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Biden sanctions Myanmar military leaders over coup

US President Joe Biden

US President Joe Biden has levied sanctions on a number of military leaders in Myanmar following the February 1 coup which overthrew the country’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

“We will identify a first round of targets this week, and we’re also going to impose strong exports controls,” Biden said after signing two new executive orders related to the sanctions.

He also reiterated that the Myanmar’s “military must relinquish the power it seized” on Feb. 1 and release the prisoners.

Biden further claimed that he will deprive the junta from getting access to $1 billion funds being held in the US.

“We’re freezing US assets that benefit the Burmese government, while maintaining our support for health care, civil society groups and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly,” he said.

On February 1, a number of military commanders detained Suu Kyi and President Win Myint as well as other senior figures from the ruling party over what they called irregularities in the November election that saw Suu Kyi’s party win a majority of seats.

The junta also handed power to General Min Aung Hlaing and said it would take control of the country for one year.

Since then, the Burmese cities have been the scenes of widespread protests against the military.

In response, the military warned that it would act against those who threaten the country’s stability.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military from 1962 until 2011, when Suu Kyi ended the rule.

But, her international reputation has been tarnished due to her support for a campaign of genocide against the minority Rohingya Muslim community in 2017.


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