myanmar timeline

Date Event REF6/5/1902 May 6, British SS Camorta sank off Rangoon and 739 died. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

25/5/1907 May 25, U Nu, premier Burma (1948-58, 1960-62), was born. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

22/1/1909Jan 22, U Thant, Secretary General of United Nations General Assembly (1962-1972), was born in Burma. He played a major role in the Cuban crisis.

http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

10/7/1910

Ne Win's date of birth is not known with certainty. The English language publication Who's Who in Burma published in 1961 by People's Literature House, Rangoon, stated that Ne Win was born on 24 May 1911. Dr. Maung Maung stated in the Burmese version of his book Burma and General Ne Win, also published in English, that Ne Win was born on 14 May 1911. However, in a book written in Burmese titled The Thirty Comrades, the author Kyaw Nyein gave Ne Win's date of birth as 10 July 1910.David Ben-Gurion – General Ne Win PM of Burma 1959Kyaw Nyein's date of 1910 can be considered as the more plausible date. First, Kyaw Nyein had access to historical records and he interviewed many surviving members of the Thirty Comrades when he wrote the book in the mid-to late 1990s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ne_Win

1920 Burmese students rebelled against British rule. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML1923 Pablo Neruda was appointed as Chile’s consul to Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

14/2/1924Feb 14, Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten, the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, was born in London.


2/2/1933 Feb 2, Than Shwe, later military ruler of Myanmar (1992), was born. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1934George Orwell published his 1st novel “Burmese Days.” In 2005 Emma Larkin authored “Finding George Orwell in Burma.”


1937 Burma was made a crown colony of Britain. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

18/10/1940Oct 18, Britain reopened the Burma Road linking Myanmar with China, three months after closing it.


1940

1940-1942 U Saw served as PM of Burma. As head of the Myochit party, U Saw became prime minister of the then British colony in 1940. When the British entered the war against Japan, U Saw pressed the British for full independence, while secretly negotiating with the Japanese. Upon learning of his contacts with Japan, the British arrested him and removed him from office. U Saw was responsible for the assassination of his rival Aung San after the war.


1941Bertram Smythies (d.1999 at 86), British naturalist, published "The Birds of Burma." Most of the original copies were lost but a 2nd edition in 1953 was published.


1941In Burma Aung San founded the Burmese Army. He is considered the father of the nation.


16/1/1942 Jan 16, Japan’s advance into Burma began. [see Jan 19] http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML9/1/1942 Jan 19, Japanese forces invaded Burma. [see Jan 16] http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

9/2/1942Feb 9, Chiang Kai-shek met with Sir Stafford Cripps, the British viceroy in India. Detachment 101 harried the Japanese in Burma and provided close support for regular Allied forces.


22/2/1942Feb 22, India’s Capt. Sam Manekshaw (1914-2008) was severely wounded in a counteroffensive against Japanese forces on the Sittong River in Burma. In 1969 Manekshaw became the 8th chief of the Indian army.


8/3/1942 Mar 8, Japanese captured Rangoon, Burma, during World War II. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML11/4/1942 Apr 11, Detachment 101 of the OSS, a guerrilla force, was activated in Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML29/4/1942 Apr 29, Japanese troops marched into Lashio and cut off the Burma Road. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML2/5/1942 May 2, Japanese troops occupied Mandalay Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

14/5/1942 May 14, The British, in retreat from Burma, reached India. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML20/5/1942 May 20, Japan completed the conquest of Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML21/9/1942 Sep 21, British forces attacked the Japanese in Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

19/12/1942Dec 19, British advanced 40 miles into Burma in a drive to oust the Japanese from the colony.


26/1/1943Jan 26, The first OSS (Office of Strategic Services) agent parachuted behind Japanese lines in Burma.


8/2/1943

Feb 8, British General Wingate led a guerrilla force of "Chindits" against the Japanese in Burma. Detachment 101's support of Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate's Chindits and Maj. Gen. Frank Merrill's Marauders was crucial to the Allied success in Burma and to the eventual victory in Southeast Asia.


25/10/1943

Oct 25, Japanese forces held an official ceremony for the 415-km Thailand-Burma railroad. The rail was completed Oct 17 at Konkuita, Thailand. During its construction, approximately 13,000 prisoners of war died and were buried along the “Death Railway.” An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labor brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar). The movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) was a part of this effort and is today a big tourist attraction in Thailand.


7/11/1943 Nov 7, British troops launched a limited offensive along the coast of Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

24/2/1944

Feb 24, Merrill's Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, began their ground campaign against Japan into Burma. The were led by Brigadier General Frank Merrill (b.1903-1955), the first US infantry combat force to fight the Japanese on the mainland of Asia.


7/3/1944 Mar 7, Japan began an offensive in Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML18/12/1944 Dec 18, The Japanese were repelled from northern Burma by British troops. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

4/2/1944 Feb 4, The Japanese attacked the Indian Seventh Army in Burma. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML22/1/1945 Jan 22, The Burma highway reopened. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

19/2/1945Feb 19, On Ramree Island off the coast of old Burma, some 900 Japanese soldiers retreated from British soldiers into an alligator filled swamp. Only about 20 men survived.


29/4/1945 Apr 29, Japanese army evacuated Rangoon. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

of 23 Compiled by Numan (MOTAA)

Date Event REF3/5/1945 May 3, Allied forces captured Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

14/6/1945 Jun 14, Burma was liberated by the British. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

19/6/1945Jun 19, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar poet, Nobel peace laureate (1991), was born. In 1998 Barbara Victor published “The Lady, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Laureate and Burma’s Prisoner.”


1945-19491945-1949- A series of wars for independence during this period spread from India to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2007 Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper authored “Forgotten Wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia.”


27/1/1947Jan 27, Britain agreed to give Burma independence following negotiations with nationalist leader Aung San.


12/2/1947

Feb 12, General Aung San and 21 delegates of the national races of the mountain regions, the Shan, Kachin and Chin, finally signed the historic Pinlon Accord. They unanimously agreed to independence, not for a fragmented country, but for what has now become known as the Union of Myanmar.


19/7/1947Jul, Aung San, an independence hero, was assassinated on the eve of becoming Burma’s first prime minister. 6 other members of his interim government were also killed. His daughter was Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.


4/1/1948Jan 4, Britain granted independence to Burma (later renamed to Myanmar). Aung San had arranged for national independence on this day but was assassinated before the event by political rivals.


1948A conflict for power began that involved the Karen, a group of people from eastern and southern Burma.


31/1/1949Ne Win was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) and given total control of the army replacing General Smith Dun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ne_Win

1950Burma enacted An Emergency Provision Act that provided up to 20-year jail terms for inciting unrest and disturbing the peace and tranquility of the state.


1950Sein Lwin commanded a military unit that tracked down and shot dead the leader of a rebellion against the government of Burma by the country's ethnic Karen minority.


28/10/1958 Ne Win was asked to serve as interim prime minister 1/4/1960 Apr 1, Burma elected U Nu as premier. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

4/4/1960Elections were held in February 1960 and Ne Win handed back power to the victorious U Nu on 4 April 1960

1961 1961-1971 U Thant of Burma served as the Secretary-General of the UN. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

2/3/1962Mar, Army commander Ne Win staged a coup against a civilian government and took over control of Burma.


7/7/1962Jul 7, In Burma Sein Lwin headed the army unit that shot dead Rangoon University students protesting Ne Win's rule.


13/7/1962less than a week after the speech, Ne Win left for Austria, Switzerland and the United Kingdom "for a medical check up

30/11/1962Nov 30, U Thant of Burma was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations, succeeding the late Dag Hammarskjold.


19621962-1988 Gen’l. Ne Win ruled over Burma. During his rule he periodically reorganized the government with a purge where powerful opponents were either jailed or banished.


1967The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed by Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.


26/6/1967

Anti-Chinese riots broke out in Rangoon on 26 June 1967. The riots, which resulted from Chinese students' defiance of the Burmese government's ban on wearing Mao badges in school, led to the deterioration of Sino–Burmese relations, symbolised by the cessation of ‘Pauk Phaw’ ties and the subsequent shift in China's foreign policy which included open intervention in Burma's civil war. The riots contributed to estranged relations between Beijing and Rangoon throughout the 1970s and 1980s despite the normalisation of bilateral ties in 1970

2/6/1972In Burma Sein Lwin headed the army unit that exacted a deadly suppression of workers' protests. ( 2nd of June 1972 )


2/3/1974Ne Win disbanded the Revolutionary Council and proclaimed the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma

25/11/1974 Nov 25, Former U.N. Secretary-General U Thant died in New York at age 65. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

11/12/1974In Burma Sein Lwin headed the army unit that suppressed demonstrations by students and Buddhist monks in connection with the funeral of former U.N. Secretary General U Thant.


8/7/1975 Jul 8, An earthquake struck Pagan (Bagan), Burma, and destroyed many monuments. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

27/7/1977

Ohn Kyaw Myint plotted coup attempt with other young officer and the plot was uncovered by Military Intelligence. He was found guilty at trial and hanged on July 27, 1977.[1] Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of State Peace and Development Council, who was a junior officer during the time of trial stood as a witness.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohn_Kyaw_Myint

9/10/1983

Oct 9, The president of South Korea, Chun Doo Hwan, with his cabinet and other top officials were scheduled to lay a wreath on a monument in Rangoon, Burma, when a bomb exploded. Hwan had not yet arrived so escaped injury, but 17 Koreans, including the deputy prime minister and two other cabinet members, and two Burmese were killed. North Korea was blamed. In the “Rangoon Massacre” a terrorist attack plotted by North Korea killed 17 South Korean officials on a visit to Burma.



Date Event REF

1984Karen refugees from Myanmar began settling in camps in Thailand. By 2011 some 140,000 refugees were living in 9 camps behind barbed wire near the border town of Mae Sot.


1986Karen refugees established the Huay Ko Lok refugee camp in Thailand. The camp was burned 3 times between 1996-1998 by the Burmese military. Residents were relocated in Aug, 1999, to Um Phien.


5/9/1987Burma’s military junta withdrew most banknotes late this year, which sparked massive protests in 1988.


16/3/1988Mar, Burmese riot police shot to death 200 demonstrators as students began an uprising for democracy.


27/7/1988Jul 27, Sein Lwin (d.2004) then became chairman of Burma's ruling party and the country's president, but the pro-democracy protests grew. Instead of negotiating, Sein Lwin tried to end the protests by force, and the capital became a bloody battleground.


8/8/1988Aug 8-1988 Aug 13, Police in Burma (Myanmar) killed nearly 3,000 protesters in the streets of Rangoon.


12/8/1988Aug 12, Sein Lwin resigned from the presidency of Burma. He was succeeded by a civilian, Maung Maung, who in turn was ousted by the military after just a month in office.


18/9/1988

Sep 18, In Burma Gen’l. Saw Maung (d.1997 at 69) became chairman of a military junta, called The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). He had been the army chief of staff and defense minister before leading the coup. The junta took power and put under house arrest Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected president. After years of economic distress the junta released Aung San in 1995 in hopes of gaining foreign economic aid. The junta announced that Burma would henceforth be called Myanmar, and the capital, Rangoon, Yangon.


24/9/1988 Sep 24, In Burma Aung San Suu Kyi formed the National League for Democracy party. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1988

Sep, In Burma over 10,000 students led by Htun Aung Gyaw took to the jungles to organize an armed resistance against the military regime. Gyaw was arrested by Thai authorities in 1992 and took refugee status in the US. Military rulers killed thousands of pro-democracy activists during the suppression of demonstrations. Hundreds of pro-democracy supporters were killed in Rangoon. A film was made called Beyond Rangoon that depicts the terror and bloodshed of the period.


23/7/1988 Burma’s dictator Ne Win retired. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1988The Chin army began fighting a low-level rebellion for more autonomy for the mainly Christian Chin in Burma's northwest, where government troops have been trying to force them to convert to Buddhism.


19/6/1989Jun 19, Burma’s government renamed the country Myanmar. Rangoon was renamed Yangon. (note: some say- On 18 June 1989, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SPDC) adopted the name )


20/6/1989Jul 20, Myanmar military authorities placed Aung San Suu Kyi and her deputy Tin Oo under house arrest where she was confined for the next 6 years.


1989Gen. Khin Nyunt, Myanmar’s prime minister and intelligence chief, brokered a ceasefire and autonomy deal with Sai Leun (Lin Mingxian), warlord of Mongla, who built the area into a gambling destination for Chinese tourists.


7/4/1990Apr 7, In Myanmar a double-decker ferry sank in Gyaing River during a storm and 215 people were believed drowned.


27/5/1990

May 27, The political opposition of Burma (Myanmar) scored a victory in the country’s first free, multiparty elections in three decades. The military rulers allowed democratic elections but ignored the results when the National League for Democracy (NLD) of Aung San Suu Kyi won 392 of 485 contested seats.


1990-20051990-2005- Global Witness estimated that Myanmar lost 18% of its forests during this period. The country once had four-fifths of the world’s teak.


