Suu Kyi vows to help migrants come home

2012-05-31 35

Dancing in the streets as Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi makes the rounds in Thailand.

The nobel laureate is on her first trip abroad in nearly a quarter of a century.

In Thailand she is promising to work with Thai officials to find way to bring Myanmar nationals home legally.

(SOUNDBITE) (Burmese) NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY LEADER, AUNG SAN SUU KYI, SAYING:

"I do not want to deceive our public by making promises that I cannot keep. So please let me say this to everyone who tells me they want to go home - the home of the public is not moving (anywhere else). I will work, in the fastest way possible, to make sure that this house is worthy of your stay."

Activists estimate that there are at least two million Myanmar migrants in Thailand. Many send home part of their wages to help families in a country where a third of the 60 million people live below the poverty line.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.