The ethnic armed group Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) joined the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) in welcoming Min Aung Hlaing’s ascension to the presidency on Wednesday after the military regime leader was inaugurated president at the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, or Myanmar’s bicameral legislature, in the capital Naypyidaw on April 10.
The TNLA political wing, the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF), claimed in a statement on April 15 that it hoped to settle its problems with Naypyidaw through political means while maintaining its ceasefire agreement with Min Aung Hlaing’s pro-military government led by the proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) administration.
The USDP won a landslide victory in the regime’s 2025-26 elections, which ended on Jan. 25, despite no opposition parties on the ballot. The National League for Democracy (NLD) party administration from 2016-21 was ousted by Min Aung Hlaing in his Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. Both NLD State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint have been held in prison ever since.
The ethnic Palaung TNLA, alongside its former allies the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army (AA), seized Kutkai, Namtu, Namhkam, Namhsang, Manton, Mongngaw, Monglon, Momeik, Kyaukme, Hsipaw and Nawnghkio in northern Shan State, as well as Mogok Township in Mandalay Region, after it launched an offensive called Operation 1027 on Oct. 27, 2023.
Lashio, the largest city in northern Shan and home to the military’s Northeastern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters, was seized by the MNDAA on Aug. 3, 2024.
But after the MNDAA signed a China-brokered ceasefire agreement with Naypyidaw on Jan. 18, 2025, it handed Lashio back on April 22, 2025, as part of this deal.
After losing control of Kyaukme, Hsipaw and Nawnghkio to regime forces in 2025, the TNLA signed its own China-brokered ceasefire with Naypyidaw on Oct. 28. It relinquished control of Mogok and Momeik to regime forces on Nov. 28.
The MNDAA seized full control over Kutkai, 47 miles (75 km) north of Lashio, from the TNLA on March 15 after a territorial dispute between the two former allies due to the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on Feb. 13, according to the TNLA.
The AA offensive against regime forces in Arakan State, which began on Nov. 13, 2023, has led to the seizure of 14 out of 17 Arakan townships, as well as Paletwa Township in southern Chin State. It has expanded its offensive into neighbouring Ayeyarwady, Bago and Magway regions.
The TNLA controls Namhsan and Manton, which is constitutionally recognized as the Palaung Self-Administered Zone (SAZ), as well as the recently-seized towns of Namtu, Namhkam, Mongngawt, and Monglon in northern Shan.
The NDAA is headquartered in Mongla, located in the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4.
The UWSA administers the Wa Self-Administered Division, comprising Hopang, Mongmao, Panwai, Nahpan, Metman and Pangsang along the Myanmar-China border in eastern Shan. It also controls territory along the Myanmar-Thailand border, which it considers the southern part of its autonomous “Wa State.”
Besides the three ethnic armed groups, regime media reported that the governments of China, India, Russia, Belarus, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan sent congratulatory messages to Min Aung Hlaing and representatives to attend his inauguration and swearing-on ceremony in Naypyidaw on April 10.
