Aung San Suu Kyi visits England

LONDON, June 19 (UPI) -- Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi visited England Tuesday to see her family for the first time in 24 years, officials said.

The next stop on her 17-day European tour will allow Suu Kyi to spend her 67th birthday with her children in Oxford after she participates in a panel discussion at the London School of Economics.

The BBC reported she is scheduled to address both houses of Parliament later in the week -- an honor typically reserved for high-profile foreign dignitaries.

Voice of America reported Suu Kyi wished to "see old friends and rediscover old places" in England.

The Nobel peace laureate lived in England for years before returning to Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Rangoon, Burma), to care for her ailing mother in 1988. She then spent the next 24 years under house arrest for her involvement in the pro-democracy movement. As her husband, Michael Aris, was dying of cancer in England, she feared if she went to him she would be permanently exiled. He died in 1999. Her detention did not end until late 2010.

Suu Kyi was elected to Parliament in April. She visited Oslo, Norway, Saturday to accept the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to her in 1991.