AP-Myanmar's Suu Kyi Speaks Out

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Sunday April 4 4:31 PM ET

Myanmar's Suu Kyi Speaks Out

LONDON (AP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says her two sons
urged her to visit their dying father in England, but despite her family's
anguish she decided not to go, fearing she would be barred from returning to
her homeland.

``Imagine how hard it was to say no to them,'' Suu Kyi said in an interview
with the Sunday Telegraph of London.

Her husband Michael Aris, a professor of Tibetan studies at Oxford
University, died of cancer March 27 in a London hospital. It was his 53rd
birthday. He had petitioned the Myanmar government for a visa for months
after learning he was terminally ill, but his requests were denied.

Suu Kyi said the day before Aris died, Myanmar's military rulers finally
offered her the chance to fly to Britain. But the more they encouraged her,
the more she became convinced that they would not let her return.

``Their greatest wish was to see me leave,'' the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
winner told the Sunday Telegraph at her office in Rangoon. ``They were
desperate to get me out of the country and they thought my husband's illness
gave them the perfect opportunity.''

She spoke by phone every day with her sons, Kim, 21, and 25-year-old Alex.

They urged her to return to Britain while their father was still alive, but
her colleagues asked her not to go. ``Apart from being afraid that they
would lose a leader, many of them also fear even more reprisals and arrests
than they are already used to,'' Suu Kyi said.

Her aides point out that the military government has a history of not
honoring its promises, including recognizing the results of a 1990 national
election in which Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory.

Suu Kyi played down her sadness at having to miss Aris's funeral in Britain.
``There are thousands of people who face the same dilemma that I have had to
face, who have to make these choices. And in many cases it is far worse,''
she said.

``This is daily fare in Burma.''



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