President Obama tells Burma to free Aung San Suu Kyi

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15/11/2009

US President Barack Obama used a landmark encounter with the prime minister of military-run Burma on Sunday to demand freedom for detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

"I reaffirmed the policy that I put forward yesterday in Tokyo with regard to Burma (Burma)," Obama told reporters, recapping his call Saturday for the junta to release Suu Kyi after two decades of house arrest.

"He brought that up directly with that government," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters as Obama met Burma Prime Minister Thein Sein and nine other regional leaders in Singapore.

Obama was sitting down with friends and foes alike at an unprecedented summit between a US president and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Before opening the talks in a hotel ballroom, Obama and all 10 Asean leaders stood in a line on a stage, crossing their arms to shake hands with the leader on either side.

Thein Sein was not in hand-shaking range of Obama, and sat nearly opposite the president as the leaders assembled at a round table, reporters saw before they were ushered out.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/160118/release-suu-kyi-obama-tells-burma-pm