U Nu

U Nu (1963)

U Nu ( Burmese နု၊ ဦး , formerly Thakin Nu , born May 25, 1907 in Wakema , Irrawaddy Division , British India , † February 14, 1995 in Rangoon ) was a Myanmar politician.

U Nu attended the University of Rangoon, where he received his first degree in 1929. From 1934 he studied law again. During this time he was also the leader of the national student union and joined the Thakin movement , which began to rebel against the colonial power through civil disobedience since the 1920s . Thakin ("master", "lord") was the address that the Burmese had to use in relation to the English.

He became a member of the We Burmans Association and, along with Aung San , Ne Win , Bohmu Aung and Kyaw Zaw, was one of the Thirty Comrades who went to Japan for military training. Because of his participation in the independence struggle of the British colony of Burma at the time , he was imprisoned by the British in 1940 and was not released until 1942 during the Japanese occupation of Burma.

After Aung San's murder, he took over the leadership of the nationalist anti-fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) from 1947 to 1948 . After the country gained independence, he was Prime Minister from 1948 to 1956 and from 1957 to 1958.

During this time the country struggled with various problems such as the significant destruction caused by the Second World War , rampant corruption , the invasion of the Kuomintang in the north of the country and the revolt of warlords and opium gangs in the remote parts of the country.

U Nu's decision to make Buddhism the state religion fueled further conflicts with the Christian minorities.

In 1958 U Nu was urged by General Ne Win to resign in favor of a military government because of these abuses. After he was able to regain the office of head of government in the parliamentary elections in 1960, he was ousted by the Ne Win coup in 1962 and imprisoned for five years. After his release from prison in 1967, he briefly held a post on a government advisory body, still respected by his former comrade Ne Win, and demanded the reinstatement of his elected government and in return offered Ne Win his reputation by being elected as the country's representative president restore. Ne Win showed no willingness to compromise, however, as he had rightly taken over the government in favor of the country, whereupon U Nu went into exile in Thailand, later in the USA and India. His efforts to organize a resistance movement were unsuccessful; his National United Liberation Front (NULF) existed in Burma until 1973 and in parts in the border area of Thailand until 1978.

In 1980 U Nu returned to Burma at the invitation of Ne Win, endowed with an amnesty , but where he was not politically active in the following years, but instead joined a Buddhist brotherhood for some time. It was only during the popular uprising in August 1988 that he reappeared as the leader of opposition forces. As the last legitimate head of government, he intends to become prime minister again after 26 years and sought the support of Aung San Suu Kyi , Aung San's daughter, who refused and instead called for elections; their stance is now seen as a major tactical mistake, as the new military leadership under Saw Maung took advantage of the turmoil just a month later to take power again for decades. Because U Nu failed to comply with several requests to dissolve his government, he was placed under house arrest. The State Council for the Restoration of Law and Order waived charges of treason because of his services to Myanmar's struggle for freedom . When Than Shwe Saw Maung resigned and took over military rule on April 23, 1992 , U Nu was released. Until his death in 1995 he was hardly active in public.

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personal data
SURNAME	U Nu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Thakin Nu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Myanmar politician
DATE OF BIRTH	May 25, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wakema , Myanmar
DATE OF DEATH	February 14, 1995
Place of death	Rangoon