RANGOON A confidante of UN envoy to Burma Razali Ismail met with pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi in Shan state after Razali cancelled his own trip there, a National League for Democracy (NLD) source said.

Leon de Riedmatten, of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, flew to the southern Shan capital of Taunggyi Friday for talks with the Nobel peace laureate, who is in the midst of an extensive political trip.

"He met with Aung San Suu Kyi and talked with her for two hours," a source in Suu Kyi's NLD party told AFP on Saturday.

The substance of the talks was not revealed, but in several previous meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and Razali the two have discussed the status of the reconciliation dialogue between the ruling generals and the opposition which the UN envoy has brokered for the past two years.

5-day mission

The Rangoon-based de Riedmatten has been present at virtually all of Razali's meetings during his crucial five-day mission to Burma aimed at revitalising the stalled reconciliation process, official and party sources have said.

On Friday there were conflicting reports that two UN aides had accompanied de Riedmatten on his journey to Shan state, but their presence at the meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi could not be verified.

The opposition leader is in the midst of an extended trip to the northeastern state as she exercises her newly won right to travel freely throughout the country after the junta released her in May from 19 months of house arrest.

She has been greeted by thousands of supporters at various stops along her journey, and plans to open four new NLD offices throughout the state, including the town of Leisho in the north, party spokesman U Lwin has said.

Warning of quitting

Earlier in the week Razali had scheduled a trip to Shan state, where he was expected to meet Aung San Suu Kyi for the second time on his current mission, but he said he had cancelled the trip after a 15-minute meeting Thursday with the country's leader, Senior General Than Shwe.

Prior to arriving in Burma the envoy warned he would quit if the junta failed to make progress on democratic reforms.

The NLD's U Lwin said Razali had assured him he would stay on as UN secretary-general Kofi Annan's personal representative to Burma.

Razali was due to wrap up his mission later Saturday.

The military has ruled Burma for the past four decades, and refused to recognise a landslide election victory claimed by the NLD in 1990. AFP