Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) said after their summit that they should take primary responsibility for handling member Myanmar, which the United States wanted to target with international pressure.

But the statement was delayed until Sunday, a day later than had been promised, and a diplomatic source said negotiations over just what to say about the country's troublesome leadership were to blame.

According to an Asean document seen on Sunday, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo -- the summit host and current Asean chair -- took a much stronger stance than the bloc in a meeting with Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win.

The statement from the 10-nation Asean bloc, which has been at odds over how to handle its most notorious member, said the unresolved issue had put its own credibility at stake.

"We agreed on the need to preserve Asean's credibility as an effective regional organisation by demonstrating a capacity to manage important issues in the region," Asean said in the official summit statement.

It encouraged Myanmar to "make greater progress towards national reconciliation" and called for the release of detainees as well as dialogue with all parties concerned.

But in her meeting with the Myanmar prime minister, Arroyo expressed hope the extension of Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest last May "would be the last."

She said the fact that Myanmar had allowed a UN envoy to meet the Nobel Peace Prize winner -- detained for most of the last two decades -- was encouraging but called for "more concrete and meaningful results" in future.

Arroyo also said Myanmar should consider the desire expressed by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern, to be consulted by the government.

The president said there was "tremendous concern" in the international community about the 61-year-old democracy activist, and expressed hope that her request for more regular medical attention would be granted.

China and Russia used a rare double veto in the Security Council on Friday to sink the US resolution, which would have called on the junta to free the estimated 1,000 political prisoners in the impoverished country.