Updated 27 February 2021 at 17:00 IST
Myanmar's envoy urges international community to take strong action to end military rule
Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations on Feb 26 urged the int'l community to take the “strongest possible action” to end the military rule.
Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations on February 26 urged the international community to take the “strongest possible action” to end the military rule in the country. While addressing the UN General Assembly, Kyaw Moe Tun called on all member states to issue public statements strongly condemning the coup. He said that Myanmar needs “strongest action” to immediately end the military coup, to stop oppressing the innocent people, to return to state power to the people and to restore the democracy.
Kyaw Moe even went on to appeal for countries not to recognise the military regime or cooperate with it. He asked them to demand that the junta respects last year’s democratic elections and further urged nations to “take all stronger possible measures” to stop violent acts committed by security forces against peaceful demonstrations. “We will continue to fight for a government, which is, of the people by the people, for the people,” he said.
Following his address, Samantha Power, who is a former UN ambassador for the US, took to Twitter and said that it is impossible to overstate the risks that Myanmar UN ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun just took in the UNGA. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also commended the “courageous” statement by Kyaw Moe and said that the world must heed the call to restore democracy in Myanmar.
India says ‘rule of law must be upheld’
Meanwhile, during the UNGA, India also called on the international community to extend its “constructive support” to the people in the Southeast Asian country. Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations TS Tirumurti said that 'the rule of law and democratic process must be upheld'. He was referring to the pro-democracy drive that Myanmar has witnessed time and again in past one decade. Calling it to be 'India's close friend', Tirumurti asserted "Bringing back the democratic order must be the priority of all stakeholders in Myanmar.
The Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1 and declared a year-long state of emergency hours before the newly-elected parliament was about to convene. The military accused Suu Kyi's government of rigging the November elections. Aung San Suu Kyi's party National League for Democracy (NLD) managed to win 396 of the 476 parliamentary seats of the ones that are not reserved for the military.
Published By : Bhavya Sukheja
Published On: 27 February 2021 at 17:03 IST