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Aung San Suu Kyi visits Burmese migrants in Thailand | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Aung San Suu Kyi is visiting Burmese migrants in Thailand on her first trip outside her native Burma in more than two decades. | |
Cheering crowds greeted the democracy leader south of Bangkok, waving flags and posters as she addressed them. | |
Ms Suu Kyi arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday night and will attend the World Economic Forum on East Asia on Friday. | |
For the past 20 years she has been either detained or afraid if she left Burma she would not be able to return. | |
But recent reforms led to her election to parliament last month and she is confident she will be allowed back into the country. | |
The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party was given a passport in early May. | The leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party was given a passport in early May. |
On Wednesday she visited Mahachai, an area about 20 miles (30km) south of the Thai capital that has a large population of Burmese migrant workers. | |
To the excited supporters holding placards that said ''Free Burma'' and ''We want to go home'', Ms Suu Kyi is a symbol for democracy in her struggles against the military regime. | |
It is a testament to her and her popularity that she chose to visit the area to meet the Burmese migrants first, says the BBC's Jonah Fisher. | |
An estimated 130,000 Burmese refugees live in camps in Thailand, having fled persecution at home. | |
Many more work in Thailand both legally and illegally, mostly in construction, factories or the fishing industry. | Many more work in Thailand both legally and illegally, mostly in construction, factories or the fishing industry. |
Generals 'value democracy' | |
During her visit, Ms Suu Kyi is also scheduled to meet the Thai prime minister and participate in sessions and discussions at the global forum on Friday. | |
After her trip to Thailand she plans to return to Burma before travelling to Europe in June. | |
She intends to go to Norway to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in 1991, and will also visit the UK where she has family. | She intends to go to Norway to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in 1991, and will also visit the UK where she has family. |
She has accepted an invitation to address the British parliament on 21 June. It has been reported that she would also travel to Geneva, Paris and Ireland. | She has accepted an invitation to address the British parliament on 21 June. It has been reported that she would also travel to Geneva, Paris and Ireland. |
Burma's President Thein Sein, who was originally scheduled to attend the forum, has postponed his trip to Bangkok until next week. | |
Meanwhile in a rare interview with the BBC, Burma's Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said that reforms were ''going ahead'' and both the military-backed government and the opposition must try to ''find common ground'' and ''work together for the country''. | |
''If you look at the world, the most successful countries are the ones that practice democracy,'' he said. | |
''There is democracy in the army,'' he added, saying that the generals were in fact ''the people who value democracy''. |