Obama to make historic visit to Myanmar

President Barack Obama later this month will become the first US leader to visit Myanmar, marking the strongest international endorsement so far of the fragile democratic transition in the once-isolated Southeast Asian country after decades of military rule.

Obama will travel to Myanmar as part of a November 17-20 tour of Southeast Asia, which will also include stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House said on Thursday.

It will be his first international trip since winning reelection earlier this week.

He is going ahead with the trip despite recent sectarian violence in western Myanmar, which has drawn concern from the United States and European Union.

UN human rights investigators have criticised the government's handling of the strife between Buddhists and minority Muslims, and some Myanmar exiles see Obama's trip as premature, before political reforms have been consolidated.

The visit to Myanmar, the first by a sitting U.S. president, will give Obama a chance to meet president Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to encourage the "ongoing democratic transition," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama's Myanmar stop is part of a trip built around the summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations in Cambodia, which leaders from China, Japan and Russia will also attend.

In a statement, Carney said Obama intended to "speak to civil society to encourage Burma's ongoing democratic transition".

Myanmar "warmly welcomes" Obama's visit, according to a government statement.

The "support and encouragement by the US president and American people will strengthen the commitment of President Thein Sein's reform process to move forward without backtracking", spokesman Maj Zaw Htay said.

Reforms have been taking place in Myanmar since elections in November 2010 saw military rule replaced with a military-backed nominally civilian government.

Since then many political prisoners have been freed and censorship relaxed.

The party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from years of house arrest after the elections, has rejoined the political process after boycotting the 2010 polls. It now has a small presence in parliament after a landslide win in by-elections in April.

In response, the US has appointed a full ambassador to Myanmar and suspended sanctions. It is also set to ease its import ban on goods from Myanmar, a key part of remaining US sanctions.

Human rights groups are likely to criticise Obama's visit as premature, given that the ruling government has failed to prevent outbreaks of communal violence in the west of the country.

Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state have left about 140 people dead and more than 100,000 people - mostly members of the Muslim Rohingya minority - displaced.

On Wednesday, lawmakers from Myanmar's ethnic minority parties and Suu Kyi called for more troops to be sent to Rakhine to help contain the tensions.

"Everyone is responsible for respecting human rights, without discriminating between majority and minority, ethnicity and religion," the group said in a statement.

There is long-standing tension between the ethnic Rakhine people, who make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya and are stateless.

The Myanmar authorities regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and correspondents say there is widespread public hostility to them.