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    January 29, 2012

Burma Democracy Leader Begins Political Campaigning

   VOA News
   Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi waves her hand to
   supporters on her arrival in Dawei, about 615 km (380 miles) south of
   Rangoon, January 29, 2012. Photo: AP
   Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi waves her hand to
   supporters on her arrival in Dawei, about 615 km (380 miles) south of
   Rangoon, January 29, 2012.

   Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi hit the campaign trail Sunday
   ahead of by-elections seen as a key test of the military-backed
   government's commitment to reform.
   Thousands of cheering supporters lined the roads of several towns in
   the southern district of Dawei, as the Nobel Peace laureate made her
   first political trip outside Rangoon since declaring she would run for
   office in the April 1 election.
   Aung San Suu Kyi is campaigning in the coastal district to garner
   support for another candidate running for parliament. She will make
   similar trips to other areas before campaigning for her own seat as a
   representative of the poor district of Kawhmu, just south of Rangoon.
   The democracy activist spent 15 of the last 20 years as a political
   prisoner. She was finally released from house arrest in late 2010, just
   days after the country held elections that were widely viewed as
   neither free nor fair.

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