November 3 (Reuters) - A U.N. rights envoy has asked Burma's military rulers to be allowed to meet democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as he began a week-long visit aimed at persuading the junta to free her.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro told reporters on Monday the junta had not replied to his request yet. He is the second high-level U.N. official to visit Burma since Suu Kyi was confined to her Rangoon home in September after major surgery and nearly three months in detention at a secret location.
The Brazilian academic told reporters he had formally asked to meet the Nobel laureate during talks with Foreign Minister Win Aung on Monday.
"I am waiting for the government's reply," he said.
A U.N. official later told Reuters Pinheiro had "frank and substantive talks" with Win Aung, and the U.N. envoy would meet Prime Minister Khin Nyunt on Tuesday.
Diplomats said the regime may allow the meeting with Suu Kyi, but it is unlikely to yield much ground on other issues Pinheiro is likely to raise, including the junta's much-criticised rights record.
Pinheiro cut short his last trip to Burma in March after discovering a bugging device taped to the underside of a table while interviewing a political prisoner in a Rangoon jail.
The junta said it had not sanctioned the bugging and was investigating the matter. It said later that action had been taken against the officials responsible, but did not elaborate.
Suu Kyi was detained on May 30 -- for her own protection, the regime says -- after a bloody clash between her followers and pro-junta supporters.
Her detention outraged Western nations, with the United States slapping a trade embargo on Burma, while key donor Japan froze fresh aid to the former Burma.
"CARRY ON"
Pinheiro was also expected to press for an independent investigation into allegations of human rights abuses in Shan State, in the northeast of the country.
Some Western nations and human rights groups have accused Burma's military rulers of using torture, forced labour and systematic rape as weapons against ethnic minorities.
"There is a lot for him to do on this trip, but I don't think he will have much more luck than those before him," a Rangoon-based Western diplomat told Reuters.
"The junta's attitude seems very much 'carry on as before'."
Rangoon has sought stronger economic and security ties with its neighbours, including regional powers China and India which are vying for influence in Burma.
Indian Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, leading his country's highest-level delegation to Burma since 1987, arrived in Rangoon on Sunday.
"The purpose of the visit is to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Burma," an Indian official said.
Thailand, which is pushing for an international forum to discuss Burma's democratic transition, has urged India and China to take a greater role in resolving Burma's problems.
Suu Kyi's last contact with the outside world was in early October when Razali Ismail, the U.N. special envoy to Burma, failed to persuade the ruling generals to release the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Suu Kyi, 58, has spent several lengthy spells in detention since returning to Rangoon in 1988, shortly before a pro-democracy uprising swept the country.
The military, in power since 1962, ignored a 1990 election victory by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
All other senior NLD leaders have been under detention, and party offices across the country closed, since the May 30 clash near the city of Mandalay, about 600 miles (1,000 km) north of Rangoon.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said Suu Kyi's detention completely derailed Burma's moves toward democracy.
After his visit, Pinheiro plans to go to U.N. headquarters in New York to report on the situation in Burma to a committee of the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly on November 12, U.N. officials said.