Ms Suu Kyi could be freed soon as she had shown good behaviour under house arrest, a condition of her release.
The Burmese leadership is adept at giving hints of progress on reform when international attention is focussed in its direction. On Friday, Gen Than Shwe said elections - the first in two decades - would be held "soon".
But it is worth noting that Tin Oo was at the end of his latest period of detention and as such his release does not represent a major concession on the part of the government. But Tin Oo has not yet said whether the party will take part.
There are some 1,200 such political prisoners in Burma and their release will be one of the main items on Mr Quintana's agenda, says the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey.
It is perhaps no coincidence that a high profile detainee such as Tin Oo won his freedom just ahead of the UN envoy's arrival, says our correspondent.
But the Burmese leadership is adept at giving hints of progress on reform when international attention is focused in its direction, she adds.
Tin Oo was at the end of his latest period of detention, so his release does not represent a major concession on the part of the government.