Sole person identified for sanctions over Myanmar crimes: Tillerson

The US says it may impose sanctions on a single person it has identified in connection with an internationally-criticized ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims, which has the backing of Myanmar’s government, military and entire Buddhist majority.

According to Press TV, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that Washington was considering “targeted sanctions” against those deemed responsible for the state-sponsored military crackdown, which, according to a new report, killed some 6,700 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar only in a period of one month beginning on August 25.

Myanmar’s military campaign in Rohingya-majority Rakhine State has also forced over 650,000 Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since August.

During the past three months, government troops, apart from raping, have been committing killings, making arbitrary arrests, and carrying out mass arson of houses in hundreds of predominantly-Rohingya villages in the restive state.

The limited nature of any such US bans appear unlikely to satisfy international human rights groups and a number of lawmakers at home, who have slammed the cruel treatment of the Rohingya by Myanmar’s military as crimes against humanity.

This is while other nations as well as the UN have referred to Myanmar’s campaign against its Muslim minority as “ethnic cleansing” well before Washington did so in late November.

A Reuters report cited two US officials as saying that the Trump administration is only considering limited action against Myanmar to avoid upsetting the delicate political balance in the Asian nation, where the government, currently led by the long-time US-sponsored, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has to cope with an influential military.

“We have nothing to announce on sanctions,” said a White House National Security Council spokesman when asked about the coming measures, refusing to comment on the identity of the individual being considered for sanctions.

Preparations for the insignificant sanctions come as Washington has expressed concerns over arrests this week of two Reuters journalists by Myanmar’s authorities.

The reporters, identified as Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, had worked on stories regarding the military crackdown on the Rohingya population in Rakhine state.

ME