Yangon: Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is to travel into Myanmar's countryside on Sunday for her first trip to meet supporters since her release from seven years of house arrest. The one-day trip will test the limits of her freedom and is going ahead despite a government warning it could trigger riots.
The last time Suu Kyi travelled to the countryside in 2003, supporters of the nation's military junta ambushed her entourage. Suu Kyi escaped, but was detained and later placed under house arrest. She was released last November.
Suu Kyi's spokesman Nyan Win says the Nobel Peace Prize laureate will travel about 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of the main city Yangon to the towns of Bago and Thanatpin. She will meet party members and open two libraries.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, August 13, 2011, 15:03