Suu Kyi to visit Fort Wayne next month

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) -- Nobel Peace Prize winner and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner who couldn't leave her southeast Asian country for two decades, will visit Fort Wayne next month during her trip to the U.S., activists in the Indiana's Burmese community said Tuesday.

The democracy advocate will be in Fort Wayne on Sept. 25 and deliver a public speech at Memorial Coliseum, Burmese Advocacy Center director Minn Myint Nan Tin said in a statement. About 4,000 Burmese live in the Fort Wayne area, one of the largest concentrations in the U.S.

Suu Kyi will be in Washington to accept the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress' highest civilian honor, on Sept. 19. She also will be honored in New York with the Atlantic Council's Global Citizen Award on Sept. 21.

The State Department has said Suu Kyi will be invited for meetings with U.S. government officials during her visit.

Suu Kyi, elected in April, will be feted for her long struggle against military rule in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and for championing democracy. She is revered by Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. and has been a guiding force in U.S. policy toward Myanmar over the past two decades.

She also has been supportive of President Barack Obama's administration's engagement of reformist Myanmar President Thein Sein, who is scheduled to visit the U.N. General Assembly next month.

In recent months, the U.S. has restored full diplomatic relations and suspended investment sanctions to reward Myanmar for shifting from five decades of authoritarian rule. The country already has allowed some U.S. visits by officials.

The U.S., however, has left in place an import ban, and it remains concerned over political prisoners, ethnic conflict and Myanmar's ties with North Korea.