14/10/1991

Oct 14, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent promotion of democracy. Her award was accepted by her husband, Michael Aris (d.1999 at 53) and their sons. A collection of her writings is titled "Freedom From Fear."


1991Khun Sa (1934-2007), Myanmar drug warlord and head of the Shan United Army, became head of the Shan State Restoration Council.


23/4/1992Apr 23, Myanmar Gen’l. Saw Maung stepped down as chairman of SLORC because of illness. He was replaced by Gen’l. Than Shwe.


1992The Asian Development Bank began building and improving transport and telecom links between China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.


1992The Greater Mekong Subregion was created grouping 5 South-East Asian countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam) and 2 Chinese provinces.


1992Bangladesh began refusing refugee status to Rohingyas, a dark-skinned Muslim minority from Myanmar.


1993Aug, A 370-pound heroin shipment was seized in New Orleans. In 1997 Thai police seized a Myanmar man, Liu Wen Ming, for organizing the shipment. Ming was suspected of being an associate of drug kingpin Khun Sa.


1993 In Myanmar the Mong Tai Army took up arms against the government. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1993In Myanmar the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) was formed.


1994 In Myanmar the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) agreed to stop fighting. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1994Myanmar leased the 2 Coco Islands in the Indian Ocean to China. China proceeded to establish surveillance stations there.



Date Event REF

1994The Orient-Express purchased a floating hotel on the Rhine, converted it and renamed it to the "Road to Mandalay" for 4 day excursions on the Irrawaddy from Bagan to Mandalay.


1995Jan, Myanmar government forces overran the Karen National Union’s stronghold at Manerplaw and forced refugees to take refuge in Thailand.


17/6/1995 On 17 June 1995 the cabinet was reshuffled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Burma

10/7/1995 July 10, Aung San Suu Kyi was released after six years of house arrest. She later charged that the Myanmar military regime doesn't want democratic reform.


1995In Myanmar more than 500 people died this year in the 48-year long conflict with Karen rebels.


1995Berkeley, Ca., became the first city to adopt sanctions against Myanmar due to the repressive military regime.


1995-1998The Yadana pipeline and offshore natural gas production facilities were built by a consortium of Total, Unocal and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.


1996

Jan, Khun Sa, a Myanmar opium warlord in command of some 15,000 Shan troops, surrendered to the government. He agreed to disband his private army, give up the drug trade and submit to a form of house arrest in exchange for protection and freedom to pursue business opportunities.


1996

Jan, Lu Maw, Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw performed as the Moustache Brothers in a skit outside the home of Aung San Suu Kyi. They satirized Myanmar’s ruling SLORC and were charged with “disrupting the stability of the Union.” A 2-month public, but juryless trial followed and they were sentenced to prison. They were released in July 2001.


1996

May, The Myanmar military regime has jailed 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting. General Maung Aye, commander and deputy chairman of the military regime warned that the government will annihilate anyone who disturbs the country’s peace and tranquility.


24/5/1996May 24, Roger Truitt, president of Atlantic Richfield Co. was pictured in negotiations with Myanmar General Khin Nyunt, head of the secret police.


6/6/1996Jun 6, The Myanmar military regime banned the weekly meetings at the house of Aung San Suu Kyi.


3/10/1996Oct 3, In Myanmar SLORC was in arrears in payments on crude-oil imports. The main foreign exchange earners, rice and timber, were in production slowdowns.


1/11/1996Nov 1, A government program to attract visitors, “Visit Myanmar Year,” began with tighter security measures.


3/12/1996Dec 3, Myanmar riot police dispersed hundreds of student demonstrators and detained dozens outside Rangoon at the Schwedagon Pagoda.


26/12/1996Dec 26, Two bombs exploded in Rangoon during an exhibit of a tooth believed to have belonged to Buddha. The military regime blamed student and ethnic Karen insurgents based in eastern Myanmar. Five people were killed.


1996 Dec, The Myanmar universities were closed. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1996-19981996-1998: A 1998 Amnesty Int’l. report accused the Burmese army in the torture and killings of hundreds of ethnic Shan villagers in the Shan state during this period.


1996-20011996-2001: In 2002 the Thailand-based Shan Human Rights Foundation filed a report that Myanmar government military forces raped at least 625 girls and women in Shan state over this period in an effort to bring the area under control.


28/1/1997Jan 28, PepsiCo Inc. said it was ending business in Myanmar due to human rights problems. It joined Eddie Bauer, Levi Strauss and Liz Claiborne.


14/2/1997Feb 14, In Myanmar some 3,000 Karen refugees fled into Thailand to escape fighting. The Karen National Union had been fighting for autonomy since 1948. Thailand said 16,000 Karens were crossing over its border.


26/2/1997Feb 26, Thai soldiers pushed Karen refugees back across the border into Myanmar as Burmese troops massed for an offensive.


6/4/1997Apr 6, A bomb exploded at the Rangoon home of Lt. Gen’l. Tin Oo and killed his daughter, Cho Lei Oo (34).


21/4/1997Apr 21, Pres. Clinton approved a ban on new American investment in Myanmar due to human rights abuses. It also banned visas for senior Burmese government officials.


31/5/1997

May 31, The 7-member ASEAN alliance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, met in Kuala Lumpur and agreed to allow Myanmar to become a member in July. Laos and Cambodia were also admitted. The members were Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.


23/7/1997 Jul 23, The ASEAN trade bloc admitted Laos and Myanmar but barred Cambodia. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

15/11/1997

Jul, In Myanmar SLORC renamed itself State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). (SLORC renamed SPDC: On 15-Nov-1997, State Law and Order Restoration Council(SLORC), Burma's ruling junta since 1988, renamed itself to become State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The new ruling council, SPDC, consists of two separate bodies: a 14-member Cabinet and a 14-member advisory board (report enclosed).)

http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML (http://www.burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199801/msg00170.html)

15/10/1997Oct 15, It was reported that only 2 of the 31 in the elite Junta have university degrees and that Chinese business people had virtually taken over in Mandalay, which had been the heart of Burmese culture.


15/11/1997Nov 15, In Myanmar the 21-member SLORC was dissolved and a new State Peace and Development Council headed by 4 top generals and commanders of various regions was established.


1997In Myanmar Thein Sein became had of the Triangle Region Military Command and continued to 2001.



Date Event REF

1997In Rangoon talks between the Karen National Union and Burmese officials broke down when the Karen refused to disarm. After the talks broke the Burmese army swept through Karen territory and forced thousands of refugees into Thailand.


1997In Myanmar Sai Leun (Lin Mingxian), warlord of Mongla, declared his fief an “opium-free zone.”


1997A US federal judge allowed a lawsuit to proceed against Unocal, accusing the oil company of complicity in human rights abuses on the Yadana project in Myanmar. The decision opened the door to suing US corporations on their behaviour pverseas.


1/3/1998Mar 1, Myanmar's military regime arrested 40 people it accused of planning to assassinate leaders and bomb buildings.


31/3/1998Mar 31, It was reported that in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province, women of the Padaung tribe of Myanmar were attracting tourists with their necks elongated by wearing brass coils. They began fleeing Myanmar’s Kayah state over a decade ago


2/4/1998Apr 2, Ethnic Karen rebels launched attacks against Myanmar troops and killed 30 people.


21/4/1998Apr 21, The Myanmar military regime sentenced San San to 25 years in prison for a BBC interview that criticized the government.


15/5/1998May 15, It was reported that the Myanmar junta was expanding opium production while collecting money from the UN for destroying poppy fields.


27/5/1998May 27, Myanmar democracy activists gathered to mark their 1990 victory, that was annulled by the junta. It was their first legal gathering since then.


1/6/1998Jun 1, The Myanmar military sentenced Aung Thein and Ko Hla Myint to 14 years in prison for handing out copies of a letter from the Shan State Army addressed to Lt. Gen’l. Khin Nyunt, the head of military intelligence, back in March.


2/6/1998 Jun 2, In Myanmar 26 farmers were gunned down near Murng-Kerng. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

27/6/1998Jun 27, Myanmar soldiers of the Light Infantry Battalion 246 shot and killed 23 villagers in Kaeng Tawn. The dead included 7 children and 2 women.


15/8/1998Aug 15, In Myanmar (Burma) 18 detainees, arrested for passing out literature and charged with violating the 1950 Emergency Provision Act, were forced to leave the country. A 5-year prison term was imposed if they break Burma’s laws again.


19/8/1998Aug 19, In Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi was in her 8th day of a roadside protest in her 4th attempt to travel to Bassein.


24/8/1998Aug 24, In Burma Aung San Suu Kyi bowed to medical problems and ended her 13-day roadside standoff against the government.


17/9/1998Sep 17, Ten dissidents voted to annul all laws passed by the Myanmar junta in the last 10 years after constituting themselves as the elected parliament of 1990.


24/8/1998

Sep, Air Myanmar F-27 with 39 people crashed near Tachilek in Shan state. Shan tribesmen looted the wreckage. 5 adult male survivors were tortured and an air hostess was raped for days. A surviving baby was left to die. 30 villagers were arrested. (08.24.1998)

http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML (http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/aircraft_detail.cgi?aircraft=Fokker+F-27+Friendship)

1998EU foreign ministers banned visits by Myanmar officials, withdrew trade privileges and imposed an arms embargo due to the repression of civil and political rights.


1998Burmese refugees in Thailand created the Backpack Health Worker Team to effectively sneak health into eastern Burma (Myanmar), where the military junta provides little health care.


19/4/1999Apr 19, One of the annual Goldman Environmental Prizes went to: Ka Hsaw Wa of Myanmar for reporting on the plight of indigenous people and environmental abuses on a Unocal gas pipeline across Thailand and Myanmar.


19/6/1999Jun 19, Aung San Suu Kyi encouraged women to fight for democracy on the unofficial Women of Burma Day, which was created by her followers to coincide with her birthday.


1/10/1999

Oct 1, In Thailand the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors took 38 diplomats as hostages at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok. Two Thai officials were exchanged for the hostages and 12 [5] students were reported to have flown to the Thai-Myanmar border by helicopter, where they were released. The students demanded the release of political prisoners, dialogue between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi and an elected parliament.


2/10/1999Oct 2, Bo Mya, leader of the Karen National Union, said he would grant sanctuary to the Burmese students who were flown to the Thai-Myanmar border following a 26 hour takeover of the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand.


1999In Myanmar the twins Luther and Johnny Htoo (12) led God's Army, a band of some 100 guerrilla fighters that operated from the Ka Mar Pa Law village near the Thailand border.


24/1/2000Jan 24, In Thailand security forces stormed a hospital and ended a 22-hour standoff with Burmese guerrillas. 10 rebels of the "God's Army" were reported killed. The hostage-takers were executed after surrendering to security forces.


26/1/2000Jan 26, In Myanmar Bo Mya, legendary 24-year leader of the Karen National Union (KNU), was voted out of the chairmanship. Saw Ba Thin was elected as the new chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU).


2000Jan, The Karen celebrated their new year 2739. Some 300,000 Karen were believed to be internally displace within Myanmar.


10/4/2000Apr 10, EU foreign ministers toughened sanctions against Myanmar due to the increased repression of civil and political rights.


2000Apr, Over 40 youth members of the opposition National league for Democracy were arrested by Myanmar authorities over the mid-month Thingyan (New year) festival. The information was smuggled in on video from Suu Kyi.



Date Event REF

12/6/2000Jun 12, The Bangkok Post reported that Johnny and Luther Htoo, the 12-year-old leaders of God’s Army, had laid down their arms and were living in a Christian ethnic Karen village.


24/6/2000Jul 24, Myanmar university students returned to classes nearly 3.5 years after the military shut down schools due to antigovernment protests. Loyalty pledges to the government were required and political activity was barred.


24/8/2000Aug 24, Aung San Suu Kyi and 14 supporters tried to leave Rangoon for political activities in the countryside. Police stopped her party and a stand-off began. After 9 days the party was forced back to Rangoon.


14/9/2000Sep 14, The Myanmar military lifted restrictions against Suu Kyi and 8 other leaders of the National League for Democracy.


10/11/2000Nov 10, Some 125 Karen guerrillas overran the Bianaw Myanmar military camp near the Thai border. 30 escaped and one soldier was killed.


6/12/2000Dec 6, Pres. Clinton gave the US Presidential Medal of Freedom to Alexander Aris, the son of Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, on behalf of his mother who was held under house arrest.


2000Ross Dunkley, an Australian editor, founded the Myanmar Times, an English-language newspaper with a business emphasis, during a period of relative liberalization under the ruling junta.


9/1/2001Jan 9, The UN announced that in Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi and the military junta had held more than round of talks since October.


16/1/2001Jan 16, Luther and Johnny Htoo, twin adolescent leaders of an ethnic Karen rebel group, surrendered to Thai border police.


19/2/2001Feb 19, A helicopter crash killed Myanmar junta Lt. Gen. Tin Oo (67) and left 14 missing.


2001Feb, Russia’s Atomic Energy Ministry announced plans to build a 10-megawatt nuclear research reactor in central Myanmar. The deal was finalized in July.


30/3/2001Mar 30, It was reported that the forests of Myanmar had dropped from 21% coverage in 1949 to less than 7% today.


