Myanmar's military government has again detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi following a violent clash between her supporters and pro-junta protesters.
Early years: Suu Kyi was born June 19, 1945, in Yangon, Myanmar (also known as Rangoon, Burma), the daughter of political activists. Her father was assassinated when she was 2. She was educated in Yangon until she was 15, when she went to India. Suu Kyi studied at Delhi University in India, then earned a bachelor's degree at Oxford University in England.
Career: In 1969, Suu Kyi worked for the United Nations in New York. She went on to work in India and Japan before returning to Myanmar to help her mother.
In 1988, a mass uprising started in Yangon and spread throughout the country. Although the military crushed the movement, the National League for Democracy was formed, with Suu Kyi as general secretary.
In 1989, the military regime that seized power placed her under house arrest. In 1990, despite her continuing detention, the NLD won a huge victory in general elections, but the military junta refused to recognize the results.
ADVERTISEMENT
Suu Kyi was awarded, in absentia, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Her book "Freedom From Fear" was published in London in 1991. She established a health and education trust in support of the Burmese people with the Nobel Prize money.
In 1995, the junta released Suu Kyi from house arrest, but restricted her movement. She continued to work for freedom of the Burmese people and was re-arrested. She served 19 months until her release in 2002.
Family: Suu Kyi married Michael Aris, a British scholar, in 1972. They had two sons. Aris died in London in 1999 of prostate cancer.
In her words: "How can authorities who are so afraid to grant basic democratic rights to people build or construct democracy?"
Web link: www.dassk.com/
Compiled by Carol Bradley Bursack
Sources: Associated Press, www.nobel.se
