Number of murders in Myanmar has reached an unbearable extent, Germany says

Reuters

22 March 2021 at 5:03 am·1-min read

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas addresses a news conference before the start of the Sahel Coalition conference in Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) - European Union sanctions on Myanmar will target those individuals who are responsible for the violence on the streets and are not intended to punish the people, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.

According to the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the EU will on Monday impose sanctions on 11 individuals linked to the Feb. 1 coup in Myanmar.

"The number of murders has reached an unbearable extent, which is why we will not be able to avoid imposing sanctions," Maas told reporters as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting with his EU counterparts.

"We don't intend to punish the people of Myanmar but those who blatantly violate human rights," he added.

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, editing by Marine Strauss)