Gambari to arrive New Delhi on Sunday

October 19, 2007 - Ibrahim Gambari, UN Secretary General's special envoy to Burma will arrive in New Delhi on Sunday, for two days of consultations on Burma with Indian officials, a UN official said.

"Gambari will arriving New Delhi on Sunday [October 21], and will have meetings with officials on Monday and Tuesday," an official at the new Delhi UN information centre said.

While details of the Nigerian diplomat's scheduled meetings remain undisclosed, sources said Gambari is likely meet the External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee and other officials of the MEA.

Gambari, who is on a six-nation tour to consult key Asian nations on Burma, is currently in Indonesia after visiting Malaysia and Thailand and will continue to China and Japan from India.

The UN envoy's Asian tour is part of the world body's effort to engage regional countries for consultations on Burma for possible pressure for reforms in the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation.

Gambari on Thursday said the Burmese junta could be offered incentives to move towards democratic reforms. The envoy also stressed that China, a top ally of the junta, could do more for reforms in the country.

Meanwhile, the United States and some European countries have threatened to expand sanctions against Burma as a response to the junta's violent crackdown on peaceful protests led by Buddhist clergy last month.

However, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday said Britain is willing to invest in the country if the ruling junta makes a move towards reconciliation and democracy.

Gambari, during his earlier visit to Burma in late September when protests had peaked in Rangoon and other parts of the country, met the junta leader Than Shwe and detained pro-democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Earlier in Bangkok the special envoy told reporters that he has obtained an invitation from the military generals in Burma to re-visit the country in mid-November.