Burma democracy heroine to visit UK

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to visit Britain on her first trip abroad in 24 years in June.

A spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy said she will also visit Norway.

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has not left Burma since she returned from Britain to visit her ailing mother in 1988 because of fears she would not be allowed back in.

It follows last week’s visit to Burma by David Cameron.

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The daughter of national independence hero Aung San has spent 15 years under house arrest. For most of that time, she was separated from her British husband Michael Aris and their two children. In 1999, Suu Kyi was unable to leave Burma to visit Mr Aris as he was dying because of concerns that the former ruling junta would not allow her back in.

During a brief visit to Burma on Friday, Mr Cameron invited Suu Kyi to visit, saying it would be a sign of progress if she were able to leave and then return to carry out her duties as an MP.

Suu Kyi replied that “two years ago I would have said thank you for the invitation, but sorry. But now I am able to say perhaps, and that’s great progress.”

Her spokesman said the trip would include a trip to Oxford, where she attended university in the 1960s and where she lived with her late husband and family.

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Ms Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her struggle for democracy but was unable to collect the award in Oslo because she was under house arrest at the time.

She has previously told visiting Norwegian ministers that if she ever travels abroad, she would visit Norway and a spokesman for Norway’s foreign minister, confirmed that Suu Kyi is preparing a June visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

“We’re very much looking forward to it,” Michelsen said. He said the exact dates have not been decided.