UN envoy Gambari returns to Burma

Mr Gambari faces tough talks over a UN diplomat's expulsion

UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has arrived in the country for his second visit since September's anti-government protests.

His arrival comes a day after Burma's junta decided to expel Charles Petrie, the UN's country chief in Burma.

Mr Gambari wants to persuade the country's military rulers to accepting reform and starting talks with the democratic opposition.

But instead he will have to begin by discussing his own organisation.

Mr Petrie, who began his posting in Burma in 2003, issued a statement a week ago critical of the country's deepening economic crisis.

'Atrocities'

But Burma's rulers were not impressed and have ordered him to leave.

Some believe Burma's authorities have made their move at this time so that Mr Gambari will have to spend all of his visit talking about the UN instead of talking about reform.

It will not be an easy trip, says the BBC's James Reynolds, in neighbouring Thailand.

The US said the expulsion of Mr Petrie was an insult and an outrage.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe labelled it an attempt by the junta "to hide their atrocities from the world".

A sharp rise in fuel prices triggered protests in mid-August that snowballed into mass demonstrations led by thousands of Burmese monks.