Yangon - Myanmar authorities on Saturday began to free prisoners from Yangon's notorious Insein jail, including some political prisoners, under a government amnesty for 6,313 inmates nationwide.

Eyewitnesses saw scores of prisoners leaving Insein on Saturday evening. Among them were Thet Wai, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party, and five other low-ranking opposition members.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her deputy Tin Oo have apparently been excluded from the amnesty. Suu Kyi and Tin Oo have been under house arrest since mid-2003.

Tin Oo's detention was extended by a year on the eve of the arrival of United Nations Rapporteur on Human Rights Tomas Ojea Quintana on February 14 for a six-day visit.

Quintana's mission aimed at persuading Myanmar's ruling junta to release an estimated 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, before its planned election in 2010.

Quintana concluded his visit on Thursday, noting at the airport upon his departure that "the human rights situation in Myanmar is still challenging."

The regime has now granted an amnesty for prisoners, but not necessarily the ones Quintana was concerned about.

In its announcement, the government said the release of the 6,313 prisoners was being made on humanitarian grounds and as a "gesture" of sympathy towards their families.

Those released would be able "to serve the interests of the regions and their own the nation and to participate in the fair election to be held in the years 2010 together with the people after realizing the government's compassion and goodwill," the statement also said.

The amnesty, which comes days before Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein will attend the 14th Summit of the Association of South- East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Thailand next week, has met with scepticism from abroad.

France and Britain on Friday strongly criticized Myanmar's military regime for failing to implement democratic reform and freeing political prisoners, even though that government has announced the amnesty for 6,000 prisoners.

France's UN Ambassador Jean Maurice Ripert said in New York that Ibrahim Gambari, the special envoy of UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, had not obtained progress demanded by international community.

Gambari, who was in Myanmar in January, met with the 15-nation council to report on his trip. But Ripert said progress in the talks presented by Gambari were "very thin and disappointing."

Gambari spoke to reporters following the closed-door session with the council, saying that he had not seen "tangible outcomes" from his visit. He said the UN secretary general's good offices role is appreciated by the government of Myanmar as well as the people there, including opposition leader Suu Kyi.

The UN had demanded the junta implement democratic reform and meet benchmarks like the release of all political prisoners and institute national reconciliation and democratic elections.

In particular it has called for the release of Suu Kyi, leader of the NLD, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years.

British Ambassador John Sawers said Gambari had "better access" in his last visit.

"We regret that there was no real progress," Sawers told reporters. "In fact, the situation has gone backwards." (dpa)