conventional long form: Union of Burma
conventional short form: Burma
local long form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the US
Government as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of Myanmar)
local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw
former: Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma

BM

military regime

Rangoon (regime refers to the capital as Yangon)

7 divisions* (yin-mya, singular - yin) and 7
states (pyine-mya, singular - pyine); Chin State, Ayeyarwady*, Bago*,
Kachin State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Magway*, Mandalay*, Mon State,
Rakhine State, Sagaing*, Shan State, Tanintharyi*, Yangon*

4 January 1948 (from UK)

Independence Day, 4 January (1948)

3 January 1974 (suspended since 18 September 1988);
national convention started on 9 January 1993 to draft a new
constitution; chapter headings and three of 15 sections have been
approved

does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

chief of state: Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council Gen. THAN SHWE (since 23 April 1992); note - the
prime minister is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council Gen. THAN SHWE (since 23 April 1992); note - the
prime minister is both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet: State Peace and Development Council (SPDC); military junta,
so named 15 November 1997, which initially assumed power 18 September
1988 under the name State Law and Order Restoration Council; the SPDC
oversees the cabinet
elections: none; the prime minister assumed power upon resignation of
the former prime minister

unicameral People's Assembly or Pyithu Hluttaw
(485 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 27 May 1990, but Assembly never convened
election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NLD
396, NUP 10, other 79

limited; remnants of the British-era legal system in
place, but there is no guarantee of a fair public trial; the judiciary
is not independent of the executive

National League for Democracy or NLD
; National
Unity Party or NUP (proregime) ; Union Solidarity and
Development Association or USDA (proregime, a social and political
organization) ; and eight minor legal
parties

All Burma Student Democratic
Front or ABSDF; Kachin Independence Army or KIA; Karen National Union
or KNU; National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma or NCGUB
consists of individuals legitimately elected to the
People's Assembly but not recognized by the military regime; the group
fled to a border area and joined with insurgents in December 1990 to
form a parallel government; several Shan factions; United Wa State
Army or UWSA

AsDB, ASEAN, CCC, CP, ESCAP,
FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IMF, IMO,
Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OPCW, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

chief of mission: Ambassador TIN WINN
chancery: 2300 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:  (202) 332-9044
FAX:  (202) 332-9046
consulate(s) general: New York

chief of mission: Permanent Charge d'Affaires Priscilla A. CLAPP
embassy: 581 Merchant Street, Rangoon (GPO 521)
mailing address: Box B, APO AP 96546
telephone:  (1) 282055, 282182
FAX:  (1) 280409

red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side
corner bearing, all in white, 14 five-pointed stars encircling a
cogwheel containing a stalk of rice; the 14 stars represent the 14
administrative divisions