Min Aung Hlaing

Commander-in-Chief of Defence ServicesIn office
30 March 2011 – 30 March 2026PresidentDeputySoe WinPreceded byThan ShweSucceeded byYe Win OoJoint Chief of Staff of the Armed ForcesIn office
June 2010 – 30 March 2011Commander-in-ChiefThan ShwePreceded byShwe MannSucceeded byHla Htay WinPersonal detailsBorn (1956-07-03) 3 July 1956
PartyBSPP (until 1988)SpouseChildrenEducationYangon University (LLB)
Defence Services AcademyOccupationSignatureWebsitewww.seniorgeneralminaunghlaing.com.mmMilitary serviceAllegianceMyanmarBranch/serviceMyanmar Army1974–2026RankSenior generalBattles/warsInternal conflict in Myanmar

• Myanmar civil war (2021–present)

Min Aung Hlaing (born 3 July 1956) is a Burmese politician and retired military officer who has been the 11th president of Myanmar since April 2026, having ruled the country continuously since seizing power in February 2021 through a military coup d'état against the elected government. Prior to the start of his nominally civilian presidency, he was a military ruler under various titles. He was appointed the commander-in-chief of Defence Services—the leader of the Tatmadaw—in 2011 and remained in that post through the period of military rule, until stepping down in 2026 to become the president.

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 Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services by 2011 and a senior general by 2013. After the 2015 general election saw the National League for Democracy (NLD) assume power, he worked to ensure the military's continued role in politics and forestalled the peace process with ethnic armed organizations. A United Nations fact-finding mission found he orchestrated the Rohingya genocide, for which the International Criminal Court is formally considering issuing an arrest warrant against him. He maintained an adversarial relationship with democratically elected State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi of the NLD, though she defended him against genocide charges. Min Aung Hlaing baselessly claimed widespread voting irregularities and electoral fraud in the 2020 general election, in which the NLD won a landslide re-election. He then seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi in the 2021 coup d'état. 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 2023, he passed an election law that heavily favored the military-backed USDP and used the law as a pretext to ban the NLD. In 2024, he activated Myanmar's conscription law to draft 60,000 young people into the Tatmadaw. In foreign policy, he has resisted influence from the 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. He oversaw the heavily controlled 2025–26 general election that officially showed a landslide USDP victory. Afterwards, he stepped down as Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services and was elected by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw as the president of Myanmar, leading the transition to a nominally civilian government.