United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro arrived in military-ruled Myanmar yesterday, his first visit in four years, to investigate alleged abuses during September?s bloody crackdown on democracy protests.

U.N. officials in Geneva, where the Brazilian law professor is based, said Pinheiro had submitted a list of prisons and detention centers he wants to visit during his five-day trip, although his precise itinerary was still being thrashed out.

An outspoken critic of the junta, Pinheiro did not reveal details of his itinerary to reporters, although a diplomat said he was heading straight to Bago, around 50 km (30 miles) north of Yangon, where he was expected to visit a Buddhist monastery hit by the crackdown.

One aide said the Myanmar authorities, who responded to international outrage at their suppression of the monk-led protests by granting Pinheiro a rare visa, had shown ?cooperative engagement?.

He is due to report back to the U.N. Human Rights Council at its next session on December 10-14, but was expected to hold a news conference in Bangkok on November 16 immediately after his trip.

Myanmar media say 10 people were killed when soldiers were sent in to end the biggest protests in 20 years, although Western governments say the real total is almost certainly far higher.

Pinheiro?s visit comes two days after the departure of the U.N.?s point-man on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, whose second visit since the crackdown sparked hopes the military might be willing to talk about political reform with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel laureate?s political party, which won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power by the army, quoted her as being ?optimistic? during a meeting with party chiefs.

Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years, said the generals were ?serious and really willing to work for national reconciliation?, party spokesman Nyan Win said.