Obama to put pressure on Myanmar

US President Barack Obama will press Myanmar leaders during a trip to restore calm to the western part of their country and bring instigators of ethnic violence there to justice, said White House officials on Thursday.
Obama is scheduled for a trip to Asia today that will include a historic stop in Myanmar.
Some human rights workers object to the trip, saying the president is rewarding the country too soon for its still fragile democratic reforms.
Obama aides said the trip to the country was meant to lock in reforms and encourage more, while serving as an example to countries such as North Korea that the United States would engage with former foes if they reform.
But ethnic violence remains a top US concern. Tom Donilon, Obama's national security adviser, said US diplomats had been working closely with the Myanmar government on how to ensure the safety of people in Rakhine state along Myanmar's western border.
"I expect the president will address this directly with the leadership of Burma [Myanmar] as well when he's there," he said.
Muslim Rohingyas have lived for generations in Rakhine state on the coastline of western Myanmar. But Buddhist Rakhines and other people of Myanmar view them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh who deserve neither rights nor sympathy. Last month, a week of sectarian violence claimed 89 lives, according to the official count.
White House officials noted the Rohingya had suffered from the ethnic violence.
"The president will be addressing the broad context of ethnic reconciliation and national reconciliation within Burma. Specifically, I think what we'd like to see is continued work to stabilise the situation, but also to bring down the temperature and reduce the tensions," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in a conference call.
Samantha Power, a top human rights adviser to Obama, said the text of the president's speech at a university in Myanmar on Monday was still being completed, but added the president would discuss the Rohingya in some form during his visit.
"Ultimately, the legal status of the Rohingya of course in this country as well as in the region needs to be resolved," she said.