NDI President Kenneth Wollack traveled to Burma in June to meet with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who he first met on a visit there 16 years ago. Wollack also met with other democratic leaders, including the Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD), along with ethnic leaders and a youth network. He also visited an HIV/AIDS center run by an NLD activist and the Free Funeral Services Society, a nongovernmental group that provides free funeral services and basic education to the poor.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is facing its worst political crisis since inter-ethnic war tore through the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Prolonged ethnic division among the country's three largest groups – Bosniaks (Muslims), Croats and Serbs – have prevented the formation of a government 10 months after general elections. Political and economic reforms needed to advance Bosnia’s bid to join the European Union have stalled.

The Board and staff of NDI mourned the passing of Charles "Chuck" Manatt, a former Democratic Party leader and diplomat, who was the founding chairman of the Institute.

"While Chuck was perhaps best known as a gifted Democratic Party activist and leader, his many contributions extended well beyond America's shores," said NDI Chairman Madeleine K. Albright. "As the founder and first chairman of NDI, he understood the positive role our country could play in advancing democracy and human rights worldwide. And as ambassador, he represented the U.S. with distinction."

When South Sudan became the world’s newest country on July 9, it joined the community of nations with a new constitution adopted by the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly in an eight-hour session on July 6. Now it must work to develop a permanent constitution, and many citizens and civic groups are eager to lend a hand.