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Where in the world is Ibrahim Gambari?

YANGON- Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Monday after he flew to Myanmar's new jungle capital to persuade the junta to end its crackdown on the biggest pro-democracy protests in 20 years.

The U.N. office in Yangon said he remained in the former Burma, but it gave no further details.

"He looks forward to meeting Senior General Than Shwe and other relevant interlocutors before the conclusion of his mission," the U.N. said in a statement.

One diplomatic source said Gambari was being made to wait until Tuesday to meet junta supremo Than Shwe, and with the streets of Yangon quiet on Monday, had gone on a trip to Lashio, in the hills of Shan state, near the Chinese border.

No reasons for the destination were offered, although one Bangkok-based diplomat said a small group of traveling European academics was in the capital, Naypyidaw, 240 miles north of Yangon, and due in Lashio on Tuesday.

U.N. officials with Gambari were outside mobile phone coverage and no other diplomats in the former capital could shed any light on his whereabouts.

It is doubtful anything happened to Gambari. While I hold a low opinion in regards to Mynamar's ruling junta, I just can't see them doing harm to or making a diplomat disappear. The risk of foreign intervention after such an outrage would be too tremendous.

If Reuters reporting is correct(The news organization has misreported the news before. Click here for one example.), you have wonder what good Gambari is doing in Myanmar at the moment. He finds time to travel to a remote part of the country while the country is in turmoil. True I don't have think there is much hope for change in Myanmar at this moment, but this seems a funny time to go incommunicado.

Note- Gambari did meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. Since Suu Kyi is kept under house arrest, the visit is mostly symbolic.

Update- According to this news report, Gambari was taken to a seminar on EU relations with Southeast Asia. Considering Shan's remoteness, it seems like a funny place for a seminar.

Linked to- High Desert Wanderer, Pirate's Cove, Third World County,