2001 Russia sold Myanmar 10 MiG-29 fighter aircraft for 130 million. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

22/1/2002Jan 22, The Myanmar army was charged by Amnesty Int’l. of killing and torturing hundreds of ethnic Shan villagers. Some 300,000 Shan villagers have been forced to flee their homes in the past 2 years.


2002Jan, Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark authored “The Stone of Heaven,” and history of jadeite and their experiences in northern Myanmar at the world’s the biggest jadeite mine.


7/3/2002

Mar 7, In Myanmar Aye Zaw Win (54) and 3 adult sons, 4 relatives of former dictator Ne Win, were arrested and some military officers were dismissed for planning a coup. Later Ne Win and his daughter were put under house arrest. Aye Zaw Win and his 3 sons were convicted and sentenced to death Sep 26.


5/5/2002May 5, In Myanmar the military government released Aung San Suu Kyi (56) after 19 months of house arrest in Rangoon.


2002

May, In Myanmar a trial began for a number of soldiers, members of a security unit guarding former dictator Ne Win, in connection with an abortive plot to overthrow the country's ruling junta. In Sep a Myanmar military tribunal sentenced 83 soldiers to 15-year jail terms.


28/7/2002Jul 28, Myanmar's military government released 32 political prisoners, among them 14 members of the opposition, ahead of the visit next month of top U.N. envoy Razali Ismail.


9/8/2002Aug 9, Myanmar's junta freed 14 political prisoners, but the move was far short of the release of all prisoners of conscience that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has demanded as a precondition for national reconciliation.


14/9/2002 On 14 September 2002 a minor cabinet reshuffle was reported http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Burma

5/12/2002Dec 5, Ne Win (91), former general and dictator, died in Yangon. His 26 years in power bankrupted Myanmar (Burma) economically and spiritually.


2002Pascal Khoo Thwe (b.1967) won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for his memoir “From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey.”


2002

In Bangladesh Operation Clean Heart rooted thousands of Rohingyas, dark-skinned members of a poor, Muslin minority from Myanmar, from local villages. Myanmar’s ruling junta called them residents of Rakhine state, pressed them into slave labor and severely restricted their rights to travel and marry. This led to the Rohingya border camp named Tal, on the banks of the Naf River in Bangladesh.


7/3/2003

Mar 7, Nai Shwe Kyin (90), a veteran guerrilla leader from Myanmar’s Mon ethnic minority, died. He founded the Mon Freedom League in 1947. He also helped found the Mon People’s Front in 1952 and the New Mon State Party in 1958. The party signed a cease-fire agreement with Myanmar’s military government in 1995.


27/3/2003Mar 27, In Yangon, Myanmar, a bomb went off in front of a state telecommunications office, killing at least one person and wounding three as the country marked Armed Forces Day.


21/5/2003 May 21, In Myanmar bombs exploded on the border with Thailand, killing four people. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

30/5/2003May 30, In Myanmar a pro-government drunken mob of some 3,000 ambushed a 400-person convoy carrying Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy. At least 70 people were killed.


1/6/2003Jun 1, Myanmar's military junta closed universities and shut down offices of pro-democracy leader Ang San Suu Kyi's party, after she and some of her key aides were detained.


16/6/2003Jun 16, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations urged Myanmar's military government to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



Date Event REF

23/11/2003Nov 23, Myanmar's military government released 4 top opposition party members from house arrest, but pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and 4 others continued in detention.


28/11/2003Nov 28, A Myanmar court sentenced 9 people to death for high treason, including the editor of a sports magazine. The government said the suspects were accused of plotting to overthrow Myanmar's military junta through bombings and assassinations.


29/11/2003Nov 29, Bhaddanta Vinaya (93), one of Myanmar's most revered Buddhist monks and a spiritual adviser to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died.


23/12/2003Dec 23, Myanmar's largest guerrilla group said it is committed to peace talks with the military government, but it wants future rounds held in the Thai capital to preserve neutrality.


2003 Myanmar’s SPDC unveiled a 17-point “road map” to democracy. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

2003In Myanmar opium was banned in Kokang Special Region No. 1. This forced nearly a third of the population to leave their homes in search of money and food.


2003Myanmar reported 42% of the world’s official malaria deaths. WHO statistics were not very accurate as half of Africa’s countries did not submit any data.


17/1/2004Jan 17, Myanmar's junta said it freed 26 members of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy party.


30/3/2004Mar 30, Myanmar's military government said it will take the first step on a self-proclaimed "road to democracy" by reconvening a constitutional convention that was suspended eight years ago.


7/4/2004Apr 7, In Malaysia 3 men armed with firebombs, machetes and an axe attacked Myanmar's embassy, hacking one senior official and starting a fire that destroyed the building.


9/4/2004 Apr 9, Sein Lwin (81), who served briefly as Myanmar's president in 1988, died. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML17/5/2004 May 17, Myanmar held a constitutional convention. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

19/5/2004May 19, A cyclone that swept through western Myanmar and left more than 140 people dead or missing, and about 18,000 people homeless.


7/10/2004Oct 7, An Asia-Europe forum accepted Myanmar and 12 other new members ahead of a summit strained by Yangon's human rights record. ASEM comprises 39 members: 25 from Europe, 13 from Asia and the European Commission.


19/10/2004

Oct 19, Myanmar's state radio and television announced that PM Gen. Khin Nyunt was replaced by a top member of the country's ruling junta, Lt. Gen. Soe Win. (From Wiki: On 18 October 2004, in a one-sentence announcement signed by SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe, Khin Nyunt was "permitted to retire on health grounds". However, he was immediately arrested and placed under protective custody.[5] Allegations of Khin Nyunt's corruption were officially made several days later.)


18/11/2004Nov 18, Myanmar's military government said it had begun releasing thousands of prisoners who may have been wrongly imprisoned by a recently disbanded military intelligence unit.


19/11/2004Nov 19, Myanmar's junta freed Student democracy leader Min Ko Naing, the nation's number two political prisoner, as part of a release of 3,937 inmates. After 15 years in jail he became head of the “88 Generation students’ Group.”


25/11/2004Nov 25, Myanmar announced it is to free more than 5,000 prisoners on top of the nearly 4,000 announced last week.


11/12/2004Dec 11, Myanmar's state media announced the military junta would release a further 5,070 prisoners.


2005

Feb, Bao You Xiang, head of Myanmar’s Wa Special Region No. 2, allowed farmers one last opium harvest prior to enforcing and absolute ban. The region was controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which produced heroin and methamphetamine to buy weapons.


27/3/2005Mar 27, The head of Myanmar's ruling junta said the country was moving toward democracy but gave no indication of when the military would relinquish its 43-year grip on power.


4/4/2005

Apr 4, Chevron announced plans to purchase Unocal Corp. for 18.4 billion. Chevron’s eventual acquisition of Unocal included a stake in the Yadana project in Myanmar, in which Unocal invested in the 1990s along with France’s Total, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and the petroleum Authority of Thailand. Total with a 31% stake operated the project. The Yadana project brought in an estimated 969 million to the government undercutting international sanctions to isolate the regime.


26/4/2005Apr 26, A bomb exploded at a busy market in Myanmar's key tourist city of Mandalay, killing at least two people and wounding 15 others.


2005Apr, Unocal agreed to settle a lawsuit, for an undisclosed sum, concerning human rights abuses on the Yadana project in Myanmar.


7/5/2005May 7, In Myanmar 3 explosions rocked the capital, Yangon, killing at least 19 people and wounding 162 others.


27/6/2005Jun 25, India said police forces have destroyed one of the largest Mynamarese rebel bases in India, deep in the mountainous jungles of the remote northeast. Some 200 guerrillas and supporters living in the Chin National Army camp fled before the attack.


5/7/2005

On 5 July 2005, Khin Nyunt was tried by a Special Tribunal inside Insein prison near Rangoon on various corruption charges. On 21 July 2005, he was sentenced to 44 years in prison, though it is believed that he is ostensibly serving his sentence under house arrest instead of in prison. Khin Nyunt's sons were also sentenced to 51 and 68 years respectively. It is unclear whether his wife was also indicted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khin_Nyunt


Date Event REF

6/7/2005Jul 6, Myanmar's military government released about 240 prisoners, including political detainees and opposition politicians.


22/7/2005Jul 22, Former Myanmar PM Khin Nyunt received a 44-year suspended sentence after being convicted on eight charges including bribery and corruption.


26/7/2005Jul 26, Myanmar agreed to forgo its chairmanship of Southeast Asia's bloc next year to avoid a damaging Western boycott of the group's meetings.


18/10/2005Oct 18, An environmental watchdog alleged that Chinese logging companies in Myanmar have illegally exported huge amounts of timber in collusion with the military government and ethnic guerrillas, destroying ecologically unique forest areas.


6/11/2005Nov 6, Myanmar’s military junta began moving key ministries to Pyinmana, a secret location in the mountains and dense forest. The ruling junta had shifted headquarters to a series of underground bunkers in Pyinmana, in central Myanmar.


8/11/2005Nov 8, The US State Department issued its 7th annual report to Congress on religious freedom. It cited Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as restricting religious freedom.


11/11/2005

The military government began moving government ministries from Yangon to Naypyidaw on 6 November 2005 at the astrologically auspicious time of 6:37 a.m.[11] Five days later, on 11 November at 11 a.m., a second convoy of 1,100 military trucks carrying 11 military battalions and 11 government ministries left Yangon. The ministries were expected to be mostly in place by the end of February 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naypyidaw

3/12/2005Dec 3, Myanmar’s government confirmed for the first time that it has extended pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention for six months.


5/12/2005 Dec 5, Myanmar's military junta reopened a key national constitutional convention. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

23/12/2005Dec 23, In Myanmar at least four government battalions began shelling and attacking villages and internal refugee hide-outs in southern Karenni State and areas of neighboring Karen State, forcing some 3,000 people to flee their homes.


2005Myanmar’s ruling junta arrested the leader of the Shan State National Army (SSNA) along with other members of the Shan minority.


2005AIDS in Myanmar was estimated at 1.2% of the population. It was reported that 100,000 new cases of TB were being detected annualy.


2005

In Myanmar fossils were found near Bagan that later suggested the common ancestors of humans, monkeys and apes, known as anthropoids, evolved from primates in Asia, rather than Africa. The 38 million-year-old pieces of jawbones and teeth were part of a growing body of evidence that helped scientists to understand the origin of primates.


8/1/2006Jan 8, The UN envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail of Malaysia, said he had quit his post after being refused entry for the past 2 years to the military-ruled country where he pushed for reforms.


31/1/2006

Jan 31, Myanmar's military government adjourned a constitution-drafting convention after almost two months of deliberations, delegates said, amid growing frustration with the slow pace of democratic reforms. Karen insurgents, marking nearly six decades of fighting, said there was little chance Myanmar's military rulers would come to the negotiating table and end their bloody campaign against the ethnic minorities.


10/2/2006Feb 10, In Myanmar government officials said Win Aung, a former foreign minister ousted in a Cabinet reshuffle by the country's ruling military junta, has been put on trial for corruption charges.


12/2/2006Feb 12, Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe lashed out at the US and the EU over their sanctions against his regime, amid rising global pressure for it to reform.


13/3/2006 Mar 13, Myanmar reported its first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

26/3/2006Mar 26, A rights group said Myanmar's military rulers have launched an offensive against separatist guerrillas, attacking villages and forcing thousands to flee in an attempt to quash a five-decade insurgency by Karen ethnic rebels.


27/4/2006

Apr 27, Reports from Myanmar and Thailand said Myanmar troops were waging their biggest military offensive in almost a decade and have uprooted more than 11,000 ethnic minority civilians in a campaign punctuated by torture, killings and the burning of villages.


5/5/2006May 5, The US State Department said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has waived a law to make Myanmar refugees, almost all of whom back an armed group fighting the Yangon military junta, eligible for resettlement into the US.


13/5/2006May 13, Myanmar's ruling military acknowledged that its army is targeting the Karen ethnic minority, saying the offensive is necessary to suppress bombings and other anti-government attacks.


15/5/2006 On 15 May 2006 the cabinet was reshuffled. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Burma

18/5/2006May 18, A Karen group said Myanmar troops, who have driven an estimated 15,000 Karen villagers from their homes, are throwing more battalions into a widening offensive against the ethnic minority.


27/5/2006May 27, A Myanmar government official said Nobel Peace Prize-winning pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for another year.


11/6/2006Jun 11, Amnesty International released a report saying China's sales of military vehicles and weapons to Sudan, Nepal and Myanmar have aggravated conflicts and abetted violence and repressive rule in those countries.



Date Event REF

17/7/2006

Jul 17, One of two young twin brothers who led a small band of ethnic rebels calling themselves "God's Army" surrendered to Myanmar's military government. Johnny Htoo (18) and 8 fellow members of the group surrendered with weapons in two separate groups on July 17 and 19 at the coastal region military command in southeastern Myanmar.


2006Jul, In Myanmar the daughter of junta supremo Than Shwe (73) was married. In November a leaked video of the lavish wedding sparked outrage among ordinary people in the military-ruled and deeply impoverished nation.


