Hanoi lifts media ban on troubled province

HANOI, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Vietnam said on Monday it was lifting a 10-month ban on travel by foreign journalists to a northern province stricken by months of rural unrest.

A foreign ministry official said permission had been given to journalists to visit Thai Binh province on a specially arranged trip later this week.

No reasons were given for the lifting of the ban, which was imposed last year after protests against local state officials turned violent.

Residents in the province, some 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Hanoi, say calm has returned to the area in recent weeks.

Last year's troubles in Thai Binh -- an area viewed traditionally as the cradle of Vietnam's communist revolution -- amounted to the country's most serious reported unrest in years.

The incident began when thousands of people converged on the province's capital in an organised protest against corruption and bullying by state officials.

It quickly turned violent, resulting in a lengthy stand-off between residents and security forces in communes across the province.

Officials say the incident has prompted top-level concern in the ruling Communist Party. It was also followed by similar, but smaller, disturbances in other parts of Vietnam including among Catholic communities in the country's south.

The foreign ministry official said reporters would be allowed to talk to a provincial official and visit Quynh Phu district, one of the most troubled areas in the province.

There was no word on Monday on whether foreign journalists would be allowed to visit those areas as well.

In recent weeks Hanoi's state media has reported that the situation in the province has been brought under control, with officials involved having been brought to justice.

Local residents say police have scaled down their presence in the area.

A report in the Communist Party's Nhan Dan newspaper in early February said 50 local officials had been suspended, and some prosecuted.

Voice of Vietnam radio reported in late January that a public trial had been held in which a range of jail terms were imposed on 13 rioters. The shortest sentence was a six-month suspended term, while the longest was in excess of seven years.