UN Upholds Decision Denying Taliban, Myanmar Junta's Requests for Representation

The U.N. General Assembly upheld a decision on Monday to further delay action on allowing the Taliban and Myanmar's junta to represent Afghanistan and Myanmar in the international body.

The General Assembly's Credentials Committee announced last week that it would postpone action on evaluating the Taliban's and the military junta's requests to represent their countries in the 193-member body.

As a result, the envoys appointed by Afghanistan's and Myanmar's former governments will, for now, remain in these nations' seats, a decision backed by the General Assembly on Monday.

Following the Taliban's and the military junta's assumptions of power in their nations, these new governments attempted to challenge the authority and credibility of Afghanistan's and Myanmar's current ambassadors.

The Taliban ousted the Afghan government in August, after which it began questioning Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai's credentials. The Taliban government sought to have him replaced by a new permanent representative, Mohammad Suhail Shaheen, who served as a Taliban spokesperson during peace negotiations in Qatar.

Myanmar's military leaders wanted to replace ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who openly opposed the February 1 coup that deposed the civilian government under de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Associated Press reported that Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said in July that Kyaw Moe Tun had been terminated for "abuses of his assigned duty and mandate."

Wunna Maung Lwin said that Aung Thurein, who served in the military for 26 years, had been appointed as Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N.

The Credentials Committee's decision to delay action on these rival representation claims has proven a major obstacle to the Taliban's and Myanmar's military leaders' quests for international recognition.

The authority of the former governments' ambassadors will now remain intact.

The Credentials Committee's members are the Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, China, Namibia, Russia, Sierra Leone, Sweden and the United States.

According to The Associated Press, Sweden's ambassador to the U.N., Anna Eneström, told reporters last week that the committee has not scheduled another meeting to discuss the issue and did not say how long it would be deferred.

Some information for this article comes from Reuters and The Associated Press.