{"id":1020,"date":"2018-07-01T08:40:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T08:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2018-08-02T08:44:30","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T08:44:30","slug":"mcconnell-once-pushed-sanctions-against-myanmar-now-hes-blocking-a-new-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/mcconnell-once-pushed-sanctions-against-myanmar-now-hes-blocking-a-new-round\/","title":{"rendered":"McConnell once pushed sanctions against Myanmar. Now he\u2019s blocking a new round."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/em> Shibani Mahtani | Published by Washington Post<\/a> on July 1, 2018<\/p>\r\n

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spent over a quarter century promoting human rights and democracy in Myanmar, is now the principal senator holding up fresh legislation pressuring the country to improve its treatment of the Rohingya.<\/p>\r\n

McConnell (R-Ky.) was the architect of harsh economic sanctions against the former military junta, which were dropped in 2016. His current stance has surprised human rights advocates in Washington who once viewed the senator as their most powerful ally in regard to Myanmar, also known as Burma. They characterize him now as an obstructionist who remains loyal to Myanmar\u2019s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi even as others sour on her<\/a> over her response to the Rohingya crisis. <\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt is very surprising given Sen. McConnell\u2019s history, and the seriousness of this crisis,\u201d said a congressional staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. \u201cThis is not on a small scale \u2014 this is ethnic cleansing.\u201d <\/p>\r\n

An act calling for targeted sanctions and travel restrictions on Myanmar military generals sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February, and legislation with similar penalty language passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. House of Representatives in May. Both bills, people familiar with the negotiations <\/b>say, are being obstructed by the majority leader. <\/p>\r\n

The Senate bill \u201chas been blocked, according to all accounts, by the majority leader\u2019s preference not to have that conversation about whether we should be enacting sanctions,\u201d said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). \u201cI think it is a black mark on the U.S. Senate that we have not had that debate.\u201d <\/p>\r\n

Though he says he is \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by the crisis in Myanmar, McConnell says he believes that any sanctions language coming from the Hill could undermine Suu Kyi\u2019s government, a view supported by her advisers, who see the majority leader as among her only friends in Washington. His position is borne out of years-long loyalty and dedication to Suu Kyi as well as a sense that she is doing her best to manage a tense relationship with the military, those familiar with his thinking say. <\/p>\r\n

\u201cAung San Suu Kyi has worked her whole life to further democracy within Burma, and she remains the best hope for democratic reform in her country,\u201d McConnell said in response to questions from The Washington Post. \u201cThe best hope for Burma to become a truly representative government \u2014 a long-standing interest of mine \u2014 is maintaining U.S. support for Aung San Suu Kyi.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The tensions underscore how branches of the U.S. government are struggling to find a coherent response to the alleged atrocities in the country\u2019s Rakhine state, which have sent 700,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh. The European Union and Canada last week imposed sanctions on <\/a>seven Myanmar generals who led the campaign against the Rohingya. The United States has punished just one so far, in December, though more \u2014 as many as eight \u2014 are likely to be added, according to Senate staff.<\/p>\r\n

Officials in the administration believe it is important \u201cto keep engaging Myanmar to prevent the country from slipping fully into China\u2019s orbit\u201d and are \u201ccourting Aung San Suu Kyi in the hopes of keeping some flicker of hope that the country might continue moving in the general direction of democracy,\u201d said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOn the other side,\u201d he said, \u201care people in Congress .\u2009.\u2009. who believe that the military\u2019s treatment of the Rohingya was so despicable that those responsible should be held accountable and punished.\u201d <\/p>\r\n

McConnell has been a supporter of Suu Kyi since the 1990s. In 2003 he successfully pushed through sanctions that banned military generals from obtaining visas, effectively limiting most American trade with Myanmar, and froze the generals\u2019 assets in the United States. Because Myanmar was such a fringe issue at the time, McConnell wrote the legislation so it had to be renewed yearly, which would keep it on the radar of Washington and the media, according to a former Senate aide. <\/p>\r\n

