Nobel laureate tests the limits of her freedom on first political trip into countryside since release from house arrest
Aung San Suu Kyi opens a library in Bago, north of Rangoon. Photograph: Str/EPA
Thousands of well-wishers lined roadsides in Burma to welcome the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as she tested the limits of her freedom on Sunday by taking her first political trip into the countryside since being released from house arrest.
The military-dominated government had warned that her journey could trigger riots, but it took place peacefully in two towns north of Rangoon.
The last time she travelled out of the city to meet supporters, assailants ambushed her entourage. She escaped harm but was detained and placed under house arrest for seven years, from which she was released last November.
On Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi opened public libraries in Bago, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Rangoon, and in the nearby town of Thanatpin, where she gave a 10-minute speech calling for unity and asking people to continue to support her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
She urged the crowd of hundreds to persevere despite economic hardships that have forced many to seek jobs abroad. She made a similar speech in Bago, implying that true democratic change would take time.
"I know what the people want and I am trying my best to fulfil the wishes of the people," she said. "However, I don't want to give false hope."
In Bago, during a visit to a pagoda, crowds shouted: "Long live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" Ma Thuza, a 35-year-old woman watching the scene, said: "I can die happily now that I've seen her."
Aung San Suu Kyi travelled in a three-car convoy followed by about 27 more vehicles – filled mostly with journalists and supporters. Security agents, with wireless microphones protruding from their civilian clothes, monitored each stop she made.
Thousands of people lined the roadsides to catch a glimpse of her convoy as it passed by, some cheering and waving. The Nobel laureate stopped several times, and well-wishers handed her red roses and jasmine flowers.
Win Htein, an NLD leader, said the trip was crucial because it "will test the reaction of the authorities and will test the response of the people".
"This trip will be a test for everything," Htein said.
An NLD spokesman, Nyan Win, said more trips would follow, but neither the dates nor the destinations had been decided.
After half a century of army rule, Burma organised elections late last year and officially handed power to a civilian administration in March. But critics say the new government, led by retired military figures, is a proxy for continued military rule and that little has changed.
Some 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars, more than 100,000 refugees live in neighbouring countries and sporadic clashes have erupted in the north-east between government troops and ethnic militias who have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades.
On Friday, Aung San Suu Kyi held her second meeting with the minister for labour and social welfare, Aung Kyi, opening a rare channel of dialogue between the two sides. The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported on Saturday that the two sides agreed to co-operate on national stability and development.
Also on Friday, the information minister, Kyaw Hsan, urged Aung San Suu Kyi to officially register the NLD as a party, a step that would imply its acceptance of the government's legitimacy and also allow it to legally take part in politics.
If her group reaches an accommodation with the government, it could serve as a reason for western nations to lift political and economic embargoes on the country that have hindered development and pushed it into dependence on neighbouring China.
The previous military government ordered the party's dissolution after it refused to register for last November's general election, which the NLD called unfair and undemocratic.
Aung San Suu Kyi has travelled outside Rangoon since her release from house arrest. Last month, she journeyed to the ancient city of Bagan with her son on a private pilgrimage that nevertheless drew large crowds of supporters and scores of undercover police and intelligence agents. She made no speeches, and the trip ended without incident.
In June, the government said it would not stop her from travelling upcountry to meet supporters, but warned that the visits could trigger riots.
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