U.N. envoy planned to arrive in Myanmar on Sunday in a bid to improve human rights in the impoverished country, just days ahead of the 20th anniversary of a popular uprising against the military junta.

The U.N. Human Rights Council investigator for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, has asked to meet government officials, representatives of ethnic groups and political parties, a U.N. statement said.

There was no mention of a meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.
The junta extended Suu Kyi’s detention in May by another 12 months, the sixth straight year that she has been held.

Quintana also asked to visit the Irrawaddy delta where a May 2-3 cyclone killed more than 84,000 people. The junta was accused of initially preventing foreign relief workers from accessing the area and then dragging its feet on providing food, water and shelter to the estimated 2.4 million survivors.

Quintana wishes «to engage in a constructive dialogue with the authorities to improve (the) human rights situation of people of Myanmar,» the statement said.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi, said members of her National League for Democracy party have not been told whether they will be able to see Quintana, but said they hope to press him about her access to a doctor.

One of our concerns is to seek regular visits to Suu Kyi’s personal physician,» said Nyan Win, adding that she has not seen her physician, Dr. Tin Myo Win, since early May.
Quintana is scheduled to leave Thursday, a day before the 20th anniversary of the 1988 uprising against the military junta. The government has already beefed up security ahead of the anniversary, fearing it could be used by pro-democracy activists to launch further protests against the junta.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement, killing as many as 3,000 people. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi’s party won overwhelmingly.

The junta ruled mostly unchallenged until last August when thousands of Buddhist monks joined rallies against a fuel price increase. The junta cracked down on anti-government demonstrations in September by shooting and arresting protesters, killing as many as 31 people. Dissident groups put the death toll far higher.