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>> at shell, we believe the world means a broader mix of energy's. that is why we are supplying clean-burning natural gas to provide electricity. and that is why with our partner in brazil, we are providing bio ethanol. let's broaden the world's energy makes. let's go. >> of call for change. aung san sui kyi for the first time says if her people desire it, she will leave her country. >> my family wanted to help to do what i thought we should do. >> and there is this.

>> you think she should have won? >> yes. >> community justice in northern ireland and parents forced to hand over there own children. hello. aung san suu kyi's return to britain has been a long time coming. but this after long years in raccoon. she was swept onto the world stage. an icon of the campaign for burmese democracy, she was also politician it in the parliament. she spoke at length to bbc world

service radio in london. here is lloyd roberts with an assessment of her battle ahead. you ♪appy birthday to >> warm wishes on her 67th birthday. it is a distinction presented to nelson mandela. and aung san suu kyi is now in the same elite. today, the woman who has been in and out of house arrest for over 20 years is acknowledged in the burma's parliament. but she reminded her supporters there is much to be done. >> unless the constitution harmonizes with the entire country, we will not be able to bring about the kind of unity and peace we all desire.

it all comes down to rule of law. >> under the current constitution, a quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for military. aung san suu kyi finally entered parliament after her party won seats in april. it is a small minority. what can she do? >> they are reaching out to other parties in the parliament as well. there strategy -- their strategy is to persuade the military of the need for democratic and constitutional reform. >> in addition to demands for political reform, the government is involved with fighting with rebel armies on the country's western and eastern borders. earlier this year, under and despair amongst -- hunter and

despair amongst refugees. some leaders say they were disappointed aung san suu kyi did not speak out about the plight. and some are surprised she is not talk more about the ongoing ethnic conflict. a new emergency has broken out to the north. there have been bloody riots on the northern border with bangladesh. 9000 displaced people are in urgent need for aid. >> these abuses have been taking place against the ethnic minorities in burma. it is still those situations there. be sense that the government has reached out to these political groups, but so far, it is refusing to have a political

dialogue to address the root causes. >> and there has been a huge personal sacrifice for aung san suu kyi. in 1991, her nobel peace prize was collected by her husband and her sons. she refused to leave burma, knowing the military would never let her return. three years later, her husband died. she had not seen him for four years. she has always argued that her suffering under house arrest pales against those who have spent decades in jail. there are still up to 600 political prisoners in burma today. no wonder some criticize aung san suu kyi for agreeing to work

with the government. some would argue the generals have aung san suu kyi exactly where they want to -- and a parliament dominated by the army, where she scarcely has of votes. -- scarcely has a voice. meanwhile, they are congratulated for bring her into the fold. she told international copies -- companies not to be too quick to invest in burma. >> these days, i am coming closer to what i would call reckless optimism. >> as she herself has warned -- everything is reversible and the next two years will be crucial. >> next, aung san suu kyi has served first television

interview since she arrived back in the u.k. >> you said that we have to work now to make sure burma is where we wanted to be. what exactly needs to happen? >> first, this is all about inclusiveness. democracy is all about inclusiveness. increasingly, it has been a military dictatorship. only a military dictatorship. even in the economic area, it was they who were dominant. >> what about the constitutional reform? it is undemocratic to have 25% of seats in parliament for the army. making that one of your early priorities to change the constitution? >> perhaps it is a sense that

the military had no intention of hanging on to the 25% forever and when the time was right, they would decrease there part their part. and we wanted amendments to the constitution. >> they can still change the law? >> liukin. >> also, of course, you were a different kind of political prisoner. you were not in prisoner. the nld reckons there's up to 600 political prisoners. how quickly can you get them out? >> according to our information, there are about 270 left. the others have been released. we are looking into what is happening with these other prisoners. i hear that there is a move to

