1.
GV Floating home of "Coconut Monk" (3 shots)
0.10

2.
SCU Coconut Monk with rotating globe of world.
0.21

3.
CU PAN along table with magic properties.
0.35

4.
GV ZOOM to Coconut Monk crossing bridge to pagoda.
0.45

5.
LV Perches for praying and sleeping (3 shots)
0.54

6.
CU Bear and chimp in cage.
1.01

7.
SV Monk followers. (3 shots)
1.18

8.
LV & CU Coconut Monk squatting on throne. (2 shots)
1.33



Initials RW/VS 22.48 RW/VS 23.03



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Aboard a converted United States landing craft on the Mekong River, in South Vietnam, is a table at which Nguyen Phanh Nam says that the leaders of North and South Vietnam United States, Russia, and The People's Republic of China must meet before peace can come to Vietnam.

Nam -- known as "Coconut Monk" -- says that only negotiations conducted under his divinely-inspired chairmanship can bring true peace to the ares.

The coconut Monk's ship, called the "Floating Peace Conference Table", is tied up to his pagoda -- a garish conglomeration of religious symbols raised on stilts on Con Phung Island in the Makong Delta -- where thousands of draft dodgers and deserters from both sides live in sanctuary.

Despite being turned back by gunboats when he attempted to sail to North Vietnam for independent peace talks, the Coconut Monk and his followers have not been persecuted.

The Coconut Monk's solution to the conflict in Vietnam is firmly based in mystical numerology. His solution revolves around the number nine which, he says, has been selected by the powers of the universe as being decisive for peace.

He is firm in his belief that only he can bring peace. He says, "anything done without me cannot bring real peace. Unless I am allowed to mediate, Vietnam will be levelled, destroyed utterly. But if they come to this place, the Creator will speak through me and there will be peace in three days or maybe even 24 hours."