EU set to sanction Myanmar junta officials over coup
EU foreign ministers are on Monday set to approve sanctions on 11 Myanmar junta officials.
BRUSSELS (AFP) - EU foreign ministers are on Monday set to approve sanctions on 11 Myanmar junta officials over the military coup there, European diplomats said.
The move comes after the 27-nation bloc last month agreed to target Myanmar s military and its economic interests over its seizure of power.
One diplomat said the 11 individuals to be placed on an EU assets freeze and visa ban blacklist by ministers meeting in Brussels are military and police officers.
The initial round of measures is not expected to target businesses tied to the army, but diplomats said some would likely be placed under sanction in the coming weeks.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering a mass uprising that security forces have sought to crush with a campaign of violence and fear.
More than 220 people have been confirmed killed and 2,000 detained, according to a local monitoring group.
The military has justified its takeover by claiming electoral fraud in elections last November that were won by Suu Kyi s party in a landslide.
But it has faced international condemnation for the coup and subsequent bloody crackdown, with the US and Britain hitting the junta with sanctions.
Myanmar s military has interests in swathes of the country s economy, ranging from mining and banks to petroleum and tourism.
The EU has previously slapped an arms embargo on Myanmar and blacklisted 14 top military and border officials over the persecution of the Muslim Rohingya minority.
