Myanmar quiet

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YANGON, Sept 29 (AP): UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari is heading to Myanmar Saturday, hoping to convince the military junta to end its brutal crackdown on demonstrators that has virtually strangled a people's movement to end 45 years of military rule.
Hope was slipping through the hands of protesters taking on the long-ruling junta, though, as streets that saw violent government crackdowns in the previous days were eerily quiet. Troops were stationed on nearly each corner of the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay.
Western diplomats said Gambari's schedule was set by the government and likely would not include meetings with pro-democracy figures, such as Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu, who is under house arrest.
The envoy remained confident. "I expect to meet all the people that I need to meet," Gambari told reporters before boarding a plane in Singapore on his way to Myanmar.
Daily protests began last month and had grown into the stiffest challenge to Myanmar's ruling junta in decades. They were initially started by people protesting massive fuel price hikes, with crowd sizes mushrooming to tens of thousands after monks joined in.
At the United Nations, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo described Gambari's visit as critical. "If he fails then the situation can become quite dreadful," he said.