EU Set to Prepare Sanctions on Myanmar Generals

Any new travel bans and asset freezes would be the EU’s toughest measures yet to try to hold the military accountable for the abuses, likely joining US and Canadian sanctions already in place.

“Ministers will call on (Federica) Mogherini to propose restrictive measures on senior members of the Myanmar military for systematic human rights abuses, without delay,” one diplomat said on Thursday, referring to EU sanctions, Reuters reported.

Foreign ministers will also ask Mogherini and the EU’s foreign service, the EEAS, on Monday to look at ways to strengthen the bloc’s 1990s-era arms embargo on the Southeast Asian country that remains in place.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay could not be reached for comment. Myanmar military spokesman Major General Tun Tun Nyi, when reached by phone, did not comment on the EU decision.

No names of generals to be targeted for sanctions have been discussed, the 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.

EU sanctions lists are often coordinated with Washington.

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 believed the situation in Rakhine was stable and under control.

About 655,000 Rohingya have fled from Rakhine State for shelter over the border in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.