Loikaw

History

thumb|left|345px|Landscape of Loikaw in 1922. The bridges appear flimsy, but were substantial enough that elephants could walk over them. Loikaw was the Headquarters of the Political Officer in Charge of the Karenni States, part of the Princely States of British Burma, in 1922 during British rule in Burma. The town was located in the only flat part of the Karenni area. In 1892 it numbered four huts. As an Agent of the British government he was exercising control over the local Karenni Rulers, being supervised by the Superintendent at Taunggyi. The headquarters of the American Baptist Mission to Hill Karens was also located in Loikaw.

As with the rest of Kayah State, outsider access to Loikaw has been restricted post-independence, with special permits required to secure entry. Since the 2021 coup, Loikaw has been the scene of intense fighting between the Burmese military and ethnic armed groups opposed to military control, forcing many of the city's residents to flee. On 7 November 2023, the Karenni National People's Liberation Front, Karenni Army, and Karenni Nationalities Defence Force launched a military offensive known as Operation 1107 against the ruling State Administration Council junta. An additional offensive, known as Operation 1111, started on 11 November 2023 with the aim of capturing Loikaw. By 18 December, anti-junta forces were reported to have control of 85% of the city.

Demographics

2014

|1973 | |1983 | 33,665 |2014 | 51,349 |2019 | 59,450

The 2014 Myanmar Census reported that Loikaw had a population of 51,349, constituting 40.0% of Loikaw Township's total population.

Climate

Loikaw has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) bordering on a humid subtropical climate (Cwa). | access-date = 16 October 2023}}

Transport

Air

The city (and the entire state) is served by Loikaw Airport, with flights to Yangon , Mandalay and Heho. Myanmar National Airlines offer a Yangon-Nay Pyi Taw-Loikaw flight as UB149

Rail

Loikaw is linked by the newly constructed Aungpan-Pinlaung-Loikaw rail line.

Buses

There are express buses from Loikaw to Yangon, Mandalay and other towns.

Education

The town is home to Loikaw University, Technological University, Loikaw, Computer University, Loikaw, and Loikaw Education College.

Health care

Loikaw General Hospital serves not only locals in the state but also to those in the southern part of neighbouring Shan State. The existing buildings of the hospital were built in 1964. Due to increase demands, new two two-storey buildings were constructed with the 1.945 billion yen funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).[[File:Naung Yah Lake.jpg|thumb|Naung Yah Lake]]

References

References

1. "Lwègaw (Variant)" {{GEOnet2. 32FA88457F763774E0440003BA962ED3, [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]]
2. Myanmar Information Management Unit. (September 2019). "Loikaw Myone Daethasaingyarachatlatmya". MIMU.
3. Bitsch, Jørgen (1966) ''Why Buddha Smiles'' Taplinger Publishing, New York, pages 55–56, {{OCLC. 421824
4. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V15_042.gif Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 15, p. 36.]
5. (2016-10-08). "A guide to Loikaw, Kayah State (Myanmar) – Against the Compass".
6. (2022-01-14). "Burmese flee bombardment as junta 'makes example' of city of Loikaw".
7. (9 November 2023). "ကရင်နီဒေသ ၁၁၀၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး တိုက်ပွဲ ဆင်နွှဲ". [[BBC News]] မြန်မာ.
8. (8 November 2023). "ကရင်နီဒေသ ၁၁၀၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး စတင်". ဗွီအိုအေ.
9. (19 December 2023). "Resistance forces claim control of '85 percent' of Karenni State capital".
10. (October 2017). "Loikaw Township Report".
11. (2015-02-11). "Loikaw to get new hospital buildings funded by JICA – Global New Light Of Myanmar". Global New Light Of Myanmar.