New ork: The UN Security Council expressed regret at Myanmar's slow progress in opening a dialogue with the opposition and called for the early return of N envoy Ibrahim Gambari to help promote national reconciliation and the restoration of democracy.

The council "underscored the importance of making further progress" on the objectives it set out in an October 11 statement, which include protecting human rights and releasing all political prisoners and detainees.

"An early visit to Myanmar by Gambari could help facilitate this," it said yesterday. Gambari told reporters after meeting with the council that he asked to go to Myanmar later this month but the country's military rulers sent word "that it's not convenient and they will prefer mid-April."

He said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the government "that's not acceptable, and I agree, so we are in the process of negotiating an early, rather than a later, return to Myanmar."

Myanmar's junta has been strongly criticized for sending troops to quash peaceful protests against a fuel price hike, initially led by students and then by Buddhist monks, in late September.

The government said 10 people were killed, but diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher. Thousands of monks and civilians were arrested. The Security Council yesterday reiterated its support for Gambari's efforts and for the objectives in its October 11 statement, which strongly deplored the government's crackdown and called for a "genuine dialogue" between the junta and the pro-democracy opposition.

Source : PTI