Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi to accept freedom of Dublin

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Aung San Suu Kyi and Bono after a press conference in Oslo, Norway (Picture: AP)

Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is to be awarded the freedom of Dublin as she continues her European tour.
Daw Suu Kyi is due to give an address in the Irish capital tonight after accepting the honour, first bestowed upon her in 2000, at a tribute concert organised by Bono and Sir Bob Geldof.
The politician, who turns 67 tomorrow, will also be presented with Amnesty International's prestigious Ambassador of Conscience award.
Salil Shetty, the organisation's secretary general, said: 'Celebrating her freedom is encouragement to millions of our supporters around the world to keep up the fight for freedom and human rights.'
Daw Suu Kyi spent 15 of the last 24 years under house arrest in Burma after the country's military rulers refused to acknowledge her National League for Democracy party's landslide general election victory in 1990.
However last November she was released and under democratic reforms cautiously welcomed by the west allowed to stand for office and subsequently elected as an MP.
In her first visit to Europe since 1988, Daw Suu Kyi has already received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo she was unable to collect in 1991.
She is due to travel to the UK tomorrow where she will address the Oxford Union and both Houses of Parliament.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/902396-burmas-aung-san-suu-kyi-to-accept-freedom-of-dublin-as-european-tour-continues#ixzz1y9qamhVM

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Irish supporters 'inspired' Suu Kyi's work

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Peace and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi will be recognised for her efforts on her country's behalf at Dublin's Electric Burma concert. Photographs: Getty Images/Reuters

The Burmese activist will be honoured at events in Dublin today, writes SANDY BARRON in Rangoon
AUNG SAN Suu Kyi’s European trip, including today’s six-hour stop in Ireland, is being overshadowed at home as Burma experiences its worst communal and sectarian fighting in years.
About 30,000 people are displaced and 50 reported dead since simmering tensions – between Rakhine state’s majority Arakanese population of mainly Buddhists and minority Rohingyas who are Muslims – erupted into violent clashes and torching of homes earlier this month.
While the army restored relative calm in recent days, the tensions underline the challenges ahead for peace and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi on Burma’s tentative road to reform.
Following the delivery of a moving Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo on Saturday, Suu Kyi will be recognised today for her steadfast efforts on her country’s behalf at Dublin’s star-studded Electric Burma concert.
On the eve of her 67th birthday, U2’s Bono will present Suu Kyi with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award. Youth and media will be among the rock concert’s followers in Burma’s largest city Rangoon, where musicians and artists have long injected vitality into the struggle for political freedom.
Veteran activists and politicians will be interested in the Dublin stop for strategic and historical reasons.
Suu Kyi wishes to convey “reciprocal appreciation and thanks” to people in Ireland for their long support, said U Tin Oo, her oldest and most senior political ally.
Their efforts had “inspired her work”, said the co-founder and key leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party which won 43 out of 45 seats in recent byelections, heralding a new era of participation in parliamentary politics.
Irish governments, Amnesty and Burma Action Ireland campaigners, trade unionists and U2 are among those who have backed Suu Kyi and highlighted the plight of Burma’s ethnic refugees and political prisoners.
In 2000, Suu Kyi’s youngest son, Kim, accepted the Freedom of Dublin award on behalf of his mother who was under house arrest. Today she will sign the honorary roll of freedom in the company of Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague before addressing the public. She is earlier due to meet Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and President Michael D Higgins.
Octogenarian U Tin Oo recalled that in his student days he and Gen Aung San, father of Suu Kyi and leader of Burma’s independence struggle, were keen to learn about Irish political figures such as Michael Collins.
“We were interested in how Irish people were so close to the British, but not the same,” he said. Suu Kyi has jested about how British colonials tended to refer to the Burmese as “the Irish of the east”. Irish links with Burma originate mainly with colonial-era missionaries and civil servants. U Tin Oo’s extended family, for example, includes relatives with the name Donovan who are descendants of an Irish clerk and his Burmese wife.
Dublin-born colonial administrator Maurice Collis’s books on Burmese culture and history are still circulated here and shops are selling a new Burmese-language translation of his autobiographical Into Hidden Burma. First published some 60 years ago, the book’s title still resonates as Burma, officially known as Myanmar, experiences a new opening tempered with many unknowns.
President Thein Sein has released many political prisoners, increased media freedom, introduced new labour laws and brokered ceasefires with more ethnic groups. In response western countries have suspended or lifted most economic sanctions, opening the way for additional foreign investment and aid.
Yet a great deal appears to depend on just one man, the president, and his personal rapprochement with Suu Kyi, while the army, quasi-civilian government and bureaucracy structures remain opaque.
Along with western governments, a handful of prominent former activist and academic exiles have decided that getting behind President Thein Sein’s reformist efforts is a gamble worth taking. The former exiles’ Vahu Development Institute is working on mainly economic policy issues with a key presidential adviser. Land and labour disputes are emerging as major challenges in the cripplingly-poor country.
Other exiles and released political prisoners remain more tentative, preferring to “wait and see”. U Tin Oo describes the NLD party as “warily, cautiously, optimistic”. In an era of unleashed new expectations, the NLD will also face more scrutiny. Some say Suu Kyi’s party, many of whose members have experienced jail and other trauma, will need to move beyond a “bunker mentality” and open up to wider viewpoints, expertise and strategic thinking ahead of what could be enormously significant national elections in 2015.
Meanwhile, some of the deepest scepticism around the current situation centres on the army’s war with the ethnic Kachin Independence Army which has resulted in some 60,000 displaced in a year of fighting.
The government’s willingness to address the grievances of Burma’s ethnic nationalities is seen as its greatest test ahead.

