Sam D Burnback The United States contemplates imposing direct sanctions against Myanmar for what it calls "a clear case of ethnic cleansing", a senior American diplomat said Thursday.
"People in congress and administration are talking about it (sanctions)," said US ambassador at large on international religious freedom Sam D Burnback,
He disclosed this while speaking with reporters in Dhaka.
The ambassador said more direct actions would be taken against Myanmar after further investigation.
"We are working on fact-finding pieces and investigations into the incidents of atrocities by the Myanmar military are going on, which will be followed by direct actions," he said.
Mr Burnback said the ongoing Rohingya issue was a man-made humanitarian crisis and the Myanmar military and authorities were responsible for it.
Referring to the US stance on this issue, the former Kansas governor made it clear that those responsible for the atrocities must be accountable.
"The perpetrators should not get away with what they had done to the Rohingya people. They must be held accountable for this 'terrible, organised violence unleashed against the religious minority'", he said.
Mr Burnback who arrived in the city on Wednesday and visited Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar to have a first-hand account of the refugee situation.
Narrating his experience of visiting the Rohingya camps, he said that after talking to the Rohingyas randomly he learnt about the horrific and terrible experience the Rohingyas had faced in Myanmar.
"Everyone was either shot, stabbed or killed. A child told me that her grandparents were killed in front of her. A mother told me that her daughter was picked up by the Myanmar military and was later killed. I have talked to the Imams who told me how women were raped and people were killed in front of them".
Everyone said that they faced the brutality and torture as they were Muslims, he added.
He compared the atrocities with the Darfur genocide and said that the US had sponsored resolution against such brutal act in the United Nations.
Mr Burnback noted that the US Vice President Mike Pence expressed his deep concern over the issue while talking to him over phone on Wednesday.
Previously, the US secretary of State Tillerson had also termed it ethnic cleansing, he mentioned.
The envoy appreciated Bangladesh government and the local community for hosting tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled their homes in Northern Rakhaine state since the beginning of the military crackdown against them on August 25.
Responding to a question, the US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat said that her country was in favour of safe, dignified and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas.
She noted that starting the repatriation makes no sense if the Rohingyas would have to return to the refugee camps again in the face of atrocities in Rakhaine state.
She stressed the need for ensuring a conducive environment for the repatriated Rohingya and suggested that independent observers and media should be allowed to visit Rakhaine state after the beginning of the repatriation process to ensure the safety and dignity of Rohingyas.
"For now not a single refugee is willing to go there voluntarily," she said.
Sameer Hussain, unit chief of the International Religious Freedom of the State Department, was also present in the press briefing moderated by JJ Joria, Information Officer of the US Embassy.
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