Tatmadaw

Tatmadaw, officially the Defence Services, is the combined military of Myanmar, comprising the three main branches of Army, Navy and Air Force. The 2008 Constitution requires all the armed forces of Myanmar to be under the command of the Defence Services. Auxiliary services include the Myanmar Police Force, the Border Guard Forces, the Myanmar Coast Guard, and the People's Militia Units. From 1960s to 1990s, the full official name was the Pyithu Tatmadaw or People's Defence Services. The neutral term for military without the royal connotation is Sit-Tat, and the general term for armed forces is Letnetkai-Tat. Since independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw has faced significant ethnic insurgencies, especially in Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, and Shan states. General Ne Win took control of the country in a 1962 coup d'état, attempting to build an autarkic society called the Burmese Way to Socialism. Following the violent repression of nationwide protests in 1988, the military agreed to free elections in 1990, but ignored the resulting victory of the National League for Democracy and imprisoned its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The 1990s also saw the escalation of the conflict involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State due to RSO attacks on the Tatmadaw forces, which saw the Rohingya minority facing oppression and, starting in 2017, genocide. In 2008, the Tatmadaw again rewrote Myanmar's constitution, installing the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the 2010 elections, which were boycotted by most opposition groups. Political reforms over the next half-decade culminated in a sweeping NLD victory in the 2015 election; after the USDP lost another election in 2020, the Tatmadaw annulled the election and deposed the civilian government. The Tatmadaw has been widely accused by international organisations of human rights violation and crimes against humanity; including ethnic cleansing, political repression, torture,...