Myanmar advocates urge US to place sanctions on bank used by junta

WASHINGTON - Washington should impose sanctions on a Myanmar bank being used to circumvent existing U.S. restrictions, advocates said, urging the outgoing Biden administration to cut off a key source of foreign currency for the country's military junta.

Dozens of Myanmar civil society groups wrote to the departments of State and the Treasury on Monday calling for the U.S. to block the state-owned Myanma Economic Bank from using the dollar-based financial system and encourage other governments to do the same, according to a letter shared with Reuters.

"The military junta depends on foreign banks, jet fuel suppliers, and arms dealers to sustain its crimes against humanity," said Simon Billenness, executive director of the International Campaign for the Rohingya, one of the groups that signed the letter.

Myanmar's military overthrew the country's elected leaders in 2021 and then launched a bloody crackdown on protests, sparking a civil war that has displaced more than 3.1 million people, according to the U.N.

"An opportunity exists to disrupt the military junta's international support networks at a time when the military is at its weakest point since the coup began in 2021," Billenness said.

The State Department confirmed it had received the letter but did not immediately have further comment.

Sanctions issued by Washington last year against two other state-owned banks have led the junta to shift to using Myanma Economic Bank to procure arms and to receive hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, including from Myanmar's natural gas exports, according to a U.N. envoy's report in June.

The coup in Myanmar came days after President Joe Biden took office. His administration immediately froze about $1 billion of Myanmar assets and gradually imposed sanctions on military leaders and businesses they rely on.

Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, but both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress support trying to deny the junta access to revenue.

Billenness said Biden's administration should "finish strong in the same way that they started strong in their response to the military coup" by issuing sanctions on Myanma Economic Bank.

Myanmar's military denies accusations it has committed atrocities against civilians and says it is fighting "terrorists." Officials have played down the impact of sanctions and say they only delay the military's plan to return the country to democracy. REUTERS