EU prepares more sanctions on Myanmar over assassination of Kayah state European Union News

The top diplomat in the bloc has also called for an international arms embargo after killing at least 35 people last week.

The European Union is ready to impose more sanctions on the military-ruled Myanmar A mass murder on Christmas Eve attributed to the army, said the main diplomat of the bloc.

Speaking on Thursday, Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, also called for an international arms embargo on Myanmar in the wake of the December 24 incident.

At least 35 people, including children humanitarian workers, was killed by security forces in a village in the Kayah state devastated by the conflict in Myanmar, according to humanitarian organizations and The Myanmar Witness monitoring group. The bodies of the victims were then burned.

“Given the increasing violence in Myanmar, it is necessary to step up international preventive action, including the arms embargo,” Borrell said. “The EU is also ready to impose more sanctions on the military regime,” he said.

The Myanmar army said last week that it had fired and killed a number of “armed terrorists” from Kayah’s opposition armed forces because they had not stopped military control.

But Borrell described the incident as “a horrific act of violence by the military regime” and said it was “urgent to hold those responsible accountable.” Martin Griffiths, head of humanitarian affairs at the United Nations, as well as the United States report Myanmar military authorities in recent days.

The 27 EU states have imposed specific sanctions on the Myanmar army since it staged a coup in February after ousting the democratically elected government of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The bloc has also frozen its support for Myanmar’s development projects, with the country’s current authorities failing to provide financial support.

More than 1,300 people have been killed by security forces and jailed more than 11,000 for protesting against the coup, according to estimates by the rights group of the Association for the Support of Political Prisoners. The military discusses the number of dead in the group.

Meanwhile, some anti-military households have taken up arms, sometimes in various parts of Myanmar, including Kayah, linking them to ethnic minority groups that have been fighting the government for years.

The military has responded strongly to the self-proclaimed “People’s Defense Forces” with bloody reprisals.