US sanctions against Myanmar

The United States is considering a ban on specific people of Myanmar in protest of the continuing 'ethnic cleansing' campaign in Myanmar's Rakhine state. There is no possibility of imposing economic or military sanctions against the military or Myanmar government at the moment. Senior US State Department officials said this.

In a statement on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Rohingya Muslims in the hands of Myanmar's armed forces and various armed groups were victims of planned 'ethnic cleansing' operation. In a statement returning to the country after the state visit to Myanmar, Tillerson said that the State Department reached the conclusion after analysis of the available information.

In the middle of this month, Tillerson went to Myanmar in the middle of this month. The US State Minister met with the State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi. At the same time, he expressed concern over the torture of Rohingya.

And in Wednesday's statement, Tillerson said, the Myanmar army, the security forces, the attacks of local rowdy groups forced millions of Rohingya women, children and men to flee to Bangladesh. After publication of the statement, two senior officials of the State Department teleconference with journalists for further disclosure. They said that Tylerson has condemned the terrorist attacks carried out by members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Aresa) on August 25. But in the response to this attack, the planned attacks on Rohingyas in the hands of the Myanmar army and local armed groups are in no way acceptable. After adequate analysis and monitoring, Tillerson called this operation of Myanmar's security forces and armed groups as a nation-wide cleansing operation. Tillerson has also demanded legal action against all the people responsible for the attack.

Responding to a question, a State Department official said that as an accountable system, possible sanctions will be taken against Myanmar's 'specific individuals' under US law. He said that visa regulation for the members of Myanmar military forces is currently in place under the law passed in 2008. There are some restrictions on taking additional action due to this act. However, additional restrictions can be taken against the individual, the State Department is investigating it.

Responding to a question that is not being considered as a serious sanction against the government of Myanmar instead of sanctions against the "specific people", the official said that the US government is not thinking of taking such a measure as there was such a huge ban earlier against the Myanmar government. The likelihood that the United States wants to change because of such restrictions, is less likely to be achieved.

In response to another question, the Foreign Ministry official said the use of the term 'ethnic cleansing' meant the depth and intensity of the crisis.