After 15 years of house arrest, the Burmese opposition leader leaves Myanmar. The Nobel Peace Laureate will participate in the economic summit to be held from May 30 to June 1. Then a trip to Europe, with stops in Oslo and London. Collaboration between the U.S. and Myanmar to solve the national energy crisis.

Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Next week, the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel to Bangkok, capital of Thailand, to attend the World Economic Forum, on her first foreign visit in 24 years , after having spent 15 under house arrest for her peaceful struggle for democracy in Myanmar. The summit will bring together international leaders and is scheduled from May 30 to June 1, and will be attended by President Thein Sein, together with Suu Kyi - who entered Burmese parliament last month, winning a seat in the House - the great architects of reforms and changes made by the country over the last 12 months, after decades of military rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has never wanted to leave the former Burma, not even to travel to Britain to assist her terminally ill husband in the late 90s, for fear of being unable to return, received her passport from the Burmese authorities earlier in the month.

In June, the Nobel laureate (66 years) will travel to Europe, where -  in Oslo - she will deliver a keynote acceptance address for the prize won in 1991. A few days later, on June 21, she will be the guest of the British Parliament, in the context of a visit to the United Kingdom where she spent many years with her husband and children, before devoting her life to fight for democracy in Myanmar.

In 1988, in fact, Suu Kyi left Britain for Burma, to assist her dying mother. The beginning of the student uprising, which was followed by harsh military repression, pushed the "Lady" to remain in her country of origin and give birth to a peaceful struggle for change.

Meanwhile, the government has announced emergency measures to cope with the "chronic" energy crisis of recent weeks which has triggered numerous protests. Within a week six electricity generators will be delivered supplied by the U.S. Caterpillar, while General Electric Company will supply two gas turbines of 25 megawatts. The decision is the result of the partial lifting of sanctions on Myanmar, decided recently by Washington and is also a test for the nascent democracy in Burma, calling for the first time to respond to domestic dissent with dialogue and proposals, not with an iron fist and violence as has happened in recent decades.

 

• MYANMAR
• THAILAND
• AUNG
• SAN
• SUU
• KYI
• TRAVEL
• DEMOCRACY
• REGIME