Suu Kyi vows new test for Myanmar junta

Twice in the past two years authorities have prevented Suu Kyi from leaving the capital, leading to widespread condemnation of the military government for its treatment of Suu Kyi and other Opposition figures.

"We are nowhere in a satisfactory position at the moment. We are back to abnormal," she told a news conference at NLD headquarters attended by about 200 NLD members and journalists as well as British and US diplomats.

"As I am not legally restricted in any way, we have decided that it is time for us to make this clear. I shall be travelling outside Rangon (Yangon) within the next 10 days. It will be an organised trip and we will do it openly," she said.

Asked where she would go, Suu Kyi replied: "I will let you know later," adding, "We never announce our future strategy."

Suu Kyi and other senior NLD officials were kept confined to their homes in Yangon cut off from the outside world between September 2 and 14 after the military authorities ended by force a roadside standoff with the group just outside the capital.

Suu Kyi, her driver, and about a dozen of her colleagues had been stopped by security forces on August 24 while attempting to travel to a party meeting outside Yangon.

Denied permission to travel further and refusing to return to Yangon, the group set up camp by the side of the road and confronted the police in a graphic illustration of the restrictions placed on the NLD and its leaders.

It was the second time in two years that an attempt by Suu Kyi to leave the capital had been foiled by the authorities and it led to a chorus of international criticism of the Myanmar military and its treatment of the pro-democracy Opposition.

The NLD won Myanmar’s last democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to govern. Suu Kyi spent six years under house arrest by the military until 1995.

At the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she was "gratified."

Albright said authorities in the former Burma should follow up by permitting Suu Kyi to move around the country, while opening a dialogue with the NLD.

"The secretary-general reiterates his call for the government of Myanmar to engage in a substantive political dialogue with Opposition leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, to initiate the process of national reconciliation as soon as possible," a U.N. spokesman said.

Albright said a campaign on behalf of Suu Kyi at the UnitedNations this week seemed to have had an impact. Albright and other female foreign ministers said on Tuesday they were "appalled" at her house arrest.

"I would only hope that we can continue to voice veryloudly our Opposition to the Burmese authorities not allowing the democratically elected NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi to take their rightful place and be able to have a dialogue, which is what they want," Albright said.

Suu Kyi said she did not know exactly why the military hadeased some of the restrictions on her and her associates.

"It could be because of international pressure or it couldbe simply because of a change of their minds," she said.

She said the NLD would challenge the legality of a policeraid on NLD offices on September 2.

"We can’T accept that they raided our party’s officebecause we are a legally organised party. We cannot accept this. So we will try to sue the governmen (for this)," she said.