The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions on people linked to last month’s military coup in Myanmar.
The EU’s sanctions marked the 27-nation bloc’s most significant response since the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1. The individuals targeted included General Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military.
EU foreign ministers adopted the travel bans and asset freezes on the individuals at a meeting in Brussels. So far, the EU has an arms embargo on Myanmar and it has targeted some senior military officials since 2018.
“We are going to take sanctions against 11 persons involved in the coup and the repression of the demonstrators,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
The US action came on the heels of the European Union imposing its own sanctions.
“The Burmese security forces’ lethal violence against peaceful protesters must end,” said Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. “We continue to stand with the people of Burma.”
Treasury’s action targeted Than Hlaing, a police force leader, and military officer Aung Soe, as well as two military groups, the 33rd Light Infantry Division of the Burmese Army and the 77th Light Infantry Division of the Burmese Army.
Stronger measures are expected soon as the bloc moves to take aim at the businesses run by the military.
At least 250 people have been killed so far in the crackdown on the protests, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.
Three people were killed in Myanmar’s second city, Mandalay in renewed unrest on Monday, including a 15-year-old boy, witnesses and news reports said.
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