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Suu Kyi in Dublin for brief visit

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Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Norway's foreign minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and U2 singer Bono attend the Oslo forum at the Losby Gods today. Photograph: Lise Aserud/Scanpix/Reuters

ALISON HEALY
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore will inform Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of his wish to see the realease of political prisoners and of the the support that Ireland is ready to give to a reformed and democratised Burma, he said today.
Mr Gilmore was due to greet Ms Suu Kyi at Dublin airport when she arrived for a tightly scheduled six-hour visit at 3pm.
He will hold a short meeting with the Nobel laureate, and said he would inform her of "the very strong support there is in Ireland for her, the stand she has taken, the admiration she is held in by Irish people and the Irish Government’s wish to see progress made in Burma in relation to human rights and democratic freedoms".
The Tánaiste said some progress had been made in Burma, which was welcome - including elections to parliament and freedom to travel outside the country. "But we need to see more done and in particlar I will be telling her about my wish to see the release of political prisoners and also about the support that Ireland is ready to give to a reformed and democratised Burma."
Thousands of people are expected to fill Grand Canal Square in Dublin this evening to see Ms Suu Kyi.
The Burmese pro-democracy leader is visiting Dublin on foot of an invitation from the lawyer Bill Shipsey, who founded Amnesty International’s artist-engagement programme.
She will collect an Amnesty award and sign the Roll of Honorary Freedom of Dublin during her six-hour visit.
Ms Suu Kyi was under house arrest or in prison for 15 of the last 24 years until her release last November. The human rights campaigner is visiting Europe for the first time since 1988.
Ms Suu Kyi was due to be met Mr Gilmore and a delegation from Ireland’s Burmese community at the airport. Following a brief private meeting with Mr Gilmore she will go to Áras an Uachtaráin where she will meet President Michael D Higgins at 3.40pm.
She is due to arrive at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre for the sold-out Electric Burma concert at 4.45pm.
During the concert, Ms Suu Kyi will be presented with the Ambassador of Conscience Award by U2’s Bono. The award was announced in Dublin at a U2 concert in July 2009 while she was under house arrest.
The peace and democracy campaigner will leave the theatre at 8.30pm for Grand Canal Square. This event is free and open to the public. A number of bands will entertain the crowd from 7pm.
Amnesty International Ireland’s executive director, Colm O’Gorman, said the crowd that welcomed her would be sending a message of hope and solidarity to her supporters in Burma.
“We will be telling them that we stood with Aung San Suu Kyi when she was in prison, that she inspires us much as she inspires them. And now that she is free, we will continue to stand with her and to support the struggle for justice, freedom and human rights in Myanmar.”
She will sign the Roll of Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin at the invitation of Lord Mayor Andrew Montague and will address the crowd. Councillor Montague said it was “a great honour for Dublin” that Ms Suu Kyi was visiting the city.
When the Freedom of the City was conferred on Ms Suu Kyi on March 18th, 2000, the award was accepted on her behalf by her son Kim.
She will leave for Dublin Airport at 9pm to fly to England.
On Saturday she visited Norway to collect her Nobel Peace Prize, some 21 years after it was awarded. She said that when she heard she had won the prize in 1991, she knew the Burmese people were not going to be forgotten.
“What the Nobel Peace Prize did was to draw me once again into the world of other human beings outside the isolated area in which I lived, to restore a sense of reality to me,” she told the crowd, led by Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja, at Oslo City Hall.

