The Myanmar civil war began in 2021 following the military coup on 1 February 2021. The coup, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy (NLD), citing alleged election fraud in the November 2020 general election. The seizure of power triggered mass anti-coup demonstrations and a violent crackdown by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar armed forces), which significantly escalated the country's longstanding insurgencies.
In response to the coup, the exiled National Unity Government (NUG) and major ethnic armed organisations repudiated the 2008 Constitution and called instead for a democratic federal state.