U Nu dies

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a7237
: BC-BURMA-NU-1STLD-(CORRE   14-02 0240
BC-BURMA-NU-1STLD-
 Burma's first prime minister U Nu dies
    RANGOON, Feb 14 (Reuter) - Burma's first post-independence
prime minister U Nu died on Tuesday at the age of 87, a
government source said.
    The source said U Nu died of natural causes at his home in
Rangoon.
    U Nu became prime minister upon Burma's independence from
Britain on January 4, 1948.
    He remained in that position, apart from a 1958-1960 period
of caretaker military rule, until he was deposed in a 1962
military coup led by then army chief General Ne Win.
    He was imprisoned until 1966 and in 1969 travelled to
Thailand and set up a guerrilla force, the Parliamentary
Democracy Party, allied with ethnic minority insurgents
operating from the Thai-Burmese border.
    After the failure of his alliance with the minority
guerrillas U Nu went into exile in 1973 in India where he spent
his time studying Buddhism. He returned to Burma under a 1980
amnesty.
    During the 1980s he avoided politics and spent much of his
time quietly travelling the country lecturing on Buddhism but
emerged again in 1988 when democracy demonstrations swept Burma.
    In September 1988, just before the formation of the current
ruling military body, the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), he declared himself prime minister of a
parallel government.
    He was placed under house arrest by the SLORC in December
1988. Since his release in April 1992 he had led a quiet life at
his Rangoon home.
 REUTER