Burma’s military junta kept up its pursuit of dissidents under the cover of darkness in Rangoon on Wednesday, hours after a United Nations envoy urged the leadership to account fully for those missing since last week’s brutal crackdown on peaceful democracy protesters.

Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, said on Wednesday he would meet Ibrahim Gambari, his special envoy, on Thursday and they would report to the 15 Security Council members in a private meeting on Friday. Mr Gambari spent four days in Burma trying to persuade the generals to engage in dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy advocate.