Thein Sein is a Burmese politician and retired general in the Myanmar Army who served as the eighth President of Myanmar from 2011 to 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister from 2007 to 2011, and was considered by many in and outside Myanmar as a reformist leader in the post-junta government.

The Myanmar Army is the largest branch of the Armed Forces (Tatmadaw) of Myanmar and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southeast Asia after the People's Army of Vietnam. It has clashed against ethnic and political insurgents since its inception in 1948.