UN envoy visit: Myanmar crisis on talks table

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy, will be in India next week to discuss the Myanmar crisis, reports Nilova Roy Chaudhury.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy, will be in India next week to discuss the Myanmar crisis.

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Confirming Gambari's visit, officials on Wednesday said it was part of a six-nation tour he was undertaking to seek Asia's help in resolving the situation in Myanmar. He will also brief the government about his talks with its military junta and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Gambari will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and meet Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his stay.

Mukherjee had met Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win when he was in New York earlier this month and had urged the regime to order a probe into the violence against monks that sparked the pro-democracy violence.

Gambari's visit comes in the wake of renewed reports of a clampdown on anti-junta protestors in Myanmar and the junta's rejection of a Security Council resolution condemning the violence on pro-democracy activists.

Beginning his six-nation tour in Thailand, Gambari was quoted being critical of the junta's renewed suppression of dissent, saying it ran "counter to the mutual agreements between the UN and Myanmar".

Gambari recently met Myanmar's strongman Gen Than Shwe and Suu Kyi in efforts to quell the rare anti-regime violence in Myanmar.

India — which joined the Human Rights Council in urging the junta to ensure rights were respected by the reclusive regime and in seeking the release of pro-democracy activists, including Suu Kyi, from detention — is among the few nations that maintains working relations with Myanmar.

India has vital security and energy interests in Myanmar and is likely to sign an agreement with the regime to begin work on the multi-modal Kaladan waterways, road and rail link project, a senior official said. India has committed $100 million as its initial contribution to the project.