EU, Canada Slap Sanctions on Myanmar Military Officials Over Rohingya Crisis

[Homo Sapiens]

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/my...yanmar-military-officials-06252018162645.html

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EU, Canada Slap Sanctions on Myanmar Military Officials Over Rohingya Crisis
2018-06-25

Rohingya refugees carry a woman over a canal after crossing the Naf River as they flee violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state to reach the Palong Khali campsites near Ukhia in southeastern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, Oct. 16, 2017.
AFP
The European Union and Canada on Monday imposed sanctions on senior military officials in Myanmar deemed responsible for human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in troubled Rakhine state where a brutal military campaign last year forced nearly 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh.

The E.U. has frozen the assets of the seven Myanmar army, border guard, and police officials, including Major General Maung Maung Soe, who was sanctioned by the United States in December. They were also banned them from traveling to the bloc.

Maung Maung Soe, the former head of the Myanmar Army’s Western Command during the military operation in northern Rakhine state, was the first high-level military officer to be named in U.S. sanctions for overseeing the campaign of atrocities against the Rohingya.

The seven senior military staff were targeted for their parts in the violence, which included indiscriminate killings, rape, torture, and arson, in what the United Nations has said amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Those subject to sanctions are “listed because of their involvement in or association with atrocities and serious human rights violations committed against the Rohingya population in Rakhine state in the second half of 2017,” a statement issued by the European Council said.

“Today, the European Union and Canada have announced sanctions against some of the key military leaders who were involved in atrocities and human rights violations in Rakhine state, including sexual and gender-based violence,” said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, in a statement.

“Canada and the international community cannot be silent,” she said. “This is ethnic cleansing. These are crimes against humanity.”

Myanmar has repeatedly denied the ethnic cleansing accusations and argued that the counterinsurgency by security forces was necessary in order to prevent further attacks by a Muslim militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which carried out deadly assaults on guard posts in the region in 2016 and 2017.

On April 26, the E.U. strengthened an existing arms embargo on Myanmar, prohibiting military training and cooperation with the country's army and adopting a legal framework for targeted restrictive measures against certain individuals from the armed forces and border guard police.

In response to the sanctions, the office of Myanmar military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing issued a statement on Monday saying that Maung Maung Soe had been fired for failing in his duty to control the violence during the crackdown in Rakhine state between the two ARSA attacks on Oct. 9, 2016, and Aug. 25, 2017.

Another top military leader, Lieutenant General Aung Kyaw Zaw, also seen as responsible for part of the violence, was transferred to other post, but instead the army honored his request to resign because of a health condition, the statement said.

ICRC chief in Yangon

Meanwhile, Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), arrived in Myanmar on Monday evening and will visit Rakhine state on June 26-28, said Zaw Win, an ICRC spokesman in Yangon.

The ICRC provides basic assistance to those affected by violence in the region.

“He arrived late in Yangon and could meet only the ICRC staff,” Zaw Win said. “He will go to Rakhine tomorrow and will meet with the Rakhine state government. He will travel in northern Rakhine state and to the Maungdaw township ICRC office.”

Maurer will meet State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other government officials on June 29 in Naypyidaw before heading to Bangladesh on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Home Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and Foreign Affairs Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.

Maurer will also visit Rohingya refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazaar district to observe his organization’s work there, Zaw Win said.

Reported by Wai Mar Tun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...08400242c2e_story.html?utm_term=.f54298d024b5
Asia & Pacific
Myanmar fires general who led campaign against Rohingya

Myanmar military officers march in a parade to commemorate the 73rd Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27. (Aung Shine Oo/AP)

by Timothy McLaughlin June 25 at 5:18 PM

Under pressure from Canada and the European Union, the Myanmar military on Monday dismissed a general who is alleged to have led a brutal campaign against Rohingya Muslims last year. It was an unexpected move, one that suggests the military may be prepared to accept some measure of accountability for the crisis.

Even as it announced the firing of Major Gen. Maung Maung Soe, however, the military leadership stopped short of blaming him for the operations. The general, it said, displayed “weakness” in the face of militant attacks on police outposts in the country’s western Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017, according to a statement from the office of the commander in chief of defense services, Min Aung Hlaing, that was posted on Facebook.

The decision came shortly after the E.U. and Canada announced Monday the imposition of sanctions against Maung Maung Soe and six other military and police officers in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The seven — five army generals, a border guard general and a police commander — face asset freezes and a travel ban in the E.U. and Canada. Canada previously sanctioned Maung Maung Soe in February under a different act. The Myanmar military statement made no mention of the sanctions.

