The US scolded Burma for its poor human rights record Friday, and expressed concern that the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from the Southeast Asian nation has created a region-wide refugee crisis.
"We've raised concerns, first of all, about Myanmar's [Burma’s] human rights record," US Assistant State Secretary Christopher Hill said during a meeting of senior officials from the 26-country Asean Regional Forum, which includes Washington and Burma.
"We will also be raising our concern that it's representing a kind of regional problem as well because Myanmar has created a huge flow of refugees," he said. "This is quite a burden to the region."
Decades of fighting between Burma’s military regime and ethnic minorities have sparked massive internal displacement as well as an influx of refugees to neighboring Thailand.
An estimated 700,000 refugees have flooded out of Burma, Hill said.
He did not specifically address the issue of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's continued house arrest during his brief remarks to the media.
The US State Department on Wednesday again called on Burma’s ruling junta to release Suu Kyi, who has spent more than 11 of the last 17 years either in prison or under house arrest. Her current sentence expires Sunday.
As Hill spoke at Manila's Shangri-la Hotel, about 20 protesters holding coffee mugs bearing Suu Kyi's picture gathered outside the hotel to condemn the pro-democracy leader's continued detention.
Egoy Bans, spokesman of the Free Burma Coalition, said they hoped the protest would encourage the forum to press for the release of Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
"They are delaying the move to pressure the Burmese junta," Bans told The Associated Press. "Burma should be made to adhere to the democratic ideals of Asean."
Some of Burma’s fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations appealed to the Burmese government on Tuesday, urging that Suu Kyi be released.
Suu Kyi's troubles began after her National League for Democracy won elections in 1990 and was not allowed to replace the junta.
