By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER,

AP

Posted: 2007-12-12 12:26:56

GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. special investigator for Myanmar pleaded with the country’s military junta on Wednesday to engage in a serious dialogue about human rights, a day after U.S. President George W. Bush threatened new international sanctions.

“We know that we have a problem,” Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who recently visited the country, told Myanmar’s ambassador at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Pinheiro said he was disappointed by Myanmar’s reaction to a report he formally presented to the 47-nation body on the government’s deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in September.

The report released last week found that at least 31 people were killed – more than double the number acknowledged by authorities. Pinheiro said the death toll was probably much higher.

Wunna Maung Lwin, Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, said late Tuesday that “exercising its sovereign right to handle a violent situation should not be construed as a violation of human rights.”

Pinheiro, a Brazilian professor, said he expected a better response.

“Your government has to make some concessions in terms of recognizing some of the points of my report,” he told Wunna Maung. “The problem of thousands of detentions of people without a reasonable basis, and the question of the use of force, necessity and proportionality – I didn’t invent these.”

In Washington, Bush threatened Tuesday to campaign for international sanctions unless Myanmar’s military leaders heed the world’s demands that democracy be restored and political prisoners freed.

He said he was “deeply disturbed” by Pinheiro’s findings.

“It provides alarming details about the Burmese authorities’ crackdown on demonstrations by monks and democracy activists and the severe reprisals that continue today,” Bush said. “He describes how the regime harassed, detained, and killed many peaceful demonstrators.”

The House of Representatives, meanwhile, approved legislation that would further tighten sanctions by stopping Myanmar’s shipments of rubies and high-quality jade to the U.S.

Associated Press writer Frank Jordans contributed to this report