U.N. envoy Gambari to arrive in Myanmar Thursday

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy for Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari will arrive there on Thursday for his third visit since a September crackdown by the ruling junta on pro-democracy protests, the United Nations said.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Monday that Gambari "hopes to stay as long as necessary and to consult with a broad range of representatives of Myanmar society, including all the groups which he was not able to see during his last visit."

Details of the program were being discussed with the Myanmar authorities, Montas said, adding: "Mr. Gambari looks forward to the continued cooperation of the Myanmar government."

Gambari has been seeking the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners as well as a dialogue between the government and opposition.

The junta had originally proposed a mid-April date for Gambari's visit but he had been lobbying to go sooner.

The junta made a surprise announcement last month of a referendum on a new, as yet unfinished, constitution in May to be a followed by a general election in 2010. But opposition figures and some Western countries have voiced skepticism that the vote will be free or fair.

Gambari said in an interview with Reuters in Tokyo last week he would be urging Myanmar's military government to take steps to make its roadmap to democracy "credible and inclusive".