President of Myanmar at present

President Htin Kyaw of Myanmar retires

She is an old schoolmate of Suu Kyi, who serves as her deputy in an offiice prohibited from her by Myanmar's draft militarily enacted charter. He was largely a ceremony figure, as Suu Kyi had conferred the status of State Councillor on herself and was in charge of her civil government.

He was nevertheless the leader of the state and an important Suu Kyi associate in her group. Aung San Suu Kyi's youth girlfriend and long-time advisor was Htin Kyaw. Speculations about the state of Htin Kyaw, 72, who had recently diminished and had cardiac issues in the past, had been swirling around for month.

"Burma's President U Htin Kyaw stepped down on March 21, 2018," it says in a declaration on the president's Facebook-page. He did not give much detail about why he stepped down on Wednesday, saying only that "he wanted to recover from his present job". Myanmar's vice-president Myint Swe, a former general, will assume this task until a new constitutional president is appointed.

Forceful hostilities have compelled around 700,000 Rohingya to cross the frontier into poor Bangladesh refugee camp, where the UN has denounced them as "ethnic cleansing" with possible "characteristics of genocide". Militaries justify its action as a legal answer to Rohingya's militants' attack on policemen in August.

There is a transition period between the civil regime and the armed forces, which continue to have great peculiarities in politics and economics. By controlling three core departments - Interior, Border and Defense - the Armed Forces give the Armed Forces a licence to carry out safety missions. They have also reserved a fourth of the parliamentary headquarters for officials, giving the armed forces a de facto right of opposition to any amendment to the constitution.

Suu Kyi's defenders say her government's hand is tethered to the armed forces, but opponents claim she could and should have done more to fight allegations of acts of atrocity, especially in Rakhine State. A respected poet's grandson, Htin Kyaw ran Suu Kyi's non-profit fund before taking over the chair.

He worked as a lecturer in a diverse professional background and in the latter 70s and 1980s was also a member of the Ministry of Finances, International Relations and Forestry. He retired from the ministry as the army intensified its influence.