Guterres, Kim assure continued support on Rohingya issue

FT ONLINE

UN Secretary General Antinio Guterres and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim on Sunday assured Bangladesh of continued support in handling the Rohingya crisis as they jointly met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Tejgaon office in the city.

“They simultaneously reiterated their commitment to keep continued pressure on Mayanmar to resolve the crisis,” premier’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told newsmen after the meeting.

The UN secretary general and the WB chief, said, again appreciated Bangladesh’s generosity in offering refuge to more than a million of Rohingyas who fled their home to evade massacre and reaffirmed the global community’s solidarity with Dhaka.

The meeting came after the two global figures reached Dhaka overnight while they are scheduled to visit the makeshift Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar ahead of wrapping up their nearly three day Bangladesh tour over the issue.

Karim said Bangladesh’s development issue also largely featured the discussion while the premier appreciated Guterres and Kim for their visit and explained them the challenges being faced by the country in view of the crisis.

She pointed out that people in the neighbourhood appeared as worst sufferers due to the massive influx.

The premier, he said, focused on a chronological history of influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar into Bangladesh since 1977 until their latest exodus triggered by a ruthless military crackdown that began on Auguat 25 last year.

“Bangladesh gave shelter to 1.1 million Rohingyas only on humanitarian grounds as people of the country suffered a nearly identical experience as they were forced to take shelter in India during the War of Liberation in 1971,” Karim quoted the premier as telling the two high profile dignitaries.

Sheikh Hasina told them despite the bilateral agreement reached with Myanmar for Rohingyas repatriation Naypyidaw was yet to take any action for its implementation.

Sheikh Hasina also explained them the government preparations to relocate 1, 00,000 Rohingyas to an offshore island saying they could live there in a better condition having livelihood opportunities.

Bangladesh, she said, now providing the Rohingyas all humanitarian supports including healthcare services.