Aung San Suu Kyi Urges France to Support Burma
During a visit to Paris Tuesday, she told reporters that it is very important to make the country's powerful military understand that democracy is for the good of everyone in Burma, not only one segment of society.
The 67-year-old Nobel prize laureate met with France's President Francois Hollande on arrival in the French capital. She arrived by train from London Tuesday afternoon.
At a joint press conference, she expressed confidence that Burma's President Thein Sein is sincere about supporting the democratic transition there, but said she could not say the same of Burmese military leaders.
Mr. Hollande gave assurances that France will support democratic developments in Burma and will do all he can to get full support for Burma from the European Union.
While in France, Aung San Suu Kyi will also meet with the heads of the National Assembly and the Senate, the foreign minister, and the mayor of Paris.
Her historic tour of Europe has also included stops in Britain, Switzerland, Ireland and Norway.
In Norway, she received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize that was denied her while under house arrest in Burma.
During her stop in Britain, Aung San Suu Kyi addressed Parliament in London and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University, where she studied and lived with her family for years before returning to Burma in 1988.
A civilian government came to power in Burma last year, after the November 2010 election, Burma's first in 20 years. Aung San Suu Kyi was released from a house arrest shortly after the election. She spent almost 15 years in some form of detention under the military government, which refused to step down when her party, the National league for democracy, won a landslide victory in the 1991 election.
The opposition leader and Burma's democracy icon, won a parliament seat this year in April 1 parliamentary elections.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
Posted by BCJP
on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Filed under
