BEIJING, CHINA - THE UN special envoy for Myanmar said on Tuesday he expects to return to the military-ruled country much sooner than originally planned, after two days of meetings here with Chinese officials.

Dr Ibrahim Gambari, the special adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, said he now believed he would visit Myanmar 'way before' April 15, the date authorities there initially said they would receive him.

'The Secretary-General sent a very firm statement, and made a huge effort and had a lot of contact with various governments, to indicate the earlier I get back to Myanmar the better,' he told reporters in Beijing.

Dr Gambari added it was important he got back soon to 'continue the conversation with all the major forces in the country, particularly in the dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the government, which has started'.

Dr Gambari has visited Myanmar twice since September, when the military junta crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.

Mr Ban has said it was 'essential' Dr Gambari be allowed to re-enter the country, particularly after the junta said this month it would hold a constitutional referendum in May, which would clear the way for polls in 2010.

Dr Gambari said he had not seen the draft proposal of the constitution, but said he hoped all parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), would be involved in the process.

The military last held elections in 1990, but never recognised the landslide victory by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, and instead has kept her under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

China must send 'right signals' to Myanmar: Gambari

Myanmar's plans for a constitutional referendum and eventual multi-party elections are a positive step, the UN envoy to the country said on Tuesday, calling on Myanmar ally China to send the 'right signals'.

Earlier this month, Myanmar's ruling generals announced a referendum on a new, as yet unfinished, constitution in May, to be followed by a general election in 2010.

'This is a significant step as it marks the first time that we have an established timeframe for the implementation of a political roadmap with a clear objective,' Dr Ibrahim Gambari told reporters in Beijing.

'We ask China and others to send the right message, the right signals to the authorities in Myanmar to continue to cooperate concretely' with Dr Gambari's office, he added.

China is a neighbour and one of the few diplomatic allies of military-ruled Myanmar, whose government has been under pressure to reform since it cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations in September led by the country's Buddhist clergy.

Beijing supported a UN Security Council statement deploring Myanmar's violent crushing of the protests, the largest anti-government movement there in 20 years.

But China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Council, has stressed its support did not mean it would agree to harsher measures against Myanmar, where it buys timber and has interests in the former Burma's rich natural gas reserves. -- REUTERS, AFP