AYE AYE WIN
YANGON

A UN human rights envoy was allowed to enter military-ruled Burma for the first time in four years yesterday on a mission to determine how many people have been killed or detained since the start of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN's independent rights investigator for Burma, also known as Myanmar, said he is determined to gain access to the country's prisons as part of an investigation into wide-ranging allegations of abuse by the military junta.

He submitted a proposed itinerary to the junta before the start of his five-day visit, but it was still being "fine-tuned", Aye Win, the UN spokesman in Burma, said yesterday.

"I hope I will have a very productive stay," Pinheiro told reporters after flying into Yangon, Burma's largest city. "I'm just very happy to be back here after four years."

Pinheiro has a history of prickly relations with the ruling generals. He abruptly cut short a visit in March 2003 after finding a listening device in a room at a prison where he was interviewing political detainees. He has been barred from the country since November 2003.

Accompanied by authorities, Pinheiro's first stop in Burma was a Buddhist monastery in the town of Bago, 50 miles north of Yangon, the UN said.

He returned to Yangon to meet officials at Shwedagon Pagoda, the country's most revered shrine and a flash point of unrest during protests.

The junta has been under renewed international pressure since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations, led by Buddhist monks, in Yangon in September.

Burma authorities said 10 people were killed when troops opened fire on crowds. Dissidents claim the death toll was much higher. - AP