Myanmar told the United Nations Security Council not to visit during February this year because it was "not the right time," Kuwait's UN Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi said on Thursday, report agencies.
The country did not completely reject the proposed trip, he added.
The revelation came while the US State Department said it was "deeply, deeply troubled" by new reports of mass graves in Myanmar's Rakhine State, where the military has been accused of atrocities against minority Rohingya Muslims.
The Associated Press reported earlier it had confirmed the existence of more than five previously unreported mass graves in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin through interviews of survivors in refugee camps in Bangladesh and through time-stamped mobile phone videos.
However, Al-Otaibi said he tried to organise a visit to Myanmar during Kuwait's presidency of the Security Council in February.
"This visit will not happen in February. Other members of the council might organise such a visit at a later stage, maybe in March or April," Al-Otaibi said. "They did not reject it ... They just think this is not the right time for the visit."
"They are currently organising a visit for the diplomatic corps in Myanmar to the Rakhine state. They also said that tensions are high in the Rakhine state at the moment, these were the reasons given to us by the Myanmar authorities," he said.
Nearly 690,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since Aug 25 last year after the Myanmar military cracked down on insurgents in Rakhine state.
The security forces have been accused by Rohingya witnesses and rights activists of carrying out killings, rapes and arson in Rakhine in a campaign senior officials in the United Nations and United States have described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects that label and has denied nearly all the allegations.
In November the 15-member Security Council urged the Myanmar government to stop the excessive use of military force in Rakhine state and expressed "grave concern over reports of human rights violations and abuses."
The statement by the council also called on the Myanmar government to give media organisations full and unhindered access throughout the country to ensure the safety and security of medial personnel.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a regular news briefing on Thursday, "We are deeply, deeply troubled by those reports of mass graves."
"We are watching this very carefully. We remain focused on helping to ensure the accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses and violations."
Nauert said the reports highlighted the need for authorities in Myanmar to cooperate with an independent, credible investigation into allegations of atrocities in northern Rakhine state.
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