Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi met one of her biggest fans at a peace forum in Norway on Monday — U2 frontman Bono.
The Irish singer, who has long supported Suu Kyi’s struggle for freedom and dedicated the song “Walk On” to her, admitted that he was “starstruck” when they met at the forum in Oslo.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate received superstar treatment from cheering crowds as she visited Norway on a five-nation tour of Europe.
It is her first trip to Europe in 25 years after she was held under house arrest by the military junta in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
Long isolated, threatened and vilified by one of the world’s must repressive dictatorships, she recently rejoined mainstream politics in a changing country, while many of her party members were freed from prison.
On Monday, Suu Kyi hosted a panel with Bono, who has long used his star power to promote rights and fight poverty and who recalled a global U2 concert tour where video messages from Suu Kyi were played from giant screens.
“Suu Kyi came on the road with us,” the stubble-faced rocker quipped at their joint news conference. “Seven million people we played to. She was there every night. A digital version, but she’s very good live! And she made a real connection with our audience … telling them that their voices were powerful and that they could be heard all the way to Burma.”
Bono recalled that at the shows, not everyone in the crowd knew who was behind the initials for the name Aung San Suu Kyi.
“We had a few people who would arrive with a T-shirt with ‘ASSK’ on and think she’s a speed metal band from Asia,” he joked. “It’s great that in a U2 crowd not everyone is a political science student. It’s really her nonviolent position that I find so impressive.”
Bono later gave Suu Kyi a lift aboard his private jet to Dublin — where she will be feted at the “Electric Burma” tribute concert hosted by Amnesty International.
News Source: New York Post
Pictures of Bono and Aung San Suu Kyi on Yahoo Images
