Myanmar Military Conscripts Troops; President Calls for Peace Talks

Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw, has reversed some of its losses in the country's civil war, with ranks swollen by tens of thousands of new conscripts. The shift follows a period where the military was pushed out of great swaths of the country's north by an alliance of militias a little more than a year ago.

AP reported that the Tatmadaw now appears poised to resume offensive actions while some opposition groups have left the fight and others face infighting and supply issues.

President Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president earlier this month after the military held elections recently. He waved as he left after a swearing-in ceremony at Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on April 10, 2026. In one of his first acts, Min Aung Hlaing invited the country’s armed resistance forces to new peace talks, including both the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), with groups given until July 31 to take part in discussions, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.

Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing shook hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their meeting in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on April 25, 2026. China has invested billions of dollars in Myanmar’s mines, oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure. China is a major arms supplier to the Tatmadaw, along with Russia.

The Tatmadaw has continued its attacks, including a large-scale offensive in Sagaing to try and retake the northern city of Indaw. Indaw was captured by PDF groups with the support of the Kachin Independence Army EAO last year. At the same time, the Tatmadaw has been on the defensive in the east as it tries to hold off a push by the Karen National Liberation Army toward a Tatmadaw stronghold near the Thai border.

Saw Win Myint, a commander of a military unit under the Karen National Union, inspected the damaged armory in the captured army base of Infantry Battalion 275 in Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, on April 12, 2024. The military was forced into defensive action around the rest of the country by other established groups and new pro-democracy guerrillas.

The military officers ousted the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance launched an offensive against the Tatmadaw on October 27, 2023. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army agreed to a ceasefire last year after Chinese-mediated talks.

The Arakan Army is still actively fighting the Tatmadaw in the western state of Rakhine. Tens of thousands have been killed in five years of fighting, including some 8,000 civilians. Millions have been displaced from their homes in five years of fighting.

AP reported a general weariness after five years of civil war among forces fighting the Tatmadaw and the general population. The conclusion of the elections has freed up more soldiers who had been used for widespread security at the polls.

Experts as neither free nor fair with opposition stifled. Politically, the elections appeared to be an attempt to add legitimacy to Min Aung Hlaing's rule amid international sanctions.