The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Yangon

Detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed a rare meeting with her lawyer on the eve of a UN envoy's visit to push Myanmar's regime to re-open a dialogue with her party, a spokesman said Monday.

The Nobel peace prize winner spoke with her lawyer Kyi Win for more than four hours Sunday, in their second encounter this month, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Aung San Suu Kyi was also granted a visit by her doctor Tin Myo Win on Sunday, who gave her a medical checkup-her first since February. The spokesman Nyan Win called the meetings "significant," noting that before this month she had not been allowed to see her lawyer since 2004.

The NLD has appealed against the latest extension of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest, but has received no response from the government. Nyan Win said he did not know whether Kyi Win discussed the appeal with her.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 19 years confined to her home. Her latest detention began more than five years ago, and she has been allowed little contact with the outside world.

The meetings came the day before UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari's arrival Monday in Yangon on a five-day mission aimed at jump starting talks between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi's party.

After the military's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September, the military sought to ease international outrage at the bloodshed by appointing a liaison officer, labour minister Aung Kyi, to meet with her.