1/8/2006Aug 1, US sanctions on Myanmar were extended for up to three years under a law signed by President Bush, an attempt to increase pressure on the government to follow through with democratic reforms.


15/9/2006Sep 15, Over strong opposition from China, the UN Security Council put Myanmar on its agenda in what US officials called a "major step forward" in American efforts to increase pressure on the country's military dictatorship.


16/10/2006Oct 16, In central Myanmar Thet Win Aung (34), who had been serving a 59-year sentence since 1998 after protesting for educational reform, died in jail.


21/10/2006Oct 21, The death toll from severe flooding in Thailand and neighboring Myanmar has jumped to 143 after Thai authorities confirmed another 16 victims. The severe flooding began in late August in Thailand's central and northern provinces


23/10/2006Oct 23, The military regime in Myanmar ordered the International Red Cross to close five key field offices in the country.


6/11/2006

Nov 6, Transparency International, a watchdog group, reported that nearly three-quarters of 163 countries ranked in a new survey suffer from a perception of serious corruption, while in nearly half it is seen as rampant. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand ranked as the least corrupt, while Haiti, Guinea and Myanmar ranked as most corrupt.


11/11/2006Nov 11, In Myanmar senior UN official Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling junta's top leader.


30/11/2006Nov 30, Human Rights Watch said Myanmar army attacks against a rebellious minority have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes, with many trekking as far as the Thai border for food and shelter.


14/12/2006Dec 14, Myanmar's military junta has told Red Cross officials that the humanitarian group can reopen field offices that the government had ordered shut in October.


24/12/2006Dec 24, Bo Mya (79), a longtime leader of the Karen National Union, died in Thailand. The KNU was Myanmar's largest guerrilla group.


2006Thant Myint-U authored “The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma,” a memoir and history of Myanmar.


2006 Myanmar’s population numbered about 51 million. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

3/1/2007Jan 3, Myanmar's military government freed nearly 3,000 convicts, but key political prisoners were not among those released.


10/1/2007Jan 10, A new report alleged that Myanmar's military junta is allowing gold mines to pollute the world's largest wild tiger reserve and has promoted development that is destroying ethnic Kachin communities.


12/1/2007Jan 12, China and Russia blocked the Security Council from demanding an end to political repression and human rights violations in military-ruled Myanmar, rejecting a resolution proposed by the United States. South Africa sided with China and Russia.


18/1/2007Jan 18, Myanmar’s state media accused pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi of evading taxes by spending her money from the 1991 Nobel Peace prize and other awards overseas.


12/2/2007Feb 12, A report issued by a human rights group accused Myanmar's military of killing, raping and torturing ethnic Karen women as part of its battle against the minority group over the past 25 years.


23/2/2007Feb 23, In Myanmar at least five protesters who took part in a rare demonstration that urged the ruling military junta to improve health care, education and economic conditions were taken into custody.


15/3/2007Mar 15, The EU said it would put pressure on members of the Southeast Asian regional grouping ASEAN at talks in Germany to urge Myanmar to improve its human rights record.


12/4/2007Apr 12, An international conservation group tens of thousands of villagers could be displaced and a fragile ecosystem destroyed by a hydropower project being built on northeastern Myanmar's Salween River.


26/4/2007Apr 26, Myanmar and North Korea signed an agreement to resume diplomatic ties during a visit to Myanmar by the North Korean vice foreign minister.


14/5/2007May 14, Nearly 60 former heads of state, including three ex-American presidents, demanded that Myanmar's military regime release Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.


22/5/2007May 22, Cambodian PM Hun Sen met with junta head Senior General Than Shwe in military-ruled Myanmar, as the two nations moved to improve tourism links.


25/5/2007May 25, Myanmar's military government extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by another year.


30/7/2007

Jul 30, In the Philippines southeast Asian foreign ministers agreed to set up a regional human rights commission, overcoming fierce resistance from military-ruled Myanmar. Myanmar agreed not to veto discussion over the human rights commission at a November summit.



Date Event REF

22/8/2007

Aug 22, In Myanmar hundreds of pro-democracy activists marched to protest the government's fuel price hikes. The military junta arrested 13 top dissidents and deployed gangs of spade-wielding supporters on the streets of Yangon. The unannounced price hike sparked anti-government protests that led to the "saffron rebellion,” which was crushed by the military government leaving at least 15 dead and thousands arrested.


23/8/2007Aug 23, In Myanmar defiant pro-democracy activists took to the streets for the third time this week, forming a human chain to try to prevent officers from dragging them into waiting trucks and buses.


24/8/2007Aug 24, Myanmar's military junta moved swiftly to crush the latest in a series of protests against fuel price hikes, arresting more than 10 activists in front of Yangon City Hall before they could launch any action.


25/8/2007Aug 25, Myanmar's state media reported that military junta has detained at least 63 activists who protested massive fuel-price hikes over the last week, as the government pursued its clampdown on the increasingly daring demonstrations.


27/8/2007Aug 27, About 50 pro-democracy activists were arrested outside Yangon, as the Myanmar junta clamped down on dissent following a series of protests last week against a sharp hike in fuel prices.


28/8/2007Aug 28, Pro-democracy supporters expanded their protests against Myanmar's military, marching through the streets of the port town of Sittwe while attempting to rally in the main city Yangon.


29/8/2007Aug 29, In Myanmar pro-government gangs on trucks staked out key streets in Yangon as the country's military rulers sought to crush a rare wave of dissent by pro-democracy activists protesting fuel price increases.


19/9/2007Sep 19, More than 2,000 monks protested across Myanmar for a 2nd straight day against the country's junta.


20/9/2007Sep 20, Almost 1,000 Buddhist monks, protected by onlookers, marched through Myanmar's biggest city for a third straight day and pledged to keep alive the most sustained protests against the military government in at least a decade.


21/9/2007Sep 21, In Myanmar about 1,500 Buddhist monks marched through downtown Yangon to protest against Myanmar's military government, beginning their fourth day of demonstrations at a pagoda that has long served as a national symbol for dissent.


22/9/2007

Sep 22, In the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, a crowd of 10,000 people, including at least 4,000 Buddhist monks, marched in one of the largest demonstrations since the 1988 democracy uprising. About 1,000 monks, led by one holding his begging bowl upturned as a sign of protest, marched in Yangon for a 5th straight day. The anti-government demonstrations touched the doorstep of democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi.


22/9/2007Sep 22, To date 144 countries had ratified the UN Convention Against Torture. Holdouts included Sudan, North Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe and India.


23/9/2007

Sep 23, In Myanmar some 20,000 people, led by Buddhist monks, protested against the junta. Riot police and barbed wire barricades blocked hundreds of monks and anti-government demonstrators from approaching the home of the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in a new show of force against a rising protest movement.


23/9/2007Sep 23, Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora witnessed the signing of three accords between state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise at Nay Pyi Taw, the administrative capital of Myanmar.


24/9/2007Sep 24, In Myanmar as many as 100,000 protesters led by a phalanx of barefoot monks marched through Yangon. The movement has grown in a week from faltering demonstrations to one rivaling the failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising.


25/9/2007

Sep 25, Soldiers, including an army division that took part in the brutal suppression of a 1988 uprising, converged on Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, after thousands of monks and sympathizers defied government orders to stay out of politics and protested once again. The Buddhist monks marched out for an eighth day of peaceful protest despite orders to the Buddhist clergy to halt all political activity and return to their monasteries. Military leaders imposed a nighttime curfew and banned gatherings of more than 5 people.


25/9/2007Sep 25, President George W. Bush announced new US sanctions against Myanmar's military rulers and urged other countries to follow suit amid Myanmar's biggest anti-government protests in 20 years.


26/9/2007Sep 26, In Myanmar at least four people including three Buddhist monks were killed as security forces used weapons and tear gas to crush protests that have erupted nationwide against the military junta.


26/9/2007Sep 26, Transparency International's 2007 index ranked Myanmar and Somalia as the most corrupt nations. Both received the lowest score of 1.4 out of 10. Denmark, Finland and New Zealand were ranked the least corrupt, each scoring 9.4.


27/9/2007

Sep 27, In Myanmar troops cleared protesters from the streets of central Yangon, giving them 10 minutes to leave or be shot as the Myanmar junta intensified a two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years. At least nine people were killed, including a Japanese national. In December a UN investigator documented 31 people killed by the end of the crackdown in October.


27/9/2007Sep 27, China issued an evenhanded plea for calm in Myanmar, calling on all sides to show restraint.



Date Event REF

28/9/2007

Sep 28, Myanmar soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations before they could grow, and the government cut Internet access, raising fears that a deadly crackdown was set to intensify. The US administration slapped visa bans on more than 30 members of the Myanmar junta and their families.


29/9/2007

Sep 29, UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari flew into Myanmar carrying worldwide hopes he can persuade its ruling generals to use negotiations instead of guns to end mass protests. The streets of Myanmar's two biggest cities were eerily quiet after a brutal crackdown on demonstrators seeking to end 45 years of military rule. Soldiers quickly snuffed out one small demonstration in Yangon, dragging several men to waiting trucks.


30/9/2007

Sep 30, Myanmar's government unexpectedly allowed the country's leading opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, to leave house arrest briefly and meet with a UN envoy trying to persuade the junta to ease its crackdown against a pro-democracy uprising. Thousands of troops locked down Myanmar's largest cities, and scores of people were arrested overnight. In Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, security forces arrested dozens of university students who staged a street protest.


1/10/2007

Oct 1, Myanmar's junta leader stalled a UN envoy for yet another day, delaying his chance to present international demands for an end to the crackdown on the largest protests in two decades. A Norway-based dissident news organization, the Democratic Voice of Burma, said pro-democracy activists estimate 138 people were killed in the recent protests. Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Myanmar, said her staff had visited up to 15 monasteries around Yangon and every single one was empty. She put the number of arrested demonstrators, monks and civilians, in the thousands.


2/10/2007Oct 2, Myanmar's reclusive junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, finally granted an audience to a UN envoy hoping to broker an end to Myanmar's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.


3/10/2007

Oct 3, Soldiers said they were hunting pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar's largest city and the top US diplomat in the country said military police had pulled people out of their homes during the night. The European Union agreed in principle to punish the junta with sanctions.


5/10/2007

Oct 5, In Myanmar acting Ambassador Shari Villarosa met with Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint in the remote jungle capital of Naypitaw (Naypyidaw). During her visit, she was expected to repeat the US view that the regime must meet with democratic opposition groups and "stop the iron crackdown" on peaceful demonstrators. The US said it would propose a UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Myanmar if the government there does not "respond constructively" to international concern about repression of pro-democracy protests.


6/10/2007

Oct 6, Myanmar's junta tried to cool growing UN pressure over its deadly crackdown on peaceful protests, offering talks with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and relaxing its blockage of the Internet. A day of global protests against Myanmar's junta began in cities across Asia, after the military regime admitted detaining hundreds of Buddhist monks when troops turned their guns on pro-democracy demonstrators last week.


7/10/2007Oct 7, Myanmar's military leaders stepped up pressure on monks who spearheaded pro-democracy rallies, saying that weapons had been seized from Buddhist monasteries and threatening to punish all violators of the law.


10/10/2007

Oct 10, A Myanmar exile group, made up of former political prisoners, said authorities had recently informed the family of Win Shwe (42), that he had died during interrogation in the central Myanmar region of Sagaing. He and five colleagues were arrested on Sept. 26. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said that at least seven people have been arrested in the past two days in Yangon, including Hla Myo Naung (39), a leader of the '88 Generation Students.


12/10/2007

Oct 12, Myanmar PM Gen. Soe Win (59), reviled for his role in a bloody attack on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers in 2003, died after a long illness. Myanmar's military junta rejected a UN statement calling for negotiations with the opposition, insisting that it would follow its own plan to bring democracy to the country.


13/10/2007Oct 13, Amnesty International said 4 prominent political activists were arrested in Myanmar as the ruling junta kept up its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.


14/10/2007Oct 14, Myanmar's ruling junta restored Internet access but kept foreign news sites blocked, partially easing its crackdown as a UN envoy headed to Asia to convey the world's demands for democratic reforms in the country.


16/10/2007Oct 16, In Myanmar relatives said 5 pro-democracy activists had been sentenced to long jail terms.


16/10/2007Oct 16, Japan, Myanmar's largest aid donor, said it had canceled a multimillion dollar grant to protest the military-ruled nation's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.


17/10/2007Oct 17, Myanmar's military junta acknowledged that it detained nearly 3,000 people during a crackdown on recent pro-democracy protests, with hundreds still remaining in custody.


19/10/2007Oct 19, Pres. Bush imposed new financial sanctions against Myanmar, freezing YS assets of 11 additional members of the military government.



Date Event REF

20/10/2007Oct 20, Myanmar announced that it was lifting a curfew and ending a ban on assembly imposed after a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the latest sign that the government believes it has extinguished the largest demonstrations in decades.


24/10/2007Oct 24, A day of global protests against Myanmar's junta began in Bangkok as democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi marked a cumulative 12 years in detention.


