Former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in communist Vietnam Wednesday on a tour of Southeast Asia to launch a campaign in which volunteers build houses for the poor.
The northern village of Dong Xa, west of Hanoi, was the second stop on the Nobel Peace laureate's visit to the region.
After speeches made to project volunteers under tight police surveillance, state television followed Carter on a brief tour of homes under construction.
But most reporters, Vietnamese and foreign, were barred from covering the tour and photographers were only allowed to follow him for a few metres (yards) after tough negotiations with the security services.
Some local villagers were also prohibited from approaching him.
An AFP interview with Carter was cancelled as the subject -- the development of Vietnam -- was judged "not appropriate" by the organisers.
For the past quarter century, Carter and his wife Rosalynn have devoted a week a year to programmes run by Habitat for Humanity, an Atlanta-based Christian organisation which helps provide homes for the poor in the United States and elsewhere.
This year they are visiting the countries of the Mekong Basin -- Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and also China.
In his speech Wednesday, Carter said his visit was particularly "significant" for him, with Washington and Hanoi only normalising relations in 1995, 20 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
"We had a very unfortunate relationship with Vietnam... and to see this healing process is an emotional experience for me."
Carter, who lost his bid for re-election in 1980, has also devoted his post-presidency to mediating conflicts and promoting human rights and democracy, an effort that won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
