Sacked Burmese diplomat vows to fight

Myanmar’s United Nations envoy on Saturday vowed to fight after the junta fired him for urging countries to use “any means necessary” to reverse a February 1 coup that ousted the nation’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I decided to fight back as long as I can,” Kyaw Moe Tun told Reuters on Saturday.

Myanmar state television announced on Saturday that Kyaw Moe Tun had been fired for betraying the country.

However, the United Nations does not officially recognise the junta as Myanmar’s new government as it has received no official notification of any change, said a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, and so Kyaw Moe Tun remains Myanmar’s UN ambassador, for now.

“We have not received any communication concerning changes to the representation of Myanmar at the United Nations in New York,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’ special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, warned the 193-member UNGA on Friday that no country should recognise or legitimise the Myanmar junta.

If the Myanmar junta, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, tries to seek international recognition by installing a new UN envoy it could set off a fight at the world body that could culminate with a vote at the General Assembly.

The UN has previously had to address competing claims for representation at the world body. In 2011, the General Assembly approved a Libyan request to accredit envoys of the country’s interim government. The move came after the US, Russia, China and European nations had all recognized the new authorities.

Kyaw Moe Tun told the UN on Friday that he was speaking for Suu Kyi’s government and appealed for help to overturn “the illegal and unconstitutional military coup”.