South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to push for a U.N. Security Council resolution on Burma.
Mr. Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told the Washington Post Thursday he wants the Security Council to pass a binding resolution calling on Burma's military government to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
He said the resolution should also call for the release of other political prisoners and an end to a military campaign targeting Burma's ethnic Karen rebels.
Mr. Tutu said Secretary Rice was very concerned about the situation. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters he has not yet spoken with Secretary Rice about the meeting.
Archbishop Tutu and former Czech president Vaclav Havel last year commissioned a report on Burma that called for a Security Council resolution. The report said Burma's government is a threat to regional stability.
Also Thursday, President Bush certified the continuation of a measure prohibiting U.S. citizens from investing in Burma because it is repressing the democratic opposition.
U.S. citizens are banned from importing Burmese products, exporting certain financial services to Burma, and dealing in property connected to Burmese interests.