25/10/2007

Oct 25, Suu Kyi, detained since May 2003, met with a newly appointed Myanmar government official as part of a UN-brokered attempt to nudge her and the military junta toward reconciliation. At least 70 people detained by the military government following protests in Myanmar, including 50 members of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, were released.


26/10/2007Oct 26, In Myanmar one-time drug warlord Khun Sa (b.1933), variously described as among the world's most wanted men and as a great Shan liberation fighter, died.


30/10/2007

Oct 30, Myanmar's military government freed seven members of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party, who had been held for more than a month. Human Rights Watch charged that Myanmar’s military government is recruiting children as young as 10 into its armed forces.


31/10/2007Oct 31, More than 100 Buddhist monks marched in northern Myanmar for nearly an hour, the first public demonstration since the government's deadly crackdown last month on pro-democracy protesters.


14/11/2007Nov 14, Myanmar's military junta arrested three more activists, surging ahead with a crackdown even as it hosted a UN human rights investigator and insisted that all arrests had stopped.


17/11/2007Nov 17, State media reported that China has called on Myanmar to speed up democratic reforms, an unusual move for Beijing, which has traditionally refrained from criticizing the military regime.


4/12/2007Dec 4, State media said Myanmar's military junta has completed the release of 8,585 prisoners, but it was unclear if any of those released were among those detained during the crackdown.


10/12/2007Dec 10, Australia accepted seven asylum seekers from Myanmar as refugees as the country's new Labor government began unwinding tough immigration laws which force boatpeople into detention on Pacific island nations.


14/12/2007

Dec 14, Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by bird flu, announced its 93rd death due to the H5N1 virus. In China, the military in eastern Nanjing banned the sale of poultry this week after a father and son came down with the disease earlier this month. Health officials confirmed the 24-year-old man died from the virus a day before his father, 52, became sick. It was the country's 17th bird flu death. The WHO confirmed Myanmar's first human case of bird flu and praised the secretive country for its quick and open handling of the infection. State media reported a girl (7) was hospitalized on Nov. 27 and released on Dec. 12 in good condition after being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.


2007Myanmar’s population was around 53 million. Myanmar is rich in natural resources, but 90 percent of its people lived on less than 1 a day. 30% lived below the poverty line.


2/1/2008Jan 2, Myanmar's military junta dramatically raised the annual fee for TV satellite dishes, an apparent move to block the foreign news channels that beamed in global criticism of its recent crackdown on pro-democracy protests.


4/1/2008Jan 4, Myanmar's Independence Day was marked by opposition calls for the freeing of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners as the military rulers urged national discipline.


20/1/2008Jan 20, In Myanmar a bus plunged over the side of a road and flipped over, killing 27 passengers and injuring 10 others.


5/2/2008Feb 5, The US Treasury Dept. said it is imposing financial sanctions against family members of the military-run government of Myanmar and individuals it identified as key members of the financial empire of Tay Za.


12/2/2008

Feb 12, In Myanmar supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi protested to demand democracy in Myanmar, days after the military regime said it would hold elections in 2010 under a new constitution likely to entrench the junta's powerful position.


19/2/2008Feb 19, Myanmar's ruling junta said the country's new draft constitution, which will replace one scrapped in 1988, has been completed.


3/3/2008Mar 3, In Myanmar 5 people were killed in execution-style shootings in the wealthy Yangon neighborhood where democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest.


3/3/2008Mar 3, The Sri Lankan navy said it rescued 71 Burmese Bangladeshi citizens aboard a vessel that had drifted for 12 days in the Indian Ocean. 20 others had died from lack of food and water.


5/3/2008Mar 5, In Myanmar pro-democracy party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's said they had failed in a bid to sue the military government for not recognizing their 1990 election victory.


21/3/2008Mar 21, In Myanmar a man set himself on fire at Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon's most famous landmark in a political protest against the military junta. He died of his injuries in April.


27/3/2008Mar 27, Myanmar's junta chief insisted that he is not power-hungry and intends to hand control of the government to the winners of elections in 2010.


2/4/2008Apr 2, Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party urged voters to reject a military-backed draft constitution, saying it was undemocratic and drafted under the junta's direct control.



Date Event REF

10/4/2008

Apr 10, In Thailand 54 illegal migrant workers from Myanmar suffocated in the back of an unventilated truck, while the rest of the passengers being smuggled to Thailand pounded on the container and screamed in vain for the driver's help. 37 of the dead were women and 17 were men. A Thai court the next day convicted some 64 survivors of illegal entry and rule to send them back to Myanmar.


12/4/2008 Apr 12, Myanmar reportedly had about 500,000 soldiers, twice the 1958 number. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

1/5/2008May 1, Pres. Bush imposed new sanctions against property owned or controlled by the military junta in Myanmar.


3/5/2008

May 3, A tropical cyclone slammed into Myanmar's main city of Yangon, ripping off roofs, felling trees and raising fears of major casualties. Later counts guessed that some 138,000 died or went missing due to the cyclone. Foreign countries mobilized to rush in aid after the country's deadliest storm on record. In 2010 Emma Larkin authored “Everything Is Broken: A Tale of Catastrophe in Burma.”


6/5/2008May 6, Myanmar's junta decided to postpone voting on a new constitution in areas hardest-hit by a devastating cyclone as the death toll soared above 22,500.


7/5/2008May 7, The international relief effort for hundreds of thousands of Myanmar cyclone victims picked up speed as India dispatched two planeloads of aid and Myanmar authorized the UN to send its own air shipment.


8/5/2008

May 8, Relief supplies from the United Nations began arriving in Myanmar, but US military planes loaded with aid were still denied access by the country's isolationist regime five days after a devastating cyclone. Some feared that lack of safe food and drinking water could push the death toll above 100,000.


9/5/2008

May 9, Myanmar's junta seized UN aid shipments headed for hungry and homeless survivors of last week's devastating cyclone prompting the world body to suspend further help. According to state media, 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis.


10/5/2008

May 10, Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise. Voting on a new constitution began in all but the hardest hit parts of the country. The UN said at least one million survivors remain without aid more than a week after the deadly cyclone.


11/5/2008May 11, In Myanmar a Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for cyclone victims sank, while the death toll jumped to more than 28,000 and aid groups warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.


12/5/2008May 12, Myanmar state television put the death toll for Cyclone Nargis at 31,938 with 29,770 people missing. The US White House said it was extending an extra 13 million dollars in aid as the first US flight of emergency supplies landed in the country.


14/5/2008

May 14, Experts said the 1.5 million people left destitute by Myanmar's cyclone are in increasing danger of disease and starvation, but the ruling junta said no to a Thai request to admit more aid workers. The Red Cross said the death toll could reach nearly 128,000. Another powerful storm headed toward Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta and the UN warned that inadequate relief efforts could lead to a second wave of deaths among the estimated 2 million survivors.


15/5/2008

May 15, Myanmar's junta warned that legal action would be taken against people who trade or hoard international aid as the cyclone's death toll soared above 43,000. Myanmar announced that a constitution won massive support in a referendum, a claim slammed by a leading rights group as an insult to the country's people.


16/5/2008May 16, The EU aid chief said that Myanmar's junta still would not budge on accepting foreign relief workers, two weeks after the cyclone tragedy that has left more than 71,000 dead or missing.


17/5/2008

May 17, Frustrated world leaders tightened the pressure on Myanmar, raising the allegation of crimes against humanity over the regime's slow-moving response to the cyclone disaster. Diplomats witnessed "huge" devastation in the Irrawaddy delta and the toll of dead and missing from the cyclone rose above 133,000 people.


18/5/2008May 18, A senior UN envoy went to Myanmar to urge its military junta to accept more international aid for cyclone survivors. A British minister suggested the isolationist regime may be relenting.


19/5/2008May 19, Myanmar declared three days of mourning for cyclone victims after agreeing to an international aid effort led by its Southeast Asian neighbors to help two million survivors in dire need.


20/5/2008May 20, The UN's top humanitarian official made fresh pleas to Myanmar's military government to allow in more foreign aid for cyclone survivors, as the country began three days of mourning for the 134,000 dead and missing.


21/5/2008May 21, UN chief Ban Ki-moon began a mission for Myanmar's cyclone victims, saying "our focus now is on saving lives," as the military government gave approval UN helicopters to distribute aid.


23/5/2008May 23, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Myanmar's junta agreed to allow all aid workers into the country after weeks of refusing access to foreign relief experts seeking to help cyclone survivors.


25/5/2008

May 25, A 52-nation international conference pledged tens of millions of dollars for some 2.4 million Myanmar survivors in need of aid. Official estimates put the death toll at about 78,000, with another 56,000 missing. Myanmar has estimated the economic damage at about 11 billion.


27/5/2008May 27, Myanmar's military junta extended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention by one year, ignoring worldwide appeals to free the Nobel laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years.



Date Event REF

30/5/2008May 30, Myanmar's ruling junta lashed out at foreign aid donors, saying cyclone victims did not need supplies of "chocolate bars" and could instead survive by eating frogs and fish.


5/6/2008Jun 5, Amnesty International said Myanmar's military regime has forced cyclone survivors to do menial labor in exchange for food and stepped up a campaign to evict displaced citizens from aid shelters.


9/6/2008Jun 9, UN helicopters fanned out across Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, ferrying critical supplies to villages struggling to survive since a devastating cyclone struck more than five weeks ago.


12/6/2008Jun 12, ASEAN said Southeast Asian and UN experts will have full access to cyclone-devastated parts of Myanmar, where more than a million people have still not received any foreign help.


12/6/2008Jun 12, In central Myanmar at least 11 people died over the last 24 hours when their homes collapsed from landslides caused by heavy rain.


24/6/2008Jun 24, Myanmar's ruling junta announced that 84,500 people perished in Cyclone Nargis in May, up from an earlier confirmed toll of 77,700.


1/6/2008Jul 1, In Myanmar a ferry named "Myo Pa Pa Tun" sank in the Yway river in the cyclone-battered Irrawaddy delta, killing 38 people. 44 others were rescued.


6/6/2008

Jul 6, Myanmar's state-run newspaper said the overwhelming election victory by Aung San Suu Kyi's party in 1990 has been nullified by the approval of a military-backed constitution and her National League for Democracy party should prepare for a new vote in 2010.


8/6/2008Jul 8, State-media said Myanmar's military regime has approved visas for more than 1,500 international aid workers to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, with half of them involved in relief operations in storm-hit regions.


21/6/2008Jul 21, A UN-led report said Myanmar needs at least 1 billion over the next three years to put the survivors of Cyclone Nargis back on their feet, in the first comprehensive assessment of damage caused by the disaster that killed more than 84,000 people.


25/6/2008Jul 25, A UN official said as much as 25 percent of cyclone relief aid in Myanmar is being lost because of the military government's foreign exchange system.


29/6/2008

Jul 29, Pres. Bush signed a bill freezing the assets of political and military leaders in Myanmar and banning the importation of rubies and jade from Myanmar to the US. The legislation also gave incentives to Chevron to divest its natural gas program there. The US Treasury announced financial sanctions on 10 companies suspected of being owned by Myanmar’s government.


6/8/2008Aug 6, President George W. Bush flew into Bangkok on the latest leg of a pre-Olympics Asian tour, although his focus in Thailand is mainly on the "outpost of tyranny" junta in neighboring Myanmar.


7/8/2008Aug 7, In Thailand first lady Laura Bush, meeting with refugees who fled a brutal campaign by Myanmar's military junta, urged China and other countries to join the US in imposing sanctions against the country.


1/9/2008

Sep 1, In Myanmar Saw Myint Than, a magazine journalist was arrested on a charge of violating the Electronics Law, which regulates all forms of electronic communication and carries a maximum five-year prison term. He was freed on Oct 20 after police determined he had not provided information to The Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based Web site run by Myanmar exiles.


5/9/2008Sep 5, The political party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged Myanmar's military government to ensure her well-being as she continued to refuse food deliveries to protest her detention.


16/9/2008

Sep 16, A Buddhist monk slashed his throat in a suicide attempt at Myanmar's most sacred temple, the scene of several pro-democracy protests that erupted a year ago. A trustee of the Shwedagon temple said the monk became desperate after running out of money to pay for medical care.


23/9/2008

Sep 23, Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner, journalist Win Tin, was freed after 19 years behind bars and vowed to continue his struggle to achieve democracy in the military-ruled country. Altogether Myanmar freed 9,002 prisoners. Win Htein (64), a former aide to Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was re-arrested less than 24 hours after being freed by the military government in the mass amnesty.


11/11/2008

Nov 11, Myanmar sentenced 23 activists, including 5 Buddhist monks arrested during anti-junta protests last year to 65 years each in jail, in what rights groups branded a fresh attempt to stifle dissent. Min Ko Naing, considered as one of Myanmar's top activists, was among those sentenced.


13/11/2008

Nov 13, Myanmar courts handed down sentences of between six and eight years for 4 Buddhist monks and two to 16 years for members of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's party for involvement in last year's massive protests against the military junta. 14 more activists from the NLD were sentenced the next day at different courts in Yangon for between two to 16 years, all in relation to last year's protests.


