“She arrived to Naypyidaw this morning, and will stay there for one day”, an official who greeted her at the airport told Irrawaddy.
Advertisement
Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie got a first-hand look at the lives of thousands of refugees displaced by an ongoing conflict in Myanmar on Thursday when she visited a camp in the country’s northernmost state, Kachin.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday registered to run for a general election which her party is expected to sweep, as the ruling bloc admitted it was bracing for big losses.
The 40-year-old actress’ visit started with a welcome to parliament from Myanmar’s House Speaker Shwe Mann, The Bangkok Post reported. “She was also supposed to meet government officials and a few social activists”.
Angelina Jolie has been meeting with refugees in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma.
According to the Global New Light of Myanmar, the president and Jolie discussed human rights, women’s affairs and the prevention of sexual violence against women in conflicts.
Jolie adopted Maddox from a Cambodian orphanage when he was just seven months old in 2002, and now, nearly 13 years later, both Jolie and Maddox are returning to his homeland as she helms First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers.
The mother and son met with thousands of people who have fallen victim to the region’s tragic civil war and who are now living in refugee camps. “They need help urgently”, the head of the family said.
“With elections on the horizon in November, it is an important moment for people to exercise their democratic rights and help to address the fundamental issues critical to a peaceful future”, she added.
Advertisement
It’s Jolie’s first visit to the Southeast Asian nation.
