UN faces a piquant situation after military junta appoints a new Permanent Representative
New York/Yangon: Security forces continue to use live gunfire on pro-democracy protestors in Myanmar, killing many in the process. Today reports suggest at least 5 people were dead and 24 sustained serious injuries in Monywa city in upper Myanmar. Those 24 people were still unconscious with gunshot wounds, reports said.
Tearful words written on the hand of fallen protester in Monywa was her last wish which is to donate her dead body to needed person if she died during DEMOCRACY Fight!
In Mandalay, about 136 km away from Monywa, security persons killed a 37-year-old man and 19-year-old girl in a crackdown on anti-coup protests in Mandalay. The girl identified as Kyel Sin, died after she was hit on her head by a bullet shot by the police. People soon took to Twitter and other social media platforms to condemn the police brutality.
// blood, death
This girl named “Kyel Sin” , 19 years old was shot dead in Mandalay Region, Myanmar. May I ask, how many more heroes have to die more? Shall we make suicide before Juntas kill us all?#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar#Mar3Coup#UNpic.twitter.com/M7VLLoxlwc
A 14-year-old teenager too died after he was shot in head by the police in Myingyan today, reports claimed.
Criminal Min Aung Hlaing’s confederates killed a teenager in Myingyan. He is only 14 and shot in head dead on march 3.if fatal shooting isn’t crime, then what? We need serious action to halt their inhuman killing.
TW// blood
JUSTICE FOR MYANMAR #Mar3Coup#WhatsHappeningInMyanmarpic.twitter.com/BTBu7FVft1
In North Okkalapa Township, which is located in the eastern part of Yangon, reports suggest that the security forces not only arrested some protesters but also burned the protesters’ barriers when they ran out of their bullets. At least 6 people were shot and one passed away there, unverified reports claimed today.
Photo Credit: Save Myanmar @Byun_Sori6104|Twitter
Another tweet showed video of a medical volunteers are beaten by security personnels at some unidentified region.
Reports suggest that the situation in Hpakant too was “very bad” today and at least one person was shot in the stomach by the security forces. The police also reportedly fired snipers at the protestors there.
While the United Nations has condemned the events unfolding in Myanmar, it has apparently got entangled in complicated procedural formalities after receiving two conflicting letters from the from the Mission on the Mission’s headed paper with a Mission stamp – one saying that the DPR (Deputy Permanent Representative) was now the country’s acting Ambassador, and the other signed by the country’s Permanent Representative (PR), Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who had openly denounced the coup in the country at the UN General Assembly, saying that he was still the Ambassador. What further creates more confusion is a note verbale it received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar on the morning of March 2, that confirmed the DPR’s new assignment.
The letter regarding the DPR’s elevations to the post of acting Ambassador was written on February 28, while the letter from Ambassador Tun which was addressed to the President of the General Assembly with copy to the Secretary‑General’s Office, was received on March 1.
The note verbale of March 2, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar, which was addressed to the Secretary‑General’s Office, informing that the State Administration Council of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar terminated the duties and responsibilities of Kyaw Moe Tun as Permanent Representative of Myanmar and appointed U Tin Maung Naing, Deputy Permanent Representative, as the Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Permanent Mission.
“I can confirm that we’ve received two letters. They’re currently under review….”Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, acknowledged before journalists here last night (IST).
Therein lies the catch! The situation becomes tricky against the backdrop of the UN Security Council denouncing the coup in Myanmar and the UN Secretary-General Antònio Guterres being most critical of the new Military Junta regime in the country. Besides, only on March 2, the UNSG secretariat had stated that it hadn’t been notified of any change in the Government in Myanmar.
Going by the letters, it is clear that both the PR and the DPR of Myanmar hold divergent views of what is unfolding in their country. Since both of them hold active UN passes, so who should be considered the legitimate Ambassador and get to the seat first currently, if there’s a General Assembly meeting?
Dujarric said, “I think well, both can come into the building. Who is recognized by the (UNGA) President of whichever meeting is going on, that will be an issue up for Member States”. He, however, conceded that it was a “very unique situation we have not seen in a long time” and that steps were afoot to sort it through all the “legal protocol and other implications”.
However, the question that arises is that whether the letter on March 3 morning from Myanmar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, also then meant an official confirmation of the change in power in Myanmar?
Dujarric clarified: “I mean the only letters we have received regard the representation of the… of Myanmar here and nothing else.”
Besides, all that he could say was that the said letter was focused on the representation of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar here, and it was sent on letterhead from the Government of Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He refused to get into further “speculation” on whether that letter had to be signed by Aung San Suu Kyi or the President for the UN to accept it.
He said the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Christine Schraner Burgener, had been continuing her conversations with various parties regarding the current situation. “She continues to stress the need for Member States to act collectively and in unity to help the people of Myanmar and safeguard their democratic aspirations,” he said.
Yesterday there had been a meeting of ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations), which called on all parties to refrain from instigating further violence in Myanmar. There have also been talks of a new Security Council meeting. “We want a strong message from the Security Council to the authorities in Myanmar to reverse course and to undo the coup, to put it simply. The Security Council has at its disposal various tools, which they will have to decide how and when to use. I think it is always very important that whatever, within those tools, that they… it be done in a way that does not hurt the people,” Dujarric said when asked about the expectations of the UN Secretary-General from the UNSC. He added: ” What is clear for us and what we’ve been seeing since the coup are people taking to the streets, expressing their views peacefully, and we have seen a harsh and unacceptable crackdown by security forces. It’s not an equal fight.”
