Myanmar says ''villain'' US seeks to topple regime

YANGON, June 25 (Reuters) The United States should back Myanmar's roadmap to democracy instead of seeking to oust the military junta, state-run newspapers said today.

''The notorious villain has been following the old pattern of trying to topple the ruling military government,'' said a commentary published in several newspapers considered mouthpieces of the regime.

The United States, which has imposed sanctions on Yangon and is one of its loudest critics, wants the UN Security Council to put pressure on a regime Washington says is a threat to ''stability, peace and security in the region''.

The commentary said Washington should instead support Yangon's seven-step democracy roadmap which it says will return the former Burma to civilian rule after more than 40 years of military diktat.

The roadmap is still only halfway through its first step of drafting a new constitution through a National Convention of delegates from across the country, most of them handpicked by the military government.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) is boycotting the convention, which is due to resume later this year, while its leader Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains confined.

Suu Kyi's house arrest was extended for one year last month despite international pressure for her release. The 61-year-old democracy icon has spent 10 of the past 17 years under some form of detention.

The United States and other Western critics say the roadmap is a sham without the participation of Suu Kyi's party, which won landslide elections in 1990 only to be denied power by the junta.

The commentary said Washington should pressure the NLD to join the convention ''if it truly values democracy and wishes the people of Myanmar to enjoy the fruits of democracy''.

''The stance of the ruling military government is clear and decisive. It will transform the nation into a democracy.

''Can democracy be introduced to Myanmar only when Daw Suu Kyi is elected as head of the state?,'' the commentary said.

REUTERS SRS VA RAI1254