{"id":131441,"date":"2017-11-15T05:37:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T10:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=131441"},"modified":"2017-11-15T05:37:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T10:37:58","slug":"tillerson-says-us-considers-individual-sanctions-for-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/15\/tillerson-says-us-considers-individual-sanctions-for-myanmar\/","title":{"rendered":"Tillerson says US considers individual sanctions for Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"U.S.<\/a>
FILE: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson\u00a0(Photo:<\/a> Rex Tillerson Secretary\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that his country was deeply concerned by \u201ccredible reports\u201d of atrocities committed by Myanmar’s security forces and called for an independent investigation into a humanitarian crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya flee to Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a joint news conference with leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar’s capital, Tillerson said the U.S. would consider individual sanctions against people found responsible for the violence, but he would not advise \u201cbroad-based economic sanctions\u201d against the entire country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that has to be evidence based,\u201d Tillerson said. \u201cIf we have credible information that we believe to be very reliable that certain individuals were responsible for certain acts that we find unacceptable, then targeted sanctions on individuals very well may be appropriate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tillerson’s one-day visit comes as a new report said there was \u201cmounting evidence\u201d of genocide against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, where a government security operation has caused more than 600,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

Tillerson also met with Myanmar’s powerful military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of operations in Rakhine.<\/p>\n

A senior U.S. State Department official said Tuesday that Tillerson would use the visit to \u201cexpress concerns over the displacement and violence and insecurity affecting Rohingya populations and other local populations and discuss ways to help Burma stakeholders implement commitments aimed at ending the crisis and charting productive ways forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.<\/p>\n

The report by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the advocacy group Fortify Rights found there is \u201cmounting evidence\u201d of genocide against the Rohinyga. It accused security forces and civilians of mass killings — including burning victims alive including infants — rape and other abuses, and called on the\u00a0international\u00a0community to take action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese crimes thrive on impunity and inaction,\u201d said Matthew Smith, the head of Fortify Rights. \u201cCondemnations aren’t enough. Without urgent\u00a0international\u00a0action towards accountability, more mass killings are likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myanmar’s military has denied the accusations, most recently with a statement Monday. The military said it had interviewed thousands of people during a monthlong investigation into the conduct of troops in Rakhine after Rohingya insurgents launched a series of deadly attacks there on Aug. 25.<\/p>\n

While the report acknowledged that battles against militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army had left 376 \u201cterrorists\u201d dead, it also claimed security forces had \u201cnever shot at the innocent Bengalis\u201d and \u201cthere was no death of innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myanmar’s government and most of the Buddhist majority say the members of the Muslim minority are \u201cBengalis\u201d who migrated illegally from Bangladesh and do not acknowledge the Rohingya as a local ethnic group even though they have lived in Myanmar for generations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that his country was deeply concerned by \u201ccredible reports\u201d …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":89726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24157,16],"tags":[33400,22314,33399,335,13441],"class_list":["post-131441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-news","category-news","tag-arakan-rohingya-salvation-army","tag-aung-san-suu-kyi","tag-muslim-rohingya","tag-myanmar","tag-rex-tillerson","mauthors-esther-htusan","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}