A senior United Nations official has met Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sources close to the military rulers say.  The talks between Ms Suu Kyi and UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari lasted for about an hour, the sources say. Ms Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest since 2003. The last foreigner to see the Nobel Peace laureate was UN special envoy Razali Ismail in 2004. Ms Suu Kyi and Mr Gambari met in a government guesthouse, the sources say. A spokesman for Ms San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) later confirmed that the meeting took place, according to the AFP news agency. No further details about the talks were given. Earlier on Saturday, Mr Gambari met Burma's military leader Than Shwe, the sources say. The UN envoy arrived in Burma on Thursday and was expected to raise human rights issues and the restoration of democracy with the military regime. It is the first time in two years that the country has allowed such a visit by the UN. The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990 but the military refused to hand over power and instead has kept Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest.

Fresh doubts have been raised over claims by Afghan officials that they have captured one of the Taleban's top commanders, Mullah Dadullah. Officials said on Friday that he had been seized in the southern province of Kandahar. But a man claiming to be Mullah Dadullah later said he was still free, and not far from Kandahar. Separately, a number of soldiers have been killed in renewed fighting with insurgents in the south of the country. Insurgents ambushed a convoy of Afghan government forces in Helmand province, resulting in an unconfirmed number of casualties on both sides, including at least four Afghan soldiers. In separate fighting in the Kandahar region, two French special forces soldiers were killed and another injured. One American soldier died and six others were injured in a gun battle in Uruzgan province. Meanwhile, a man identifying himself as Mullah Dadullah has contacted a number of news agencies by satellite phone to say he was free. During his two calls to our foreign correspondent  in Pakistan, he said he was the one-legged Islamic commander who had been leading Taleban insurgents in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. The man said he would continue to attack Afghan and foreign troops in the area. The man said it was possible the authorities had mistakenly arrested one of the several thousand innocent people who had lost their limbs by stepping on a landmine during the ongoing Afghan conflict. Mullah Dadullah was a member of the Taleban's 10-man leadership council before the US-led invasion in 2001. The news of Mullah Dadullah's arrest earlier had sent a wave of excitement in Kabul, the BBC's Zaffar Abbas says. It was being treated as a huge success of the coalition forces since they launched the latest offensive against the anti-government insurgents in the south, our correspondent says. But now, he says, the Afghan authorities may have to come up with some solid evidence to convince the world that Mullah Dadullah was in their custody. There has been no official confirmation of the arrest from the Afghan government or US military.

A UN panel has given Senegal 90 days to put former Chad President Hissene Habre on trial or send him to Belgium to face trial for alleged human rights abuses. The United Nations Committee Against Torture said Senegal had broken international human rights rules by not dealing with Mr Habre for 15 years. Last year, a Senegalese court ruled that it did not have the power to decide whether he should be extradited. Senegal then referred the case to the African Union, which is still to rule. Mr Habre is wanted in Belgium for alleged abuses committed under his rule between 1982 and 1990. Alleged victims filed complaints under Belgium's universal jurisdiction law, which allows judges in Brussels to prosecute human rights offences anywhere.

'Soap opera': Reed Brody of the lobby group Human Rights Watch, who also acts as a lawyer for Mr Habre's alleged victims, welcomed the UN panel's decision. "This ruling means that Senegal cannot allow Hissene Habre to escape justice," he said. "The UN decision puts the law back into a case that was becoming a political soap opera." Mr Habre's administration has been accused of murdering and torturing political opponents. He denies any knowledge of atrocities. After being deposed by rebels in 1990, Mr Habre went into exile in Senegal. Some of Mr Habre's alleged victims have fought a dogged campaign to get him prosecuted. In 2001, a Senegalese court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to try Mr Habre on war crimes charges. The African Union committee on the case is due to meet next Monday, and put its recommendations to the organisation's summit at the beginning of July.

Tension is reported to be high in Zimbabwe after police banned rallies to mark the first anniversary of the controversial urban renewal campaign.  Some 500 people gathered in the city of Bulawayo amid reports that a march was given a last-minute go-ahead. In Harare, all public rallies remain banned as the capital is holding a key parliamentary by-election. The government's campaign, during which slums were cleared, left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. The crowds gathered in Bulawayo were to attend a march and prayers, Ray Motsi of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA) told South Africa's Independent Online. Mr Motsi said the rally in Zimbabwe's second largest city - initially banned by police - was allowed by the country's high court on Friday. He said the march would be shorter than its organisers initially planned, adding that there was a heavy police presence in the city. The ZCA is planning to hold prayer meetings for the victims of the urban renewal campaign across the country. Under tough security laws, the police must give permission for all demonstrations, and protests by groups not allied to the governing Zanu-PF party are rarely authorised. On Thursday, police arrested about 100 people marking the anniversary of last year's slum clearance programme, in which the UN says some 700,000 people lost either their homes or their jobs.

At least 150 people have fled the village of Allaipiddy in the northern Sri Lankan peninsula of Jaffna.  It follows last weekend's murder of 13 Tamil civilians. The navy has been accused of the killings - they deny it. Police and international truce monitors have both launched investigations into the incident. The killings came only two days after Tamil Tiger rebels launched a suicide assault on a naval convoy in which 18 sailors died. The attack in Allaipiddy last weekend was brutal. Thirteen people gunned down, including a four-month-old baby and a young boy. In the village of some 800 Tamils, it has caused fear and panic. Afterwards many of the residents took refuge in the church. Investigations are underway. Now residents are starting to leave. Posters around the town are warning people to evacuate. But no one is able to say who is behind them. Some accuse the military, some the Tigers. Increasingly civilians are being drawn into the bloodshed which has left almost 300 people dead since the start of April.-Deme Lutral