After overseeing a string of humiliating defeats in northern Shan State, Myanmar’s Northeastern Command chief Major-General Naing Naing Oo was handed a surprise promotion on Thursday.
The latest junta cabinet reshuffle saw Naing Naing Oo made chief of the powerful Bureau of Special Operations No. 2 and elevated to Lieutenant-General.
The regime has lost at least 10 towns, as well as the Lashio-Muse road and 105th Mile border trade zone crucial for trade with China, since the Brotherhood Alliance launched its 1027 offensive in late October.
The Brotherhood Alliance is made up of three ethnic armed organizations – the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army MNDAA, Arakan Army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
Clashes have continued in northern Shan despite a China-brokered ceasefire between the alliance and the junta on Jan. 11.
The Kachin Independence Army, which is not a member of the Brotherhood Alliance, has also seized towns in Shan State.
Over 4,000 junta troops are thought to have surrendered since the launch of Operation 1027, in losses that have no precedent in the history of Myanmar’s modern military.
Naing Naing Oo’s promotion came after all except three towns in northern Shan State – Lashio, Hsipaw and Kyaukme – fell to ethnic armies.
A graduate of the Defense Services Academy 35th intake, Naing Naing Oo now heads the junta’s powerful Bureau of Special Operations No. 2.
Responsible for military operations in Shan and Kayah states, the bureau oversees Northeastern Command, Eastern Command, Eastern Central Command and Triangle Region Command.
Six brigadier-generals from Northeastern Command under Naing Naing Oo surrendered to the MNDAA in Kokang on the Chinese border on Jan. 4. The regime has handed death sentences to three of them while jailing the other three for life.
A former captain who defected from the Myanmar military said Naing Naing Oo received the promotion because of his close ties to Lieutenant-General Kyaw Swar Lin, who serves as both Army chief of staff and Quartermaster-General. The two were classmates in the Defense Services Academy.
“He should have been punished for defeats in northern Shan State but instead he got promoted, which shows how powerful Lt-Gen Kyaw Swar Lin is,” said the ex-captain.
Naing Naing Oo has previously served as chief of the 55th Light Infantry Division, commandant of military schools, and head of Eastern Central Command.
He has been replaced as Northeastern Command chief by Deputy Inspector-General Maj-General Soe Tint.
On the eve of the third anniversary of his coup, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing summoned a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council last Wednesday to extend the state of emergency for another six months, citing armed conflicts in the country. He said certain ethnic armed organizations and People’s Defense Forces were trying to undermine peace, stability and socio-economic order, while accusing the MNDAA of introducing a warlord system in northern Shan State. He also accused the TNLA of fighting to gain territory for itself.
In a cabinet reshuffle announced one day after extending emergency rule, the regime also shunted Lt-Gen Aung Aung from chief of Bureau of Special Operations No. 2 to Shan State chief minister, replacing Lt-Gen Aung Zaw Aye.
