Suu Kyi Calls for Peaceful Dialogue

Added by Annika L. Krugel on November 16, 2010

Following her release on Sunday, Burma’s democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, said she is preparing to start a dialogue with the military rulers responsible for her being detained for the most part of the past two decades.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said she sees herself as a “worker for democracy” and that it is necessary to “remove the sources of disagreement” between parties in the country, and is thus calling for a peaceful dialogue with the ruling military junta.

More than 5,000 followers had gathered to listen to Ms Suu Kyi’s speech following her release, in which she thanked her supporters all over the world.

She said that although she has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, she thought herself “better off” under house arrest than the thousands of pro-democracy campaigners also incarcerated by the regime.

She said there had been no conditions placed on her release, although she is aware that there is a possibility she could again be arrested.

Ms Suu Kyi was released one week after Burma’s first election in 20 years. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) chose to boycott the election that saw the pro-military party victorious. The NLD won the 1990 election but was never allowed to take power.