Amid military atrocities, Myanmar public urges gas sanctions

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, VICTORIA MILKO and LORI HINNANT
Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In February, Myanmar’s military took over the country’s government and its bank accounts, including those that receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from a gas field called Yadana. Now there is a groundswell of support in Myanmar for targeted sanctions on oil and gas funds, the country’s single largest source of foreign currency revenue. But Western governments have refused to take that step amid lobbying from gas company officials and resistance from countries such as Thailand, which gets gas from Myanmar. On Friday, the U.S. announced a raft of sanctions against several Myanmar officials and entities, but again declined to sanction oil or gas revenues.