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Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (C) visits a British-funded project in the Magwe division of Pakokku township, northern Burma, on January 31, 2012. (Soe Than Win/AFP/Getty Images)
Burmese Democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) will reopen two offices in Mandalay, the second largest city in the country, according to media reports.
The Burmese government forced the NLD to call off a rally on Monday, ahead of Suu Kyi’s bid for parliamentary in elections in April, reported the Irrawaddy.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent a total of about 15 years under house arrest under the former military government, made statements on Thursday that Burma (also called Myanmar) needs to change its constitution. The constitution was passed in 2008 by the junta.
“Not everybody will have the same opinion. Those who wrote the constitution did not write it with the intention of amending it,” she said, according to quotes appearing on Radio Free Asia’s website.
“We want to change things that are not benefiting the people, as we see it,” she said.
Over the past several months, Burma’s government has released political prisoners, allowed the NLD to register for elections, and took steps to resolve tensions with at least one armed ethnic group—all demands made on the government by Western powers.
Last year, Burma transferred power over from a military junta, which ruled the Southeast Asian nation for decades, to a civilian government, headed by former general, President Thein Sein.