Myanmar coup leaders to face sanctions

President Joe Biden speaks alongside Vice President Kamala Harris about his administration’s response to the Myanmar coup in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex, in Washington. Pic/AP/PTI

US President Joe Biden has announced a series of sanctions on the military leaders of Myanmar in response to their recent action to overthrow a democratically elected leadership in a coup.

Tens of thousands have turned out in street protests against the February 1 coup, which overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government in the South East Asian country, despite a recent ban on large gatherings and a night curfew.

"Today I'm announcing a series of actions that we're taking to begin imposing consequences on the leaders of the coup. 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," Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

In his first public address on the situation in Myanmar, which the US and several other western countries continue to call it by its previous name of Burma, Biden demanded that military must relinquish the power it seized and demonstrate respect for the will of the people of Burma as expressed in their November 8 election.
Biden said he has 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.

"We will identify a first round of targets this week. We are also going to impose strong export controls. We are freezing US assets that benefit the Burmese government, while maintaining our support for healthcare, civil society groups, and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly," he said.

As protests grow, violence against those asserting their democratic rights is unacceptable, Biden said the US is going to keep calling it out. "The people of Burma are making their voices heard. And the world is watching," he said.

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