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UN envoy to probe Burma crackdown UN envoy to probe Burma crackdown
(about 1 hour later)
A senior UN investigator is due to arrive in Burma, hoping to meet political prisoners and investigate the crackdown on anti-government protests. Senior UN investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has arrived in Burma - the first time the military government has allowed him to visit for four years.
Paulo Pinheiro has said he will leave immediately if not given full access. Mr Pinheiro hopes to meet political prisoners and find out exactly how many people died when protests against the government were crushed in September.
Mr Pinheiro hopes to find out the truth about recent violence in Burma - how many protestors died, how many were injured and how many are still in jail. The government says 10 people died. Others put the figure at more than 100.
There are alarming discrepancies between government figures and the estimates of human rights groups. The UN investigator has said he will leave immediately if the authorities fail to co-operate.
Is it 10 dead for example, or is it more than 100? Mr Pinheiro, the UN's independent human rights investigator for Burma, has not been allowed to go there since November 2003.
To do his job, the UN envoy will need free and unrestricted access to Burmese prisoners and he has threatened to leave immediately if he does not get it. His visit comes days after UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari spent six days in Burma, meeting a number of ministers as well as detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military government clearly resents this sort of intervention. It has refused to allow Mr Pinheiro into the country for the past four years. The UN said afterwards that a path to "substantive dialogue" was now under way.
'Fine-tuning'
Mr Pinheiro did not speak to reporters as he arrived in Rangoon, Reuters news agency reported.
His proposed itinerary for the visit was still being "fine-tuned", a UN spokesman quoted by Associated Press said.
BBC Asia correspondent Andrew Harding says Mr Pinheiro will need free and unrestricted access to Burmese prisoners to do his job.
Mr Pinheiro wants full and free access to political prisoners
The military government clearly resents this sort of intervention, our correspondent says.
The Red Cross has suspended its own prison visits because it is no longer allowed private access to detainees.The Red Cross has suspended its own prison visits because it is no longer allowed private access to detainees.
There is some evidence that external and internal pressure is beginning to have an impact on Burma's generals. There is some evidence that external and internal pressure is beginning to have an impact on Burma's generals - and the fact that Mr Pinheiro is being allowed in is a concession of sorts, our correspondent adds.
The very fact that Mr Pinheiro is being allowed in is a concession of sorts. Whether he will be able to get an accurate picture of the country's human rights situation is not at all clear.