Home ›› 05 Aug 2021 ›› World Biz
Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, who has refused to leave his post despite being fired after the February coup, has alerted the world body to a 'reported massacre' by the military junta.
Kyaw Moe Tun sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday saying 40 bodies had been found in Kani township in July in the Sagaing area of north-western Myanmar.
The junta has denied the massacre while AFP has not been able to independently verify the reports due to mobile networks being cut in the remote region.
The representative wrote that soldiers tortured and killed 16 men in a village in the township around July 9 and 10, after which 10,000 residents fled the area.
He said a further 13 bodies were discovered in the days following clashes between local fighters and security forces on July 26.
Kyaw Moe Tun added that another 11 men, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed and set on fire in a separate village on July 28.
The ambassador repeated his call for a global arms embargo on the junta and "urgent humanitarian intervention" from the international community in the letter.
"We cannot let the military keep on doing this kind of atrocity in Myanmar," Kyaw Moe Tun told AFP.
"It is time for the UN, especially the UN Security Council, to take action."
According to a local monitoring group, Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leadership on February 1, launching a crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people.
Kyaw Moe Tun has passionately rejected the coup and brushed aside the junta's claims that he no longer represents Myanmar. The United Nations still considers him as the rightful envoy.
On Sunday, Myanmar's junta chief said that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial one-year timeline announced days after the coup.
