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US President Obama in landmark Burma visit | |
(about 11 hours later) | |
US President Barack Obama is making a historic visit to Burma, the first by a sitting US president. | |
The visit is intended to show support for the reform process put in place by Burmese President Thein Sein since the end of military rule in November 2010. | |
Ahead of the visit Mr Obama urged Burma's leaders to continue to reform, saying more progress was needed. | |
Critics warn the visit could be too hasty, with political prisoners behind bars and ethnic conflicts unresolved. | |
'No illusions' | |
Mr Obama touched down in Rangoon in Air Force One on Monday morning. He will spend some six hours in the country but will not visit the capital, Nay Pyi Taw. | |
Instead his time will be spent in Burma's commercial capital, meeting both Thein Sein and the leader of the opposition, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. | |
Mr Obama will also give a speech at Rangoon University, at the heart of pro-democracy protests in 1988 that were violently suppressed by the regime, and is expected to announce an aid pledge worth $170m (£107m). | |
Speaking in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Sunday, he said his visit was not an unqualified endorsement of the Burmese government. | |
"I don't think anybody is under any illusion that Burma's arrived, that they're where they need to be," he said. | |
"On the other hand, if we waited to engage until they had achieved a perfect democracy, my suspicion is we'd be waiting an awful long time," he added. | |
Mr Obama is being accompanied by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - who returns to Burma almost a year after her first visit. | |
Thein Sein's government came to power after widely-criticised polls in November 2010 that saw military rule replaced with a military-backed civilian government. | |
Since then - to the surprise of many - his administration has embarked on a reform process. Many - but not all - political prisoners have been freed, censorship has been relaxed and some economic reforms enacted. | |
Ms Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest shortly after the polls. Her NLD party, which boycotted the elections, has since rejoined the political process. It now has a small presence in parliament, after a landslide win in by-elections deemed generally free and fair in April. | |
In response, many Western nations have relaxed sanctions against Burma and begun a process of engagement. | |
But rights groups have cautioned against a rush to embrace the South East Asian nation, warning that political prisoners remain behind bars and ethnic conflicts are unresolved. | |
In recent months, bitter communal violence between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhine people in Rakhine state has left more than 100,000 people - mostly Muslim Rohingyas - displaced. | |
A recent prisoner amnesty reportedly included no political prisoners. The Burmese government has since announced another one which, say activists, does include some political detainees. | |
After visiting Burma, Mr Obama will head to Cambodia to join a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations, in a trip that underlines the shift in US foreign policy focus to the Asia-Pacific region. |