Myanmar says democracy roadmap only way forward

YANGON (Reuters) - The only path to political reform in army-ruled Myanmar is via the junta's "roadmap to democracy", official media said on Friday in an apparent swipe at visiting U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

State-owned newspapers considered to be mouthpieces of the regime urged people to approve an army-written constitution in a May referendum, which Gambari has said must be "credible and inclusive".

"We should not miss our goal just because meddlers posing as a referee say we must start again. The efforts we have made should not be in vain. We should not let the referee separate us," a commentary published in The Myanma Ahlin and Kyemon newspapers said.

The Nigerian envoy, on his third visit since a crackdown on anti-junta protests last September, returned to the former Burma on Thursday amid waning optimism for his mission to coax the generals into meaningful talks with the opposition on reforms.

The visit is his first chance to hold face-to-face talks with the generals since their unexpected announcement last month of a constitutional referendum that critics dismiss as a sham to keep the military in power.

The continued house arrest of National League for Democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and the opposition's boycott of the constitution-drafting process, have led Western governments to reject the charter and poll timeline.