Tensions Rise as Myanmar Ejects East Timor Representative

Tensions Rise as Myanmar Ejects East Timor Representative

YANGON, Feb 18, 2026 — Myanmar’s military government has ordered Timor-Leste’s top diplomat to leave the country within a week after a rights group said Dili had opened a war crimes case against the junta.

In a statement on Sunday, the junta said it had summoned Timor-Leste’s charge d’affaires and expressed “great disappointment” over reports that a senior Timorese prosecutor had been appointed to examine allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The complaint was filed by the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), which said it submitted evidence including allegations of gang rape, a massacre, the killing of religious officials and an air strike on a hospital. The case was lodged under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows national courts to prosecute serious international crimes.

Myanmar’s military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, is already facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its treatment of the Rohingya minority.

Timor-Leste, which joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in October 2025, has not immediately commented.

Myanmar previously expelled Timor-Leste’s top diplomat in 2023 over contacts with a banned shadow government formed after the coup.