Politburo member visits troubled Vietnam province

HANOI, Nov 9 (AFP) - A member of Vietnam's Communist Party politburo has visited the northern province of Thai Binh where violent peasant demonstrations broke out in May and June, the party newpaper Nhan Dan said Sunday.

It was the first mention in the official press of a high-level visit to the province since the protests erupted. But sources said at least two other politburo members had visited the province before Pham The Duyet.

"The politburo's policy is to struggle against corruption and bureaucracy and to settle people's just petitions," said Duyet during a special meeting of the provincial legislative council lastweek on ways to stabilise the situation in Thai Binh.

He called for the "trial" or "replacement" of officials who had committed "grave errors," were incompetent or had provoked internal disunity and lost the confidence of party members and the people.

At the end of last month the politburo told members of the local party committee to make "self-criticisms" over their responsibility for the peasant protests and a subsequent outbreak of violence. Authorities rarely acknowledge the existence of such trouble.

People in Thai Binh, one of the poorest provinces, staged a major protest against officials accused of corruption over development projects, with the unrest spreading to neighbouring provinces.

An official source said the situation had returned to normal in Thai Binh, an area closed to foreign journalists.