[Myanmar] Suu Kyi Tribute Concert Sells Out In 20 Minutes

[News_Editor]

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Bono, the lead singer of U2, share a light hearted moment during Tutu's 80th birthday celebrations in Cape Town. (PHOTO: Reuters)

Tickets for a tribute concert in Dublin where Irish rock star Bono will be joined onstage by Burmese pro-democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi were sold out within 20 minutes of going on sale, the concert organizers have announced.

The promoters said the “star of the concert,†Suu Kyi, will be sitting in the stalls, but at the end of the night, will step onstage to receive Amnesty International’s prestigious “Ambassador of Conscience Award.â€

U2′s lead singer, Bono, will present the award to Suu Kyi. “This concert is a celebration, but it is also an opportunity to echo Daw Suu’s message, which is also Amnesty International’s message, that human rights matter,†the promoters Electric Burma said.

“We want, through this concert, to help secure the release of the remaining hundreds of political prisoners in Burma—all profits from the night will go to Amnesty and the Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Trust for Health and Education.â€

The concert will take place on June 18 at the Bord Gais Energy Theater in Dublin where seats are “very limited.â€

Live Aid protagonist Bob Geldof is also scheduled to attend the show, which will be one of five stops on Suu Kyi’s European tour, her first trip back to the continent in 24 years.

Her visit begins on June 13 when she flies to Switzerland, then she travels to Norway, Ireland and England, before concluding her tour in France.

During her time in Europe, the Burmese opposition leader will receive two awards: the Ambassador of Conscience Award, and a re-presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in absentia in Oslo 21 years ago while she was under house arrest.

Until June 15, she will attend a International Labor Organisation conference in Geneva, and is scheduled to appear as the honorary guest at a dinner hosted by Swiss President Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the Swiss Foreign Ministry announced.

The highlight of the trip will inevitably be during her June 15-18 stay in Oslo where she will appear at the City Hall on June 16 for a formal Nobel Prize ceremony after which Suu Kyi will deliver a speech, an event that will be broadcast live on www.nobelprize.org at 13:00 local time.

On the same day, the Nobel Prize Committee will inaugurate a photo exhibition titled “Mother Democracy†detailing Suu Kyi’s struggle for freedom.

The following day, Suu Kyi will visit the city of Bergen where she is due to receive another award, the Rafto Prize, which she originally won but did not collect in 1990.

Following the tribute concert, Suu Kyi will travel the short distance from Dublin to England where she will celebrate her 67th birthday on June 19 with her son, Kim.

Suu Kyi is scheduled to spend four days in France from June 26 to 29, and will be back in Burma on June 30, according to AFP.

The pro-democracy icon previously refused an offer by the military government to attend the funeral of her husband, Michael Aris, in 1999 for fear of being barred from returning to Burma. But in 2010 she was granted her freedom and made her first overseas trip to Thailand at the end of May.

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