November 19, 2001	Monday	Ramazan 3, 1422

BANGKOK, Nov 18: A rare white elephant discovered in Myanmar was given a red-carpet welcome by top junta officials in Yangon, where awestruck spectators have gathered to see the auspicious beast, a report said on Sunday.

The eight-year-old male elephant captured in Myanmar’s Rakhine state earlier this month was brought to the capital and welcomed in a ceremony led by the junta’s chief of military intelligence, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt.

In a traditional ritual, Khin Nyunt sprinkled water containing gold, silver and nine kinds of precious gems over the elephant during the ceremony at Mindhamma Hill Garden, the Myanmar Times newspaper reported.

Senior General Than Shwe, the Myanmar regime’s top general, viewed the revered white elephant along with army commander-in-chief General Maung Aye and other officials at the ceremony on Thursday.

The elephant described as having “pearl eyes” and skin that was a “whitish-light pink colour” stands nearly six feet (1.8 metres) high and has been housed in a temporary shelter dubbed the “precious white elephant hall.”

Shaded by white umbrellas during its journey by boat to Yangon, the pachyderm appears to have become a tourist attraction at the site near city’s international airport, where world’s largest Buddha image is also located.

Local sources say the vaunted tusker, who is accompanied by a female elephant, has attracted thousands of faithful believers as well as foreign tourists.—AFP