\u201cEvery year, spring would come, and it would be Burma season,\u201d the aide said. <\/p>\r\n

While under house arrest, Suu Kyi would speak to McConnell, fostering a relationship between the pair<\/a>. Through her doctor, she smuggled a letter to the United States in 2002 thanking McConnell for his support \u2014 a letter that McConnell kept and framed. <\/p>\r\n

In early 2012, as Myanmar opened to the world, McConnell visited the country and the friend he had admired from afar. <\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt was really kind of emotional, frankly. And at the end of the meeting she said, \u2018Can I kiss you?\u2019 And I said absolutely, I don\u2019t think my wife would mind,\u201d he said in an interview with NPR after the trip<\/a>. \u201cIt was a real emotional moment.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

A picture of that moment is displayed in one of the meeting rooms in the majority leader\u2019s office on Capitol Hill. <\/p>\r\n

Later that year, Suu Kyi embarked on a whirlwind trip to the United States, visiting Myanmar communities and policymakers in Washington. Her one day of downtime was spent in Kentucky, where she visited a horse farm. She spoke at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisvilleand thanked the senator for his \u201cconsistent support.\u201d <\/p>\r\n

As Myanmar held its first democratic elections in November 2015, the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar at the time, Derek Mitchell, would send updates every three hours to two institutions in Washington \u2014 the White House and McConnell, according to Mitchell. The elections saw Suu Kyi come to power as the leader of the civilian government, but the military has maintained significant clout and is independent under Myanmar\u2019s constitution, giving Suu Kyi little control over the force. <\/p>\r\n

 Suu Kyi has been widely criticized in Washington and across the world for a lack of leadership on the Rohingya issue. In a speech after the military campaign last August, she dismissed the allegations, saying the situation was less severe than the international community was making it out to be. Her government has restricted access to Rakhine state, including by nongovernmental organizations and the media.  <\/p>\r\n

\u201cI am sadly disappointed in her lack of leadership when it comes to the plight of the Rohingya people,\u201d Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said on the Senate floor last October. \u201cShe claims she is committed to restoring peace and the rule of law. Yet, she has spoken of so-called allegations and counter-allegations instead of addressing widespread, well-documented abuses by her own country\u2019s security forces.\u201d <\/p>\r\n

McConnell was the only lawmaker to back Suu Kyi. After a phone call with her in September \u2014 the last time he\u2019s spoken to her \u2014 he emphasized to his colleagues that she is \u201cthe same person as she was before\u201d and called their criticisms \u201cunfounded.\u201d <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shibani Mahtani | Published by Washington Post on July 1, 2018 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spent over a quarter century promoting human rights and democracy in Myanmar, is <\/p>\n

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Now he\u2019s blocking a new round."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/","name":"Free Rohingya Coalition (FRC)","description":"Free Rohingya Coalition (FRC) is an umbrella network of Rohingya refugees, their leading spokespersons, and international friends working together to end Myanmar genocide and build a viable future for the survivors of state-directed persecution.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/#organization","name":"Free Rohingya Coalition","url":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/FRC-Logo-1024.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/FRC-Logo-1024.png","width":1024,"height":1024,"caption":"Free Rohingya Coalition"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/FreeRohingyaCoalition","https:\/\/x.com\/FreeRoCoalition","https:\/\/instagram.com\/FreeRohingyaCoalition","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/FreeRohingyaCoalition","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCS5aiihsQegOXNu6G8dr56A"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c26c6c7033bd12469197f642cac8f265","name":"FRC Webmaster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5a4db188320f07432b694b63ed460f5fbff6507b7fe51dc64a377bb0335c8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5a4db188320f07432b694b63ed460f5fbff6507b7fe51dc64a377bb0335c8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5a4db188320f07432b694b63ed460f5fbff6507b7fe51dc64a377bb0335c8d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"FRC Webmaster"},"url":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/author\/frcadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1020"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1023,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1020\/revisions\/1023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freerohingyacoalition.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}