US President George Bush urged UN members today to join in a "mission of liberation", denouncing tyrants in Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe and announcing tightened US sanctions on the junta in Burma.

"This great institution must work for great purposes: to free people from tyranny and violence; to combat disease, illiteracy, and ignorance and poverty and despair," Mr Bush told the 192-nation UN General Assembly. "Every member of the United Nations must join in this mission of liberation."

Making only a glancing mention of the violence in Iraq, Mr Bush saluted "young democracies" in Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan and called on the world to support the "moderate" leaders of the Palestinian Authority.

Avoiding any specific reference to al-Qaeda, the president warned that extremists were trying to impose a "hateful vision."

"The followers of this violent ideology are a threat to civilised people everywhere," he said. "All civilised nations must work together by sharing intelligence about their networks and choking off their finances and bringing to justice their operatives.

"In the long-run, the best way to defeat extremists is to defeat their dark ideology with a more hopeful vision - the vision of liberty."

As protests grow in Burma, Mr Bush announced that expanded financial sanctions and an extended visa ban on members of the ruling junta and their families.

"Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma, where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear," he said. "Basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship are severely restricted. Ethnic minorities are persecuted. Froced child labour, human trafficking and rape are common. The regime is holding more than 1,000 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi."

"The military junta remains unyielding, yet the people's desire for freedom remains unmistakable," he said.

He excoriated the "brutal regimes" in Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe and said "the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end" in Cuba.

"The Cuban people are ready for their freedom," he said. "As that nation enters a period of transition, the UN must insist on free speech, free assembly and ultimately free and competitive elections."

Although he was speaking just hours before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Bush made no specific mention of Teheran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

He also call for the reform of the UN Human Rights Council, which was only created this year after a revamp that failed to earn Washington's support.

"With commitment and courage of this chamber, a world where people are free to speak, assembly and worship as they wish, a world where children in every nation grow up healthy, get a decent education and look to the future with hope," he said. ENDS

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