Burma's freed pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has told the BBC that her 20 months under house arrest have given her a "very good rest" and she has been strengthened by her supporters' response.

She told the East Asia Today programme that although she was not able to discuss the specific measures that her National League for Democracy was planning, they were ready to act.

	Aung San Suu Kyi's political life 1988: Returns to Burma during political upheaval 1990: Her party elected to power, result ignored by army 1991: Awarded Nobel Peace Prize 1995-2000: Release from house arrest 2000: Begins secret talks with generals  Click here for full profile

Earlier, Burma's ambassador to Britain, Kyaw Win, ruled out an early return to multi-party democracy but said that was the ruling military government's ultimate goal.

In a separate interview with the BBC, the diplomat said that following the democracy leader's release, Burma had "probably arrived at a milestone in the political transition process".

Aung San Suu Kyi said that during her detention she had been "very much strengthened... by the staunch way in which the members of my party have stood up to all manners of opposition and persuasion".

Minority fears

Earlier Khun Tun Oo, a leader of Burma's Shan ethnic minority, said the Nobel laureate had reassured him and other ethnic leaders that would be included in democracy talks with the ruling military government.

Burma's ethnic minorities

About a third of the population are non-Burmese There are eight major ethnic groups and 135 subgroups They live in Burma's mountainous frontiers Three groups are still fighting the government They are the Karen National Union (KNU), the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the Shan State Army (SSA) Other groups have signed ceasefires but some are uneasy

Burma's eight major ethnic groups and 135 subgroups have been waging insurgencies for political autonomy since the country's independence from Britain in 1948, although all but the Shan have since struck deals with the government.

Their leaders feared being sidelined from the democracy movement, which is dominated by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

"I'm happy with the assurance by Daw Suu to let the ethnic groups participate in the talks at an appropriate time," said Khun Tun Oo, a leader of the Shan group.

But Mr Win stressed to the BBC that democracy would be a gradual process.

Ethnic minority groups have led several insurgencies

"We do not see anything dramatic happening immediately concerning... a fully established Western democratic-style political movements taking place, but there is almost no doubt that the ultimate objective is the establishment of a multi-party democratic system," he told the World Today programme.

Although Aung San Suu Kyi has been released without restrictions on her movement, a source from the NLD told AFP news agency that she would not leave the capital Rangoon for the next few days.

But Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released on Monday after months of talks with the ruling military government, did reveal in an interview with a Norwegian television station that her first trip abroad would be to Norway, AFP reported.