BANGKOK: 26 February 2018: Will Myanmar’s generals and the Prime Minister of Cambodia may find it a tad more difficult to travel to Europe?
Myanmar’s generals are accustomed to making shopping trips to the capitals of Europe, but they may find that the European Union will put a damper on their summer excursions.
According to a report at the weekend published in the Straits Times, the European Union is calling on its foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, to draw up a list of Myanmar generals to be targeted for sanctions over the Rohingya issue.
The EU also wants to strengthen its arms embargo on Myanmar, which will be good news for activists who are pressing for the nation’s leaders to be penalised over what the UN called an ethnic cleansing.
Cambodia was also identified over real and anticipated crackdown against the opposition parties ahead of elections in July.
The Financial Times reported that the “possible measures against Cambodia include a rollback of trade preferences.”
The EU will warn Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen of possible action should the situation not improve in the run-up to elections.
The ministers will order enhanced monitoring of the “everything but arms” agreement, under which Cambodia exports goods including garments and textiles duty-free to the EU.
Germany said on Thursday it had suspended preferential treatment in issuing visas for private travel by Cambodian government members, including Prime Minister Hun Sen and his family, as well as high-ranking military officials and the president of the Cambodian Supreme Court.
Any new travel bans and asset freezes would be the EU’s toughest measures yet on Myanmar military to hold it accountable for the abuses against the Rohingya, likely joining United States and Canadian sanctions already in place.
On Monday, foreign ministers will also ask Mogherini and the EU’s foreign service, the European External Action Service, to look at ways to strengthen the bloc’s 1990s-era arms embargo on Myanmar that remains in place.
In a statement expected to be released on Monday at a regular gathering of EU foreign ministers, the bloc is also expected to reiterate its call for the release of two Reuters reporters detained on 12 Dec over accusations that they had violated Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act.
The two had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men who were buried in a mass grave in Rakhine state after being hacked to death, or shot by ethnic Rakhine Buddhist residents and soldiers.
No names of generals to be targeted for sanctions have been discussed yet, diplomats said, but the US said in December it was sanctioning Major-General Maung Maung Soe, who is accused of the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.
About 655,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine for Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.
Myanmar’s travel industry will field a strong delegation early March for the annual ITB Berlin, arguably the largest travel trade show worldwide.
They are keen to battle negative publicity surrounding the Rohingya issue and reverse a decline in visits from some European markets as more travellers respond to their conscience when planning travel.