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Suu Kyi walks on with U2's 'star-struck' Bono

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From left, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Irish singer and activist Bono pose for the media after they attending a conference of the Oslo Forum at the Losby Gods resort, about 13 kilometers (8 miles) east of Oslo, Monday, June 18, 2012. The Oslo Forum is a n

OSLO, Norway --
(AP) — Aung San Suu Kyi and Bono are hanging out.
The Myanmar democracy activist has joined forces with the U2 frontman, one of her key backers, as her European tour moves to Ireland.
The pair answered questions Monday at an Oslo conference of peace mediators before they flew together to Dublin, Ireland.
Both were asked about the impact of Bono's 2000 song, "Walk On," that paid tribute to Suu Kyi, who was then midway through her years of house arrest.
Bono, who hadn't met Suu Kyi before, said he was feeling "star-struck" and described her as "a tough customer."
Suu Kyi says the song's lyrics were "very close to how I feel. ... It's your own two legs that have to carry you on."
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Aung San Suu Kyi To Visit Ireland To Receive Amnesty International Award From Bono

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Aung San Suu Kyi is to touch down in Dublin today for a special award

Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will touch down in Dublin today for a six-hour visit to the Irish capital.
Thousands of supporters are expected to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as she delivers an open-air address and receives the freedom of Dublin city - 12 years after she was awarded the accolade.
Rock star Bono and fellow aid campaigner Sir Bob Geldof will also stage a special tribute concert, where Ms Suu Kyi will be presented with Amnesty International's prestigious Ambassador of Conscience award.
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general, said the human-rights organisation was tremendously honoured to welcome Ms Suu Kyi to Dublin.
"Celebrating her freedom is encouragement to millions of our supporters around the world to keep up the fight for freedom and human rights," she added.
Ms Suu Kyi was under house arrest or in prison for 15 of the last 24 years until her release last November.
The human-rights campaigner, who has accepted a Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded while under house arrest 21 years ago, is visiting Europe for the first time since 1988.
She will touch down at Dublin airport at 3pm, where she will be greeted by Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore.
Ms Suu Kyi will meet Irish president Michael D Higgins before she attends a special concert at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in her honour - where she will also be conferred with an honorary degree from Trinity College Dublin.
Bono, Sir Bob, musician Damien Rice, the Riverdance ensemble, actress Vanessa Redgrave and hip hop supremo Lupe Fiasco will be among the leading figures from the world of arts and music celebrating the event.
Outside, a scroll commemorating the visit will be presented to Ms Suu Kyi, who will sign the Roll of Honorary Freedom of the City and give a public address at 8pm.
When the Freedom of the City was conferred on Ms Suu Kyi on March 18 2000, the award was accepted on her behalf by her son Kim.
Members of the Karen community, Burma's largest ethnic minority, will perform a short piece of traditional Karen music and a special birthday cake will be given to Ms Suu Kyi, who celebrates her 67th birthday tomorrow in the UK.

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Suu Kyi meets Myanmar refugees in Norwegian city of Bergen, asks them to build ethnic harmony

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Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi waves as she arrives at the Foreign Ministry for a meeting with Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Oslo, Sunday, June 17, 2012. Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Saturday at a Nobel Prize lecture that the Nobel Peace Prize she won while under house arrest 21 years ago helped to shatter her sense of isolation and ensured that the world would demand democracy in her military-controlled homeland. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

OSLO - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi paid a jubilant visit Sunday to the Norwegian city of Bergen, where she urged refugees from her ethnically divided homeland to build harmony and support cease-fires.
Suu Kyi flew from Oslo to the fjord-studded west coast a day after delivering her acceptance speech for the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. As in Oslo, thousands filled a central Bergen square to hear a concert and speeches in her honour. Teenage Burmese girls, many in native gowns or robes, kissed her on the cheek.
She met leaders of a Bergen-based group that offered her early support, the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, which awarded her its highest prize in 1990. As with her Nobel, she couldn't personally claim her prize at the time because Myanmar's dictatorship had placed her under house arrest.
At another meeting in a hotel ballroom Suu Kyi, 66, spoke at length in Burmese to more than 100 Myanmar refugees living in Bergen, many of them members of minority groups hostile to the country's military-backed government. She urged them to say nothing to undermine tentative cease-fires negotiated since 2010 between government and ethnic militia forces.
Highlighting the clashes this month in western Myanmar between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims that drove an estimated 30,000 Muslims from their homes, she said Myanmar's exiles abroad could play a greater role in healing divisions. She urged them not to blame other groups for the violence, insisting all factions were culpable, and asked them to offer greater vocal support for the cease-fires.
On Monday, Suu Kyi will speak at an annual Oslo retreat for some of the world's leading peace mediators, then travel to the Irish capital, Dublin, for evening celebrations in her honour. She's scheduled to appear alongside U2 singer Bono, her most high-profile Irish backer, at both the Oslo and Dublin events.
Myanmar's rulers first imprisoned Suu Kyi in 1989, the year before her National League for Democracy swept to victory in national elections. The government annulled that result and kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the next 21 years, freeing her in 2010 following the country's first elections in two decades.
Suu Kyi's party boycotted that election but has pursued reconciliation with the military-backed government of President Thein Sein formed as a result of that vote. Last month Suu Kyi led her party into Myanmar's national assembly as the opposition for the first time.
She launched her European tour after receiving assurances from the government that she could travel freely without risk of being blocked from returning home, her longstanding fear. She has already visited Switzerland and, after Ireland, will spend several days in England, then finish in France.
___
Online:
Rafto Foundation, www.rafto.no
© The Canadian Press, 2012

