President Obama Promises Support for the People of Burma

When President Obama arrived in Rangoon on Monday, he became the first sitting president ever to visit Burma — the Asian nation bordering Thailand, China, and Bangladesh.

For nearly 50 years, from the 1962 to 2011, the country was ruled by a military junta. But over the past year and a half, reform has begun to take root.

“A civilian now leads the government, and a parliament is asserting itself,” President Obama said in a speech at the University of Yangon. “The once-outlawed National League for Democracy stood in an election, and Aung San Suu Kyi is a Member of Parliament. Hundreds of prisoners of conscience have been released, and forced labor has been banned. Preliminary cease-fires have been reached with ethnic armies, and new laws allow for a more open economy.”

Earlier today, President Obama met with President Thein Sein — one of those… more »