1949
Lunch hosted by President Sao Shwe Thaik in 1949
room Myanmar
people President Sao Shwe Theik
This photograph, taken on 9 April 1949, shows President Sao Shwe Thaik hosting a lunch at Government House in Rangoon. The civil war was then at its height, with the Burma Army battling to regain control of Insein, Twante, Bassein, Henzada, Toungoo, Prome, Mandalay and Maymyo and many other towns from the Karen National Defence Organization (KNDO), People's Volunteer Organizatioins, Communists, Mujahideen, and others. Peace talks with the Karen National Union had just broken down the day before. In a few days time, World War Two hero Naw Seng with an irregular column of two thousand Kachin troops would attempt to take Rangoon, striking to within 100 miles of Rangoon before being driven back.