Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Min Aung Hlaing stepped down as Myanmar’s armed forces chief on March 30 to seek the presidency. Ye Win Oo, who led the contingent of troops that arrested Nobel Peace Prize winner and the country’s then leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was appointed the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s military.
This is the latest step in the military’s efforts to maintain power behind the facade of a civilian administration, five years after they led a coup against an elected government.
An election was held in December and January that was won by a military-backed party but widely derided as a sham by the United Nations and many Western countries.
The coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi prompted mass protests that developed into a nationwide uprising after the military responded with brutal force.
The civil war, which continues to rage, has killed thousands, displaced millions of people, and further damaged an already weak economy.
Despite the fighting, the junta organised new elections, which excluded Suu Kyi’s party and other opposition groups, ensuring the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party would sweep the polls.
“General Ye Win Oo has gained significant power through Min Aung Hlaing’s patronage, serving as a vital pillar for the leader’s grip on power,” said Naing Min Khant, an analyst at the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar think tank.
Min Aung Hlaing has often prioritised important positions for loyalists, while occasionally detaining senior officers as a way to control potential rivals, Reuters has reported.