Key events in Myanmar, long under military rule

Key events in Myanmar:

— Jan. 4, 1948: Country then known as Burma gains independence from British colonial rule.

— 1962: Military leader Ne Win stages a coup and rules the country through a junta for many years.

— 1988: Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of an independence hero, returns to her home country as pro-democracy protests are erupting against the junta. Security forces open fire on demonstrators in August protests, and hundreds are killed.

— July 1989: An increasingly outspoken critic of the junta, Suu Kyi is put under house arrest.

— May 27, 1990: The National League for Democracy, founded by Suu Kyi, wins a landslide victory in elections, but the military refuses to hand over power.

— October 1991: Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful struggle against the regime.

— Nov. 13, 2010: Suu Kyi is freed from detention after spending long periods of the past two decades under house arrest.

— 2012: Suu Kyi wins a by-election and takes her seat in Parliament, holding public office for the first time.

— Nov. 8, 2015: The NLD wins a sweeping victory in general elections that were the first openly held since 1990. The military retained significant power under a constitution that also barred Suu Kyi from the presidency, but the position of state counsellor was created for her to lead the government.

— Aug. 25, 2017: Insurgents attack military outposts in the western state of Rakhine, killing dozens. The military responds with a massive crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim population, who begin fleeing by the hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh.

— Dec. 11, 2019: Suu Kyi defended the military in a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, denying it had committed genocide.

— Jan. 29, 2021: Myanmar's election commission rejects the military's allegations of fraud in the elections, finding no evidence to support the claims.