14/11/2008

Nov 14, In Myanmar journalist Ein Khaing Oo, who had been detained for five months, was sentenced to two years in prison for her coverage of a protest over the lack of government relief for victims of a devastating cyclone. She was convicted in a closed-door trial on charges of "disturbing tranquility."


17/11/2008Nov 17, Courts in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced at least seven democracy activists to prison, continuing a crackdown that saw about 70 people jailed last week.



Date Event REF

19/11/2008

Nov 19, A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced a student activist to 6 1/2 years in jail, a week after his father received a 65-year prison term for his own political activities and a decade after his grandfather died in custody. Di Nyein Lin was one of three student activists sentenced by a court in a suburb of Yangon for various offenses, including causing public alarm and insulting religion.


21/11/2008

Nov 21, Courts in military-ruled Myanmar handed long prison sentences to a prominent Buddhist monk and Zarganar, a popular comedian active in the country's pro-democracy movement, rounding out two weeks of an intensive judicial crackdown on activists.


27/11/2008

Nov 27, A court inside Myanmar's notorious Insein prison sentenced a comedian who has criticized the government's cyclone response to 14 more years, bringing his total prison term to 59 years, his lawyer said. Comedian and activist Zarganar was given a 45-year prison sentence last week after he was convicted on charges related to interviews he gave to foreign media outlets.


28/11/2008

Nov 28, In Myanmar 2 journalists were jailed for seven years each on charges of undermining the military junta after they were caught with a UN human rights report. A court in a northeastern suburb of Yangon sentenced Thet Zin, editor of the local Myanmar-language journal News Watch, and Sein Win Maung, the paper's manager, under the country's draconian Printing and Publishing Law.


29/12/2008

Dec 29, The Indian Coast Guard rescued two people off India's east coast during a search for more than 300 illegal immigrants missing for the past four days and feared dead. Survivors told Indian authorities that more than 300 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, members of the ethnic Rohingya minority, had jumped from a rickety boat that had been drifting for 13 days in the Indian Ocean and tried to swim to shore near the Andaman Islands. On Jan 16 a refugees' advocacy group accused the Thai navy of tying up four illegal immigrants and throwing them into the ocean before abandoning hundreds of others on a barge in open water, where some 300 drowned. At least 100 were rescued in Indian waters. Survivors at the time told Indian authorities they had been detained by Thai authorities, who towed them into the open sea and left them.


17/1/2009Jan 17, Two dehydrated men from Myanmar were found bobbing in an ice box in the Torres Strait off Australia. They told authorities they had spent 25 days adrift after their fishing boat sank. There was no sign of 18 other crew members.


26/1/2009Jan 26, The Thai navy detained a boat filled with 78 illegal Rohingya migrants, many of whom had lacerations and burns they said were inflicted by Myanmar soldiers.


28/1/2009

Jan 28, A new UN report said Myanmar faced food shortages in many parts of the country, largely because of last year's cyclone and a rat infestation that destroyed crops. A human rights group said the Chin people, Christians living in the remote mountains of northwestern Myanmar, are subject to forced labor, torture, extrajudicial killings and religious persecution by the country's military regime.


28/1/2009Jan 28, A Thai court convicted 66 barefoot, disheveled migrants detained at sea of illegally entering the country, raising the prospect they could be sent back to Myanmar despite fears they would be persecuted there.


30/1/2009

Jan 30, Indonesia said it will repatriate 174 "economic migrants" who fled Myanmar claiming persecution, as new accounts emerged of their harrowing sea journey and alleged abuse by the Thai navy. The 174 Rohingya and 19 Bangladeshis being kept at an Indonesian naval base landed in Weh Island off northern Sumatra on January 7.


2/2/2009

Feb 2, Indonesia's navy picked up 198 starving, dehydrated boat people from Myanmar who said they drifted for three weeks after authorities in Thailand forced them to sea in a boat without an engine. Indonesian fishermen had discovered the 40-foot (12-meter) boat off Aceh's coast in northern Sumatra and towed it to shore.


13/2/2009Feb 13, Myanmar's military government extended the house arrest of the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party for one year, despite recent calls from the United Nations for the release of political prisoners.


20/2/2009Feb 20, In Myanmar the government announced an amnesty for 6,300 prisoners. Only a handful of political detainees were among those released.


17/3/2009

Mar 17, Authorities in Myanmar were reported to have arrested five members of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party from March 6-13. the report came a day after the UN called for the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners in the military-run country.


21/4/2009

Apr 21, In Myanmar authorities arrested Chit Pe, the pro-democracy deputy chairman, and party member Aung Saw Wei in Twante township. Both took part in a prayer service for the release of political prisoners which was held at a pagoda, about 20 miles south of Yangon. The two were charged with insulting religion, which carries a possible two-year jail sentence.


24/4/2009Apr 24, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak vowed to investigate a scathing report by US lawmakers saying thousands of Myanmar refugees were handed over to human traffickers and ended up working in Thai brothels.


14/5/2009May 14, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest and faces up to five years in jail after John Yettaw, an American intruder, sneaked into her lakeside home.


22/5/2009May 22, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded not guilty at her trial and blamed the regime's lax security for allowing an American intruder to swim uninvited to her lakeside home.



Date Event REF

5/6/2009Jun 5, In Myanmar refugees began streaming out of the Ler Per Her camp in eastern Karen state and into Thailand as Myanmar forces shelled near a camp where they were sheltering.


6/6/2009Jun 6, Myanmar forces started launching mortar attacks during fighting with Karen guerrillas.


6/6/2009Jun 6, It was reported that Chinese aid to Myanmar totaled some 400 million over the past five years. US aid to Myanmar was said to be worth 12 million a year.


4/7/2009Jul 4, In Myanmar UN chief Ban Ki-moon gave a rare public speech outlining his vision for a democratic Myanmar, just hours after the ruling junta refused to let him meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


1/8/2009

Aug 1, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that North Korea is helping Myanmar build a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction plant to build an atomic bomb within five years, citing the evidence of defectors. "In the event that the testimony of the defectors is proved, the alleged secret reactor could be capable of being operational and producing one bomb a year, every year, after 2014."


8/8/2009

Aug 8, Myanmar government troops seized a weapons factory near the Chinese border after being informed about it during a ministerial meeting with China on combating transnational crime. This triggered several days of clashes with an ethnic militia that sent more than 30,000 refugees fleeing across the border into China.


11/8/2009

Aug 11, A Myanmar court convicted Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of violating her house arrest by allowing John Yettaw, an uninvited American, to stay at her home. The head of the military-ruled country ordered the democracy leader to serve an 18-month sentence under house arrest. Yettaw was also convicted, and had just spent a week in a prison hospital for epileptic seizures.


13/8/2009Aug 13, The EU said it was extending its sanctions on Myanmar to cover members of the judiciary responsible for the verdict in the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


15/8/2009Aug 15, In Myanmar US Sen. Jim Webb won the release of John Yettaw (53), an American prisoner convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


24/8/2009Aug 24, Myanmar police seized more than 100 blocks of heroin and nearly 3 million methamphetamine tablets near the border with Thailand in one of the military-ruled country's largest drug seizures.


25/8/2009Aug 25, US Senator Jim Webb, back from a rare trip to Myanmar, called sanctions against the military regime "overwhelmingly counter-productive" and asked the opposition to consider taking part in upcoming elections.


27/8/2009Aug 27, In Myanmar fresh fighting erupted between government forces and an armed ethnic group in the remote northeast, forcing tens of thousands to flee across the border into China.


29/8/2009

Aug 29, Fighting erupted in northeast Myanmar after days of clashes in which the leader of ethnic forces said more than 30 government troops had been killed. Hundreds of ethnic rebels fled clashes in northeastern Myanmar, surrendering their weapons and uniforms to Chinese border police and crossing to safety after several days of skirmishes with Myanmar government troops. The UN and Chinese officials said up to 30,000 civilian refugees have streamed into China to escape the fighting.


30/8/2009Aug 30, The Myanmar junta ended a news blackout about clashes with ethnic rebels near the China border, saying three days of fighting killed 26 government forces and at least eight rebels.


31/8/2009Aug 31, Thousands of Myanmar refugees headed home from China as fighting between government troops and a rebel militia that left more than 30 people dead appeared to be over.


3/9/2009

Sep 3, Myanmar-born Kyaw Zaw Lwin, an American citizen also known as Nyi Nyi Aung, was arrested when he arrived at Yangon airport. Lwin started a hunger strike on Dec. 4 to protest conditions of political prisoners in Myanmar. He ended his hunger strike Dec. 15 and was subsequently placed in solitary confinement. On Jan 1, 2010, Lwin was charged for forgery and violation of the foreign currency act. Lwin (40) was released on March 18, 2010.


17/9/2009Sep 17, Myanmar's junta announced amnesty to 7,114 convicts at prisons across the country, but it was not immediately known if they included political detainees.


18/9/2009Sep 18, Myanmar released at least 25 political detainees as part of an amnesty program. The country was believed to be holding some 65,000 prisoners including over 2,200 political detainees.


29/9/2009Sep 29, The US signaled a new approach to Myanmar as Kurt Campbell, assistant to the US Sec. of State, met in NY with U Thaung, Myanmar’s minister of science, technology and labor.


9/10/2009Oct 9, Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was granted a rare meeting with top Western diplomats to discuss sanctions imposed on the military-ruled nation.


3/11/2009Nov 3, The US began a new policy of engagement with Myanmar's ruling military junta, sending two senior diplomats for the highest-level visit in more than a decade.


4/11/2009

Nov 4, In Myanmar a top US official held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi as the ruling junta gave the democracy icon a rare break from house arrest during Washington's highest-level visit here in 14 years. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell also met PM Thein Sein as part of efforts by the Obama administration to re-engage with the hardline military regime.



Date Event REF

6/11/2009Nov 6, Japan pledged 5.5 billion in aid over 3 years for Southeast Asia's 5 Mekong River nations (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), seeking to deepen ties with the region amid growing influence from China.


15/11/2009Nov 15, In Myanmar a ferry carrying nearly 200 passengers sank after colliding with an oil barge in the Ngawun River, killing at least 31 and leaving more than a dozen missing.


16/12/2009Dec 16, In Myanmar 6 people were killed and 12 injured when a time bomb exploded in Karen state.


31/12/2009

Dec 31, In Myanmar Freelance reporter Hla Hla Win (25) was sentenced by a court in Pakokku for an alleged violation of the country's Electronics Act. She was arrested in September after visiting a Buddhist monastery in the northern town of Pakokku. The jailed reporter had worked with the Myanmar exile broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based in Oslo, Norway. A man accompanying her was sentenced to 26 years in jail.


2009Dec, Myanmar began its Myitsone hydropower project. All the electricity was to be exported to China with revenues going to the Myanmar government.


1/1/2010

Jan 1, A free-trade agreement between China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) came into effect. The 6 richest members scrapped tariffs on 90% of goods. The 4 poorest (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar) will not need to cut tariffs to the same level until 2015.


4/1/2010Jan 4, Myanmar's ruling junta chief confirmed that the country's first general elections in two decades will be held this year but gave no date for the balloting, which is expected to exclude pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.


26/1/2010Jan 26, In Myanmar the Palaung Women's Organization reported that opium cultivation in Shan State has tripled in certain areas over the past three years. The Palaung are an ethnic minority in the northern state.


10/2/2010

Feb 10, In Myanmar a court sentenced Nyi Nyi Aung, a Burmese-born American, to 3 years of hard labor for carrying a forged identity card, undeclared US currency and for not renouncing his nationality after becoming a US citizen. He was arrested last September when he returned to visit his mother, an imprisoned democracy activist suffering from cancer.


13/2/2010Feb 13, In Myanmar Tin Oo (82), the deputy leader of the pro-democracy party, was released by the military regime after almost seven years in detention and said he hoped the party's leader Aung San Suu Kyi would also soon gain freedom.


15/2/2010

Feb 15, Myanmar sentenced four activists to prison terms with hard labor as special UN envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana arrived to assess progress on human rights in the country. The four women were arrested last October after being accused of offering Buddhist monks alms that included religious literature.


17/2/2010Feb 17, In Myanmar Gaw Thita, a Buddhist monk, was quietly sentenced to seven years in prison violating immigration laws by taking a trip to Taiwan last year.


23/2/2010Feb 23, In Myanmar a Cameroon football player fled temporarily to the French embassy in Yangon as he was being taken to court by police for allegedly counterfeiting currency notes. He surrendered to police a short time later could face life imprisonment.


28/2/2010Feb 28, In Myanmar Sai Thein Win, a former major in the army, defected and brought papers confirming Myanmar’s intent, if not yet capacity, to enrich uranium and eventually build a bomb.


8/3/2010Mar 8, Myanmar announced the enactment of long awaited laws that set the stage for the country's first election in 20 years to be held sometime this year.


13/3/2010Mar 13, In Myanmar ethnic rebels in Nam Zam township, Shan State, killed 20 government troops in an ambush aimed at deterring the military government from launching an offensive against them ahead of elections this year.


