Myanmar Military Shifts Regional Command to Embattled Karenni’s Loikaw

Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing meets military officers in Loikaw in September 2024. / CINCDS

The Myanmar military has quietly relocated its Eastern Central Command headquarters from Kholam in southern Shan State to Loikaw, the capital of Karenni (Kayah) State, closer to the regime’s nerve center of Naypyitaw.

The move seems to be part of a mounting regime offensive against Karenni’s motley resistance including the Karenni Army (KA), the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and local People’s Defense Forces (PDF).

KNDF troops attend the group’s first conference in September 2026. / KNDF

The Regional Operations Command in Loikaw was established in 1990 and for many years overseen by Eastern Command. But in November 2023, during Operation 1111, Karenni forces seized most of Loikaw, forcing junta troops to retreat into fortified compounds.

Since then the regime has upgraded Loikaw to a full Regional Command headquarters, apparently with the aim of boosting Naypyitaw’s defenses, while downgrading Kholam to a regional operations office, according to military defector Zin Yaw.

“They’ve secretly shifted the command to Loikaw. The name remains unchanged, still Eastern Central Command,” he said. “I think the military plans to intensify operations in Karenni and adjoining Karen areas, and to create a defensive line extending toward Naypyitaw.”

Reports suggest the Loikaw commander, Brigadier General Wai Lin Aung, remains in charge, only with bigger responsibilities.

When the Eastern Central Command was established in 2011, it made sense to base it in Kholam, Nansang Township at a transport node to restive eastern, southern and northern Shan. Its inaugural commander was General Mya Tun Oo.

But today the central military regime maintains ceasefire arrangements with all the major armed groups in Shan State, so no very powerful command is needed in the area any more.

Loikaw, by contrast, remains fiercely contested.

“The regional command in Kholam was intended to confront [Shan forces] east of the Salween River, but today there is little chance of fighting there, so the military has shifted the command to Loikaw, where resistance is strong,” one analyst said. “The regime intends to mount heavy offensives to retake lost ground.”

KND Chairman Khun Bedu, the deputy head of the Karenni Interim Executive Council, was unavailable for comment.