WASHINGTON: An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist employed by Myanmar’s junta can be paid US$2 million to “assist in explaining the real situation” of the army’s coup to the United States and different nations, paperwork filed with the US Justice Department present.
More than 60 protesters have been killed and 1,900 folks have been arrested since Feb 1, when Myanmar’s generals seized energy and detained civilian leaders together with State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ari Ben-Menashe and his agency, Dickens & Madson Canada, will signify Myanmar’s army authorities in Washington, in addition to foyer Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Russia, and worldwide our bodies such because the United Nations, in accordance to a consultancy settlement.
The Montreal-based agency will “assist the devising and execution of policies for the beneficial development of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and also to assist in explaining the real situation in the Country,” learn the settlement.
Anti-coup protesters stand behind a line of girls’s clothes hanged throughout a street to deter safety personnel from getting into the protest space in Yangon, Myanmar on Mar 9, 2021. (AP Photo)
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The settlement was submitted on Monday to the Justice Department as a part of compliance with the US Foreign Agents Registration Act and revealed online.
A spokesman for the Myanmar army authorities didn’t reply phone calls from Reuters in search of remark.
In a pitch that has been met with widespread skepticism, Ben-Menashe advised Reuters he had been tasked with convincing the United States that Myanmar’s generals wished to transfer nearer to the West and away from China.
He stated the generals wished to resettle Rohingya Muslims who fled a 2017 army assault for which the United Nations has accused those self same generals of overseeing a genocide.
“It is highly implausible that he could convince the United States of the narrative he’s proposing,” stated John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
Protesters show placards and flash a three-fingered signal of resistance on a primary street throughout an indication in Mandalay, Myanmar, Monday, March 8, 2021. Large protests have occurred every day throughout many cities and cities in Myanmar. (AP Photo)
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Other paperwork submitted by Ben-Menashe confirmed the settlement was reached with the junta’s protection minister, General Mya Tun Oo and that the federal government would pay the agency US$2 million.
Mya Tun Oo and different prime generals have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department and the Canadian authorities, so the paperwork says the fee can be made “when legally permissible”.
Lawyers advised Reuters that Ben-Menashe could possibly be in breach of sanctions.
“To the extent that he is providing services to sanctioned parties from the United States without authorisation, that would appear to be a violation of US law,” stated Peter Kucik, a former senior sanctions adviser on the U.S. Treasury.
The US Treasury Department declined to remark.
Protesters maintain portraits of deposed Myanmar chief Aung San Suu Kyi throughout an anti-coup demonstration in Mandalay on Mar 5, 2021. (AP Photo)
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Ben-Menashe advised Reuters he had obtained authorized recommendation that he would want licenses from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC) and the Canadian authorities to settle for the fee, however that he wouldn’t be breaking the legislation by lobbying for the junta.
“There’s technicalities here but we’ll leave it to the lawyers and OFAC to deal with it,” he stated, including his attorneys had been in contact with Treasury officers.
NO AGREEMENT BY UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the UN Security Council failed to agree on an announcement that will have condemned the coup in Myanmar, referred to as for restraint by the army and threatened to contemplate “further measures,” although diplomats stated talks would seemingly proceed.
During an preliminary bid to finalise the textual content, China, Russia, India and Vietnam all urged amendments late on Tuesday to a British draft, diplomats stated, together with elimination of the reference to a coup and the risk to contemplate additional motion.
Such statements by the 15-member physique are agreed by consensus.
Police and protesters conflict at a protest in Myanmar’s business capital, Yangon. (Photo: AFP/STR)
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The Security Council issued an announcement to the press final month voicing concern over the state of emergency imposed by the Myanmar army and calling for the discharge of all these detained, however stopped in need of condemning the coup due to opposition from Russia and China.
“Every member state has a role to play individually and collectively. Collectively, we are always looking for a strong voice and strong action from the Security Council,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric advised reporters earlier on Tuesday.
The draft Security Council assertion, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, referred to as “on the military to exercise utmost restraint, emphasises that it is following the situation closely, and states its readiness to consider possible further measures.”
Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng stated she begged the authorities ‘not to shoot and torture the youngsters’. (Photo: AFP/Handout)
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An impartial UN human rights investigator on Myanmar and New York-based Human Rights Watch have referred to as on the Security Council to impose a world arms embargo and focused financial sanctions on the junta.
But in an effort to protect council unity on Myanmar, diplomats stated sanctions had been unlikely to be thought-about any time quickly as such measures would most likely be opposed by China and Russia, who – together with the United States, France and Britain – are council veto powers.
The draft assertion, which the council started discussing after a closed briefing on Friday on the state of affairs, strongly condemned “the use of violence against peaceful protesters”.
It even have expressed “deep concern at violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including restrictions on medical personnel, civil society, journalists and media workers, and calls for the immediate release of all those detained”.
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