Yangon  - Ibrahim Gambari, UN special envoy to Myanmar, visited the compound of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Friday but she did not come out to greet him, witnesses said.

Gambari, who arrived in Yangon Monday, went to Suu Kyi's Yangon home at 7:30 am (0100 GMT) and waited at the front gate for an hour but the Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not come out, witnesses said.

The road outside Suu Kyi's compound has been heavily barricaded since Thursday evening with four police officers posted outside its front gate.

Yangon - UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari arrived in Myanmar Monday for a five-day visit that aims to pressure the ruling military junta to speed up democratic reforms, address human rights and free political prisoners.

The visit is Gambari's fourth since last year to Myanmar, also known as Burma, where he has been handed a mandate by the United Nations to deal with the country's military regime in addressing international concerns about human rights violations, slow-paced political reforms and the ongoing detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of other political prisoners.

The State Peace and Development Council, as Myanmar's junta calls itself, has shown little willingness to comply with Gambari's overall mission.

Yangon - The United Nations Thursday acknowledged that over the past three months some 1.56 million dollars in aid for the victims of Cyclone Nargis has been lost to Myanmar's odd foreign exchange regulations.

"The loss in value due to foreign exchange for the Cyclone Nargis international humanitarian aid during the last three months has been about 1.56 million dollars," said Daniel Baker, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar.

"We are not getting the full value of dollars donated for emergency relief, and donors are extremely worried and keen to see that this issue is resolved," said Baker, in the latest UN update on relief efforts for Cyclone Nargis.

Bangkok - Hundreds of Myanmar activists protested outside the Chinese and Myanmar embassies in Bangkok Friday, marking the 20th anniversary of a brutal army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon that left thousands dead.

The protestors, mindful that Friday also marks the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Beijing, used the anniversary of the 8-8-88 uprising to highlight China's role in supporting Myanmar's notoriously brutish military regime.

On August 8, 1988, thousands of pro-democracy protestors took to the streets in Yangon demanding the end of 26 years of military rule. Their demands were met with bullets and a bloodbath that left an estimated 3,000 dead.

Manila - Dozens of Filipino democracy activists marched with cardboard Olympic torches in the Philippine capital Friday to protest China's continued support for the military junta in Myanmar.

The protesters, wearing sports uniforms, gathered in front of the Chinese and Myanmar embassies in Manila to demand democracy and freedom for the South-East Asian country formerly called Burma.

The protest also commemorated the bloody uprising in Myanmar 20 years ago. The anniversary of the August 8, 1988 uprising coincides with the opening of the Olympics in Beijing.

"Light up the torch of freedom and democracy for Burma," the activists said as they urged the Chinese government to revise its policy towards Myanmar.

Yangon - Oil-rich Kuwait has signed two economic agreements with gas-rich Myanmar as part of Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah's tour of the region, state media reports said Thursday.

Nasser visited Myanmar's military capital of Naypyitaw on Wednesday and held talks with Prime Minister General Thein Sein to discuss bilateral relations, said The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece.

The two premiers witnessed the signing of an "Agreement for the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of investment between the Union of Myanmar and the State of Kuwait" and an "Agreement for Economic and Technical Cooperation between the Union of Myanmar and the State of Kuwait."