EU extends ban on arms sales to Myanmar

BRUSSELS: The EU on Monday extended a ban on selling arms to Myanmar and prolonged sanctions against high-ranking officials over their role in the Rohingya crisis.

The measures, which include an embargo on weapons and other equipment that could be used for repression, will stay in place until at least April 30, 2020.

Some 14 top military and border officials are under individual EU sanctions -- barring them from travelling to or through the European bloc and freezing any assets they hold in Europe -- over alleged human rights violations, including killings and sexual violence.

In August 2017, some 740,000 Rohingya refugees fled a military crackdown in northern Myanmar to cross into Bangladesh, where 300,000 members of the persecuted Muslim minority were already in camps.

Many Rohingya refugees said there had been mass rapes and slaughters, and UN officials have said the crackdown needs a genocide investigation.