release more prisoners. >> have you talked to anyone about that? >> no, not recently. >> you also said in your speech that an unobtainable world is an unattainable world. do you think peace is unobtainable? >> absolute peace is unobtainable. that means internal and extern all peacekeeping that's what i mean by absolute peace. we can have peace within our country. we can have political peace. national peacekeeping. >> if your father wanted autonomy for a number of the tribal hotspots, is that unattainable, do you think? >> i don't think so. we have to try to fulfill this aspiration. this is due only way we can have

a true union. >> do you think in a country with more than 100 ethnic groups, that it can be a unified state or that burma will have to break up? >> i do not think it will have to break up. we know how strong the unity between the nationalities can be. there are the other burmese- dominated political parties. >> we are very close to one another. would try to find solutions together. >> i know there are problems. >> you are in a very different place politically now. is there a danger though that you have been away, that the

government has you where it wants you? >> where has it got me? >> it got what it wanted in terms of the immediate lifting of the use sanctions. >> it is not the same as the lifting of sanctions. >> we talked about the reckless optimism. >> no, i am talking more about investors coming into burma and not thinking about the consequences of what they were doing there. i'm not against the suspension of sanctions come up for a couple reasons. 1, for too long the government has blamed sanctions for the mess the economy is in. now they have to prove that without sanctions that can really do something for the economy. the second reason is that i think we need to look more to our own resources, internal and across the country, to bring

about change and not depend too much on external factors. >> the concern is that economically they wanted to open up the country. now, coca-cola, general electric -- how are they going to help you get democracy? >> it's not helping me. at helping the people. democracy-friendly. human rights-friendly. we want the companies that follow best practices. if they are doing business with cronies and those who will use there economic power -- their economic power to consolidate the grip of government, then they do not have a position to do that in this world. >> what authority do you have with the government? >> we will enjoy the fruits of a

different kind of economy. that is exactly what i am saying. if we have new investment, then power to the people. well and good. they will take care of getting democracy for themselves. if it makes the military regime stronger, that's not what we want and that is not what the people want either. >> the coca-cola, are they really going to pull back? >> we can range across to coca- cola, and you remember what happens. it is not because of anything that is done in burma. is because of the threats of the american -- it is because of the threat of the american university's. we have access to the world as we have not had before. with this access, we can watch what the new investors are

after. >> finally, aung san suu kyi, burma's treated you with great cruelty in a way. your husband wrote in 1991 "she always used to say, if my people need me, i will not fail them." if burma does not get democracy, will your family's sacrifice have been worth it? >> i did not sacrifice my family. i don't think of it that way. my family made the sacrifices in order to help me do what i believe i should do. the victory, in some ways, is in the endeavor. i am not going to bring about democracy in burma. there are so many people who have worked for it who believe this is the only way in which we can maintain the people. it will continue. i don't quite understand your question, because i don't see

why, it should choose democracy simply because we open up the economy. many countries have opened up the economy and that has helped them achieve democracy quicker. >> let's go to 2015. you always say it's not about you, it's about the burmese people. would to be poor -- would you be prepared, and do you want to lead your people? >> if i can lead them in the right way, yes. >> aung san suu kyi, thank you. >> aung san suu kyi. it is hard to imagine any circumstance in which a parent will hold over there own child to be shot by a firearm. in northern ireland, a group called republican action against drugs are dishing out punishment against those they say are dealing drugs. said to be responsible for the murder of one in the shooting of

but least 40, they have persuaded parents to bring there children to be shot to spare them years before jury. >> on the western edge of the united kingdom, this will be center stage next year as the national city of culture, of break with its divided past. but we have heard of a divided present in which some families are forced a two-part 11 of them is ordered to move away or even when a parent is required to present there job to be shot in the leg. -- their child to be shot in the leg. >> is probably the hardest thing i have done in my life. >> it's barbaric. it's a young man dying. >> the violence is centered on

the nationalist areas. those responsible used to be those of the provisional ira. now they are known as republican action against drugs. they claim they target drug dealers. other say otherwise. three months ago, there was a outside this bar. two young men got into a fight. there families were told they would be shot. he was forced to make an appalling decision, one he is willing to talk about. >> we discussed our options. we could leave the country. which i am not doing.

