YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's ruling junta lashed out Sunday at global efforts to bring democracy to the tightly controlled nation, timing its message for the day a U.N. envoy headed to Asia to rally the country's neighbors for help with its crisis.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari was flying into Bangkok ahead of Monday talks with Thailand's leaders. He was then to travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China and Japan before returning to Myanmar, where the junta faces growing pressure to halt its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and open talks with the democratic opposition.

Gambari met with the junta's leaders earlier this month during a four-day trip to Myanmar after troops opened fire on peaceful protests in Yangon. Gambari's mission this time around is aimed at coordinating efforts among key governments in the region to help resolve the crisis.

Myanmar's military leaders have repeatedly rebuffed calls for reforms, saying the only way to bring change to the country is to follow the junta's seven-step "road map" to democracy. The stance was reiterated Sunday in The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece of the junta.

"There will emerge a peaceful, modern and developed democratic nation — according to the state's seven-step road map," a newspaper editorial said. It added that citizens "who are shouting at full-blast" for U.N. intervention were traitors "trying to hand over their motherland to alien countries."

"Such national traitors will soon meet their tragic ends," the editorial said.

The road map process is supposed to culminate in a general election at an unspecified future date. But so far only the first stage — drawing up guidelines for a new constitution — has been completed, and that took over a decade. Critics say the plan has no clear timetable and is a ruse to allow the military to hold onto power.

The junta has also ignored calls to halt its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Security forces on Saturday arrested four prominent political activists who went into hiding to escape a government manhunt after leading some of the first major marches against the government several weeks ago, Amnesty International said.

Among those detained was one of Myanmar's most famous dissidents, Htay Kywe. Others arrested were Aung Htoo and Thin Thin Aye, also known as Mie Mie.

The three were believed to be the last remaining activists at large from the 88 Generation Students' Group — the country's boldest dissident group — which was at the forefront of a 1988 democracy uprising and one of the main forces behind the protests that started in August.

A fourth activist, Ko Ko, was also arrested, the London-based rights group said. All four were believed to have been rounded up in Yangon, the country's main city.

Troops crushed more recent pro-democracy demonstrations by shooting into crowds of protesters in Yangon on Sept. 26-27. The regime says 10 people were killed in the clashes and 2,100 were detained, but diplomats and dissidents say that the toll is much higher, and that as many as 6,000 people were taken into custody.

"Amnesty International believes that these high-profile opposition figures are at grave risk of torture and mistreatment," said Daniel Alberman, an Amnesty spokesman. "The eyes of the world are on Myanmar, and the authorities will be judged by how all those who have been detained in recent weeks are treated."

The United Nations has spearheaded an international effort to push the military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, to halt its crackdown and enter negotiations with detained National League for Democracy party leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The U.N. Security Council issued its first statement on Myanmar on Thursday, condemning the violence against protesters and emphasizing "the importance of the early release of all political prisoners and remaining detainees." It also called for a "genuine dialogue" between the country's military rulers and the pro-democracy opposition.

The current junta came to power after crushing the 1988 uprising and killing as many as 3,000 people. Simmering discontent with the regime erupted into protests in August after the government hiked fuel prices in Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest countries.