The US charge d'affaires, Shari Villarosa, who is an outspoken critic of the military dictatorship's suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations, travelled to the remote capital Naypidaw, though embassy officials in Rangoon dismissed suggestions she would meet the Burmese leader, General Than Shwe.
The diplomatic manoeuvring by Burma's military strongman came after the revelation that he had made an offer to meet Ms Suu Kyi to defuse the crisis that left at least 13 dead and more than 2,000 jailed.
But the invitation made during discussions with the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari was hedged with conditions that analysts and members of the Nobel laureate's National League for Democracy party said would be impossible for her to accept.
Burma's state media reported that Than Shwe, who reportedly hates Ms Suu Kyi and will not hear her name mentioned, would meet her if she renounced calls for international economic sanctions and dropped her confrontational stance towards the regime.
Political analyst Win Min, a Burmese exile who fled after the 1988 student uprising, said that Ms Suu Kyi had never adopted a position of confrontation or called for the "utter devastation" of the country, as the regime said.
"The regime knows this is an offer she can't accept with these conditions," he said. "She has always been for dialogue since 1988. She's not for confrontation. But this just confuses the situation and makes things more difficult for Mr Gambari. That's what the regime wanted."
The emissary briefed the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, on his discussions with the Burmese leadership for an hour yesterday and is due to speak to the security council today amid pressure for increased sanctions.
But permanent members, China and Russia, which have a veto, have ruled out action in the belief that the crackdown on the streets of Rangoon is not a threat to international security.
"This issue does not belong to the security council," said Wang Gunagya, China's UN ambassador. "These problems still we believe are basically internal. No international imposed solution can help the situation."
