BONO will appear on stage with Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she attends a special concert in her honour in Dublin next month.
A theatrical celebration has been planned for Ms Suu Kyi in the Bord Gais Theatre in Dublin's docklands on June 18. Ms Suu Kyi will attend the event as part of a whistle-stop visit to Dublin.
While U2 will not appear as a band, Bono has not ruled out making a musical contribution on the evening, according to sources close to the group.
The singer campaigned for many years on behalf of Ms Suu Kyi (66) and prominently featured her 15 years of house arrest in Burma during the band's performances.
The visit is being organised by Amnesty International and Art for Amnesty founder Bill Shipsey has promised a "special event to mark the occasion".
Ms Suu Kyi will be presented with Amnesty International's most prestigious award -- Ambassador of Conscience -- at the concert.
Burma Campaign UK today welcomed the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, but warned that the release should not be interpreted as a sign that democratic reform is on the way. Burma Campaign UK also called for the immediate release of 2,202 political prisoners who remain in detention.
“The release of Aung San Suu Kyi is about public relations, not democratic reform,” said Zoya Phan, International Coordinator at Burma Campaign UK. “I am thrilled to see our democracy leader free at last, but the release is not part of any political process, instead it is designed to get positive publicity for the dictatorship after the blatant rigging of elections on 7th November. We must not forget the thousands of other political prisoners still suffering in Burma’s jails.”
It is the third time Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest. The last time she was released, in 2002, it was part of a UN-led initiative to try to persuade Burma’s dictatorship to enter into dialogue leading to a transition to democracy. However, when the time came for substantive discussions the dictatorship refused to continue the dialogue. At the current time there is no such UN effort. The focus of the international community has instead been on a failed effort to ensure elections were free and fair.
The international community should use the release of Aung San Suu Kyi as an opportunity to apply pressure on the dictatorship to enter into genuine dialogue.
For many years the United Nations Security Council, United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations Secretary General, European Union, ASEAN, USA and even China has stated that the way to bring genuine change in Burma is for dialogue between the democracy movement, including the NLD, genuine ethnic representatives, and the dictatorship. The jargon used to describe this dialogue is tri-partite dialogue. This dialogue should lead to national reconciliation and a transition to democracy.
A revived UN-led effort to secure such dialogue, with strong backing from world leaders and the United Nations Security Council, must be the top priority. This must not be delegated to a new low-level UN envoy. The UN must learn from the failures of previous UN envoys, such as Razali Ismail, who did not have the strong international backing he needed, and Ibrahim Gambari, who tried a ‘hug a General’ approach of befriending the Generals, which failed miserably.
“The international community must seize the opportunity of Aung San Suu Kyi’s release to increase pressure on the dictatorship to enter into dialogue,” said Zoya Phan. “Ban Ki-Moon must personally take the lead in persuading the dictatorship to start genuine negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic groups.”
Burma Campaign UK has produced a detailed briefing paper on Aung San Suu Kyi, which provides a basic history, as well as analysis and information on past actions and future options for the international community. The briefing is available here.
Bono is reportedly nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten lists Bono in this article that lists several of the believed nominees. The Nobel nominees aren't officially announced, only the winner; however, over the years, many who submit nominees have begun announcing their candidates publicly. If Bono is one of this year's nominees, it would be at least the fourth time his name has been mentioned for the honor (although he could've been nominated on other occasions with his name never being revealed).
In early 2009, Bono told Q magazine that he doesn't expect he'll ever win the Nobel Peace Prize:
I will never get that. I think in general they give it to people whose names are not known. Or if they give it to somebody who's very well-known, it's because they're making a particular point that year. I think they've made the Africa point a couple of times, the inequality point.
Announcement of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize
Watch the live webcast from the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway, on Friday 8 October, 11:00 a.m. CET, 9:00 a.m. GMT.
