Top officers of Myanmar Army reshuffled

Myanmar’s Army Chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, reshuffled top posts on Friday, promoting his intelligence chief and other officers leading efforts to present the military as a responsible partner in a democratic transition.

Military intelligence chief Lieutenant General Mya Tun Oo was promoted to the Joint Chief of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the de-facto third-most senior position and one seen as a stepping stone to becoming Army Chief.

The promotion comes shortly after Min Aung Hlaing decided to stay on as Army Chief for the next five years, and appears aimed at consolidating his power base as he forges a delicate relationship with new government leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military ruled Myanmar with an iron first for nearly 50 years until it began stepping back from politics in 2011 and paved the way for a historic election last November.

Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) defeated the Army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party in the vote and went on to form the first democratically elected government in more than half a century. After a tense beginning for the new administration, punctuated by military objections to the NLD’s move to establish a special post for Ms Suu Kyi, relations between the military and government have imp-roved, observers say.

Min Aung Hlaing has attended events that are symbolically important for Ms Suu Kyi and the two sides are collaborating in efforts to forge peace with ethnic minority rebels.

Western defence attaches see Mya Tun Oo as an astute military operator with sound awareness of international relations and regional politics, capable of navigating a difficult political transition.