Navy Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral Zwe Win Myint has resigned a little bit more than six months after being appointed to the top post.
The vice admiral submitted his resignation, possibly in the first week of July, a naval officer and other sources told The Irrawaddy.
“We learned about it on Wednesday despite it being treated as confidential,” the naval officer said, adding that the reason for Zwe Win Myint’s resignation is unknown, and no announcement has been made yet by the junta.
“Health reasons are quite unlikely [because] he looks quite fit,” the officer said.
It is not yet known whether junta chief Min Aung Hlaing accepted his subordinate’s resignation.
Zwe Win Myint was appointed commander-in-chief in early January after his predecessor, Moe Aung, was transferred to a ministerial post and appointed as a national security advisor. Before becoming commander-in-chief, Zwe Win Myint was the navy’s chief of staff.
He became commander-in-chief when the navy joined the army and air force in shelling resistance troops in the country’s coastal areas, mainly in Rakhine State, where the ethnic Arakan Army launched a successful offensive in November of last year.
The navy saw little combat after the February 2021 coup until the Arakan Army launched its offensive.
A few weeks after his appointment, Zwe Win Myint told junior naval officers at a Yangon graduation ceremony on Jan. 25 that the Myanmar Navy was risking life and limb to fulfill military objectives together with the army and air force.
However, under his leadership, the navy’s assistance did not change the direction of the war in Rakhine. Instead, the regime continued losing towns to the Arakan Army. At the same time, the number of civilian casualties rose due to indiscriminate shelling of coastal villages by navy ships.
In June, his navy was condemned after four family members of retreating border guard police officers were presumed to have drowned after the boat they were fleeing in capsized off the coast of Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township. It capsized after coming under fire from a landing craft that was sent to rescue them.
