Recognizing Myanmar NUG
On September 13, the United States and China brokered a deal deferring the decision on who would represent Myanmar at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly the following day, putting off an affirmative decision on the matter from the Credentials Committee that, under a nine-panel consensus, usually advises the UNGA.
While a sustained effort by civil-society groups and legal experts, and widespread calls on the ground from the Myanmar people in the form of protests, were taking place to assert moral and legal grounds to accept the credentials of the National Unity Government (NUG) applicant, Kyaw Moe Tun, the decision on the matter never reached the Credentials Committee.
As member states agreed to hold off any discussion, Kyaw Moe Tun, as the incumbent ambassador, is now sitting, but not representing, Myanmar at the UNGA 76.
While some commentators focused on the upside of this, suggesting there was some kind of long-term geopolitical benefit from
China and the US agreeing on something from a diplomatic perspective, it's hard to see how the two major global players agreeing to kick the can down the road is a positive outcome.
It is much easier to view it for what it is; yet again, underhand dialogue and quiet diplomacy have been put ahead of states' obligation to cooperate to end serious breaches of pre-emptive norms of international law in their decision-making processes.
Recognition of the NUG would not in itself address these issues, of course, but it would have at least signaled to the Myanmar military's State Administration Council (SAC) affirmatively, that their disastrous and failing coup is illegitimate.
A lack of a clear decision on this matter will do nothing but embolden the SAC in its actions in the coming months, while also failing to provide relevant procedural guidance to international organizations such as the World Health Organization, which has deferred the matter on who represents Myanmar to the UNGA.
More importantly than
anything, however, it continues to show the people of Myanmar - at risk every day from the SAC's horrific campaign against its people, in every town, village, and city the impotence of so-called democracy-focused governments to come to a consensus on the issue.
On September 15, the special envoy of the UN secretary general on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, stated that previous attempts for an all-inclusive dialogue were not welcomed by the Tatmadaw and that because of this, "other stakeholders" had no choice but to resort to violence.
This rare candid statement from a senior UN representative finally echoed the angry responses of the overwhelming majority of people on the ground when ambassadors, international analysts, and journalists have been calling for "dialogue" to end the bloodshed.
The people of Myanmar have engaged in dialogue, peacefully and overwhelmingly. Widespread requests for R2P (Responsibility to Protect) toward the international community spurred false hope among communities whose people were being killed daily. Larger protests that gained worldwide coverage ceased and those wishing to exercise their right to peaceful protest retreated to their respective local communities.
At this point, Yangon was already in a state of what could be described as "total war." Shops provided free food and drinks to protesters, blacksmiths designed makeshift shields for demonstrators and erected metal fences as protection from nighttime raids and attacks by the SAC into neighborhoods to kidnap people, and local hardware shops provided hard-hats and vests. All local businesses played their role in some way.
The community mobilization to defend themselves was swift, highly organized, and coordinated. Barricades 2 meters tall made up of bricks, tires, wood and barbed wire were constructed, deconstructed, and moved when necessary, within minutes. Sentries were posted to look out for snipers, township by township networks established so people could protest in their respective areas, and give warning of an approaching Tatmadaw battalion.
In one example, a battalion that guarded the area close to Hledan train station, some 50 soldiers on most days, which would randomly fire at houses to try and instill fear in the community, moved off to another township.