UN envoy to return to Burma

The United Nations envoy tasked with promoting political reconciliation in Burma will visit the military-ruled country at the end of this month.

The visit by Ibrahim Gambari on January 31 comes in the wake of a judicial crackdown during which government courts handed down harsh prison sentences to scores of pro-democracy activists.

But the country’s pro-democracy movement, whose leader is detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been disappointed by Mr Gambari’s previous visits, which have failed to secure Ms Suu Kyi’s release from more than 13 years under house arrest.