US pushes for resolution on abuses in Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 30 (Reuters) The United States wants a UN Security Council resolution that would pressure Myanmar to stop jailing political opponents, persecuting minorities and flooding the region with refugees, US Ambassador John Bolton said.

He spoke after the council held its first official session on Myanmar, which the United States, Britain and others struggled to put on the agenda. China, Russia, Qatar and Congo Republic had objected, arguing yesterday that the junta regime was not a threat to international peace and security.

''We intend to work for a Security Council resolution later this year'', Bolton told a closed-door council session, referring to the country as Burma, according to his text.

In 1989, the military junta officially changed the English version of its name from Burma to Myanmar.

Bolton said the country was destabilizing the region, preventing agencies from helping to stop the spread of AIDS, compelling some 200,000 people to flee the country and becoming the second largest opium producer in the world.

''We believe that it is important that the international community speak with one voice to the Burmese regime on the need for it to seek democratic reforms, to end its assault on the ethnic minorities who make up the diverse peoples of Burma, to do more to prevent the trafficking of human beings,'' Bolton said.

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