
U Nu (25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995) was Prime Minister of Burma from 4 January 1948 to 12 June 1956 (succeeding Aung San and preceding Ba Swe), from 28 February 1957 to 28 October 1958 (succeeding Ba Swe and preceding Ne Win), and from 4 April 1960 to 2 March 1962 (interruptin Ne Win's two terms).
Biography[]
U Nu was born in Wakema, British Burma in 1907, and he studied at Rangoon University, where he was leader of the Rangoon University Students' Union from 1935 to 1936. A member of the nationalist Thakins, he was interned by the British in 1940. During the country's Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, together with Aung San, he joined the Japanese puppet regime of Ba Maw as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He became vice-president of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League, and in July 1947, following Aung San's assassination, became president of the AFPFL and chief negotiator of the country's transition to independence. As such he became Burma's first Prime Minister. During his years in office he sought to build a neutral state. He also sought to provide a traditional, integrationist base for the heterogeneous state by elevating Buddhism as state religion. This increased hostility from the non-Buddhist ethnic groups, particularly the Christian Karens. The existence of communist guerrillas increased his reliance on the army even further, forcing him to ask the army leader, Ne Win, to form a caretaker government in 1958. He was thus unable to resist the army coup of 1962, when he was imprisoned. Released in 1969, he organized armed resistance from Thailand, and retired in 1973. He returned to Burma following an amnesty in 1980. In 1988, he re-emerged on Aung San Suu Kyi's side as the leader of the pro-democratic opposition movement. He died in 1995.