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YANGON, March 5, 2009 (AFP) - Myanmar has denounced two recent US reports accusing the military regime of widespread human rights abuses and failing to crack down on the drugs trade, state media said Thursday.
The US State Department lashed out at Myanmar's human rights record in its annual global rights report in late February, accusing the military of brutally suppressing its citizens and razing entire villages.
The junta-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted the foreign ministry as "categorically" rejecting the report, which it said was biased.
"Instead of making false allegations at other nations regarding human rights matters, the United States should concentrate on uplifting its own human rights records," the paper said.
"It is saddening to find that the report contained the usual sweeping accusations of human rights abuses in Myanmar without verification of the validity and accuracy of the information and reliability of its sources."
The foreign ministry also accused the US of giving "inaccurate and politically motivated assessments" in a February 27 global narcotics report, which said there had been a significant increase in opium poppy cultivation.
"The report has groundlessly identified Myanmar as one of the three countries in the world that had 'failed demonstrably' to meet its international counter-narcotics obligations," the foreign ministry said.
"It's regrettable that such an unfair categorisation was made, ignoring Myanmar's strenuous efforts in combating narcotic drugs."
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and is under broad US and European sanctions over its lack of democratic reform, widely documented human rights abuses, and the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The ruling junta has vowed to be drugs-free by 2014, but it remains the world's second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan, while the US also says the nation has become a hub for amphetamine production.
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