YANGON: US President Barack Obama urged Myanmar on Monday to step up its reform
drive on a historic visit during which he was cheered by huge crowds and
welcomed by Aung San Suu Kyi at the home where she was locked up for years.
The trip, the first to Myanmar by
a serving US president, came as authorities freed dozens more political
prisoners to burnish its reform credentials.
In once unthinkable scenes,
Obama's motorcade passed tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters -- some
chanting "America" -- lining the streets of Yangon, the backdrop for
several bloody crackdowns on pro-democracy uprisings.
After a red-carpet welcome for
Air Force One, Obama met Myanmar's reformist President Thein Sein, hoping to
embolden the former general to speed up the country's march out of decades of
iron-fisted military rule.
"This is just the first step
on what will be a long journey," Obama told reporters as Thein Sein looked
on.
Obama paid a brief visit to
Shwedagon Pagoda, a gold-plated spire encrusted with diamonds and rubies that
is the spiritual centre of Burmese Buddhism.
He later stood side-by-side with
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at the lakeside villa where his fellow Nobel
laureate languished for years under house arrest, as the presidential limousine
sat parked outside.
Huge crowds could be heard
chanting "Obama, freedom" in the streets nearby.
Obama said the goal of his trip
was "to sustain the momentum for democratisation".
"That includes building
credible government institutions, establishing rule of law, ending ethnic
conflicts and ensuring that the people of this country have access to greater
education, health care and economic opportunity," he said.
Suu Kyi for her part sounded a
note of caution about the sweeping changes.
"The most difficult time in
any transition is when we think that success is in sight," she said.
"We have to be very careful that we're not lured by the mirage of
success."
The White House hopes Obama's
visit to Myanmar will strengthen Thein Sein's reform drive, which saw Suu Kyi
enter parliament after her rivals in the junta made way for a nominally
civilian government.
The trip is seen as a political
coup for Obama -- albeit one with risks -- and a major boost for Thein Sein,
who has faced resistance from hardliners within his government to the rapid
political changes.
Obama has stressed his visit is
not an "endorsement" of its government but "an
acknowledgement" of the reform process.
Some human rights groups said
Obama should have waited longer to visit, arguing that he could have dangled
the prospect of a trip as leverage to seek more progress such as the release of
scores of remaining political prisoners.
Obama was set to use a major
speech at Yangon University to urge the country not to extinguish "the
flickers of progress".
"Today, I have come to keep
my promise, and extend the hand of friendship," Obama will say, according
to excerpts of his address. "But this remarkable journey has just begun,
and has much further to go."
The setting for the speech will
be rich in symbolism. The university was the scene of past episodes of
pro-democratic student unrest, including mass demonstrations in 1988 that ended
in a bloody military crackdown.
In a nod to a recent wave of
deadly sectarian violence in western Rakhine state, Obama will urge Myanmar to
"draw on diversity as a strength, not a weakness".
Two major outbreaks of violence
since June between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhines have left 180 people dead and
more than 110,000 displaced, mostly stateless Rohingya who have faced decades
of discrimination.
Myanmar unveiled a series of new
pledges on human rights ahead of Obama's visit, vowing to review prisoner cases
in line with "international standards" and open its jails to the Red
Cross.
Activists said the authorities
also freed at least 44 political prisoners in an amnesty that coincided with
his trip.
The West has begun rolling back
sanctions in response to the sweeping changes and foreign firms including US
giants such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola are eager to return.
The United States on Friday
scrapped a nearly decade-old ban on most imports from the country, after
earlier lifting other sanctions. Officials said Obama would announce a US$170
million development aid pledge during his visit.
- AFP/jc
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