Global rallies for Kyaw Moe Tun as regime seeks arrest of Myanmar’s UN Ambassador

Myanmar nationals and pro-democracy supporters in Japan and South Korea held a rally on Sunday in support of Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun’s campaign to remain Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations–one day after the regime in Naypyidaw announced that it was seeking an international warrant for his arrest. “The regime is now making every effort to seize Myanmar’s seat at the U.N.. But Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun is the only person who can convey the genuine voice of the people of Myanmar to the U.N. and the international community,” Saw Ba Hla Thein, the National Unity Government (NUG) representative to Japan, told DVB. The regime’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Sept. 12 that it was seeking Kyaw Moe Tun’s arrest on six charges, including allegations of communications with the NUG and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), two groups representing lawmakers elected in 2020 but ousted in the 2021 military coup that were declared as “unlawful and terrorist organizations” by the regime. Naypyidaw dismissed Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun from his role at the U.N. on Feb. 27, 2021, after he called on the international community to condemn the coup in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has continued to represent Myanmar at the U.N. despite efforts by the regime to replace him with Aung Thurein, a former colonel who served in the military from the age of 18, according to his official biography submitted to the U.N. on May 12, 2021. “Allowing a representative appointed by the military to take Myanmar’s seat at the U.N. would put the country’s people at greater risk,” Khin Zayar Myint, a pro-democracy activist from Myanmar living in Japan, told DVB. A rally to support Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun was also held in South Korea after a screening of RAY: The Movie at a cinema in Incheon on Sept. 13. In London, Aung San Suu Kyi’s son Kim Aris addressed a rally for Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun outside the U.K. Houses of Parliament on Sept. 12. “Burma’s seat at the U.N. belongs to its people, not to the generals who wage war against them,” Aris said in a speech at the rally. “Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has stood firm on the world stage, speaking for the millions across Burma whom the military has tried to brutalize into silence, and speaking for all our political detainees and prisoners, including my mother, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” The rallies in Japan, South Korea, and the U.K. over the weekend were part of an international effort by the Myanmar diaspora to keep Kyaw Moe Tun as Myanmar’s permanent representative at the U.N. rather than being replaced by the regime appointee Aung Thurein. The final support rally for Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun is scheduled to take place outside of U.N. headquarters in New York City on Sept. 19, according to organizers. On Sept. 8, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun and his Myanmar delegation attended the end of the 80th session and the opening of the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. On the same day, a nine-member U.N. Credentials Committee was appointed to examine the competing claims over Myanmar’s representation at the U.N. This committee includes the Bahamas, Belgium, Benin, China, Jamaica, Russia, Uganda, the U.S. and Vanuatu. It will consider whether Kyaw Moe Tun will remain accredited as Myanmar’s representative or whether the regime appointee Aung Thurein will replace him as U.N. ambassador. The committee has deferred the decision on Myanmar’s representation at the U.N. over the past five years, allowing Kyaw Moe Tun to retain the seat.