Naypyidaw: Myanmar’s Acting President U Myint Swe passed away at the age of 74 on Thursday morning in the capital, Naypyidaw, the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) confirmed.
According to the NDSC, a State funeral will be held in his honour. U Myint Swe had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other related neurological conditions. Due to his deteriorating health, he had been receiving intensive care at the Defence Services General Hospital in Naypyidaw since July last year.
Since then, he had been on medical leave and transferred his presidential duties to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Born in 1951 in Myanmar's Mandalay Region, U Myint Swe joined the Defence Services Academy in 1971 and rose through the ranks of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military), retiring in 2010 with the rank of Lieutenant General, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency.
He later served as the Chief Minister of the Yangon Region from 2011 to 2016, and in March 2016, he was sworn in as Myanmar’s Vice-President. He became Acting President on February 1, 2021, following the military’s detention of then-President U Win Myint during a coup.
That same day, U Myint Swe declared a one-year state of emergency and handed over sovereign power to the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, Min Aung Hlaing. The State Administration Council was then established, with Min Aung Hlaing as its chairman. The state of emergency was extended multiple times by the NDSC, with the latest extension expiring on July 31 this year.
Recently, Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the State Administration Council, announced that the state of emergency would not be extended further to facilitate the conduct of general elections.
The developments come amid a dire situation in Myanmar. According to a United Nations report, four years after the 2021 military coup, the country is in the grip of an unprecedented “polycrisis” involving economic collapse, worsening conflict, climate-related challenges, and deepening poverty.
Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described Myanmar as a nation engulfed in war, repression, and immense human suffering. He stated that nearly 6,800 civilians have been killed since the coup, over 22,000 remain arbitrarily detained, and humanitarian needs have surged, with nearly 22 million people requiring assistance and more than 3.5 million displaced by conflict.
With IANS inputs