YANGON - A UNITED Nations envoy left Myanmar after seeing detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice in three days but without making major progress in convincing the military junta to implement democratic reforms.

UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari spent 50 minutes with the Nobel laureate, who was taken from the state guest house where they met on Monday back to the lakeside Yangon villa where she has been under house arrest since May 2003.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon gave no details of Gambari's meeting with the detained dissident but indicated he was disappointed after Professor Gambari's visit to the country.

Mr Ban said Prof Gambari did not meet with senior general Than Shwe but was able to see 'many senior people, even including the constitution drafting or review committee members'. 'That was unusual,' Mr Ban said.

He said he would 'continue to press the reform issue so that Myanmar will meet the expectations of the international community toward democratisation'.

Among the officials Prof Gambari met was Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, the highest-ranking official he saw on the trip.

In this meeting, Prof Gambari was told the junta would not deviate from its own 'roadmap to democracy' despite international pressure after last year's protests.

'To speak frankly, the road we have been taking is the correct and most suitable one for our country,' Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan told Prof Gambari in a meeting broadcast on state television.

His words squashed hopes the generals would include Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in their much-criticised plans to restore civilian government after more than four decades of military rule.

'We are firmly convinced that it is the best way and it will ensure a smooth and peaceful transition to democracy for our country,' Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan said.

Generals reject poll monitors
Shortly afterwards, the Nigerian diplomat left for Singapore, ending his third visit to the former Burma since authorities brutally crushed pro-democracy marches in September.

During his four-day visit, the generals made it clear they would not entertain any changes to the constitution they have drafted, despite Western concerns it is a blueprint for the military hanging on to power.

Prof Gambari's offer of election monitors for a May referendum on the charter and a planned 2010 election was rejected, boosting worries about the freedom and fairness of both polls.

The generals said they had no need for external expertise in running the elections, saying they had 'enough experience'.

The last time they allowed a poll, in 1990, they decided to ignore the result when Ms Suu Kyi's party won over 80 per cent.

The crackdown against last September's protests sparked worldwide outrage and a major diplomatic push for political reform in the former British colony, which has been under military rule since 1962.

However, with veto-wielding UN Security Council members China and Russia unwilling to see the imposition of binding international sanctions, the generals have refused to budge from a roadmap that the West derides as a sham.