New York: Bowing to international pressure, Myanmar's military junta has agreed to allow the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to prepone his visit to the country during, which he hopes to kickstart a dialogue between government and pro-democracy opposition.

Originally, the envoy was to visit Myanmar in the second week of November but junta told the UN that he could come in first week though dates were yet to be decided.

This is the second concession announced by the military government in as many days, having earlier agreed to the visit of Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, the Secretary-General s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, after denying him access for four years.

Gambari, who is the in the region urging neighbouring nations to press junta to start dialogue with the opposition, is expected to go straight to Myanmar following his mission instead of returning to report to the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.

The Special Envoy was in New Delhi yesterday where he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and delivered a personal message from the Secretary-General. Earlier, he had talked to Singh on phone on the issue.
Source : PTI