US tightens sanctions on Myanmar army chief

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday (Dec 10) stiffened sanctions against Myanmar's army chief over the mass killings of Rohingya, as his country defended itself against genocide charges before the top UN court.

The United States in July banned military chief Min Aung Hlaing from visiting, but Tuesday's move goes further by freezing any US assets and criminalizing financial transactions with him by anyone in the United States.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Treasury Department imposed the same sanctions on three other senior Myanmar commanders, as well as 14 individuals from other countries, to observe International Human Rights Day.

"The United States will not tolerate torture, kidnapping, sexual violence, murder or brutality against innocent civilians," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"America is the world leader in combatting human rights abuse and we will hold perpetrators and enablers accountable wherever they operate."

Myanmar's military is accused of leading a brutal campaign in 2017 in Rakhine state against the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority whom the Buddhist-dominated nation does not consider citizens.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Around 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh after a bloody crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017 that UN investigators have already described as genocide.

The United States said there were "credible reports" of mass-scale rape and other sexual violence by soldiers under the command of Min Aung Hlaing.

The latest US action came as Myanmar defends itself before the International Court of Justice in The Hague over charges it violated the 1948 genocide convention.

Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose reticence on the Rohingya killings has severely tarnished her once iconic image in the West, is personally leading the defense in the case brought by Muslim-majority Gambia.

The United StRead More – Source