The United States added the general to its own sanctions list in December. He is the only military official to be punished by the U.S. government in the wake of the brutal campaign that sent some 700,000 predominantly Rohingya Muslims fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh, in what the United Nations, the United States and others have termed ethnic cleansing.

Another commander, Lt. Gen. Aung Kyaw Zaw, who was also sanctioned by the E.U. and Canada on Monday, was allowed to resign from his position on May 22 because of poor health, the statement from the commander in chief’s office said.

Until the end of last year, Aung Kyaw Zaw was the commander of the Bureau of Special Operations No. 3, overseeing the army’s Western Command, which operates in Rakhine, the E.U. said. Maung Maung Soe led the Western Command until November.

Both men were responsible for “atrocities and serious human rights violations committed against Rohingya population in Rakhine State,” the E.U. said. “These include unlawful killings, sexual violence and systematic burning of Rohingya houses and buildings.”

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, said in a statement that “Canada and the international community cannot be silent. This is ethnic cleansing. These are crimes against humanity.”

The U.S. Treasury Department similarly found “credible evidence” that Maung Maung Soe is responsible for the mass killings and arson attacks that happened under his command. When he was sanctioned by the United States last December, a spokesman for Myanmar’s civilian government said the decision was without evidence and based on unreliable accusations.

The U.S. government — which, according to the State Department, “strongly supports” the move by the E.U. and Canada — is considering sanctions on other people it believes are responsible for the campaign against the Rohingya. There are up to eight individuals being considered for the Treasury blacklist, according to Senate staff, as pressure on Myanmar’s military intensifies nearly a year after the original attacks took place.

A spokesman for the Treasury Department said that it does not “telegraph sanctions or comment on investigations or prospective actions.”

According to the statement from the commander in chief’s office, Maung Maung Soe failed to adequately respond to “terrorist attacks” launched in October 2016 and August 2017 by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a militant group that first emerged two years ago claiming to fight on behalf of the marginalized Rohingya.

The statement noted that the military did not find any fault with the general as he carried out his normal duties but that during the attacks he displayed “shortcomings in timely response to early warnings of the use of force and lawless acts” by ARSA.

The military has maintained that what it calls “clearance operations” were a legitimate response to the August attacks. This narrative has been largely embraced by the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and an overwhelming number of Myanmar people. The Rohingya are deeply despised within Myanmar, where they are viewed primarily as illegal immigrants. The campaign bolstered the popularity of the military, which stepped back from direct rule of the country in 2011.

Human rights groups are advocating for more sanctions coupled with action by the International Criminal Court to end long-running impunity for Myanmar’s military. The court last week gave Myanmar until July 27 to respond to a prosecution request that it consider hearing the case of alleged deportations of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

“These resignations — willful or coerced — do not represent genuine accountability for the atrocities perpetrated by the soldiers and security forces commanded by Maung Maung Soe or Aung Kyaw Zaw, for that matter,” said Richard Weir, a Myanmar researcher for Human Rights Watch.

“Moreover, there has been no admission that these individuals bear responsibility for the atrocities committed by the troops below them, by acts of omission or direct orders,” Weir said. “The victims of these atrocities deserve answers and they deserve some measure of justice. They deserve to have these men held accountable, not a cushy retirement.”

 

[Asian.Century]

First ever wonderful job done by EU, and Canada.

Much appreciated, the Burma Govt and Army are terrorists, committed genocide against Rohingyas.

 

[UKBengali]

This is a start.

The terror regime needs to be economically hammered next by the West, Muslim and civil countries.

 

[war&peace]

Sooo it took them so long to put these sanctions....who are they trying to fool? they let them kill Rohingya

 

[Nilgiri]

The terror regime needs to be economically hammered next by the West, Muslim and civil countries.

Is China a civil country?

@dy1022 @Jlaw @rott @Genesis @Kiss_of_the_Dragon

 

[UKBengali]

Is China a civil country?

@dy1022 @Jlaw @rott @Genesis @Kiss_of_the_Dragon

China by itself cannot save the savages when the whole West, many other civilised countries and Muslim countries have turned against this entity.

China has acted deplorably over this incident and this has already been made known on here. China itself is not an uncivilised country like the Barman entity is and has made a long-term strategic miscalculation which will cost it dear.

 

[Nilgiri]

China by itself cannot save the savages when the whole West, many other civilised countries and Muslim countries have turned against this entity.

China has acted deplorably over this incident and this has already been made known on here. China itself is not an uncivilised country like the Barman entity is and has made a long-term strategic miscalculation which will cost it dear.

