Burma: Min Aung Hlaing, the general in charge of an announced coup
The chief of the Burmese army, General Min Aung Hlaing, in Naypyidaw the capital of Burma on July 11, 2018. AP - Aung Shine Oo
Text by: Cléa Broadhurst
3 min
Burmese army chief Min Aung Hlaing was due to retire in six months.
As if to prepare public opinion for this coup, the third since independence in 1948, he denounced irregularities during the legislative elections won in November by the National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi, and deputy understood that a putsch was possible.
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Min Aung Hlaing, the “senior general” (his official title), has always stayed away from circles linked to political activism.
Regarded by his military colleagues as an average cadet, he did not manage to enter the Defense Services Academy until his third attempt in 1974.
But in 2009, he became “the rising star of the army” after suppressing a guerrilla war in the region of Kokang, on the eastern border of the country, causing the exodus of 37,000 people.
Discreet but ambitious, it was in 2011 that he came to the fore when Generalissimo Than Shwe appointed him to his succession.
But already, his vision of the democratization process is far from clear.
The army in power
Since taking control of the army, the commander-in-chief has never suggested that he intended to change the principle which reserves 25% of the seats in Parliament to the military institution, or the clause in the Constitution which prevents Aung San Suu Kyi to be president.
Even before Monday's coup, Min Aung Hlaing was already the most powerful man in the country, leading an army beyond the control of the civilian government.
He also holds the keys to three ministries: Defense, Border Affairs and Internal Affairs.
► To read also: Coup d'état in Burma: the army gives in to its old demons
Crimes against humanity
Unpopular in Burmese opinion, the army is restoring its image
by attacking the Rohingya minority
, which the Bamar majority rejects because it considers it foreign to the country.
On the other hand, these very violent operations earned him the charge of being accused by the international community of “ethnic cleansing”.
In August 2018, the UN published a report in which the commander-in-chief was accused of
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
.
In 2019, as his country was prosecuted for "genocide" before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the United Nations, the United States put in place sanctions against Min Aung Hlaing for his alleged role, two years earlier, in the “ethnic cleansing” carried out against the Rohingya minority.
He is banned from entering the United States, the US Treasury freezes any assets in the country and prohibits US nationals from entering into transactions with it.
Min Aung Hlaing has always rejected accusations of human rights violations, saying that this military operation, which caused nearly
750,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh
, only targeted the local rebellion.
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