Barack Hussein Obama became the first US president to visit Burma when
Air Force One touched down just after 10 am at Rangoon airport on Monday
morning.
Accompanied by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, the US president was greeted on arrival by Ambassador Derek
Mitchell and Burma’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.
Some 3,000 schoolchildren, many
of whom wore traditional Burmese costumes and carried flowers, were on hand to
welcome Obama. Some had been waiting at the airport since 7 am.
Obama was immediately driven to
the Rangoon Regional Parliament Building to meet Burmese President Thein Sein
who had dashed back from an ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh the night before to
greet him.
Thein Sein reportedly told the US
president: “We [Burma] are moving forward.”
Despite the fanfare surrounding
the Obama visit, the White House has said that the trip should not be regarded
as a "victory celebration" but as an opportunity to press for urgent
action on issues such as the freeing of political prisoners and ending ethnic
conflict in Burma.
In the afternoon, Obama is
scheduled to meet with Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her
residence on University Avenue overlooking Inya Lake.
The president will then be
ushered a few hundred meters to the US Embassy, also on University Avenue,
where he will meet Embassy officials over lunch.
Later in the afternoon, Obama is
due to deliver a speech at Rangoon University before he departs for Phnom Penh
to attend the ASEAN summit.
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