Suu Kyi: Burma democracy in my lifetime

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she believes Burma will hold democratic elections "in my lifetime". In an exclusive interview with the BBC, she said she did not know when that would be or whether she would run. Asked about the government denial of political prisoners, Ms Suu Kyi said they could say whatever they wanted, but political prisoners must be freed. She is due to meet William Hague - the first UK foreign secretary to visit Burma since 1955. Burma held its first elections in 20 years, ending military rule in favour of a nominally civilian government. Ms Suu Kyi said she foresaw "full democratic elections in my lifetime", adding "but then I don't know how long I will live" or whether she would live "a normal lifespan". Last month she formally registered her National League for Democracy as a political party, after boycotting the 2010 polls because of electoral laws that prevented her taking part. Of President Thein Sein, a former top general who stepped down to contest elections as a civilian, Ms Suu Kyi said: "I trust the president, but I can't yet trust the government for the simple reason that I don't yet know all the members of government." She added: "The most important thing about the president is that he is an honest man... [He is] a man capable of taking risks if he thinks they are worth taking." Prisoner account William Hague said after meeting his counterpart Wunna Maung Lwi in Nay Pyi Taw that "the foreign minister has reaffirmed commitments that have been made to release political prisoners". "He said the changes are irreversible and I welcome that way of thinking," Mr Hague added. William Hague is the latest in a series of high-profile diplomats to seek to engage the new government in Burma and to try to bolster nascent signs of reform. Western officials have been encouraged by recent changes, including legalising trade unions, lifting some media restrictions and a limited release of political prisoners. But there are still grave concerns about Burma's human rights record and the fact that several hundred political detainees remain behind bars. The different messages by the two senior diplomats after their talks in Nay Pyi Taw may be due to the different audiences they were addressing. "I stressed that the world will judge the government by its actions." But in an interview with the BBC Burmese service later, Wunna Maung Lwi said Burma did not acknowledge there were political prisoners. They are all criminals, he said, and it was up to the president to decide when prisoners were released - adding that prisoners had already been freed on three recent occasions. The government, he said, was focused on the development of the whole country. Between 600 and 1,000 journalists, dissidents and monks who led anti-government protests in 2007 are thought to remain behind bars in Burma. In her interview with the BBC, Ms Suu Kyi said all political prisoners must be freed - regardless of whether the government admitted their existence. She said the country had not yet reached the stage where she could say Western investment ought to be encouraged. There is now a general acceptance that change is under way in Burma, says the BBC's Rachel Harvey in Rangoon, but it is not clear how far or how fast any transition will be. And the different account of the talks by the two senior diplomats may merely be explained by the different audiences they were addressing, says our correspondent.