UN special envoy Razali Ismail said he would insist on seeing detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits Myanmar today and called on Asian powers and Washington to exert pressure on the junta.
Razali, in an interview, seemed steeled for a showdown with Myanmar's generals and asked for China, India, Japan and the US to throw their weight behind him.
"I am going and I am going to state my insistence that I will see Aung San Suu Kyi. If they are not cooperative, they will see what I can do," he said.
Diplomats and Myanmar dissidents fear Suu Kyi, who spent a sixth day in custody yesterday, may have been injured in a clash between supporters and a pro-government group last week.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy icon has been held at undisclosed locations since her arrest despite international agencies' efforts to see her and mounting calls for her release.
Yangon generals have denied reports Suu Kyi was hurt but said four people were killed and 50 injured in the clash, and that Suu Kyi had been taken into "protective custody."
The junta launched a sweeping crackdown on dissent following last Friday's violence in the north of the country, where Suu Kyi was visiting supporters.
Exiled dissidents say they believe Suu Kyi sustained head and shoulder injuries after her convoy was stopped on a road and set upon by truck-loads of government supporters wielding clubs.
They also say many more people were killed than the four the government has reported -- perhaps as many as 75.
Razali, who has been envoy for more than three years but has only minor victories to celebrate, despaired of the developments.
"This is distressing, I am quite dejected," he said, calling on regional governments including China, India and Japan to stick their necks out by applying pressure on Yangon.
"What's clear is that the regional actors must begin to play a role or they are not going to get the job done. There are ample opportunities to do this.
"I think the Americans have a big role to play," he added.
A meeting in New York on Wednesday involving UN member countries closely concerned with Myanmar backed the Malaysian diplomat's mission and efforts to free Suu Kyi.
The leader of Myanmar's National League for Democracy won a 1990 election by a landslide but was never allowed to govern.
Suu Kyi has spent much of the time since then under house arrest, ending her last stint just a year ago. A series of trips around the country in recent months drew large crowds of supporters, alarming the military.
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