FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun told DVB in an exclusive interview that the U.N. Credentials Committee may meet later this year to decide if he will continue as Burma’s permanent representative. “As far as I know, there has been no meeting of the Credentials Committee. But usually, [it] meets sometime in the end of November or early December,” he said.
Kyaw Moe Tun was appointed to his post in October 2020 by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government. He has since pledged allegiance to the National Unity Government (NUG) – a group of elected lawmakers, community leaders, and ethnic resistance organizations opposing the 2021 military coup.
The General Assembly began on Sept. 5 and Kyaw Moe Tun added that states usually submit their diplomatic credentials to the U.N. Secretary-General before the assembly starts. But since this was not done, he’s been allowed to remain as permanent representative for Burma in the meantime. China, Russia, and the U.S. are among the U.N. Credentials Committee’s nine members.
The military regime in Naypyidaw has also submitted its representative’s credentials to the U.N. It is not yet known if it has been rejected. Kyaw Moe Tun mentioned that countering the military’s disinformation at the international body is important. “Having a representative of Myanmar who represents the people here at the U.N. can stop those kinds of misinformation and disinformation campaigns by the military,” he concluded.
Naypyidaw has struggled to gain international legitimacy despite support from China, Russia, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Regime officials have been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings and summits. The U.S., U.K., France, and other western countries have refused to recognize the military regime as the government in Burma.
