MYANMAR ENVOY URGES UN ACTION OVER COUNTRY'S CRISIS

Kyaw Moe Htun, Myanmar’s representative to the United Nations, called on member states on Wednesday, 28 October, to “stop their silence on our suffering”. He urged the international community to help end the crisis in Myanmar. He said the world had “failed the people of Myanmar again and again”. Kyaw Moe Htun became tearful as he delivered the appeal.

Myanmar’s previous democratically elected government appointed Kyaw Moe Htun before the 2021 coup. The coup ousted that government, and a junta now rules Myanmar. Kyaw Moe Htun asked UN member states to stand in solidarity with Myanmar’s people under the junta’s rule. During the speech, he held up a scarf bearing the names of people killed in the struggle for freedom against the junta.

The revolutionary community Theatre 21 created the scarf. It carried the names and ages of those killed, including people Kyaw Moe Htun described as “fallen heroes and innocent civilians”. He said reading the names broke his heart. By displaying the scarf during his appeal, Kyaw Moe Htun drew attention to the people killed in Myanmar’s continuing crisis.