Myanmar’s military junta orders CNN correspondent deported

Myanmar orders CNN correspondent deported

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — A reporter for the U.S. television network CNN has been ordered deported from Myanmar for the second time in two years.

Dan Rivers, who was in the capital city Naypyitaw to cover Armed Forces Day — one of the few events which the ruling junta invites foreign journalists to cover — will be deported because he is on a blacklist for illicitly reporting from the country in May 2008, an Information Ministry official said Friday.

Rivers was one of the few Western journalists to openly report on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis — which left 138,000 people dead or missing — and was kicked out after several days.

The official, who spoke on connection of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said Rivers was accidentally allowed in again this month because of a mistake by Myanmar’s embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, where the CNN correspondent is based.

The official said Rivers was sent from Naypyitaw, to Yangon, the country’s commercial hub, from where he would be expelled. He was unsure when the deportation would be carried out.

A CNN spokesman in Hong Kong declined to comment.