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Suu Kyi accepts top US honor

September 20, 2012

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has accepted the US Congress's highest civilian honor, four years after it was originally awarded. She later visited the White House where she met US President Barack Obama.

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Aung San Suu Kyi recieves medal (EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS)
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Suu Kyi accepted the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday, describing it as "one of the most moving days of her life."

During the ceremony in the US Capitol she thanked US lawmakers for their longstanding support for her fight for democracy in Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma.

"From the depths of my heart I thank you, the people of the America... for keeping us in your hearts in the dark years when freedom seemed beyond our reach," Suu Kyi said as she was handed her award.

The US Congress had voted to give her the award back in 2008, while she was still under house arrest in Myanmar. The opposition leader is currently embarking on her first visit to the US since she was released from house arrest in 2010.

Suu Kyi later met US President Barack Obama in the Oval Office in the first private meeting between the two Nobel Laureates. The low-key meeting was said to have lasted around half an hour.

Sanctions eased

The second day of Suu Kyi's US tour coincided with a US decision to drop personal sanctions against Myanmar's President Thein Sein and parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann.

They were removed from the US Treasury's list of "specifically designated nationals," in recognition of their efforts to implement recent democratic reforms. As former members of the ruling military junta, the two were placed on the list in 2007 to boost pressure against military rule.

In the 18 months since the military ceded power to a quasi-civilian government, Thein Sein has spearheaded a host of reforms, including the release of a number of political prisoners.

During her US visit Suu Kyi endorsed the easing of further US sanctions. She said Myanmar no longer needed to be reliant on external support in its pursuit of democracy.

"I do not think that we need to cling on to sanctions unnecessarily because I want our people to be responsible for their own destiny and not to depend too much on external props," she said during a speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on Tuesday.

ccp/av (AFP, Reuters)