(MENAFN- The Peninsula) US President Barack Obama expressed concerns ahead of a visit to Myanmar starting yesterday that the pace of democratic reforms in the formerly military-ruled nation were not fast enough.
"Progress has not come as fast as many had hoped when the transition began four years ago," Obama said in an interview with The Irrawaddy published on its website yesterday.
"In some areas there has been a slowdown in reforms, and even some steps backward.
"In addition to restrictions on freedom of the press, we continue to see violations of basic human rights and abuses in the country's ethnic areas, including reports of extrajudicial killings, rape and forced labour," he added.
His comments follow a warning by opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi against US "over-optimism" over the country's path towards democracy.
Last week she said reforms had been "stalling" for almost two years.
The US president highlighted several examples where reforms appear to have been stunted.
"Former political prisoners continue to face restrictions," he said in the interview.
"Members of the media have been arrested, and journalist Aung Kyaw Naing was tragically and senselessly murdered," he added, referring to the fatal shooting by the army of a reporter in the insurgency-prone eastern border region.
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