The White House: US President Barack Obama has warned that ethnic and religious conflicts could move Myanmar in a "very bad direction". <br /> <br />Mr Obama praised the "courageous process" of political reform taking place in a country formerly led by a military junta, but warned that democratisation after years of repression brought its own perils. <br /> <br />"Myanmar won't succeed if the Muslim population is oppressed," Mr Obama said at a "town hall" meeting during a visit to Muslim-majority Malaysia, his third stop of his Asian tour. <br /> <br />Mr Obama was referring to Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority which has been subject to persecution at the hands of Buddhist nationalists, particularly in the country's western Rakhine state.
