December 28, 2017

Myanmar "feels sad" over a US decision to sanction a military general, a government spokesman said, after Washington linked the commander last week to abuses against the Rohingya minority.

"This targeted sanction is based on unreliable accusations without evidence, as we have repeatedly said, so we feel sad for that," Zaw Htay, spokesman for Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told Reuters by phone late on Tuesday (26/12).

The Trump administration announced on Dec. 21 that it was sanctioning Major General Maung Maung Soe, who was in charge of a crackdown on the Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine.

The United States, as well as the United Nations, have called the crackdown "ethnic cleansing." About 655,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine state and sought shelter over the border in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.

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http://jakartaglobe.id/international/myanmar-says-us-sanctions-general-based-unreliable-accusations/