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(Left) Ban Ki-moon arrives on the venue of a Buddha statue commissioned by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on April 24, 2023. (Proper) Then UN Secretary Normal Ban pays homage to a Jade Buddha picture at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon on Could 22, 2008. / AFP
By The Irrawaddy 25 April 2023
Former United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon ended up worshipping a Buddha statue constructed by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing when the South Korean visited Naypyitaw to fulfill the coup chief this week.
Ban arrived within the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw on Sunday on the invitation of the army junta as its marketing campaign of terror towards its personal folks intensifies throughout the nation.
The previous UN secretary normal’s newest go to reminded Myanmar folks of the same go to he made in 2008 when he flew in to Myanmar to fulfill the leaders of the then army regime, following the lethal Cyclone Nargis.
Through the go to, earlier than his assembly with the then dictator Than Shwe, Ban was taken by junta officers to a jade Buddha picture at Shwedagon Pagoda, essentially the most sacred place of worship for Buddhists within the nation. The face of the jade Buddha picture was sculpted to resemble the previous army dictator.
However Ban shouldn’t be the one diplomat to have been pressured to bow earlier than the Buddha picture with Than Shwe’s face. The previous army regime did the identical to former UN particular envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari. Chinese language President Xi Jinping was additionally taken to go to the jade Buddha picture when he visited the nation as vp in 2009.
Min Aung Hlaing has copied his predecessor, having his officers take Ban on Monday to a large marble Buddha statue he has constructed that’s touted because the world’s largest sitting Buddha.
Throughout his one-day go to, Ban additionally had separate talks with the junta’s deputy prime minister and protection minister, Mya Tun Oo, and its international minister, U Than Swe. Junta media supplied no particulars of the assembly, besides that the 2 sides “frankly exchanged views on [the] newest developments in Myanmar.”
Ban additionally had a separate assembly with former president U Thein Sein, who led a quasi-civilian authorities from 2011-2016. Particulars of their discussions are unknown.
He didn’t meet the nation’s jailed former chief, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
The South Korean Embassy, in line with the AP, denied South Korea’s involvement in Ban’s go to to Naypyitaw, and stated the journey was fully organized by The Elders. Ban is the deputy chair of The Elders, a gaggle of former world leaders based by Nelson Mandela which works to advertise peace and defuse conflicts.
On Tuesday, in an announcement launched by The Elders, Ban stated the purpose of his go to was to induce the regime to implement a direct cessation of violence, and begin constructive dialogue amongst all events involved, urging the junta to take the primary steps.
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