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Aung San Suu Kyi urges Burmese junta to release 2,100 political prisoners as thousands gather to greet democratic leader
Aung San Suu Kyi has called for national reconciliation and unity after emerging from seven years under house arrest, stressing that she alone could not lead Burma to democracy after 50 years of military rule.
Speaking at length publicly for the first time since she was jailed in 2003, Burma's revered face of democracy said she would like to "speak directly and honestly" with the generals who jailed her. But she called too for the release of the more than 2,100 political prisoners still being held by the Burmese regime.
"I think we all have to work together," she said. "We will have to find a way of helping each other."
More than 10,000 people jammed Shwegondine Road in central Rangoon yesterday to catch their first glimpse of 'The Lady', as she is known across Burma – democratic leader and daughter of the country's greatest hero, independence champion General Aung San.
They stood in the sweltering heat, crouched on the roadway for hours, chanting "long live Aung San Suu Kyi" and waving signs.
Her supporters, thousands dressed in T-shirts saying "we stand with Aung San Suu Kyi", were joined on the streets by monks, the target of a violent military crackdown the last time crowds of this size were seen on Rangoon's streets, during 2007's 'Saffron Revolution'.
Aung San Suu Kyi's arrival, dressed in a dark-green traditional jacket and long skirt, was met with huge cheers and rapturous applause.
She spoke in Burmese to the gathered crowd, telling them the future of the country was dependent on all of them, not just the nation's political leaders.
Later, in the cramped quarters of the NLD office, she said: "I don't believe in one person's influence and authority to move a country forward. One person alone can not do something as important as bringing democracy to a country."
Aung San Suu Kyi's release has generated global media interest and cast Burma into the political spotlight. She said there were still 2,100 political prisoners in jails across Burma, and that no-one in the country could feel truly free until they were all unconditionally released. "If my people are not free, how can you say I am free. We are none of us free."
Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, said her release by the military regime was unconditional, and that she was free to travel about the country. Previously the junta has attempted to restrict her movements and with whom she could meet.
But she was coy when asked if she feared the junta could re-arrest her if they felt threatened by her huge popular appeal.
Burma's generals have jailed her three times in the past two decades, either arbitrarily or on dubious charges, and international observers believe they could be moved to again if they felt her near-universal popularity weakened their grip on power.
"I do not think I am threatening, do you?" she said . "Popularity is something that comes and goes. I don't think anybody should feel threatened by it."
She hinted she might have softened her stance on international sanctions, particularly from western countries, who have isolated Burma with trade sanctions for more than a decade. "This is a time for Burma when we need help. We need everybody to help in this venture. Western nations, eastern nations, all nations."
Aung San Suu Kyi said she was enjoying her first few hours of freedom, particularly the chance to meet and talk with people. "I have been listening to the radio for six years. I think I'd like to listen to some real human voices."
She said she had not had a chance to see very much of the outside world, "but I have noticed that a lot of people had mobile phones". She used a mobile for the first time on Sunday to call her son Kim, who is in Bangkok, and who she hasn't seen for nearly a decade.
Aung San Suu Kyi left her home a free woman for the first time in seven years shortly before 11am local time. In the back seat of a white sedan, she was driven from her lakeside home in northern Rangoon to the headquarters of her now-banned party, the National League for Democracy.
Traffic slowed the first half of her journey, as people began to recognise her, on the streets of Rangoon for the first time in years. Within metres of the buiding, hundreds of people had crowded around, and a people-chain had to be formed around her car to keep back the crush.
A crowd of several thousand people, spilling across Shwegondine Road, awaited her arrival at the NLD building which bears her image, and that of her famous father, on its front.
It took nearly 15 minutes for her car to inch the final hundred metres, before she emerged, waving briefly to the crowd to rapturous applause and cheers, before being whisked inside by her entourage.
Aung San Suu Kyi met first with diplomats, before giving the press conference and addressing her supporters. Thousands remained on the streets outside the NLD office, singing and chanting her name.
Unusually for Burma, there has been no overt display of the country's feared security apparatus. Police and soldiers are nowhere to be seen. Gatherings of more than five people are technically illegal in Burma. The last time crowds of this size were seen on Rangoon's streets was during the Saffron Revolution of 2007, which was brutally suppressed by the military.
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