United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari met Tuesday with Myanmar’s military leader, Senior General Than Shwe, in the aftermath of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Gambari held talks with the junta’s head in the regime’s capital of Naypyidaw before he flew to Yangon, where he was expected to leave for Singapore on board a Myanma Airways plane.

The Nigerian diplomat arrived in Myanmar Saturday to evaluate the situation after government troops crushed into submission anti-government protesters last week, at least ten people being killed and hundreds arrested.

After his arrival, Gambari was allowed to meet with pro-democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence in Yangon, where she has been under house arrest for more than four years.

Details of Gambari’s talks with Shwe or Suu Kyi weren’t disclosed by the iron-fisted regime that clamped down on independent media and approved the release of articles only from government mouthpieces.

Gambari held brief interviews with high-ranked junta officials, but only on Tuesday he was granted a private discussion with Than Shwe, who heads the State Peace and Development Council.

For more than four decades Myanmar has been ruled by the military, and democracy is not likely to be installed in the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia in the following period. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won the 1990 election, but the junta blocked her from assuming office and continues to turn its back on a democratic leadership.

Most people said Gambari’s visit won’t be able to change much in the impoverished country. He also visited Myanmar last year, when he met with Suu Kyi, but shortly after Gambari’s departure her detention term was prolonged by the junta.

According to UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe, Gambari has been instructed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to render a message to the military leaders.

“The secretary general asked his envoy to call on the Myanmar authorities to cease the repression of peaceful protest, release the detainees and move more credibly and inclusively in the direction of democratic reform, human rights and national reconciliation,” Okabe said at the organization’s headquarters in New York.