By Reuters
European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to
prepare sanctions against Myanmar generals over the killings of Rohingya
Muslims and to strengthen the EU arms embargo, accusing state security forces
of grave human rights abuses
As reported by
Reuters last week, foreign ministers meeting in Brussels asked the EU’s foreign
policy chief, Federica Mogherini, to draw up a list of names to be hit with EU
travel bans and asset freezes.
In a statement, ministers called for “targeted
restrictive measures against senior military officers of the Myanmar armed
forces responsible for serious and systematic human rights violations without
delay”.
The measures would be the EU’s toughest yet to try to
hold the Myanmar military accountable for the abuses, likely joining US and
Canadian sanctions already in place.
Foreign ministers also want to strengthen the bloc’s
1990s-era arms embargo on the Southeast Asian country that remains in place,
although they did not give details.
Reuters investigations have highlighted the killing of
Rohingya Muslim men who were buried in a mass grave in Rakhine state after
being hacked to death or shot by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist neighbours and
soldiers.
No names of generals to be targeted for sanctions have
been yet discussed, two diplomats said, but the United States said in December
it was sanctioning Major General Maung Maung Soe, who is accused of a crackdown
on the Rohingya minority in Rakhine.
One EU diplomat said the EU’s list was likely to include
more than just one senior military officer.
The EU’s decision to consider sanctions reflects
resistance to such measures in the UN Security Council, where veto-wielding
powers Russia and China said this month they believe the situation in Rakhine
was stable and under control.
The United States, as well as United Nations, have
described the military crackdown in Myanmar as “ethnic cleansing”. More than
680,000 people, mostly Rohingya, have fled Rakhine for shelter over the border
in Bangladesh, the EU said.
Myanmar has denied most allegations of abuses and asked
for more evidence of abuses, while denying independent journalists, human
rights monitors and UN-appointed investigators access to the conflict zone.