Burma: President says reforms are ‘irreversible’

BURMA’s president has said democratic reforms in the country are irreversible and raised the possibility that opposition leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi could join the cabinet.

President Thein Sein urged the west to lift sanctions on the country as it continues to move away from military rule.

The interview was his first with western media since his government took office in March.

“We are on the right track to democracy,” Mr Sein said. “Because we are on the right track, we can only move forward, and we don’t have any intention to draw back.”

He added that he felt his government had met the west’s conditions for lifting sanctions by releasing many political prisoners, scheduling parliamentary elections for April and allowing Ms Suu Kyi among others to participate.

“What is needed from western countries is for them to do their part,” he said.

He said the sanctions hurt the people of the country much more than the former junta leaders and were holding back the country’s economic progress.

But Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy said it would be too early to lift economic sanctions because reforms are not complete.