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Rohingya crisis: Myanmar general hit by US sanctions | Rohingya crisis: Myanmar general hit by US sanctions |
(35 minutes later) | |
The US has sanctioned a Myanmar general accused of leading an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya people. | The US has sanctioned a Myanmar general accused of leading an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya people. |
Maung Maung Soe is among a host of world figures blacklisted by the US over human rights and corruption allegations. | |
The crisis in Myanmar has seen more than 650,000 Rohingya flee for neighbouring Bangladesh since August. | |
Myanmar's military says it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians. | Myanmar's military says it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians. |
The exodus began earlier this year when Myanmar's army launched a counter-insurgency operation in northern Rakhine state after militants attacked police posts and killed members of the security forces. | |
Many who reached Bangladesh - some with bullet or other wounds - said Burmese troops backed by local Buddhist mobs had burned their villages and attacked and killed civilians. | |
The UN has described the military offensive in Rakhine as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". | |
In its statement, the US Treasury said Maung Maung Soe "oversaw the military operation in Burma's Rakhine State responsible for widespread human rights abuse against Rohingya civilians". | In its statement, the US Treasury said Maung Maung Soe "oversaw the military operation in Burma's Rakhine State responsible for widespread human rights abuse against Rohingya civilians". |
Last month he was transferred from his post, but Myanmar's Ministry of Defence gave no reason for the move. | |
This week, the UN's investigator into human rights in Myanmar was barred from entering the country. | |
The government said they barred Yanghee Lee because she was "not impartial and objective", but Ms Lee said the decision suggested "something terribly awful" was happening in Rakhine. |