UN envoy's Burma trip criticised

Mr Gambari met Burma's PM but not the top leader, Than Shwe

Burma's opposition says it has seen little progress following the latest visit from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

"I do not see any development yet," a spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD) told reporters.

Meanwhile Burma's ruling generals have criticised the NLD for setting unrealistic conditions for talks.

Mr Gambari has now ended his four day visit to Burma, and is due to report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in India on Thursday.

During the trip, he was able to meet with detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and with several government ministers and diplomats.

But he was not granted an audience with the top military ruler, Senior General Than Shwe.

Slow progress

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 13 the past 19 years by the military junta and is currently under house arrest, met Mr Gambari on Monday.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her party are frustrated at the lack of progress

The meeting is being seen as a minor breakthrough for Mr Gambari, because she had refused to see him on his previous visit.

During the visit, the NLD made clear that they would not bend from the line that 1990 elections, which were won by the NLD but the result never honoured by the military generals, must be the basis of any settlement.

They also said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should not visit until all Burma's political prisoners are free.

But Burmese state media accused Ms Suu Kyi of being unrealistic.

"A dialogue will be practical and successful only if the discussions are based on the reality of the prevailing conditions," the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted Information Minister Kyaw Hsan as saying.

"I would like to emphasise that there will be no success if it is based on idealism and unrealistic conditions."

Burma's ruling generals say they have a "roadmap to democracy" which includes elections under a new constitution, a process the opposition says is fundamentally flawed.