Obama preaches benefits of ethnic diversity in Myanmar
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Yangon - US President Barack Obama on Monday encouraged Myanmar, a country that has been wracked by ethnic insurgencies for decades, to celebrate its rich diversity as the US has done.
"My own country and my own life have taught me the powers of diversity," Obama said in a speech to Yangon University on a one-day stopover in Myanmar, a former pariah state that was under military rule for six decades.
"I stand before you today as president of the most powerful nation on earth, but recognizing that once the colour of my skin would have denied me the right to vote," he said.
Obama, the first US president to visit Myanmar, has faced criticism from human rights groups for endorsing the government of President Thein Sein despite ongoing abuses against ethnic minorities such as Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State and ethnic Kachin in the northen Kachin state.//DPA
