December 16, 2017
Reuters, Washinton
The United States has identified one person and it might
impose sanctions on over the brutal crackdown in Myanmar against minority
Rohingya Muslims and is examining others, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
said on Friday.
Tillerson, who last month declared the violence against
the Rohingya to be “ethnic cleansing,” has said Washington was considering
“targeted sanctions” against those deemed responsible.
More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to southern
Bangladesh since the end of August.
“We are continuing to examine the circumstances around
all of the events since the August attacks that have led to the enormous
migration of people out of Myanmar, and have already identified one individual
and we are examining other possible individuals to hold responsible for
targeted sanctions from the US,” Tillerson told reporters at the United
Nations.
US officials told Reuters that President Donald Trump’s
administration was considering only limited action at this stage. They said it
was preparing narrow, targeted US sanctions against Myanmar’s military and
could roll out the punitive measures by year-end.
The sanctions will be aimed at increasing pressure on
Myanmar authorities, but are not expected to hit the highest levels of the
military leadership and will stop short of reimposing broad economic
restrictions suspended under former President Barack Obama, according to the
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The limited natures of any new sanctions is expected to
be seen as little more than a warning for Myanmar and are not likely to satisfy
international human rights groups and some US lawmakers who have accused
Myanmar’s armed forces of crimes against humanity.
Other world powers and the United Nations called
Myanmar’s campaign against the Rohingya population “ethnic cleansing” well
before the United States did so in late November.
US OPTIONS MULLED
US officials in Washington and Yangon have been looking
in particular at ways to use the Global Magnitsky Act, a law originally
designed to target Russian human rights violators, but which has recently been
expanded to allow sanctions for abuses anywhere in the world, the sources said.
That can take the form of US asset freezes as well as
bans on travel to the United States.
A spokesman for the US State Department said the
administration was in the final stages of preparing this year’s Global
Magnitsky report and had taken “an expansive view of implementation” of the act
in the past year, but could not say when it might be delivered.
Myanmar’s powerful army chief, General Min Aung Hlaing,
is expected to be spared from the latest sanctions, according to three US
officials and a congressional aide familiar with the matter.
In November, Myanmar’s military said it had replaced
Major General Maung Maung Soe, the general in charge in Rakhine state, but gave
no reason for his transfer from a post as the head of the country’s Western
Command.
It was not immediately clear how far down the chain of
command the US measures would reach and who might be named.
Two of the US officials said the Trump administration is
considering only limited action at this stage to avoid upsetting the delicate
political balance in Myanmar, where the civilian-led government headed by Nobel
Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi must still contend with an influential
military.
Washington also wants to hold tougher options in reserve
to escalate the US response if needed, the officials said.
Although the sanctions plan was still being finalized,
the US officials said the aim was to roll it out before the end of December,
possibly before Christmas, though one person close to the matter said an
announcement could be delayed until early next year.
“We have nothing to announce on sanctions,” a White House
National Security Council spokesman said when asked the coming measures. He
declined comment on who might be named.
Preparations for Myanmar sanctions come at the same time
that Washington has expressed concern over the detention this week of two
Reuters journalists.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had worked on stories about the
military crackdown on the Rohingya population in Rakhine state.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say their exodus from the
mainly Buddhist country was triggered by a military offensive in response to
attacks by Rohingya militant on security forces.
Washington has sought to balance its wish to nurture the
civilian government in Myanmar, where it competes for influence with China,
with its desire to hold the military accountable for the abuses.