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Nobel prize 'opened up a door in my heart'

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Aung San Suu Kyi signs the guestbook at the Nobel Institute in Oslo on Saturday morning (Photo: Lise Åserud/Scanpix)

Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said on Saturday that winning the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest "opened up a door in my heart," encouraging her to continue her struggle.

Giving her Nobel lecture in Oslo 21 years on, she said the award committee "were recognizing that the oppressed and the isolated in Burma were also a part of the world, they were recognizing the oneness of humanity".
"So for me receiving the Nobel Peace Prize means personally extending my concerns for democracy and human rights beyond national borders," said Suu Kyi. "The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart".
Suu Kyi -- who has campaigned since 1988 for democracy in the long military ruled country also called Myanmar -- said that "often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world".
Aung San Suu Kyi also pledged to keep up her struggle for democracy as she finally delivered her Nobel Peace Prize speech, 21 years after winning the award while under house arrest.
After a year that has seen sweeping changes in her Southeast Asian homeland, Suu Kyi pledged to work for national reconciliation but also pointed to remaining political prisoners and continued ethnic strife in her country.
"My party, the National League for Democracy, and I stand ready and willing to play any role in the process of national reconciliation," said Suu Kyi, delivering her speech in Oslo for the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
Wearing a flower in her hair, a sarong and a purple silk scarf, she looked emotional as she received a thunderous standing ovation in the cavernous Oslo City Hall, packed with dignitaries, royals and Burmese exiles.
The veteran activist also said she encouraged "cautious optimism" in her country's transition from military rule towards democracy under the quasi-civilian government of ex-general President Thein Sein.
"If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith," she said.
Although the government has signed ceasefires with scores of ethnic rebel groups, she pointed to continued bloodshed -- conflict with the northern Kachin Independence Army and communal unrest between Buddhists and a Muslim minority.
"Hostilities have not ceased in the far north. To the west, communal violence resulting in arson and murder were taking place just several days before I started out on the journey that has brought me here today," she said.
Fifty people have been killed and scores wounded in the recent clashes in Rakhine state, state media said Saturday, as the United Nations warned of "immense hardship" faced by thousands displaced by rioting.
When Suu Kyi won the honour in 1991, she could not accept it in person, fearing she would be blocked from returning to the country also called Burma where "The Lady" had become a potent symbol of non-violent defiance.
Her husband Michael Aris and their two sons, Kim and Alexander, accepted the award on her behalf. When her husband died of cancer in 1999, Suu Kyi could not be by his side, again fearing she would not be allowed to come home.
Suu Kyi -- who has campaigned since 1988 for democracy in the country also called Burma -- said that "often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world".
"For me receiving the Nobel Peace Prize means personally extending my concerns for democracy and human rights beyond national borders," said Suu Kyi. "The Nobel Peace Prize opened up a door in my heart".
This week, back in Europe for the first time in 24 years, Western supporters and Burmese exiles are cheering her along a whirlwind tour that started in Switzerland and will also take her to Britain, Ireland and France.
In Norway, she has been greeted with flowers and songs by jubilant Burmese, many with her party's Fighting Peacock flag painted on their faces.
Suu Kyi called for the release of the country's remaining political prisoners, warning of the risk that "the unknown ones will be forgotten".
Saying said that "one prisoner of conscience is one too many", she urged the audience of her Nobel speech: "Please remember them and do whatever is possible to effect their earliest, unconditional release."
Suu Kyi -- who turns 67 next week and who fell ill in Switzerland, blaming the strain of jetlag and exhaustion -- said Friday that she was on a journey of "rediscovery and discovery, seeing the world with new eyes."
She thanked all "lovers of freedom and justice who contributed towards a global awareness of our situation", telling her audience it was "because of recent changes in my country that I am with you today".
AFP (news@thelocal.no)

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