Thursday, June 21, 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi set to address Parliament


21 June 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi Ms Suu Kyi accepted a honorary civil law doctorate from Oxford University.
The Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be given the rare honour of addressing both Houses of Parliament later on Thursday.
She will deliver her speech in Westminster Hall, an honour normally only accorded to heads of state.
It is her first trip to Britain since leaving 24 years ago to lead Burma's pro-democracy movement.
Ms Suu Kyi will also meet the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall and hold talks with the prime minister.
She met David Cameron in April when he became the first Western leader to visit Burma after the country's military leaders decided to allow her and her party to stand in parliamentary elections.
Since then, he has championed the suspension of international sanctions against Burma arguing that new President Thein Sein is genuinely committed to reform.
However, Foreign Secretary William Hague - who will hold his own talks with Ms Suu Kyi - cautioned in the Commons on Wednesday that there was "still a long way to go" to bring democracy to Burma and end ethnic conflicts.
On Wednesday, Ms Suu Kyi accepted an honorary civil law doctorate from Oxford University.
In a speech she said her memories of her time in Oxford had helped her while she was under house arrest.
Ms Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest in Burma for more than two decades, received the advanced degree - 19 years after she was awarded it.
The Nobel Laureate read philosophy, politics and economics at St Hugh's College Oxford in the 1960s.
She worked in New York and Bhutan before settling back in Oxford in the 1980s with her husband, Tibetan scholar Michael Aris, and their sons Alexander and Kim.
She became the leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement when she returned to Burma in 1988, initially to look after her sick mother.
Ms Suu Kyi, now 67, was placed under house arrest by the military and not released until November 2010.
Her two-week-long tour to Europe - her first since 1988 - includes visits to the UK, Switzerland, France and Norway.

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