Efforts in recent years by the United Nations to achieve democratic reform and end human rights abuses in Myanmar have been punctuated by frustration, false hopes and failure:•1989: Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained and put under house arrest after the military’s suppression of an uprising a year earlier•1998: Peruvian diplomat Alvara de Soto named special UN envoy to break deadlock between military and democracy advocates. •April 4, 2000: Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail appointed special U.N. envoy for Myanmar•September 2000: Suu Kyi, released in 1995, held under house arrest •November 2001: Razali say he’s “hopeful that some significant progress could be made in the near future”•2002: Razali helps secure the release of Suu Kyi from house arrest and the regime declares “the era of confrontation is over”•2003: Suu Kyi is put back under house arrest•Jan 4, 2006: Razali resigns as envoy, frustrated at being barred from entering the country for nearly two years•May 20, 2006: Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari becomes the first foreigner to meet Suu Kyi in more than two years amid renewed talk of a “breakthrough”•May 22, 2007: Suu Kyi’s house arrest extended•May 2-3, 2008: Cyclone Nargis slams into Myanmar but UN officials barred from entering hardest-hit areas, have little control over distribution of their aid•May 22: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon arrives in Myanmar, hoping to cut through obstacles to international aid flow to survivors
