Fort Wayne’s Burmese hoping for Suu Kyi visit

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Activists in Fort Wayne’s Burmese community are trying to arrange a visit to the city by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The group hopes that the democracy advocate from their native Myanmar will travel to Fort Wayne as part of her September trip to the United States, during which she will receive the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington.

Members of a 70-person Suu Kyi welcoming committee tell The Journal Gazette they’ve been in contact with her representatives and are working with city officials on preparations.

Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest as a political prisoner for her struggle against military rule in her homeland.

Some 4,000 Burmese live in the Fort Wayne area, one of the country’s largest concentrations.