Burma's military junta is preparing to kick out United Nations country chief Charles Petrie for a statement he issued last month drawing attention to deepening poverty, according to a diplomat.
Mr Petrie was summoned to a meeting in Naypyitaw for an official dressing down for the statement he released on 24 October, United Nations Day.
Afterwards, he and colleagues were given a letter saying the military government would not support any request by the UN to renew Mr Petrie's assignment, due to end 'pretty much now', the diplomat said.
Mr Petrie is the UN's most senior diplomat in Rangoon and had been laying the groundwork for a second visit by special envoy Ibrahim Gambari since September's bloody crackdown on monk-led pro-democracy protests.
Mr Gambari is due to arrive tomorrow and is hoping to persuade the generals to enter serious talks about political reform with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a 1990 election landslide but was denied power by the army.
Mr Petrie said the protests that started in mid-August against shock increases in fuel prices and snowballed into a major anti-junta uprising were clear indicators of the dire state of the economy after 45 years of military rule.
'The events clearly demonstrated the everyday struggle to meet basic needs and the urgent necessity to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country,' it said.
