President Biden said Wednesday that the US will slap sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders for carrying out their coup and he demanded that they release democratic politicians and activists, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military leaders in Myanmar, also known as Burma, seized control of the country on Feb. 1, detained Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and shut down media outlets, blocked the internet and raided the offices of the National League of Democracy party.
“I’m announcing a series of actions that we’re taking to begin imposing consequences on the leaders of the coup,” Biden said shortly before he left the White House for a visit to the Pentagon.
“The US government is taking steps to prevent the generals from improperly having access to the $1 billion in Burmese government funds held in the United States, and today I’ve approved a new executive order enabling us to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests as well as close family members,” he continued.
President Joe Biden speaks about his administration’s response to the coup in Myanmar on Feb. 10, 2021. APThe president said the federal government would identify the first round of targets this week.
He also said that in addition to the sanctions, the US would impose controls on exports and freeze US assets that benefit the Burmese government.
“The military must relinquish power it seized and demonstrate respect for the role of the people” after the Nov. 8 election, he said.
The military’s actions in Myanmar have sparked widespread protests across the country and led the police to launch a brutal crackdown on the unrest, including scores of arrests amid violent clashes with demonstrators in which gunfire was reported.
Video from Tuesday shows a young woman being shot in the head by police.
The footage — recorded Tuesday at a protest in the Southeast Asian nation’s capital, Naypyitaw — shows a female protester in a red shirt and a motorcycle helmet being sprayed with water by police as demonstrators hurled rocks at the cops.
The protest takes a more violent turn when several apparent gunshots ring out, and the woman collapses. Another protester comes to her aid, the clip shows.
A doctor at a hospital in Naypyidaw told Human Rights Watch that the woman — identified by the New York-based organization as 20-year-old Mya Thwe Thwe Khine — has a bullet lodged in her head and has lost significant brain function.
She was listed in critical condition, the doctor said late Tuesday.
“Myanmar police shooting at a woman demonstrator whose back was turned is unconscionable as well as unlawful,” an HRW crisis and conflict researcher, Richard Weir, said in a statement.
“The police need to stop responding to peaceful protests by firing off guns and immediately investigate alleged wrongful use of force. Myanmar’s military junta should rescind its draconian orders on protests and end its crackdown.”
The United Nations also raised concerns about the police’s aggressive tactics.
“According to reports from Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay and other cities, numerous demonstrators have been injured, some of them seriously, by security forces in connection with the current protests across the country,” the UN said in a statement.
“The use of disproportionate force against demonstrators is unacceptable,” Ola Almgren, the UN resident coordinator in Myanmar, told the Associated Press.
The military said it detained Suu Kyi and other governing party members due to irregularities in the November election, which her National League for Democracy party won in a landslide.
An election commission has denied the allegation.
With Post wires
