UN

UN in Burma: history of failed efforts

BANGKOK (AP) - Efforts in recent years by the United Nations to
achieve democratic reform and end human rights abuses in Burma have
been punctuated by frustration, false hopes and failure:

1974: Anti-regime riots erupt when body of retired U.N. Secretary-
General U Thant comes home to Burma for burial.

1989: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained and put under
house arrest after the military's brutal suppression of an uprising a
year earlier.

1998: Peruvian diplomat Alvara de Soto named special U.N. envoy to
break deadlock between military and democracy advocates. U.N. and
World Bank propose financial incentives for change that then-Foreign
Minister Win Aung calls "offering a banana to a monkey and asking it
to dance."

1990: U.N. Commission on Human Rights names Sadako Ogata to assess
the human rights situation in Burma. She is followed by others.

April 4, 2000: Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail appointed special
U.N. envoy for Burma.

Sept. 2000: Suu Kyi, released in 1995, placed under house arrest
again.

Nov. 29, 2001: Razali say he's "hopeful that some significant
progress could be made in the near future."

2002: Razali helps secure the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest
and the regime declares "the era of confrontation is over."

2003: Suu Kyi is put back under house arrest.

Jan. 4, 2006: Razali resigns as envoy, frustrated at being barred
from entering the country for nearly two years.

May 20, 2006: Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari becomes the first
foreigner to meet Suu Kyi in more than two years amid renewed talk of
a "breakthrough."

May 22, 2007: Suu Kyi's house arrest extended.

Sept. 2007: Military brutally crushes mass street demonstrations
against regime. Sept. 29: Gambari arrives for four-day visit to
Myanmar, meeting junta leaders and Suu Kyi. The regime later holds a
brief meeting with Suu Kyi.

Oct. 11: U.N. Security Council, in its first formal statement on
Burma, says it "strongly deplores" situation in country.

Nov. 2: Junta says it intends to expel top U.N. diplomat in the
country.

Nov. 3: Gambari arrives in Burma and U.N. later expresses hope his
visit will speed up "national reconciliation, the restoration of
democracy and the full respect for human rights." But Suu Kyi remains
under house arrest and her dialogue with military goes nowhere.

May 2-3: Cyclone Nargis slams into Burma but U.N. officials barred
from entering hardest-hit areas, have little control over
distribution of their aid.

May 22: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon arrives in Burma, hoping
to cut through obstacles to international aid flow to survivors