By EDITH M. LEDERER,

AP

Posted: 2007-10-22 18:55:12

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The government of Myanmar  has agreed to a visit by the U.N.’s human rights investigator, who has been barred from entering the military-ruled country since 2003, the United Nations said Monday.

In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win suggested that Paulo Sergio Pinheiro’s visit take place before the Nov. 17 summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

Myanmar has been strongly criticized for sending troops to quash peaceful protests, initially led by students and then by Buddhist monks, in late September. The 10-nation southeast Asian bloc, which includes Myanmar, expressed “revulsion” at the violent repression of the demonstrations and urged the government to exercise restraint and seek a political solution.

The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the crackdown at an emergency session on Oct. 2 and urged an immediate investigation of the rights situation in the country.

Romanian Ambassador Doru-Romulus Costea, who chairs the 47-nation rights council, appealed to the Myanmar government on Oct. 9 to permit an urgent visit by Pinheiro, who was appointed as the U.N’s independent expert on human rights in Myanmar seven years ago.

Costea met with Nyunt Swe, Myanmar’s top U.N. diplomat in Geneva, that day and told him that Pinheiro, a Brazilian human rights specialist, would be able to travel “at any time should the government of Myanmar give its approval.”

The Human Rights Council’s resolution strongly deploring “continued violent repression of peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar, including through beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances” was its first criticizing a government other than Israel since the council replaced the discredited Human Rights Commission last year.

The council, which lacks enforcement powers, is limited to focusing global attention on human rights offenders.

The protests in Myanmar began Aug. 19 after the government hiked fuel prices in one of Asia’s poorest countries. But they are based in deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the repressive military rule that has gripped the country, previously known as Burma, since 1962. The protests were faltering when Buddhist monks took the lead late last month.

Soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators and the military junta said 10 people were killed, but diplomats and dissidents say the death toll is likely much higher. Thousands were arrested, and the hunt for participants is reportedly continuing.

U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who was sent to Myanmar by the U.N. chief after the crackdown, is unlikely to return before mid-November as the Security Council wanted because the government has not given him a visa for an earlier visit. Gambari is currently in India as part of a six-nation visit to the region.

The Security Council on Oct. 11 underscored its support “for his return as early as possible, in order to facilitate concrete actions and tangible results” in promoting national reconciliation and moving toward democracy.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters Monday: “It’s urgent that Mr. Gambari be allowed to come into Burma to facilitate in the reconciliation that is necessary, and in the transition to a new order, that is necessary for Burma to become a normal place.”

“We are calling on all those with influence to redouble their efforts to get Mr. Gambari there as quickly as possible,” he said.

Khalilzad said the United States is working closely with the secretary-general, ASEAN, China, India and European allies “to get Mr. Gambari into Burma as soon as possible.”

Montas, the U.N. spokeswoman, said the secretary-general spoke to the Chinese foreign minister and the Indian prime minister over the weekend about Myanmar.

Khalilzad said negotiations between the government and the opposition, led by detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, need to take place “and Mr. Gambari can facilitate that.” He reiterated U.S. calls for Suu Kyi’s release so she can take part in a real dialogue.

Myanmar’s junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide election victory.