US will soon impose more sanctions on Myanmar to thwart all efforts by the junta in the Southeast Asian nation to generate revenue and procure arms. A senior State Department official said Wednesday that further sanctions will be announced in coming days, reported Reuters.
While speaking with media personnel in Jakarta, US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet said, “We’re committed to ratchet up the pressure on the junta and make it harder for them to generate revenue, which is fuelling its war machine.”
Chollet further said, “Myanmar is on the path to becoming a failed state in the heart of Southeast Asia.”
The humanitarian crises in Burma have only gotten worse since the military overthrew the government on February 1, 2021. According to reports, there have been close to 3,000 fatalities, 17,000 arrests, and over 1.5 million people got displaced.
Chollet added that Russia must stop its arms supply to Myanmar’s junta. “One way that can happen is if the junta is no longer able to import arms and we would make a very large step in that direction if Russia were to stop supplying arms to Myanmar,” he said.
The United States has been working to strengthen its relationship with ASEAN and its members over the situation in Burma. Chollet urged the grouping to exclude Myanmar’s political representation from all of its meetings.
United States says that it will continue to support the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar to establish peace and multi-party administration. United States and other Western nations have already issued a number of sanctions that target the military government’s agencies, enterprises, and people. According to Chollet, the US has sanctioned 80 people and more than 30 organisations in Myanmar so far.
“The regime needs to fully understand that as long as it is continuing to prosecute such a brutal a campaign against their own people that they will suffer the consequences for that — and that will include further isolation in the international community.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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