Aung San Suu Kyi To Visit Britain In June

Aung San Suu Kyi is to leave Burma for the first time in 24 years to visit Britain and Norway in June, her party has revealed.

The democracy campaigner's travel plans were announced days after David Cameron visited her in Rangoon, when he issued the invitation.

At the time, Ms Suu Kyi said the fact she could even consider the offer showed the "great progress" that had happened in Burma.

"Two years ago I would have said thank you for the invitation, but sorry," she said.

Nyan Win, party spokesman for the National League for Democracy (NLD), said the trip will include a visit to Oxford where Ms Suu Kyi went to university in the 70s.

The move is the latest sign of drastic change in Burma and comes after historic elections earlier this month in which Ms Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat.

She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but was never able to travel to Oslo to accept the honour.

Now 66, Ms Suu Kyi was detained in her own country in 1989 and spent 15 of the next 21 years in detention before finally being released from house arrest in 2010.

During the brief times she was not being held, she refused to leave the country because she feared she would not be allowed back.

The mother-of-two did not even travel to Britain to be with her husband when he was dying of cancer in the 90s.

Ms Suu Kyi is the daughter of General Aung San, Burma's independence hero, who was assassinated when she was just a toddler.

After years of travelling, she returned to her home country in 1988 as it was in the middle of political turmoil and became the leader of a peaceful revolt.

The protest was suppressed by the military who seized power. Elections were called in 1990 and Ms Suu Kyi's party won but the result was not recognised by the junta.

Although the military is still dominant, hopes of radical reform have now taken hold in the country and Mr Cameron has called for international sanctions to be suspended.

In this month's elections, the NLD won 43 out of the 45 seats that were contested.

The exact dates of the foreign trip have yet to be confirmed.