CURFEW LIFTED: Buddhists gathering at the Shwedagon Pagoda, a rallying point for protesters, yesterday. Residents in Yangon welcome the lifting of the curfew but remain worried about what the junta may do next. -- PHOTO: AFP

'As the government has made the official offer, it's your turn now,' the official New Light of Myanmar daily said in a commentary.

'No dialogue can achieve success without sacrifices and concessions. Aunty Suu, you should understand the nature of giving up something for achieving another that is 10 times (more) valuable and beneficial.'

Junta chief Than Shwe has offered to hold talks with Ms Suu Kyi, but only if she gives up what he calls her support for 'confrontation, utter devastation, economic sanctions on Myanmar and other sanctions'.

Senior General Than Shwe's offer was seen as a bid to defuse international pressure on Myanmar following the bloody suppression of peaceful protests, led by Buddhist monks, in late September.

At least 13 people were killed and about 3,000 thrown behind bars in the crackdown.

Gen Than Shwe is known to despise the 62-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, but her opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has said Ms Suu Kyi will consider the dialogue offer.

The latest move by the junta came as residents in Yangon welcomed the end of a curfew imposed on them, but voiced fears in private over the iron-fisted junta.

The government ended the curfew on Saturday in Yangon, Myanmar's main city, where the authorities violently put down pro-democracy protests late last month.

Residents said they were relieved to see the end of the nightly curfew, which lasted from 11pm to 3am, but confided that they did not feel that life had returned to normal yet.

'People are very happy about the end of the curfew. We are free now,' said one company official in his 30s.

'But people, including me, continue to worry about the situation because of what happened in Yangon last month.'

A 55-year-old housewife said she was glad that the curfew had been lifted, but added she would stay away from Yangon's golden Shwedagon Pagoda, a rallying point for protesters.

In the wake of the crackdown last month, the United States and the European Union have tightened sanctions, and even Japan, one of Myanmar's major donors, has cancelled aid as a Japanese video journalist was among the 13 killed.

On Friday, the US slapped a new round of sanctions on Myanmar's military leaders. It was the second time in four weeks that Washington had increased sanctions on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

The US has already imposed sanctions due to Myanmar's rights abuses, including the detention of Ms Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 18 years under house arrest in Yangon.

Ms Suu Kyi has publicly discouraged foreign investment in Myanmar in a bid to put pressure on the junta, which has been ruling the South-east Asian country since 1962.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened by the eagerness of China, India and Thailand to tap Myanmar's rich natural wealth to fuel their own growing economies.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE