Myanmar Democracy Leader Falls Ill During Campaign Rally

By THE NEW YORK TIMES, Published: March 3, 2012 ....

MANDALAY, Myanmar — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s democracy movement, fell ill during a campaign rally on Saturday, cutting short a speech to a large and enthusiastic crowd.

“I would like to tell you frankly that I’m feeling weak today and my speaking capacity is reduced,” Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi told a gathering of tens of thousands of supporters at a field on the outskirts of Mandalay. “I’m going to take some rest.”

She resumed her speech after an eight-minute break, but she kept her remarks brief. A bodyguard said that she had motion sickness and had vomited twice, and that she was being tended to by a doctor.

After arriving at the airport in Mandalay on a chartered flight on Saturday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi spent more than four hours in a motorcade that crawled through streets lined with supporters.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 66, has been campaigning vigorously for special elections scheduled for April 1. She and other members of her party, the National League for Democracy, are participating in elections for the first time in 22 years.

Myanmar is moving away from decades of military rule under the leadership of President Thein Sein, who took office a year ago. After the better part of two decades under house arrest, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi announced last November that she would rejoin the country’s political system.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 3, 2012


An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of years since the National League for Democracy last participated in elections in Myanmar. It has been 22 years, not 12.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/world/asia/daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-falls-ill-during-myanmar-rally.html?_r=1&ref=global-home