so come but they should me, should my wife, or shoot my son. -- they shoot me, should my wife, or shoot my son. >> what could you go to the police? >> i chose not to go to the police. >> keiran had one thing going for him. as a former member of the ira himself, they were willing to do a good comrade of favor. >> they said they would shoot your son once? >> yes. >> other parents make the same desperate calculation. for this woman, anything to spare her son the dreaded sit

back -- polyphony knees, elbows, and ankles >> i thought the best thing was to bring him forward and take him with me. so, that's what he did. when he got to the bottom, i turned around and i heard the two shots. and i ran. he was just lying on the ground. and that's when i thought, he really has been shot. there's blood just lying there. i said "are you all right?" and he said "i'm all right, mommy." >> the gunmen have little trouble forcing there will on the community afraid of reprisals. why would anyone consent to being shot? it turns out they don't have a lot of choice.

if they have to come and get you, it will be with a shotgun and the injuries will be worse, if not life-threatening. this woman has been ordered out. >> we have to go somewhere. it is really hard. he has a lot of problems as well. he has always had my support. now he has no support whatsoever. >> in 2008, more than 40 young men have been shot. dozens have been ordered to leave the city. tarots by people they know -- terrorized by people they know. i arranged to meet them. i have met two members of raad's leadership. they refuse to be found.

both claim to be members of the provisional ira. they said there group of weapons and explosives, and the same capability the provisionals have before the cease-fire. that last claim is described as lacking all credibility by the police. we have reconstructed the meeting with actors. buy it asked the men to justify there assertion -- i asked the men to justify the assertion the community is behind them. >> people at call centers, unemployed. the community. they saw arms, weapons, cars. they provide us with meeting houses, safe houses. we are in contact with our community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. we are in and out of people's houses. >> but they are scared of you. >> no, that's not it. >> they had this to say about there method. wethe thing we don't do --

should people. we have not beaten anybody. we take weapons of war to do there -- their job. >> all the tactics have been to resist police. the capture the moment when the group bombed the pierre. -- the pier. they promised more attacks. they have a dilemma in a place where officers may not be safe and people will not give evidence. >> we hope that they will not be planted. behalf to go in equips.

and that can create an image of the past. >> people who think the police cannot help them come here for support. at this community center, another former ira man has interceded and 112 cases in the last 12 months. >> we're supposed to believe that we don't have a proper policeman service and people turn to people like raad. that is what people do in this community. they don't tell police. they are charged the next day. so come up the community don't see the police work and the law and the justice. all they see is the people back

in the st.. >> so far, raad have maintained a distinct identity from the dissident groups related to the provisional ira. raad refused to comment on any links between them and the dissident group's. >> we know we're never going to eradicate people who make profits from people. but we will make it dangerous for them. >> and the group says they have the means to do that. we have no way of checking the credibility of the claim. >> if they think they can operate here -- we have more weapons than the ira had prior to the cease-fire. we can do everything that the ira used to. >> to encourage people to speak

out against raad, and a confidential help mine has been launched. -- help line has been launched. andrew allen was exiled. >> they are saying it was for anti-social behavior. whatjust the framework of they do. >> andrew is adamant that the although he can attract trouble, he was not involved with drugs. his mother is urging people to speak out. >> this town does not want this. it is our culture. >> next year, derry will show itself off as a vibrant,

forward-looking place. but it also has a culture of violence republican as some people -- republicanism. >> added that was from northern ireland's. that's all this week. from all of us, goodbye. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. union bank. and shell. >> at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energy's. that's why we are providing

cleaner-burning natural gas to provide electricity. and it's also why with our partner in brazil, shell is producing bio ethanol, made from renewable sugarcane. let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >> "bbc newsnight"