The BBC’s correspondent in Rangoon witnessed Aung San Suu Kyi’s release
Burma releases Aung San Suu Kyi
The Burmese military authorities have released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest.
Appearing outside her home in Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi told thousands of jubilant supporters they had to “work in unison” to achieve their goals.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years. It is not yet clear if any conditions have been placed on her release.
US President Barack Obama welcomed her release as “long overdue”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Ms Suu Kyi was an “inspiration”, and called on Burma to free all its remaining political prisoners.
The decision to free 65-year-old Ms Suu Kyi comes six days after the political party supported by the military government won the country’s first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.
For more than 24 hours crowds of people had been waiting anxiously near Ms Suu Kyi’s home and the headquarters of her now-disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party for news of her fate.
Many wore T-shirts sporting the slogan “We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi”.
At the scene
Hundreds of people are refusing to go away – at this extraordinary moment of history – they keep saying they are very happy.
They are standing outside the house that has been Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison for so many years and is now her home.
It took about half an hour after the release before she came up to the gate and tried to address the crowd – and it took a long time to quiet the crowd so she could speak.
She looked extremely happy, very emotional, and the whole crowd is grinning from ear to ear.
Plain clothes police were around but as soon as an opening appeared in the barricades, people just surged through.
She has been released before and because of what she has said about peace and freedom and democracy she has been jailed again. We don’t know what is gong to happen.
Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi Life in pictures: Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi: Your reaction
On Saturday afternoon, a stand-off developed between armed riot police and several hundred people gathered on the other side of the security barricade blocking the road leading to her lakeside home. Some of them later sat down in the road in an act of defiance.
As tensions rose, reports came in at about 1700 (1030 GMT) that official cars had been seen entering Ms Suu Kyi’s compound, and then that unnamed officials had formally read the release order to her.
Hundreds of people then surged forward and rushed forwards to greet her.
The ecstatic crowd swelled to three or four thousand before Ms Suu Kyi, in a traditional lilac dress, finally appeared, about 30 minutes later, on a platform behind the gate of her compound.
She took a flower from someone in the crowd and placed it in her hair.
Ms Suu Kyi then tried to speak, but was drowned out by the noise of the crowd, many singing the national anthem and chanting her name repeatedly.
“I have to give you the first political lesson since my release. We haven’t seen each other for so long, so we have many things to talk about. If you have any words for me, please come to the [NLD] headquarters tomorrow and we can talk then and I’ll use a loud speaker,” she joked.
“There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk,” she added. “People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal.”
She then went back inside her home for the first meeting with NLD leaders in seven years. She also spoke to her youngest son, Kim Aris, who was awaiting her release in neighbouring Thailand. Ms Suu Kyi had two sons with late husband, British scholar Michael Aris.
International leaders were quick to welcome Ms Suu Kyi’s release.
Mr Ban said she was an “inspiration”, but he regretted that she had been excluded from the elections.
A profile of Aung San Suu Kyi, including rarely-seen footage of her first political speech in 1988
He said he hoped no further restrictions would be placed on Ms Suu Kyi, and urged the Burmese authorities “to build on today’s action by releasing all remaining political prisoners”.
The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Surin Pitsuswan, said he was “very, very relieved” and hoped the move would “contribute to true national reconciliation”.
US President Barack Obama called Ms Suu Kyi “a hero of mine”.
“Whether Aung San Suu Kyi is living in the prison of her house, or the prison of her country, does not change the fact that she, and the political opposition she represents, has been systematically silenced, incarcerated, and deprived of any opportunity to engage in political processes,” he said.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron also said the release was “long overdue”, describing her detention had been a “travesty”.
“Aung San Suu Kyi is an inspiration for all of us who believe in freedom of speech, democracy and human rights,” he added.
The ruling junta has restricted Ms Suu Kyi’s travel and freedom to associate during previous brief spells of liberty, and has demanded she quit politics.
Aung San Suu KyiBorn 1945, daughter of Burma’s independence hero, General Aung San, assassinated in 19471960: Leaves Burma and is later educated at Oxford University1988: Returns to care for sick mother and is caught up in revolt against then-dictator Ne Win1989: Put under house arrest as Burma junta declares martial law1990: NLD wins election; military disregards result1991: Wins Nobel Peace Prize1995: Released from house arrest, but movements restricted2000: Near continuous period of house arrest beginsSept 2007: First public appearance since 2003, greeting protesting Buddhist monksNovember 2010: NLD boycotts first election in 20 years and is disbanded; House arrest ends
However, earlier this week her lawyer said that she would not accept any would “not accept a limited release”.
A BBC correspondent in Rangoon says it is unlikely that the ruling generals would have freed Ms Suu Kyi unless they felt confident that she no longer represented a threat to them or their plans for the country.
Sunday’s elections were a key step in a carefully planned transition from overt military rule to a nominally civilian government, but the process has been widely condemned as widely fraudulent and un-democratic, she adds.
State media have reported that the biggest military-backed party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), has secured a majority in both houses of parliament. Those elected included the leader of the USDP, Prime Minister Thein Sein, who retired from the military as a general in April to stand.
A quarter of seats in the two new chambers of parliament will be reserved for the military. Any constitutional change will require a majority of more than 75% – meaning that the military will retain a casting vote.
The NLD – which won the last election in 1990 but was never allowed to take power – refused to contest the election, which means that legally it is no longer a political entity, and by extension Burma’s most famous democracy campaigner has no official political status and an unclear role.
Our correspondent says the next few days might provide some answers on how Ms Suu Kyi plans to further the cause of freedom of justice in Burma, for which she has sacrificed so much to achieve, but in the meantime thousands of her supporters are just enjoying the moment.
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