25/3/2010Mar 25, China agreed to share water level data at 2 dams to ease pressure from nations downstream, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.


29/3/2010Mar 29, Myanmar's biggest opposition party said it would not register for this year's election, meaning Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party will have no role in the military-led political process.


15/4/2010Apr 15, In Myanmar 3 bombs exploded at a water festival in the former capital Yangon, killing 8 people and wounding 94. State TV blamed "destructive elements" for the attacks.


17/4/2010Apr 17, In northern Myanmar a series of bombs exploded at a controversial hydropower project site being jointly built by a Chinese company.


29/4/2010Apr 29, In Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi filed a lawsuit with the country’s Supreme Court in an attempt to prevent the dissolution of her party under a controversial new election law.


4/5/2010May 4, Tin Tun Aung, secretary of the Myanmar Travel Entrepreneurs Association, said tourist visas, which are normally arranged days in advance at an embassy abroad, will be now be available at international airports in Mandalay and the biggest city, Yangon.


6/5/2010May 6, Myanmar leaders of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party said they would continue working as a social movement after a new election law forced its dissolution as a political party at midnight.


7/5/2010May 7, In Myanmar a faction of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition declared it will form its own political party to contest Myanmar's first elections in two decades, a day after the democracy icon's party disbanded to boycott the vote it says will be flawed.



Date Event REF

4/6/2010Jun 4, Robert Kelley, a former senior UN nuclear inspector, said secret documents and hundreds of photos smuggled out of Myanmar by an army defector indicate its military regime is trying to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.


17/6/2010Jun 17, Officials and reports said floods and landslides triggered by incessant monsoon rains in Bangladesh and Myanmar have killed more than 100 people.


18/6/2010Jun 18, Myanmar state media reported that days of flooding and landslides caused by monsoon downpours have killed 57 people in its northwest.


10/7/2010Jul 10, Myanmar state media reported that a new party formed by renegade members of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's disbanded party has received a permit to participate in Myanmar's first elections in two decades.


15/7/2010Jul 15, In Myanmar Win Htein, a former aide to Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from prison after 14 years behind bars.


30/7/2010Jul 30, In Myanmar official talks between North Korea and Myanmar entered a second day. The US said it is carefully watching the budding secretive relationship between the 2 countries for signs of nuclear cooperation.


14/8/2010Aug 14, The EU told military-run Myanmar that its Nov. 7 elections, the first in two decades, will not be considered legitimate in the eyes of the world unless it can ensure the vote is free and fair.


27/8/2010Aug 27, Myanmar's junta carried out a major military reshuffle Friday that retired more than a dozen senior leaders, in an apparent move to prepare for November national elections.


30/9/2010Sep 30, Lawyers said courts in military-ruled Myanmar have given long prison sentences to 13 people, including a Buddhist monk, who were accused of planning bombings and other activities to disrupt upcoming elections.


2010Oct 5, In Myanmar detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi launched a legal battle against the ruling military junta, suing to keep her political party intact after it was disbanded earlier this year under Myanmar's new party registration law.


7/9/2010Sep 7, Myanmar’s ruling junta leader, Gen. Than Shwe, began a 4-day visit to China. This year alone China had already invested over 8 billion in Myanmar.


18/10/2010Oct 18, Myanmar election officials said foreign journalists will not be allowed to cover its Nov 7 elections, the first in 20 years.


21/10/2010Oct 21, Military-ruled Myanmar unveiled a new national flag. The new flag has horizontal stripes of yellow, green and red with a big white star in the middle. (These horizontal colors are identical to the Lithuanian national flag.)


25/10/2010Oct 25, Myanmar state television reported that at least 27 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced when Cyclone Giri struck its western coast a week earlier.


26/10/2010

Oct 26, An annual report by Transparency Int’l. marked Somalia as the most corrupt county in the world, followed by Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iraq. Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore tied as the world’s least corrupt nations. The US declined to 22nd from 19th last year.


27/10/2010Oct 27, Scientists said a new type of snub-nosed monkey has been found in a remote forested region of northern Myanmar, which is under threat from logging and a Chinese dam project.


2/11/2010

Nov 2, Myanmar election authorities canceled voting in Nov 7 elections in 12 more village tracts in six constituencies in Kayah state, where restive ethnic minorities are dominant. The commission in September announced the cancellation of voting in about 300 village tracts in 33 townships where restive ethnic minorities are dominant. Six armed ethnic groups in Myanmar forged an agreement to join forces, fearing they will be attacked by the regime after the elections. The "landmark deal" was struck in the Thai-Myanmar town of Mae Hong Son and included organizations from the Karen, Karenni, Chin, Kachin, Mon and Shan minorities.


7/11/2010

Nov 7, Myanmar held its first election in 20 years under tight security, a scripted vote that assured army-backed parties an easy win. Complex rules for the election thwarted any chance of a pro-democracy upset as Myanmar ended half a century of direct army rule. Minority Karen rebels seized government buildings in clashes with troops in the border town of Myawaddy. Myanmar's biggest military-backed party won the country's first election in 20 years by a landslide, after a carefully choreographed vote denounced by pro-democracy parties as rigged to preserve authoritarian rule.


8/11/2010

Nov 8, In Myanmar fighting between ethnic rebels and government troops has sent at least 10,000 refugees fleeing into Thailand just after a widely criticized election expected to usher in a parliament sympathetic to the military regime. Thai officials said that fighting had died down, and government troops had regained control of Myawaddy.


9/11/2010Nov 9, About 20,000 refugees from Myanmar headed home after fleeing to Thailand as fighting followed a general election that is certain to keep Myanmar's military and its allies in power.


9/11/2010

Nov 9, A UN report suggesting North Korea may have supplied Syria, Iran and Myanmar with banned nuclear technology headed to the Security Council. The latest report by the so-called Panel of Experts on Pyongyang's compliance with UN sanctions was delivered to the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee in May, but did not move for nearly six months due to Chinese objections.



Date Event REF

12/11/2010Nov 12, An ally of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said an order for her release has been signed by Myanmar's ruling generals, as hundreds of supporters gathered at her political party headquarters and near her residence in anticipation.


13/11/2010Nov 13, Myanmar's military government freed its archrival, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (65), after her latest term of detention expired. Several thousand jubilant supporters streamed to her residence.


14/11/2010Nov 14, In army-ruled Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for freedom of speech, urged thousands of supporters to stand up for their rights, and indicated she may urge the West to end sanctions.


16/11/2010Nov 16, Myanmar's military government warned against filing complaints over the Nov. 7 election, a move that could spell trouble for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has vowed to probe alleged voting irregularities.


19/11/2010

Nov 19, A UN General Assembly committee passed resolutions condemning human rights violations in Iran, North Korea and Myanmar, provoking a furious reaction from their delegations. The committee passed the resolution by 80 votes to 44, with 57 abstentions.


20/11/2010

Nov 21, A global tiger summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, approved a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 backed by governments of the 13 countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia. Experts wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching.


26/11/2010

Nov 26, Myanmar published laws, signed by junta chief Gen. Than Shwe, stipulating that parliamentarians will be allowed freedom of expression unless their speeches endanger national security, the unity of the country or violate the constitution. They also provide a two-year prison term for those who stage protests in the parliament compound or physically assault a lawmaker on its premises.


14/12/2010

Dec 14, A report, "High and Dry," by the Shan Sapawa Environmental Organization and the Shan Women's Action Network, said local trade and transport on the river in northern Myanmar near a border trade crossing with China has been severely affected by unpredictable daily changes in the water level since the completion in mid-2010 of the 360-foot (110-m) tall Longjiang Dam about 19 miles (30 kilometers) upstream.


2010 Emma Larkin authored “Everything Is Broken: A Tale of Catastrophe in Burma.” http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML2010 In Myanmar the annual income per person was about 459 http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

30/1/2011Jan 30, The Myanmar opposition group led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi launched its first official website: http://www.nldburma.org/.


31/1/2011Jan 31, In Myanmar an elected parliament convened for the first time in half a century but inspired scant enthusiasm among a skeptical public convinced it is just a smokescreen for continued military rule.


1/2/2011Feb 1, Myanmar's first parliament in more than two decades nominated five vice-presidential candidates, one of whom will become president and lead the new military-dominated government.


3/2/2011Feb 3, Myanmar's new parliament elected Thein Sein, prime minister in the outgoing military junta, as one of three vice presidents, making him a likely contender for president in the new military-dominated government.


4/2/2011Feb 4, Myanmar's newly elected parliament named Thein Sein (65), a key figure in the long-ruling military junta, as president, ensuring that the first civilian government in decades will be dominated by the army that has brutally suppressed dissent.


16/2/2011Feb 16, Indonesian marine police said they have up 129 starving men from Myanmar off the coast of Aceh. The refugees all belonged to the Rohingya minority, who are not recognized by Myanmar’s military rulers.


8/3/2011Mar 8, Authorities in Myanmar announced a ban on massage parlors and restrictions on restaurants and karaoke lounges in the country's remote capital, Naypyitaw, in a bid to curb disguised prostitution.


23/3/2011Mar 23, In Myanmar Benedict Rogers, author of "Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma's Tyrant," was deported from the country after being identified by secret police.


24/3/2011Mar 24, In Myanmar a 6.8 earthquake struck the northeast, shaking buildings as far away as Bangkok. At least 75 people were killed and 111 injured.


26/3/2011Mar 26, Myanmar reportedly earned more than 2.8 billion from the sale of jade, gems and pearls at its annual gems auction, held this month in the capital, Naypyitaw.


30/3/2011

Mar 30, Myanmar made way for a nominally civilian government after almost half a century in power, as the junta was disbanded and a new president talked of a "changing era." (The present-day Cabinet was sworn in on 30 March 2011 at the Hluttaw complex in Naypyidaw, after being appointed by President Thein Sein)


4/4/2011Apr 4, Myanmar reported that nearly 700 fishermen were missing after a three-day burst of unseasonable storms that ripped apart rickety fishing boats in the Andaman Sea. The March 14-17 storms had whipped up 70 mph (112 kph) winds.


17/5/2011May 17, Myanmar began releasing 17,000 prisoners, under a clemency program that sparked outrage from critics as it leaves more than 2,000 political detainees languishing in jail.


18/5/2011May 18, In Myanmar a bomb exploded on a passenger train near the capital, killing two people and injuring nine.



Date Event REF

27/5/2011May 27, China bestowed a pomp-filled welcome on Myanmar's Pres. Thein Sein, conferring legitimacy on the country's new, nominally civilian government and ensuring continued Chinese access to its neighbor's natural resources.


9/6/2011Jun 9, In northern Myanmar fighting began 9 when government troops allegedly shelled a Kachin base in a bid to force the rebel fighters from a strategic region where China is constructing major hydropower plants.


14/6/2011Jun 14, Myanmar government troops battled rebel fighters of the Kachin Independence Organization in an effort to force them from a strategic region where China is building major hydropower plants. The fighting has left 20 people dead and forced 2000 to flee.


16/6/2011Jun 16, In northern Myanmar more than 10,000 people were reported to have fled fighting between government troops and the Kachin ethnic minority group's militia. They were living in temporary camps near the Chinese border as refugees.


22/6/2011

Jun 22, The Myanmar military-backed government deported Hollywood actress Michelle Yeoh, who stars as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie, on the same day as she arrived in Yangon. The Luc Besson movie about Suu Kyi's life, "The Lady," is due out later this year.


24/6/2011 Jun 24, In Myanmar 4 bombs exploded in three cities, wounding at least two people. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

29/6/2011Jun 29, Myanmar's state media warned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that her planned tour to meet supporters outside Yangon could trigger riots.


2011Jun, UN Statistics Division said 70 territories would be holding censuses in 2011. Only Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Somalia, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara would fail to hold a count in this ten-year round.


2/8/2011Aug 2, In northern Myanmar Kachin rebels ambushed a car carrying workers from a Chinese-backed hydroelectric project, killing seven people.


10/8/2011

On 10 August 2011, the cabinet was reshuffled, with Kyaw Swa Khaing, previously the Minister of Industry No. 1 (with Minister of Industry No. 2, Soe Thein, concurrently becoming head of the Ministry of Industry-1) , appointed as co-Minister of the President's Office http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Burma

14/8/2011Aug 14, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi tested the limits of her freedom by taking her first political trip into the countryside since being released from house arrest.


18/8/2011Aug 18, Myanmar's state-run media said the government has officially invited armed ethnic groups to join peace talks for the first time.


19/8/2011Aug 19, Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi held her first meeting with the military-dominated country's new President Thein Sein. It was her highest contact with the new government since her release from house arrest last November.


31/8/2011Aug 31, In western Myanmar 7 people, including 2 children, were killed when a World War II bomb they found in a river exploded in Rakhine state.


13/9/2011Sep 13, Myanmar said it has released about 20,000 prisoners this year as of the end of July under an amnesty program.


16/9/2011

Sep 16, Myanmar's new government was reported to have stopped blocking some foreign websites this week, such as the BBC and YouTube, in a gesture toward openness tempered by remaining harsh laws that still keep readers of such sites at risk of arrest.


