Departments in Donald Trump’s government are at odds over whether to levy sanctions against Myanmar military leaders in response to the mass displacement and murder of Rohingya that began almost a year ago.
According to Politico, the internal conflict began three months ago, when State Department officials recommended financial sanctions against eight to 10 Myanmar officials. The Treasury Department, however, declined to enact the sanctions, arguing that the officials have too few US assets to make the penalties felt.
The State Department has responded that the financial impact of the sanctions would be less important than the symbolic significance of the US naming the perpetrators of crimes against the Rohingya as bad actors.
Since the Rohingya refugee crisis began, the US has placed just one Myanmar official on its sanctions list — Major General Maung Maung Soe, who oversaw “killings, sexual violence, and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages.” In June, The EU and Canada imposed sanctions against seven Myanmar military figures, reportedly catching US officials off-guard.
The disagreement between the two US departments has also made its way into the US Senate. Democratic Oregon senator Jeff Merkley, who has been a vocal critic of Myanmar atrocities, has said the Trump administration’s silence on the Rohingya crisis has left the US’s reputation “completely damaged.”
“Here we are a year later, and the results are catastrophic for the Rohingya. It’s time for bold, clear leadership by the United States – it’s way past time for such leadership, and I hope it materializes soon,” he told Politico.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, on the other hand – a longtime supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi – has stood in the way of attempts in congress to pass sanctions against Myanmar, arguing that they could undermine the country’s so-called transition to democracy.
Francisco Bencosme of Amnesty International USA commented on the impasse, saying that “the US is clearly falling behind when it comes to accountability” and is failing to deter other would-be rights abusers.
The sanctions debate is raging at the same time as the State Department is considering whether to release its own report on the Rohingya crisis, compiled by investigators who visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh earlier this year. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is reportedly deciding how much of the report to make public.
With the first anniversary of the mass displacement of the Rohingya to fall on Aug. 25, lawmakers and activists hope that both the state and treasury departments will use the opportunity to take firmer positions against Myanmar’s crimes and send a message that the mass displacement of minorities, which Myanmar continues to perpetrate in other parts of the country, will not go unchecked.
