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U.N. envoy returns to Myanmar

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  • Ibrahim Gambari returns to Myanmar for continued talks with junta officials
  • U.N. humans right envoy to Myanmar, asked to leave, believed still in country
  • U.S. National Security Council spokesman calls expulsion "outrageous"
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(CNN) -- Special U.N. envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari has returned to the country and headed to the isolated bunker-like capital Naypyidaw for continued talks with senior government officials, Western sources have told CNN.

Ibrahim Gambari, U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, returned to the country for further talks Saturday.

The sources said there were no visible signs of protests in the country's biggest city, Yangon.

Upon arrival, at his request, Gambari met Charles Petrie, the United Nations resident coordinator for Myanmar, who briefed him on a U.N. team's assessment of the situation in the troubled nation, according to a U.N. statement issued by the U.N. Information Center in Yangon.

Gambari conveyed U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's support for the U.N. team in the country and "the important work they continue to do to improve the socioeconomic and humanitarian situation."

Gambari's arrival comes a day after Myanmar's ruling junta told Petrie he was no longer welcome in the country -- a move condemned by the United Nations and the Bush administration. Petrie is considered the United Nations' human rights representative

Meanwhile, Gambari, permitted in the country on a five-day visa, will be working to ease the rift between military leaders and pro-democracy activists, who recently staged peaceful anti-government marches before a brutal junta crackdown stifled their efforts.

It is hoped that he will facilitate talks between ruling generals and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, an opposition leader and human rights activist who has been under house arrest on and off for nearly 20 years.

In his October meeting, Gambari met with the military junta leadership as well as with Suu Kyi.

"What everybody has been seeking is the initiation of a genuine dialogue that leads toward broad national reconciliation," said Shari Villarosa, the U.S. charge d'affaires in Myanmar.

Earlier in the week more than 70 Buddhist monks marched in the central Myanmar town of Pakokku, dissident sources in Mae Sot told CNN. Wednesday's march was the first reported since a government crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in September, in which as many as 110 people are believed to have been killed, including 40 Buddhist monks.

The protests were sparked by a huge fuel price increase imposed by the military government, and quickly escalated.

Myanmar's military junta admitted in mid-October that is detained more than 2,900 people during the crackdown, and many of them are still believed to be in custody.

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Video smuggled out of the secretive country has shown unarmed protesters being beaten by government security forces, and one man -- a Japanese journalist -- shot and killed at close range.

Myanmar's humanitarian crisis has sparked international outrage. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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