Aung San Suu Kyi to hold Oslo Nobel speech
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 22 May, 2012 CET.
Updated: Tue 22 May 2012 09:53 CET
The Nobel Committee has announced that Aung San Suu Kyi will deliver a speech when she visits Oslo in June to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991.
The visit is part of Suu Kyi's first trip outside Burma, also known as Myanmar, in 24 years.
"She will give the lecture on June 16 at 1:00 pm at the Oslo city hall," committee spokeswoman Sigrid Langebrekke told AFP, adding that Suu Kyi should arrive in the Norwegian capital on June 15th.
Langebrekke said Suu Kyi's full programme was not yet known, but that as part of her first trip abroad since she was released from house arrest in 2010 she was scheduled to meet Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Suu Kyi, 66, confirmed last month that she planned to leave her home country for the first time since 1988 to travel to Norway and Britain, and was issued her first passport in two decades on May 8th.
Suu Kyi has long said that she would try to make her first trip abroad to Norway as a sign of gratitude for the support she received from the Scandinavian country during her years in captivity and to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she won 21 years ago for her peaceful struggle for democracy.
Her British husband Michael Aris, who died in 1999 while she remained imprisoned, and her two sons accepted the Nobel medal on her behalf in Oslo in 1991.
Burma's military seized power in 1962, ushering in almost half a century of repressive junta rule and isolation from the West.
The country has surprised observers with a series of reforms in the past year, and historic by-elections on April 1st saw Suu Kyi win her seat in parliament, which she is expected to take up on April 23rd.
Norway announced on Sunday that it had lifted economic sanctions against Burma following the recent reforms.
Comments
See Also
The visit is part of Suu Kyi's first trip outside Burma, also known as Myanmar, in 24 years.
"She will give the lecture on June 16 at 1:00 pm at the Oslo city hall," committee spokeswoman Sigrid Langebrekke told AFP, adding that Suu Kyi should arrive in the Norwegian capital on June 15th.
Langebrekke said Suu Kyi's full programme was not yet known, but that as part of her first trip abroad since she was released from house arrest in 2010 she was scheduled to meet Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Suu Kyi, 66, confirmed last month that she planned to leave her home country for the first time since 1988 to travel to Norway and Britain, and was issued her first passport in two decades on May 8th.
Suu Kyi has long said that she would try to make her first trip abroad to Norway as a sign of gratitude for the support she received from the Scandinavian country during her years in captivity and to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she won 21 years ago for her peaceful struggle for democracy.
Her British husband Michael Aris, who died in 1999 while she remained imprisoned, and her two sons accepted the Nobel medal on her behalf in Oslo in 1991.
Burma's military seized power in 1962, ushering in almost half a century of repressive junta rule and isolation from the West.
The country has surprised observers with a series of reforms in the past year, and historic by-elections on April 1st saw Suu Kyi win her seat in parliament, which she is expected to take up on April 23rd.
Norway announced on Sunday that it had lifted economic sanctions against Burma following the recent reforms.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.