Centennial birthday of U Thant

Yangon - Relatives of Myanmar's former United Nations secretary general U Thant were scheduled to commemorate the centennial birthday of the controversial Burmese national hero on Thursday. The birthday anniversary celebration was to be organized Thursday evening by the U Thant Institute and Aye Aye Thant, daughter of U Thant, who is also the president of the institute.

Opposition politicians, UN representatives, foreign diplomats and government officials have been invited to the event, sources said.

According to the programme, Bishow Parajuli, the resident UN humanitarian coordinator, will read out a message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the ceremony.

Such events require official permission in Myanmar, which is ruled by a military junta. The permission to hold a party commemorating U Thant's centennial anniversary came amid unconfirmed reports that UN special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari has planning to visit the country before the end of January.

Gambari's last visit in August, 2008, proved a disappointment, as he was denied meetings with both junta chief Senior General Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May, 2003.

The UN has made little progress in pushing the junta towards freeing Suu Kyi and over 2,000 political prisoners and introducing democratic reforms.

U Thant, one of the few Burmese to reach international stature, remains a controversial figure in military-controlled Myanmar, also known as Burma.

U Thant served as the third secretary general of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was widely credited for his successful efforts for defusing Cuba's Missile Crisis and ending Congo's civil war during his term.

Born in Pantanaw town, in the Irrawaddy delta region, on January 22, 1909, U Thant died on November 25, 1974, while living abroad in self-exile.

When his body was brought back to Yangon, then called Rangoon, for burial former military dictator General Ne Win refused it national honours.

University students snatched U Thant's coffin as it was heading for an ordinary burial on December 5, 1974, and took it to the Rangoon University Student Union grounds, turning the funeral into an anti-Ne Win uprising.

On 11 December 1974, troops stormed the university campus, dug out U Thant's coffin and reburied it at the current mausoleum at the foot of famous Shwedagon pagoda. Many student were killed in the incident, marking one of the first serious uprisings against Ne Win.

 

TheEarthTimes