Myanmar’s junta has rejected a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a halt in arms sales and denouncing the military takeover, saying “interference in internal affairs shall not be accepted”.
The junta-controlled Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Friday’s resolution was based on “one-sided sweeping allegations and false assumptions”.
The ministry said it had sent letters of objection to the UN secretary-general and the General Assembly’s president.
In its most widespread condemnation yet, the General Assembly in New York called for an end to the regime’s violence against civilians, the unconditional release of political detainees, including State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, to end the state of emergency and allow a democratic transition.
Since the Feb. 1 coup, the regime’s forces have killed at least 870 people and detained more than 6,100 people. Of them, around 5,000, including elected MPs, pro-democracy activists and striking civil servants, are still under detention.
“We cannot live in a world where military coups become a norm,” Secretary-General António Guterres, who was elected to a second five-year term on Friday, told reporters ahead of the passage of the resolution. “It is totally unacceptable.”
The measure was approved by 119 countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. Belarus, a major arms supplier to Myanmar, was the only country to oppose it.
A total of 36 countries, including China, India, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Russia, abstained.
Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN, U Kyaw Moe Tun, who represents the country’s shadow civilian National Unity Government, voted for the resolution and urged the international community to take the strongest possible action to end military rule.
The junta said U Kyaw Moe Tun did not represent Myanmar and his vote was illegal.
The regime tried to dismiss him on Feb. 27 for supporting the overthrown elected government and denouncing the military’s seizure of power at an informal UN General Assembly meeting. It issued an arrest warrant for him for alleged high treason.
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