The United States imposes or threatens to impose sanctions against any country if its policies or interests are against it - such allegations are not new. And behind these restrictions there are various excuses like non-progress of democracy or violation of human rights. Following this, the country has announced a new ban.
On Tuesday (October 31), the United States imposed sanctions on the Myanmar oil and gas company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). This is the first direct US strike against a major source of Myanmar's foreign revenue (against state-owned enterprises). Reuters news.
In a statement issued by the US Treasury Department announcing the ban, it is said that it will be implemented from December 15.
According to Reuters, the United States Department of the Treasury announced a ban on several financial services of Myanmar's state oil and gas enterprise. These services include loans, accounts, insurance, investment and other services.
Oil and gas is the biggest source of foreign exchange earnings for Myanmar's junta government. According to the statistics of the junta government, in the six months from March 31, 2022, they earned 1.72 billion dollars from this sector alone.
Earlier, the US announced new sanctions on four African countries. US President Joe Biden said trade agreements with Uganda, Gabon, Niger and the Central African Republic have been canceled due to "gross violations of human rights" and "adequate progress towards democratic governance".
According to the report of the media TRT Africa, in 2000, the United States made the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to strengthen and support the economic development of these four countries on the African continent. Under that agreement, the countries were getting various trade benefits from the US. Under this facility, countries in the sub-Saharan region could export more than 1,800 products duty-free to the United States.
US President Joe Biden said, 'Both Niger and Gabon are currently under military rule after military coups this year. Hence both countries have lost the eligibility of AGOA agreement. Because these two countries could not show consistent progress in establishing political pluralism and rule of law.
On the other hand, Biden said about the expulsion of the Central African Republic and Uganda from the trade agreement, "The governments of these two countries have grossly violated internationally recognized human rights standards."
The US is canceling trade agreements with four countries
The United States is going to cancel the trade agreement with four African countries. The country announced the cancellation of agreements with Uganda, Gabon, Niger and the Central African Republic (CAR) due to "gross violations of human rights" and "adequate progress towards democratic governance".
US President Joe Biden announced the plan on Monday (October 30). BBC news.
The United States introduced a law called the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2000. Under it, some sub-Saharan African countries are granted duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 products.
Biden says Niger and Gabon are 'non-negotiable' Because they have not 'secured political pluralism and established the rule of law, nor are they making steady progress towards it'. In both countries, the military seized power in coups this year.
Central African Republic and Uganda were excluded because their governments were committing "gross violations of internationally recognized human rights".
In a letter to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Joe Biden said, 'Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger and Uganda have failed to address US concerns related to the AGOA eligibility criteria.'
However, the countries excluded from the US agreement have not yet given any official response.
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