Yangon  - United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived in Yangon Saturday morning for talks on national reconciliation between Myanmar's military junta and opposition groups.

Gambari was seeking during his four-day visit to revive his unsuccessful efforts to push the junta to free opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners and to allow democratic reforms in the military dictatorship.

Gambari was scheduled to meet Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win upon his arrival, official sources said. Then, he was to meet staff at the UN Development Programme.

He was also supposed to meet with the Tripartite Core Group, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, official sources said.

Established in May, the Tripartite Core Group is made up of representatives from Myanmar's government, the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member. It is focused on humanitarian relief and recovery work in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

The May cyclone left 140,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million in need of emergency assistance, the delivery of which was initially hampered by the junta.

Government sources in Yangon said Gambari's schedule would also include a meeting with Suu Kyi, leader of the main opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD), who has been under house arrest for more than 10 years.

On his last trip to Myanmar in August, Gambari was denied an audience with the military supremo, Senior General Than Shwe. The UN special envoy also failed to meet with Suu Kyi, who reportedly judged a meeting then with Gambari as unnecessary after had failed to meet with Than Shwe, the prime decision-maker in Myanmar.

It was unclear whether Gambari would be granted an interview with Than Shwe on this trip, but government sources said the special envoy was scheduled to meet with Suu Kyi, NLD members and some government ministers based in Yangon, the former capital and Myanmar's largest city.

Gambari was also scheduled to visit parts of the Irrawaddy Delta, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis. (dpa)