Aung San Suu Kyi seeks unity on first trip

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi called for unity in Myanmar as she was feted by thousands of supporters on Sunday.

Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun

Suu Kyi was on her her first political trip outside her home city, Yangon, since being released from house arrest in November.

Police tried to clear people off roads as hundreds lined the streets to greet the 66-year-old democracy icon as she travelled between towns.

After visiting a local pagoda, she made similar speeches at the openings of two libraries, the first to about 600 people in Tha Nat Pin and the second to about 2,000 in nearby Bago town.

Calling on people to work together, she said unity was key to the future of the country.

She thanked her followers for their support, asking them to keep providing it. She said she had always “tried her best” since she entered politics more than 20 years ago, and would “continue as much as I can”.

Suu Kyi’s call for unity could be taken as a possible goodwill gesture towards her jailers, given the sensitive nature of a political trip.

She has spent much of the last two decades in detention.

Myanmar is subject to economic sanctions by the US and other western nations who are calling for democratic and human rights reforms.