Myanmar won't address UNGA due to rival claims for speaker's seat after military coup: UN

No leader from conflict hit Myanmar will address the United Nations General Assembly this week, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said as the Southeast Asian country nears the completion of seven months under military rule. After a military coup deposed the elected government, there have been rival claims by the country's current UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun and military veteran Aung Thurein for the country’s UN seat. While Kyaw was officially appointed by the ousted Myanmarese government, Aung’s candidacy has  been pushed forward by the now-in-power Tatmadaw (Myanmar military). 

On Friday, Al Jazeera reported that Kyaw had been asked to renew his accreditation to the 193 member body. Earlier, diplomats from Russia and China confirmed that they would not object to him retaining his position until he does not speak at the high level assembly. Notably, UN accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the US, China and Russia. 

Earlier in February, Myanmar’s previous ambassador to UN Kyaw Moe Tun had called for "the strongest possible action from the international community" to restore democracy in the country. He also urged all countries to strongly condemn the coup, refuse to recognise the military regime, and ask the military leaders to respect the November 2020 elections won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

Coup d'état in Myanmar

On February 1, Myanmar’s military took steps to undermine the country's democratic transition, including the arrest of the nation's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a few other civilian officials in Burma. The Myanmar Army has said that it carried out the detentions in response to fraud in last November’s general election that Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is now in control of the country and a state of emergency has been imposed for one year. In June, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), urged all its member states to prevent the “flow of arms” into Myanmar, stopping short of calling for a global embargo. The non-binding resolution, which aims to curb the growing unrest in the country, also demanded Tatmadaw to immediately stop all violence against the “peaceful demonstrators”.   

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP