ASEAN not disappointed Gambari will not be briefing leaders

ASEAN is not disappointed that UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari will not be officially briefing the leaders.The grouping's Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told reporters on Tuesday that Dr Gambari has alreadylined up a few dialogues with several leaders on his own and will also be giving interviews. Mr Ong pointed out that this is not something that ASEAN cannot move on from. ASEAN leaders have agreed toMyanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein's request that his country deal directly with the UN, and that DrGambari should report only to the UN Security Council and not to ASEAN or the East Asia Summit. Mr Ongsaid: "We live to fight another day. We don't want to come across as being too confrontational in asituation like this. What is important is that we want to focus on our Summit... we don't want it to bea big distraction." CNA