KABUL 15 Dec (Online): A decision on whether the Afghan Taliban administration and the Myanmar junta can send a United Nations (UN) ambassador to New York has been postponed for a second time, but could be reconsidered in the next nine months, according to a UN credentials committee report.
The 193-member UN General Assembly (UNGA) is on Friday due to approve the report, which also deferred a decision on rival claims to Libyaâs UN seat. The nine-member UN credentials committee includes Russia, China and the United States.
The deferment of the decisions leaves the current envoys in the seats for their countries, diplomats said.
Competing claims were again made for the seats of Myanmar and Afghanistan with the Taliban administration and Myanmarâs junta pitted against envoys of the governments they ousted last year. UN acceptance of the Taliban administration or Myanmarâs junta would be a step toward the international recognition sought by both.
The UNGA last year backed postponing a decision on the credentials of Myanmar and Afghanistan.
A rival claim was also made this year for Libyaâs UN seat â currently held by the Government of National Unity in Tripoli â by a âGovernment of National Stabilityâ led by Fathi Bashagha and backed by a parliament in the countryâs east.
The UN credentials committee met on December 12 and agreed, without a vote, to âpostpone its consideration of the credentialsâ for Myanmar, Afghanistan and Libya âand to revert to consideration of these credentials at a future time in the seventy-seventh session,â which ends mid-September next year.
The Taliban seized power in mid-August last year from the internationally recognised government. When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, the ambassador of the government they toppled remained the UN envoy after the credentials committee deferred its decision on the seat.
Myanmarâs junta seized power from Aung San Suu Kyiâs elected government in February last year.
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