Security Council asks for UN envoy to visit Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council pressed Myanmar's junta on Wednesday to allow a special U.N. envoy to visit the southeast Asian nation where three people were killed during protests against the ruling junta.

But the divided 15-member body did not issue a formal statement of condemnation as the United States, Europeans and others have done.

The United States and the 27-member European Union have asked the council to consider sanctions and demanded that the junta open a dialogue with jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic minorities.

But China immediately made its opposition clear. "We believe that sanctions (are not) helpful for the situation down there," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, this month's council president, told reporters after an emergency council meeting that members supported a visit to Myanmar, formerly Burma, by U.N. Undersecretary-General Ibrahim Gambari.

Ripert said the council underlined "the importance that Mr. Gambari be received by the authorities of Myanmar as soon as possible."

Council members also urged restraint, especially from the junta, Ripert said.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said it was important that Gambari, who is flying to the region shortly, be admitted to Myanmar immediately.

"It is very important that this be done on an urgent basis," Khalilzad said. "It would not be good for Mr. Gambari to visit grave sites after many more Burmese have been killed."