Myanmar's embattled junta has invited UN Special Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, barred from the country since 2003, to return Sunday to assess the human rights situation, the world body said Tuesday.

Pinheiro will join UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari who has been in the country since the weekend, pressing for progress in national reconciliation.

'Pinheiro welcomes the invitation by the authorities of Myanmar to visit the country from 11 to 15 November 2007,' said the UN Information Centre in a statement out of Geneva.

In his capacity as special rapporteur, Pinheiro made scant progress in dealing with Myanmar's military rulers. He has been barred from re-entry since 2003.

But the regime has been under growing international pressure to move forward with political reconciliation with the opposition and protection of basic human rights since its brutal crackdown on monk-led protests September 26-27. At least 10 people were killed in the crackdown, and others claim up to 200 died.

Gambari has been in Myanmar since Saturday and has vowed to stay on until real progress is achieved in the national reconciliation process.

On Tuesday, he met with three government ministers in the military's new capital of Naypyidaw, but he had yet to be granted an audience with the ruling junta's chief Senior General Than Shwe or opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sources said.

Gambari, tasked with persuading Myanmar's military leaders to open a political dialogue with opposition leaders such as Suu Kyi and representatives of ethnic minority groups, has spent his first four days in Naypyidaw meeting government ministers.

On Tuesday he met National Planning and Economic Development Minister Soe Tha, Religious Affairs Minister Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung and Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan.

He is scheduled to meet diplomats who have flown to Naypyidaw, 350 km north of Yangon, on Wednesday, informed sources said.

Last September's army-led attacks on Buddhist monks and their laymen followers have again brought Myanmar's junta back into the limelight of international condemnation.