If a country acted "deplorably", is it civil or not? If it is not uncivilised, that goes for every country that continued economic engagement with Burma strongly too?

But dayum, it will cost it "dearly"!!!! Coz BD sez so....and some "officials" (individuals) got "sanctioned" feebly.

Myanmar tourism + myanmar economy go from strength to strength @Aung Zaya @Karatay @Gibbs

I think BD should count rohingya as tourists, it will help its numbers way more than the copy paste loser threads about BD "tourism" dreaming @DarkPrince

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Is China a civil country?

@dy1022 @Jlaw @rott @Genesis @Kiss_of_the_Dragon

I don't know you tell me and judge by yourself

 

[Nilgiri]

I don't know you tell me and judge by yourself

Apparently your support to Myanmar will "cost you dear"...because this BD-stronk fella says so.

 

[Jlaw]

China by itself cannot save the savages when the whole West, many other civilised countries and Muslim countries have turned against this entity.

China has acted deplorably over this incident and this has already been made known on here. China itself is not an uncivilised country like the Barman entity is and has made a long-term strategic miscalculation which will cost it dear.

China is looking out for its best interest. Rohingya have nothing to do with China. Somehow I think the rohingya probably did something to piss off the majority of the population. Perhaps it's grudge that has been going on for decades. And btw, what the hell are rohingya doing in Buddhist Myanmar?
But I digress...

The SJW pretentious west trick you guys by slapping sanctions on the generals responsible for the massacre. Slapping sanctions on individuals, now that's a new one .

 

[UKBengali]

China is looking out for its best interest. Rohingya have nothing to do with China. Somehow I think the rohingya probably did something to piss off the majority of the population. Perhaps it's grudge that has been going on for decades. And btw, what the hell are rohingya doing in Buddhist Myanmar?
But I digress...

The SJW pretentious west trick you guys by slapping sanctions on the generals responsible for the massacre. Slapping sanctions on individuals, now that's a new one .

Rohingya were in Arakan before Barmans arrived.
These sanctions are not a trick as BD will push for even tougher action next.

Please so not try to excuse China's support of a savage entity.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Apparently your support to Myanmar will "cost you dear"...because this BD-stronk fella says so.

Haha...nice try since when I said to support Myanmar, driving a wedge between China and BD will cost even more to Indians here. I can understand their frustrations and they have their right to express their anger.

 

[bluesky]

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004540187

EU, Canada sanction Myanmar generals over Rohingya
5:14 am, June 27, 2018

ReutersLUXEMBOURG/YANGON (Reuters) — The European Union and Canada imposed sanctions on seven senior military officials from Myanmar on Monday, including the general in charge of an operation accused of driving more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.

Within hours of the EU announcement, the Myanmar military announced that one of the sanctioned generals had been fired on Monday and another had left the army last month after being removed from his post.

The seven face asset freezes and are banned from traveling to the EU, after the bloc extended an arms embargo and prohibited any training of, or cooperation with, Myanmar’s armed forces.

The EU sanctions, first reported by Reuters in April, also mark a shift in diplomacy by the European bloc, which suspended its restrictive measures on Myanmar in 2012 to support its partial shift to democratic governance in recent years.

The crackdown on the Rohingya in northwestern Rakhine State, which the United Nations denounced as “ethnic cleansing” by the military, has soured relations.

Myanmar rejects almost all accusations of wrongdoing and says it launched a legitimate counter-insurgency operation after coming under attack by Rohingya militants last August.

One of the officers sanctioned by the EU, Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Soe, had already been sanctioned by the United States last December. He was transferred late last year from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine, where Myanmar’s military launched its ferocious counter-offensive.

“He is responsible for the atrocities and serious human rights violations committed against [the] Rohingya population in Rakhine State by the Western Command during that period,” the EU said in a statement.

 

[Bilal9]

Haha...nice try since when I said to support Myanmar, driving a wedge between China and BD will cost even more to Indians here. I can understand their frustrations and they have their right to express their anger.

Well we suffered the brunt of the result of ethnic cleansing. We are feeding them and housing them when we ourselves are poor. These are Burmese citizens whom Burma itself has driven off, which is unthinkable in terms of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

I am not going to point fingers but the facts remain,

a. The Rohingya have lived in Arakan for many hundreds of years (it has always been their home) and,

b. They have now been brutally driven away from their home in Arakan to within our borders in Bangladesh.

Someone in Burma must bear responsibility for these acts of injustice to the innocent, by any standards of humanitarianism.