UN special envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer to step down: UN chief’s spokesman

UNITED NATIONS, United States - The United Nations special envoy for Myanmar will step down, a spokesman for the UN chief said on Wednesday, after an 18-month tenure in which she was criticised by the junta and its opponents, and with

the country in turmoil.

“(Dr) Noeleen Heyzer, special envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, will conclude her assignment on June 12,” Mr Stephane Dujarric said, without giving a reason for her departure.

The global body’s Secretary-General, Mr Antonio Guterres, “is thankful to Dr Heyzer for her tireless efforts on behalf of peace and the people of Myanmar”, the spokesman said, adding that a new envoy would be appointed.

Dr Heyzer, a Singaporean sociologist, was

named as envoy by Mr Guterres in 2021

and tasked with urging the Myanmar junta to launch political dialogue with its opponents.

She

visited the South-east Asian nation in August 2022

and met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as well as other top military officials, in a move criticised by rights groups.

But she was denied a meeting with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and later irked junta officials, who accused her of issuing a “one-sided statement” of what had been discussed.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since

a 2021 coup that sparked renewed clashes

with ethnic rebels and the formation of dozens of “People’s Defence Forces” now battling the junta. AFP