UN orders envoy to Burma

United Nations - Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Ibrahim Gambari to travel to Burma as members of Asean tried to call a meeting at UN headquarters to discuss the deadly, deteriorating situation.

Ban called on the "senior leadership of the country to cooperate fully with the mission in order to take advantage of the willingness of the UN to assist in the process of national reconciliation through dialogue."

Ban decided Wednesday to send an envoy to the Burmese military regime as the Security Council convened a meeting to discuss deadly clashes between military forces and pro-democracy protesters.

The Security Council urgently convened a meeting for this morning (Thailand time) as the situation in Burma worsened with clashes and a curfew.

Diplomats refrained from saying what they would do during the Security Council meeting. High-ranking government officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) also planned to meet on Burma.

Some diplomats had cautioned that China and Russia have opposed Security Council measures against Burma in the past and would maintain the stance in this case.

Troops used force earlier Wednesday to keep tens of thousands of marching monks and other protesters out of Rangoon's holiest shrines in a confrontation claimed at least five lives.

At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.

In deciding to send an envoy, Ban said he had noted the use of force, arrests and beatings of demonstrators, and called on the country's military authorities to "exercise utmost restraint toward the peaceful demonstrations taking place, as such action can only undermine the prospects for peace, prosperity and stability" in Burma.

Ban had called for restraint from the military government on two previous occasions.

Foreign ministers of the groups of industrialised countries, or G- 8, met at UN headquarters on the fringes of the UN General Assembly to also discuss Burma.

"We call on the government and authorities in Burma to enter into a dialogue with the religious groups and democratic forces in the country, to reach a peaceful solution without violence," the G-8 said according to Germany, which holds the group's rotating presidency.

The group - which also includes the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, Britain, Italy and France - also called for an immediate end to the ongoing violence of the past week.

The group also warned the military leadership that they would be held "personally responsible" for their actions, after a meeting of foreign ministers at the German embassy in New York.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said from her headquarters in Geneva that the military government should refrain from using force against peaceful demonstrators.

"The use of excessive force and all forms of arbitrary detention of peaceful protesters are strictly prohibited under international law," she said.

Arbour called for respect under all circumstances of fundamental human rights.