WITNESS - Overnight in Myanmar's ghost town capital

By Louis Charbonneau

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (Reuters) - A green and yellow sign greeted us in English and Burmese with the words: "Welcome to Naypyitaw". Someone in our bus quipped that it should have read: "Welcome to the Dictators' Disneyland."

Myanmar's remote new capital, Naypyidaw, looks more like a seaside resort-in-progress than a city. But it is too far from the sea to make it a proper resort.

In fact, Naypyidaw is a virtual fortress where the reclusive military rulers of the former Burma have isolated themselves, some 320 km away from the mass demonstrations that occasionally erupt in the country's largest city, Yangon.

I was one of a small group of journalists who had the rare privilege of spending the night in Naypyidaw, where foreigners are banned unless they are invited there on official business.

As members of a U.N. delegation travelling with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon we got special treatment -- we could use satellite telephones, which are illegal in Myanmar, to contact the outside world.

We also had access to the Internet to file stories and send emails about Ban's second trip to the new capital, established in 2005.

During his two-day visit, Ban tried unsuccessfully to persuade Senior General Than Shwe, the junta leader, to let him meet Myanmar's main opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest.

One of the first things I noticed about Naypyidaw was the lack of people and cars, which gave the city the eerie atmosphere of a ghost town.