Suu Kyi faced with bittersweet return to this city of ghosts

It is known for its dreaming spires, but when Aung San Suu Kyi visits Oxford this year, it will be a city full of ghosts.

The Burmese democracy leader has missed much during her 24-year absence — from her sons growing up to the death of her husband, Michael Aris. Under house arrest she would have had no sense of the city that she called home for more than two decades.

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Yesterday one of her closest friends said that the deaths of three of her dearest companions and protectors over the past five years, together with her youngest son’s bohemian existence in a houseboat, will make it an emotional and bittersweet journey. Malavika Karlekar, a friend from her Delhi schooldays who also went to St