The most recent sanctions imposed by the United States on the nation’s military government and crony companies target jet fuel for Myanmar’s armed forces.
The US Treasury Department announced on Friday that penalties had been placed on two individuals and six organisations linked to Myanmar’s military for enabling the regime’s on-going atrocities.
According to a statement from the US Treasury, three sanctioned companies are involved in the importation, storage, and distribution of aviation fuel for the military forces of Myanmar.
The Treasury listed the companies that were sanctioned as Sia Sun Group, which had already been designated for sanctions by Canada and the EU, Asia Sun Trading Co Ltd., which the UK had earlier this year, and Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Co Ltd., a shipping company that supplies jet fuel to the military in Myanmar and was also designated by the UK earlier this year.
Additionally, two people were sanctioned: Win Min Soe, the wife of Tun Min Latt and co-owner with her husband of the three companies Star Sapphire Group PTE Ltd., Star Sapphire Trading Company Ltd., and the military regime’s leader, Tun Min Latt, who the treasury described as a close associate.
According to the Treasury, the couple’s businesses imported “military arms and equipment, including drones and aircraft parts” and served as an agent for the US-sanctioned Chinese arms producer Norinco. According to the statement, Tun Min Latt was detained in Thailand in September on suspicion of selling drugs and laundering money.
In a statement, Brian Nelson, the Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, referred to the nation by its former name and said that “Burma’s military regime continues to inflict pain and suffering on its own people.”
Since taking control in 2021, the military regime had started to depend more and more on airstrikes using “unguided munitions and rockets” to target civilian areas.
The village of Let Yet Kone in central Burma was the target of airstrikes in late 2022 that hit a school with students and teachers inside, and an airstrike in the northern state of Kachin killed up to 80 people who were in attendance at a concert, according to the Treasury.
The US declared new sanctions against organisations and people connected to the nation’s military rulers on Friday. Rounds of sanctions put in place by the EU and the UK are also intended to isolate the military administration.
The Sentry organisation and the Justice for Myanmar activist group applauded Washington’s attention to jet fuel supplies and the implementation of sanctions against entities and people connected to the government.
The organisations said in a joint statement that they “welcome the US decision to sanction these military cronies and call for like-minded jurisdictions, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, to coordinate efforts to ensure that all of the Star Sapphire entities and owners are sanctioned in each jurisdiction.”
In response to “grave” human rights abuses in the nation, the EU last month placed asset freezes and travel bans on 16 people and organisations in Myanmar, including the energy minister, powerful businessmen, and high-ranking officers.
The EU also denounced pervasive military abuses of human rights, such as sexual assault, the targeting of journalists, human rights defenders, and members of the media, as well as airstrikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools.
