Nobel Prize 'made me feel real', says Suu Kyi

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said the Nobel Peace Prize she won while under house arrest 21 years ago helped to shatter her sense of isolation and ensured that the world would demand democracy in her military-controlled homeland.

Ms Suu Kyi spoke about her time under house arrest as she began her long-delayed acceptance speech to the Norwegian Nobel Committee inside Oslo City Hall.

She said: “Often during my days of house arrest it felt as though I were no longer a part of the real world.”

Receiving the Nobel accolade in 1991 “made me real once again”, she added.

Ms Suu Kyi said the award cast an enduring spotlight on the struggle for political freedom in Burma.

“We were not going to be forgotten,” she said.