UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has arrived in Burma's main city of Rangoon for talks with the country's ruling generals over this week's violence.
Mr Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister, made no comment on arrival as he went straight onto a flight to the generals' new capital, Naypyidaw, 240 miles to the north.
Speaking in Singapore before his departure to Burma, Mr Gambari he was going "to deliver a message from the secretary-general to the leadership, a message that is very much by the Security Council."
"I look forward to a very fruitful visit so that I can report progress on all fronts," Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.
Asked if he expected to meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Gambari said: "I expect to meet all the people that I need to meet."
A girl at attends a demonstration in Dublin in solidarity with protesters in Burma
Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo said he believed Burma's government would "be restrained in what it does" during Gambari's visit.
"If he fails, then the situation can become quite dreadful," Yeo said.
"He's the best hope we have. He is trusted on both sides."
Burmese soldiers and police have seized control of the streets in Rangoon and have sealed-off Buddhist monastaries in an effort to prevent the saffon-robed monks who led the protests from resuming their marches.
Demonstrators reportedly gathered earlier today in Rangoon despite the security crack-down over the last three days which has seen at least thirteen people killed.
Some 300 protesters, waving peacock-emblazoned flags of the democracy movement, marched down a street in Chinatown to applause today, but dispersed once government soldiers arrived.
Few Buddhist monks were among the crowds yesterday, unlike in previous days, after soldiers ransacked 10 monasteries on Thursday and carted off hundreds inside.
Security forces fired on several crowds on Thursday and state-run television said nine people were killed.
However, according to unconfirmed witness reports, the death toll could be many times higher. One exiled dissident group has estimated that around 200 people died.
The protests began when monks turned small marches against fuel price hikes into a mass uprising by adding their moral weight to demonstrations against the ruling generals.
A "united front" of clergy, students and activists had been formed to continue the struggle, some monks told foreign Burmese-language broadcasters.
But at the United Nations, China has ruled out supporting sanctions or a UN condemnation of the military government's use of force.
The junta told diplomats summoned to its new jungle capital Naypyidaw that it was "committed to showing restraint in its response to the provocations," one of those present said.