Kokang is a region in Myanmar. It is located in the northern part of Shan State, with the Salween River to its west, and sharing a border with China's Yunnan Province to the east. Its total land area is around 1,895 square kilometers (732 sq mi). The capital is Laukkai. Kokang is mostly populated by Kokang Chinese, a Han Chinese group living in Myanmar.
Insurgencies have been ongoing in Myanmar since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. It has largely been an ethnic conflict, with ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw, for self-determination. Despite numerous ceasefires and the creation of autonomous self-administered zones in 2008, armed groups continue to call for independence, increased autonomy, or federalisation. It is the world's longest ongoing civil war, spanning almost eight decades.
The Kokang incident was a violent series of skirmishes that broke out in August 2009 in Kokang in Myanmar's northern Shan State. Several clashes between ethnic minorities and the Burmese military junta forces took place. As a result of the conflict, the MNDAA lost control of the area and as many as 30,000 refugees fled to Yunnan province in neighbouring China.
Laukkai is the capital of Kokang Self-Administered Zone in the northern part of Shan State, Myanmar. It is located east of the Salween River, which forms part of Myanmar's border with the People's Republic of China at its upper reaches. It is about 10 miles (16 km) away from Nansan, China. In Laukkai, Southwestern Mandarin and Chinese characters are widely used, and the Chinese renminbi is in circulation. It is the main town of Laukkaing Township of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone. It is 117 miles (188 km) from Lashio and 42 miles (68 km) from Kongyan. Its population is 23,435. Laukkai is notorious for its gambling, prostitution, human trafficking and online scams.
The Kokang Self-Administered Zone, as stipulated by the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, is a former De facto self-administered zone in northern Shan State. The zone is intended to be self-administered by the Kokang people. Its official name was announced by decree on 20 August 2010. It is recognized as illegal by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).
The Arakan Army, occasionally the Arakha Army, is an ethnic armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded on 10 April 2009, the AA is the military wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA). It is currently led by Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing and vice deputy commander-in-chief Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng. The Arakan Army states that the objective of its armed revolution is to restore the sovereignty of the Arakan people. In a February 2024 interview, Twan Mrat Naing claimed that the AA had grown to at least 38,000 troops. Anthony Davis, an expert of military and security, rejected this claim and estimated that it has at least 15,000 troops in Chin State and Rakhine State, in addition to around 1500 in Kachin State and Shan State. In the early 2010s, the Arakan Army fought alongside the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) against the Tatmadaw in the Kachin conflict. Following the 2016 outbreak of conflict in Rakhine state, AA became more heavily involved in the Arakan region. In 2019, AA launched attacks on state security forces and the Myanmar Army responded, heightening clashes. The AA reached a ceasefire in late 2020 after eroding the central government's control in northern Rakhine. The power vacuum was filled by the AA over the next 18 months with state-building efforts, like their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) is an armed resistance group in the Kokang region of Myanmar (Burma). The army has existed since 1989, having been the first one to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government. The ceasefire lasted for about two decades.
Soe Win is a Burmese army general and the current Deputy Prime Minister of Myanmar. Appointed following the formation of the caretaker government on 1 August 2021, Soe Win hold essential roles, including Vice Chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC), Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw, and Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Army. He is also a member of Myanmar's National Defence and Security Council (NDSC). In May 2012, former President of Myanmar, Thein Sein appointed Soe Win to the working committee of the government team responsible for negotiating with Myanmar's many armed ethnic rebel groups. He is a close associate of former Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Vice-Senior General Maung Aye.
Border Guard Forces are subdivisions of the Tatmadaw consisting of former insurgent groups in Myanmar under the instruction of Regional Military Commands. The government announced its plan to create Border Guard Forces in April 2009, in the hopes of ending hostilities between the government and insurgent groups leading up to the 2010 general election.
Zaw Min Tun is a Burmese army general and the current Deputy Minister of Information in Myanmar. He serves concurrently as the Chief of the Tatmadaw True News Information Team and heads the Press Team of the State Administration Council (SAC). Zaw Min Tun is acknowledged as a senior spokesman for the Myanmar Army.
The People's Defence Force is the armed wing of the National Unity Government in Myanmar. The armed wing was formed by the NUG from youths and pro-democracy activists on 5 May 2021 in response to the coup d'état that occurred on 1 February 2021 that put the military junta and their armed wing the Tatmadaw in power. The military junta designated it as a terrorist organisation on 8 May 2021. In October 2021, NUG's Ministry of Defence announced that it had formed a central committee to coordinate military operations across the country.
The Myanmar Civil War, also called the Burmese Spring Revolution, Burmese Civil War or People's Defensive War, is an ongoing civil war following Myanmar's long-running insurgencies, which escalated significantly in response to the 2021 military coup d'état and the subsequent violent crackdown on anti-coup protests. The exiled National Unity Government and major ethnic armed organisations repudiated the 2008 Constitution and called instead for a democratic federal state. Besides engaging this alliance, the SAC also contends with other anti-SAC forces in areas under its control. Hannah Beech of The New York Times observed the insurgents are apportioned into hundreds of armed groups scattered across the country.
The following is a timeline of major events during the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), following the 2021 military coup d'état and protests. It was also a renewed intensity in existing internal conflict in Myanmar.
This is the list of important events happened in Myanmar in 2023.
Operation 1027 is an ongoing military offensive conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a military coalition composed of three ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar: the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), allied with other rebel forces in the country, against the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's ruling military junta.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance ;, also known as Brotherhood Alliance, is an alliance between the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army formed in June 2019.
Peng Daxun, also known as Peng Deren, is a Burmese Kokang military leader serving as commander of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) since 2009. He is the son of Pheung Kya-shin, his immediate predecessor as commander of the MNDAA, and has waged a war against the Tatmadaw and government of Myanmar to reclaim control over Kokang.
This is the list of important events happened in Myanmar in 2024.
The Battle of Laukkai was a military offensive conducted by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) encircling and capturing Laukkai, the capital of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone in northeastern Myanmar. The battle was part of the larger Operation 1027, a joint military operation conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance coalition of three ethnic armed organisations and part of the overall renewed civil war in Myanmar.
The Battle of Lashio was an offensive conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, along with other resistance forces, to capture the northern Shan city of Lashio. The headquarters for the Tatmadaw's Northeastern Command, the city was besieged by rebel forces following the collapse of the Chinese-mediated ceasefire that had paused the rebels' Operation 1027.
MNDAA 
Kokang Border Guard Forces 
Tatmadaw