Hanoi - The UN special envoy to Myanmar expressed concern Monday over fresh reports of arrests of opposition leaders by the military junta, and said he hoped to make another trip to the troubled country by the end of the year. Ibrahim Gambari was speaking to reporters in Hanoi, where he sought the help of the communist government - which also routinely jails political opposition activists - to help persuade Myanmar's junta to engage in dialogue.
Last week, Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy reported the arrests of at least one of its senior leaders. Other dissidents reported that a Buddhist monk and a labour-rights leader had been detained two months after the bloody crackdown on mass protests in September.
Asked about the arrests, Gambari said they contradicted Myanmar's own reports of progress following the crackdown and the release of 2,600 detainees, including 700 monks, plus the junta's overtures to Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"Further arrests would run counter to that kind of spirit and that kind of report of progress. We hope that it will stop," Gambari said. "You cannot give with one hand and take away with another."
The UN envoy also said he met with Myanmar's prime minister, General Thein Sein, on the sidelines of last week's Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Singapore.
"I think I was able to convey the continued concern of the international community," he said. "I hope to go back to the nation before the end of this year."
In Hanoi, Gambari was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and would deliver a personal message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, both congratulating Vietnam on its coming non-voting membership in the UN Security Council but asking for assistance in further negotiations with Myanmar.
Noting that Hanoi is close to Myanmar's ruling junta, Gambari said he hoped Vietnam's government would "further encourage the government of Myanmar to intensify their cooperation with the United Nations" on achieving a peaceful solution to the political crisis.
Vietnam's state-run Vietnam News Agency reported Sunday that Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, whom Gambari met over the weekend, "has backed a dialogue between concerned parties in Myanmar to find a solution that is acceptable to all sides and wishes Myanmar to quickly achieve stabilization so as it can concentrate on building the country."
Last week, Vietnamese authorities arrested at least three foreign democracy activists from the US, France and Thailand who were distributing leaflets on peaceful opposition, according to their organization.
A government spokesman said last week the three activists had committed "violations of Vietnamese law," but refused to specify which law.
Article 88 of Vietnam's penal code carries sentences of up to 20 years in prison for "propaganda against the Socialist Republic."
