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A top United States official on Monday expressed his "profound disappointment" at Myanmar's approach to an election this year and warned the ruling junta the vote would not be recognised by the international community.Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Washington's top official for East Asia and the Pacific, chided Myanmar's military government for failing to hold dialogue with opposition parties and ethnic groups and urged an inclusive and fair election."Unfortunately, the regime has chosen to move ahead unilaterally without consultation from key stakeholders," Campbell told reporters in Yangon."As a result, what we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy. We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections."The visit was Campbell's first since November last year, which was the first to the former Burma in 14 years by a top U.S. official, signifying Washington's new policy of deeper engagement with a regime it has disparaged for years.Campbell met with lower-ranking ministers in the capital, Naypyitaw, on Sunday, before travelling to the biggest city, Yangon, on Monday to meet opposition parties and diplomats.Campbell also met long-detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's charismatic pro-democracy icon and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party.The NLD, which won the last election in 1990 by a landslide but was denied the chance to take office, was effectively disbanded on Thursday due to its boycott of what it said were "unjust" polls. The move has attracted widespread criticism.The election, a date for which has not yet been set, has been widely dismissed as a sham to create a facade of democracy in a country ruled by the military for almost five decades.Critics say elected civilians will be offered only a minor role in the running of the country, with the ruling generals retaining full control, either directly or through their proxies.Campbell said he "applauded" the NLD for its democratic struggle, adding that the United States would continue to support the party "however it may constitute itself in the future". He made no comment on the party's boycott.(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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