BURMA: Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been freed from 19 months of house arrest in Burma and has told rapturous supporters she would carry on the fight for democracy in the military ruled country.
Calm and composed, her hair tied back with flowers, Ms Suu Kyi (56) was driven from her lakeside home to the ramshackle Rangoon headquarters of her National League for Democracy (NLD) to cheers from a huge crowd gathered in the most overt display of political activism in years.
She told a news conference although her party remained opposed to foreign investment, aid and tourism while the military held power, the junta had placed no conditions on her release.
Announcing the release of the daughter of Burma's independence hero, the military government said it had begun "a new page for the people of Myanmar \ and the international community".
Ms Suu Kyi said while she was pleased the junta was proclaiming a new dawn, she wanted real political change. "We only hope the dawn will move forward very quickly into full morning," she said.
As dusk fell on her first day of freedom, Ms Suu Kyi visited Burma's most sacred Buddhist site, the famous Shwedagon Paya, a gold stupa on a hill that dominates the Rangoon skyline.
State newspapers, television and radio made no mention of Ms Suu Kyi's release, but many citizens listen to international radio broadcasts and news was spreading by word of mouth.
Ms Suu Kyi became the figurehead of Burma's pro-democracy movement in 1988 when the military - which has ruled the country for four decades - bloodily suppressed anti-government protests.
The NLD won a landslide victory in elections in 1990, stunning the military which refused to hand over power. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest from 1989 to 1995.
Following her release then, her house on University Avenue became a rallying point for opposition to the junta. Thousands gathered outside to see her speak each week. The government returned her to house arrest in September 2000 after she defied orders not to leave Rangoon.
Western and Asian governments hailed Suu Kyi's release as a breakthrough.
The EU welcomed the release but said it was not enough for Brussels to lift its sanctions.
"It is a step in the right direction" said the Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Josep Pique, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. The UN Commisioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, called the move "historic", but in a statement with the UN special investigator for Burma, Mr Sergio Pinheiro, said she hoped it would be followed by freedom for all political prisoners.
President Bush welcomed the decision to free Ms Suu Kyi as "very positive."
Irish observers of Burma have given a "cautious welcome" to the news of the release of Ms Suu Kyi.
Ms Marie Smyth, Programme Co-ordinator with Trócaire and spokeswoman for Burma Action Ireland, said Ms Suu Kyi's release was a "very welcome step forward". But it is important that the remaining 1,500 political prisoners in the country also be released unconditionally and that the military regime begin a process of open and public consultations with Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic based minority groups in the country."
Announcing the release, the Burmese ambassador to the US, Mr Linn Myaing, said all Burmese citizens were "free to participate in the political process".
Ms Suu Kyi is now expected to begin a tour of Burma to rebuild up her party's network.
She was awarded the Freedom of Dublin along with U2 in March 2000.
