Based on reporting by Verena Hölzl, The New York Times, Sept. 20, 2026

In 2021, Myanmar’s military overthrew the elected government. U Kyaw Moe Tun, the country’s
ambassador to the United Nations, said no to the generals and kept working. Today, more than
five years later, he is still at his U.N. post and still controls Myanmar’s mission in New York, a
five-story townhouse on the Upper East Side.

Inside, the building is divided. His team and supporters occupy the bottom three floors, while
officials loyal to the military-backed government work upstairs. Nobody leaves the place empty,
because whoever does might return to find the locks changed.
Standing his ground has come at a price. His passport was voided, the mission’s bank account

has been targeted, and funds are running thin. He has stopped paying himself a salary, and his
family has faced hardship too. Community volunteers step in with fundraising, repairs, and
overnight guard duty.

The picture is not a simple one. He previously defended the military’s actions against the
Rohingya, which the U.N. and U.S. have called genocide, and he has since tried to distance
himself from that position.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s civil war has reportedly killed more than 100,000 people and displaced
nearly four million. A single townhouse in Manhattan has become a symbol of the larger fight
over who speaks for the country.

Read the full story at The New York Times: “Holding the Fort in Manhattan to Defy Coup
Leaders in Myanmar.”