After years of house arrest, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi plans to make a trip to Oslo in June to accept in person the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize she won for her peaceful struggle.
She plans to travel to Britain and Norway on her first trip abroad in 24 years, her party spokesman said on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old democracy icon has not left Myanmar for more than two decades because of fears that she would not be allowed to return.
“She will give her Nobel lecture at Oslo City Hall,” where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held each year, the Nobel Institute's events manager Sigrid Langebrekke told AFP on Wednesday after Norway's Foreign Ministry announced the visit for which an exact date has yet to be set.
Myanmar officials said on Wednesday the democracy activist, who has spent much of the past 22 years locked up by the junta under house arrest, had applied for a passport to travel but that it had not yet been granted. Ms. Suu Kyi has not left Myanmar since 1988, when she arrived from Britain to visit her ailing mother and ended up leading the country's struggle for democracy.
For non-violent struggle
Ms. Suu Kyi was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”, according to the citation, but she was never able to travel to Oslo to accept the award in person.
She has long said she would try to make her first trip abroad to Norway to express her appreciation for its support.
Her now-deceased husband, Michael Aris, and her two sons accepted the Nobel medal, diploma and prize money on her behalf at the official ceremony held at Oslo City Hall in 1991.
But she was never able to give her official Nobel lecture. Her son Alexander made an acceptance speech on her behalf.
Norway announced on Sunday that it had lifted economic sanctions against Myanmar following the recent reforms. A weapons embargo remains in place.
