Min Aung Hlaing Makes Rare Visit to Resistance Stronghold of N. Sagaing

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing traveled to the resistance stronghold of northern Sagaing Region on Sunday, telling soldiers they must be able to fully utilize “modern weapons and technologies” supplied to them by the military.

The junta leader, who skipped Yangon’s Chinese New Year celebrations this year, arrived in Homalin on Sunday, where he met district officials and local residents before addressing troops under the Northwestern Command. The surprise visit is his first in years to northern Sagaing, where resistance forces continue to hold significant amounts of territory.

The trip comes after the regime retook Banmauk, a town near the Kachin border, last week and after Kachin Independence Army leader Lieutenant General Gun Maw revealed plans to secure three Sagaing Region districts—Kawlin, Kantbalu and Katha—which he described collectively as the “gateway to Kachin State.”