Min Aung Hlaing

Min Aung Hlaing (born 3 July 1956) is a Burmese army general who has ruled Myanmar under various titles since seizing power in 2021, and has led the Tatmadaw (armed forces) as Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services since 2011. He first served as Chairman of the State Administration Council and as well as the 12th prime minister from 2021 to 2025, and then as the member of the National Defence and Security Council exercising presidential duties since 2024 and as Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission since 2025.

Born in Minbu, Min Aung Hlaing studied law at the Rangoon Arts and Science University before joining the military. Rising through its ranks, he became a senior general by 2013. During the period of civilian rule from 2011 to 2021, he worked to ensure the military's continued role in politics and forestalled the peace process with ethnic armed groups. A United Nations fact-finding mission found he deliberately perpetrated the Rohingya genocide. He maintained an adversarial relationship with democratically-elected State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, though she defended him against genocide charges.

Min Aung Hlaing baselessly claimed widespread voting irregularities and electoral fraud in the 2020 Myanmar general election, in which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide re-election. He then seized power from her in the 2021 coup. He had been expected to run for President of Myanmar had the military proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), won enough seats in parliament to elect him, and would have been required to retire as Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services due to a statutory age limit. With the outbreak of mass protests against his rule, Min Aung Hlaing ordered a clampdown and suppression of demonstrations, sparking an ongoing civil war.

Min Aung Hlaing's forces have employed scorched earth tactics in the civil war, including airstrikes on civilians. He has ordered the execution of prominent pro-democracy activists, the first use of the death penalty in decades. In February 2024, he activated Myanmar's People's Military Service Conscription Law to draft 60,000 young people into the Tatmadaw. In foreign policy, he has resisted influence from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and relied on greater cooperation with Russia, China, and India. In response to his human rights abuses and corruption, Min Aung Hlaing and his government have been subjected to an extensive series of international sanctions, returning Myanmar to its former status as a pariah state. The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2022 Democracy Index rated Myanmar under Min Aung Hlaing as the second-most authoritarian regime in the world, with only Afghanistan rated less democratic.