Myanmar’s envoy at the United Nations has vowed to fight after the junta fired him for calling the world to use “any means necessary” to reverse coup that ousted elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
“I decided to fight back as long as I can,” Kyaw Moe Tun said on Saturday after state television announced that he 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 said, adding that Kyaw Moe Tun remains Myanmar’s 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 General Assembly 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 U.N. envoy it could set off a fight at the world body that could culminate with a vote at the General Assembly.
PROTESTS CONTINUE: Meanwhile, local media reported that two protesters were killed during demonstrations on Sunday.
According to reports, police fired live rounds and lobbed stun grenades and tear gas at demonstrators in the main city of Yangon and the southern town of Dawei.
The Myanmar Now media group posted a video of a man lying on the street with blood oozing from his chest near the Hledan Centre intersection in Yangon.
In southern Dawei, the media said police shot and killed a protester and wounded dozens more.
Sunday’s police action came after state television announced sacking of envoy to the United Nations.
According to media, violence in Yangon erupted early in the morning when medical students were marching in streets near the Hledan Centre intersection.
Police in the city of Mandalay also fired guns into the air, trapping protesting medical staff in a city hospital.
