Suu Kyi's popularity fears

Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd during a visit to the Mae La refugee camp in the western province of Tak, Thailand. Photo: Getty Images

Amid concerns that the visit of Aung San Suu Kyi might damage relations with Burma's government, Thai officials tried to rein her in on Saturday at a refugee camp on the Thai border.

Although the government accepted her last-minute request to visit the camp, which has about 50,000 people living on the border between Thailand and Burma, Thai officials declined her request for a public address system, barred her from meeting ethnic minority leaders and tried, without success, to keep the international media away.

Suriya Prasatbuntitya, the governor of Tak province, where the camp is located, said: ''They didn't want her trip to become news because they don't want this to affect our relationship with Burma.''