Myanmar needs to do more: Obama

CANBERRA, Nov 17 (Reuters): US President Barack Obama said on Thursday Myanmar had opened a dialogue on reform but needed to do more to improve human rights in his first remarks about the authoritarian regime after the Southeast Asian nation released political prisoners. A senior Myanmar Home Ministry official told the agency on Wednesday that the new civilian government was ready to release more political prisoners after freeing about 230 activists on Oct. 12, a further sign that genuine reform could be underway after five decades of harsh military rule. "Some political prisoners have been released. The government has begun a dialogue. Still, violations of human rights persist," Obama said in a speech to the Australian parliament. "So we will continue to speak clearly about the steps that must be taken for the government of Burma to have a better relationship with the United States." The United States, Europe and Australia have said that freeing political prisoners is one of several preconditions to lifting sanctions that have isolated Myanmar and driven it closer to China. Obama is in Australia ahead of visiting the Indonesian island of Bali for the East Asia Summit, and to signal a closer US engagement with the Pacific. Myanmar President Thein Sein, seen as having a reformist agenda, is already in Bali for a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).