26/9/2011Sep 26, Myanmar democracy activists freshly tested the new government's avowed tolerance for dissent by gathering peacefully at a central landmark in the country's biggest city in honor of giant protests four years ago.


30/9/2011

Sep 30, Myanmar's President Thein Sein ordered a halt to construction of the Myitsone dam, a controversial 3.6 billion mega dam, following rare public opposition over the Chinese-backed hydropower project. Myitsone was just one of 7 dams planned for the upper Irrawaddy.


5/10/2011Oct 5, Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra met Myanmar's president during her first visit to the military-dominated country since she took office in August.


11/10/2011Oct 11, Myanmar's newly elected civilian government announced it will release 6,359 prisoners in an amnesty that could help patch up the country's human rights record and normalize relations with Western nations. Only 200 turned out to be political prisoners.


11/10/2011Oct 11, Myanmar’s government signed legislation allowing the establishment of trade unions.


12/10/2011Oct 12, Myanmar released at least 184 political prisoners, including Zarganar, one of its most famous comedians, in a tentative sign of change in the authoritarian state after decades of repression.


28/10/2011

Oct 28, Myanmar police filed charges against seven people who staged a peaceful protest against alleged unfair confiscation of their land, which comes as the outside world watches the government's stated commitment to democratic reforms. Those charged included labor rights lawyer Pho Phyu, who was with more than 30 farmers who staged a sit-in a day earlier in front of the government housing department in Yangon.


31/10/2011Oct 31, China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand signed a regional security agreement pledging to share intelligence and to engage in joint patrols along a stretch of the Mekong between China and the Golden Triangle.


4/11/2011Nov 4, Myanmar's President Thein Sein signed new legislation on political parties seen as encouraging Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy to reregister as a party.


20/11/2011Nov 20, Myanmar ended 2 days of peace talks with 5 ethnic armies on the Thai-Burma border. More meetings were scheduled in upcoming months.



Date Event REF

24/11/2011Nov 24, Myanmar's Parliament approved a law guaranteeing the right to protest, one of a series of reforms under the new elected government.


29/11/2011Nov 29, A Myanmar government delegation held talks in China with representatives of the Kachin Independence Organization, led by its chairman Zaung Hara, with which it has had armed clashes since June.


30/11/2011Nov 30, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Myanmar on the first top-level US visit for half a century.


2/12/2011

Dec 2, Myanmar's Pres. Thein Sein formally approved a bill allowing citizens to protest peacefully if they have permission, in one of a series of reformist moves by the regime. Shan State Army-South rebel group, one of the main ethnic rebel groups battling Myanmar’s government, was reported to have signed a preliminary cease-fire.


13/12/2011Dec 13, Myanmar authorities gave Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party the green light to rejoin mainstream politics, paving the way for the Nobel laureate to run for a seat in the new parliament.


21/12/2011Dec 21, A blast in Myanmar's commercial hub and former capital Yangon killed one woman and wounded another.


2011Thant Myint-U authored “Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia.”


1/1/2012Jan 1, In Myanmar gas prices unexpectedly rose more than 30 percent for the new year and sparked fears of other goods costing more as well.


3/1/2012Jan 3, Myanmar began releasing some prisoners, but activists and relatives said a government clemency fell short of national reconciliation promise.


5/1/2012Jan 5, Myanmar's government approved the National League for Democracy to run in upcoming by-elections that will return Aung San Suu Kyi's party to mainstream politics after two decades.


12/1/2012

Jan 12, Myanmar's government signed a cease-fire agreement with ethnic Karen rebels in a major step toward ending one of the world's longest-running insurgencies and meeting a key condition for better ties with the West. Myanmar also said it will release 651 prisoners starting Jan 13 under a new presidential pardon, with anticipation mounting that many of those to be freed will be political detainees.


13/1/2012

Jan 13, Myanmar freed some of its most famous political inmates, sparking jubilation outside prison gates while signaling its readiness to meet Western demands for lifting economic sanctions. The Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) said that 272 political prisoners were released, while more than 1,000 remained locked up. President Thein Sein ordered the military not to attack any ethnic minority groups except in self-defense.


19/1/2012Jan 19, Myanmar's government and ethnic Kachin rebels met for cease-fire talks to end several months of armed clashes near the northern border with China, but their preliminary meeting did not make any major breakthroughs.


30/1/2012Jan 30, Myanmar’s Pres. Thein Sein began a 3-day visit to Singapore. During the visit he signed agreements on cooperation in areas from tourism to the law.


1/2/2012Feb 1, In Myanmar an agreement was reached by authorities in Mon State and the rebel New Mon State Party. They agreed to allow the rebel group to open a liaison office and freely travel without weapons.


11/2/2012

Feb 11, In Myanmar some 5,000 software developers and bloggers gathered in Yangon for BarCamp, a get-together of geeks founded 7 years ago in Silicon Valley. The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto, California, from August 19–21, 2005, in the offices of Socialtext.


20/2/2012Feb 20, Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party said that the authorities had lifted campaign restrictions ahead of closely watched by-elections, just hours after it made a complaint.


22/2/2012

Feb 22, In Myanmar thousands came to the diamond-studded Shwedagon Pagoda for the return of an annual festival that was banned for more than 20 years by the former military regime. This marked what is being billed as the 2,600-year anniversary of the temple, which according to legend houses eight strands of Buddha's hair. A group of 12 monks are to take turns chanting nonstop until the full moon on March 7, when the celebrations end.


16/3/2012Mar 16, Myanmar signed an agreement with the International Labor Organization to end forced labor by 2015. The main problem involved adults and youngsters pressed into working for the army.


19/3/2012

Mar 19, Myanmar released the senior leader of the ethnic Karen National Union rebel group, Mahn Nyein Maung, from Yangon's Insein prison under a presidential pardon. He was arrested last year by Chinese authorities, who deported him to Myanmar, where he was sentenced last week to 20 years in jail.


1/4/2012

Apr 1, Myanmar held landmark elections. The by-election was called to fill just 45 vacant seats in Myanmar's 664-seat national Parliament. Supporters of the opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric cheers after her party said she won a parliamentary seat in a landmark election. Her National League for Democracy stormed to victory in 43 of the 44 constituencies where it fielded candidates.


4/4/2012Apr 4, ASEAN leaders called for Western countries, including the European Union, to immediately lift punitive sanctions imposed on Myanmar now that the once-pariah nation has embraced democratic reforms.


4/4/2012Apr 4, The Obama administration lifted a travel ban on some Myanmar senior leaders and eased investment restriction as the government confirmed the opposition’s electoral sweep in democratic elections.



Date Event REF

7/4/2012Apr 7, Myanmar's Pres. Thein Sein held his first meeting with Karen rebels, as the government intensifies efforts to bolster peace with the country's oldest insurgent group.


8/4/2012Apr 8, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with Karen ethnic minority rebels in her first significant foray into politics since her election to public office a week earlier.


13/4/2012

Apr 13, In Myanmar British PM David Cameron and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi issued a joint call for the suspension of sanctions against the former pariah state after landmark talks. Cameron also met reformist President Thein Sein as he became the first Western leader in decades to visit the country.


16/4/2012Apr 16, Australia said it will lift sanctions against Myanmar's president and more than 200 others who are currently under travel and financial bans, after a series of reforms in the past year.


19/4/2012Apr 19, The European Union said it will suspend most sanctions against Myanmar for a year while it assesses the country's progress toward democracy.


21/4/2012Apr 21, Japan said it will take steps to forgive about 300 billion yen (3.7 billion) of Myanmar's debt and resume full-fledged development aid as a way to support the country's democratic and economic reforms.


29/4/2012Apr 29, Myanmar state media said a series of attacks in the conflict-hit north have left at least four officials dead in Kachin state, in rare acknowledgement of ethnic unrest that has marred the regime's reformist image.


30/4/2012Apr 30, In Myanmar the opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi agreed to end its weeklong boycott of parliament and swear an oath to a Constitution that it has resisted.


4/5/2012

May 4, A Myanmar state-run newspaper said recent battles between government troops and Kachin ethnic rebels had killed 31 people. The New Light of Myanmar reported 11 clashes in the last week of April, including what it said was an attack by rebels of the Kachin Independence Army on a government border guard base.


8/5/2012May 8, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi received her first passport in 24 years ahead of a planned trip to Norway and Britain.


14/5/2012

May 14, President Lee Myung-Bak arrived in Myanmar on the first visit by a South Korean leader since a North Korean attempt to assassinate one of his predecessors in Yangon almost three decades ago. His two-day trip was aimed at promoting economic ties and encouraging the country's recent political reforms. Lee Myung-Bak won a promise from Myanmar to refrain from military cooperation with nuclear-armed North.


17/5/2012May 17, The US Obama administration announced that it would ease the ban on investments in Myanmar.


20/5/2012May 20, In Myanmar protests began over chronic power outages in the central city Mandalay.


24/5/2012May 24, In Myanmar demonstrators protesting electricity outages clashed with police, and several were arrested in Pyay. The protests in Pyay began on May 21 with a small group of people and have grown to more than 1,000.


28/5/2012May 28, In Myanmar India’s PM Manmohan Singh with President Thein Sein in Naypyidaw and signed 12 agreements as part of a 3-day visit aimed at boosting trade and energy links and contesting the influence of regional rival China.


28/5/2012

May 28, In Myanmar a Buddhist woman (27) was raped and murdered. Three Muslim Rohingyas were detained for the killing, which killing helped set off communal violence in which more than 50 people died. On June 18 a court sentenced two men to death. One of the three defendants in the case had hanged himself while in custody.


31/5/2012May 31, In Thailand Aung San Suu Kyi used her first foreign trip in 24 years to fight for her Myanmar countrymen suffering abroad, millions of economic migrants unable to work at home but vulnerable to exploitation elsewhere.


1/6/2012

Jun 1, In Myanmar Tint Swe, head of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD), said he will release its iron grip on the country's media, effective from the end of June, in the latest significant reform for a country emerging from decades of repression.


1/6/2012Jun 1, In Thailand Suu Kyi spoke to the World Economic Forum in Bangkok where she urged the international community to exercise "healthy skepticism" toward Myanmar's much-touted reform process.


3/6/2012 Jun 3, In northwestern Myanmar 10 Muslims were beaten to death in Rakhine state. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

7/6/2012Jun 7, Australia said it will lift remaining sanctions against Myanmar and more than double its foreign aid to encourage democratic reforms.


8/6/2012Jun 8, In western Myanmar 7 people were killed in religious clashes, where police opened fire and the authorities declared a curfew to tackle the escalating unrest.


9/6/2012Jun 9, Myanmar police and army reinforcements were deployed to Rakhine State, which borders Bangladesh, to quell the violence after villagers' homes were set ablaze.


10/6/2012Jun 10, Myanmar's Pres. Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in a western state where sectarian tensions between Buddhists and Muslims have unleashed deadly violence.


12/6/2012

Jun 12, In Myanmar people fled their burning homes and security forces struggled to contain communal violence in a western region where state media reported the death toll had climbed to 21 since June 8. A Myanmar official said around 25 people have been killed and a further 41 people wounded in five days of unrest.


12/6/2012Jun 12, Bangladesh turned away 3 boats carrying 1,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar, bringing to 1,500 the number of refugees blocked in recent days.



Date Event REF

13/6/2012

Jun 13, Bangladesh refused three more boatloads of Rohingya Muslims fleeing sectarian violence in Myanmar, despite growing calls for the border to be opened. A UN rights envoy warned that violence posed a threat to Myanmar’s shift towards democracy, as the death toll from almost a week of unrest rose to 28.


16/6/2012Jun 16, State mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar said 50 people have been left dead with 54 injured between May 28 and June 14 in Rakhine state, convulsed by violence between local Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya.


16/6/2012Jun 16, Myanmar’s Suu Kyi presented her Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Oslo 31 years after winning the world's highest diplomatic honor in 1991.


3/7/2012Jul 3, Myanmar's reformist government granted amnesties for at least 20 political prisoners, but opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for the release of hundreds more still behind bars.


7/7/2012

Jul 7, Myanmar authorities released all of the student leaders detained in the country's biggest crackdown on activists since the dissolution of the junta. At least 20 people were detained ahead of today’s commemoration a 1962 crackdown, sparking calls for their immediate release.


10/7/2012Jul 10, Myanmar state media said dozens of Thai nationals will face charges after they were held for illegally crossing the border to run rubber plantations.


11/7/2012 Jul 11, The US government formally eased sanctions on Myanmar. http://timelines.ws/countries/MYANMAR.HTML

12/7/2012Jul 12, Myanmar's Pres. Thein Sein told the UN that refugee camps or deportation was the "solution" for nearly a million Rohingya Muslims in the wake of communal unrest in the west of the country.


14/7/2012Jul 14, In Myanmar General Electric became the first American company to invest in the former pariah state, signing deals to provide medical equipment to a pair of hospitals in the country's biggest city.


2012The population of Myanmar numbered about 60 million. Transparency Int’l. ranked the country 180th out of 183 for ease of doing business.



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