JAKARTA, July 1: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday he was concerned about the slow pace of democratic reform in military-ruled Myanmar and the ongoing detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But Powell did not join his European counterparts in criticising Southeast Asia's foreign ministers for their perceived weak comments this week on the issue. "We are concerned at the democratic process in Burma (Myanmar)," Powell told a joint press conference after meeting foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), eight other countries and the European Union in Jakarta.
"And we are specifically concerned about the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi has not been allowed to participate in that democratic process and remains under house arrest." Powell said Myanmar would be discussed in "great detail" when he and the other foreign ministers from the 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the region's only security grouping, meet on Friday in Jakarta.
ASEAN foreign ministers, in a communique after their annual meeting on Wednesday, called for a smooth transition to democracy in Myanmar but failed to mention Aung San Suu Kyi.
The European Union's foreign policy "high representative", Javier Solana, who is also in Jakarta for the ARF, told reporters earlier on Thursday he was unimpressed with the ASEAN communique.
"There's nothing there... I would have preferred to have had something in it," Solana said. Powell would not be drawn on whether ASEAN's handling of Myanmar, which is a member of the group and takes over its leadership in 2006, was correct.
"I think ASEAN is as concerned with the situation in Burma- Myanmar as we are. We have taken different approaches to the problem," Powell said. "I think the United States has been more outspoken and forthcoming about the need for change and the need to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in the political, democratic process within the country. -AFP
