Myanmar condemns UN move to deprive its envoy from seat – Henry Club

Yangon: Myanmar’s government on Thursday condemned the United Nations’ decision to strip its elected representative of a seat in the world body and retain an envoy appointed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted government.
Diplomats said the committee responsible for approving the nominations of ambassadors to the New York body met on Wednesday but deferred a decision on rival claims for seats in Myanmar and Afghanistan.
Envoys appointed to the body were postponed by both governments before the coup in Myanmar in February and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August.
“The decision does not reflect the reality of our country’s land and existence,” Jaw Min Tun, a spokesman for Myanmar’s junta, told AFP.
“We will continue to present the right of representation (at the United Nations) as always in accordance with the diplomatic process and international and local laws,” he said.
Kyaw Mo Tun, appointed by the Suu Kyi government, has been postponed as Myanmar’s envoy.
He shrugged off the junta’s insistence that he no longer represents the country, showing a three-fingered salute to democracy protesters from his UN chair.
In August, US prosecutors said they had accused two Myanmarese citizens of plotting to attack them.
The junta has denied any involvement and has chosen former soldier Aung Thurin as its ambassador for the body.
The Taliban in September asked the United Nations to accept its former Doha-based spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, as the successor to Ghulam Isakzai, a cabinet member of ousted President Ashraf Ghani.
Isakzai continues to occupy Afghanistan’s offices at UN Headquarters and even attended a recent Security Council meeting in which he openly criticized the Taliban.
Two diplomats told AFP on condition of anonymity that there was “consensus” within the credentialing committee to delay the decision.
“China, Russia and the United States were in the same position,” one of them said.
The nine-member committee is due to submit its report to the General Assembly next week, which will be left to decide through a possible vote if its 200 members fail to reach a consensus, the diplomats said.
Myanmar has been in turmoil ever since the military overthrew Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy government, sparking massive democracy protests that have triggered bloody crackdowns from the junta.
NLD lawmakers form a majority of a shadow “national unity government”, working to overturn the military regime, which the junta has dubbed “terrorists”.
Suu Kyi has been detained since the coup, and faces a list of charges that could land her in prison for decades.