In an effort to encourage democratic reform, the United States on Thursday eased a ban on investment in Burma and named its first ambassador to the country in 22 years. Sanctions on members of the former junta and wider restrictions remain in place.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sworn in to Burma's parliament for the first time on Wednesday, cementing a risky detente between her party and the country's military rulers.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Burmese president Thein Sein to continue democratic reforms on Monday, ahead of talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party has agreed to end a parliamentary boycott and pledge to protect the constitution.
Burma's president on Monday ruled out changing the parliamentary oath, under which parliamentarians swear to safeguard the constitution. Democracy leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi has threatened a parliamentary boycott over its wording.
The newly elected Burmese lawmakers of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party will not attend the opening session of parliament on Monday due to a disagreement over the wording of the oath of office, which says they must "safeguard" the constitution.
Dioncounda Traoré (right), the speaker of Mali's parliament and the man tipped to become interim president under a power transfer deal with the ruling junta, met for talks Monday with the army captain who led the March 22 coup.
A caliphate in West Africa? Doubtful. But François Picard’s panel fears the Islamist push in Mali’s lawless north will only trigger more chaos after a coup in that landlocked West African state.
With the Malian army in disarray, the Tuareg rebellion has taken over most of the country's vast north with relative ease. Led by the nominally secular MNLA, the Tuareg forces also include Islamist militants.
Members of the ECOWAS regional bloc are meeting for talks on Mali after threatening tough sanctions if constitutional order was not restored by Monday. Junta leaders vowed Sunday to reinstate the constitution as Timbuktu fell to Tuareg rebels.
Tuareg rebels said they had captured the historic desert town of Timbuktu on Sunday, the last major town in Mali's north that remained outside their control. One civilian died after he was struck by shrapnel during the offensive.
