U Nu

U Nu (1907-1995), first prime minister (1948-1958 and 1960-1962) of independent Burma (now known as Myanmar). He was born in Wakema and educated at the Rangoon University (now Yangon University). As a member of the Thakin movement and president of the student union, he took part, along with Aung San and Ne Win, in staging the student strike of 1936. During the Japanese occupation in World War II (1939-1945), Nu served as foreign minister in the Japanese-backed government of Ba Maw. In 1947, when Aung San was assassinated, Nu assumed leadership of the nationalist movement and negotiated the independence agreement with the British. He became prime minister the following year. As such he held the country together during the turbulent postindependence years and was widely respected abroad for his contributions to the Nonaligned Movement, a loose association of nations without any formal commitment to power blocs led by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). He failed, however, to provide effective administrative leadership at home, and in 1958 he stepped down temporarily for Ne Win's army government. Voted in again in 1960, he was finally removed by Ne Win's coup in 1962. After that Nu was long exiled, but he was allowed to return to Burma in 1980. In 1988 he surfaced as one of the leaders of the prodemocracy movement against the military government; the military then put him under house arrest until 1992. He died in 1995.