Suu Kyi urges Indian support in democracy push

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged the people of India to help her country achieve democracy as she paid a landmark visit to New Delhi on Wednesday.

"We have not yet achieved the goal of democracy and we are still trying and we hope that ... the people of India will stand by us and walk by us as we proceed along the path that they were able to proceed down many years before us," said Ms Suu Kyi on her first visit in 25 years to Myanmar's giant neighbour.

She spoke of her sadness that India, which had been one of her staunchest supporters, changed tack in the 1990s and began to engage with Myanmar's junta at a time when it was a pariah in the West.

"I have been asked whether I have been disappointed that India had not stood staunchly by us through the years of struggle for democracy," she said at an annual lecture in memory of India's first post-independence prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.