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Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun – Photo: REUTERS
On February 27, Myanmar’s national television station MRTV announced the removal of Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun by the military government.
The move reflects the political tension that has spread to Myanmar and will likely see the United Nations intervene.
Myanmar’s military is currently leading the country after political upheaval in early February, in which civilian leaders such as State Advisor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and many other Myanmar figures were arrested.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency on February 27, Mr. Kyaw Moe Tun stated: “I decided to fight as much as I can.”
The problem is that many countries currently do not recognize the government led by the Myanmar military. Instead, these countries assume that the civil leadership group, particularly Aung San Suu Kyi, is the legal head in this Southeast Asian country.
This raises the question of whether the Myanmar military has the right to fire an ambassador to the United Nations, when the United Nations has not officially recognized the military government.
Reuters quoted an anonymous United Nations official as saying that the agency had not received any personnel changes from Myanmar, so Kyaw Moe Tun remained Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations (in New York) until this time.
United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric recently confirmed that he will not receive information about Myanmar’s change of representation at the United Nations in New York.
Meanwhile, Christine Schraner Burgener, special envoy of the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on the situation in Myanmar, warned 193 members of the UN General Assembly on February 26 that no other country should recognize or equal the legalization of the military government of Myanmar.
United Nations radio correspondent in Al Jazeera James Bays said the firing by the military of Myanmar’s ambassador could be the beginning of a long process at the United Nations.
According to Bays, it is assumed that the ambassador wants to stay in the United States and that interested parties do not want to return to Myanmar due to concerns about the possibility of “retaliation”.
“If you stay and remain the legal representative of a royal government in Myanmar (civil government – PV), where the leaders are detained, things get in a complicated process in the Certification Committee of the UN General Assembly, with nine members, “said the Al Jazeera reporter.
The credentials committee is the body in charge of examining the situation of the ambassadors represented by the country delegated to the United Nations. The Certification Committee is appointed at the beginning of each ordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly and is composed of 9 members.
Currently, these 9 members include Russia, the United States and China. According to Al Jazeera, these three countries and the remaining members of the Certification Committee will decide on the plan to handle the case of the Myanmar ambassador.
Previously, the United Nations handled a similar case in September 2011. The General Assembly then approved a request from Libya to appoint special envoys to its interim government.
The approval of the General Assembly came only after the United States, Russia, China, and European countries recognized the new Libyan regime.
