Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi paid a visit to the Shan State, which has been engaged in a long-running armed conflict with the Myanmar military junta. The visit comes six months after Suu Kyi was released from military-ordered house arrest, and at the same time a United Nations special envoy is scheduled to tour the country. The trip is expected to anger the military government, which is currently facing international pressure over allegations of extensive human rights abuses against the indigenous Shan people. International attraction has been drawn to the region after reports of forced enrollment of children into the military, and repeated charges of rape of local women by soldiers.
