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Bush launches tirade against Myanmar's regime

US President George W. Bush launched strong criticism at Myanmar's military junta yesterday, accusing it of tyranny for repressing the supporters of democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

"It's inexcusable that we have this kind of tyrannical behavior in Asia," Bush said at a joint news conference in Sydney with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who is hosting this year's summit of Pacific Rim leaders.

Myanmar's junta has beaten and detained scores of activists and used gangs of hired thugs in Yangon, the capital, to curtail a rare wave of protests last month that began after fuel prices were raised overnight by as much as 500 percent.

"It's inexcusable that people who have marched for freedom are then mistreated by a repressive state," Bush said.

"And those of us who live in the comfort of a free society need to speak out about these kinds of human rights abuses," he said.

Bush said he would raise the issue of Myanmar with the 20 other leaders at the APEC forum at their weekend summit.

Washington, along with many European and some other Asian countries, has been a staunch critic of Myanmar's military regime and its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

But putting pressure on the isolated Southeast Asian country has proved difficult, and efforts to chastise it at the UN are likely to be blocked by Security Council members China and Russia.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta -- which has come under widespread international criticism for violating human rights -- tolerates little public dissent.

In 1988, public protests over rising rice prices were a prelude to a burst of major demonstrations that were violently subdued by the army, which killed hundreds, perhaps thousands.
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