We’re dealing with Myanmar government on Rohingya repatriation: FM

Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said the government is dealing with the Myanmar government on the Rohingya repatriation issue.

“We are dealing with the government of Myanmar. In a meeting with Myanmar‍‍`s Foreign Minister who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, I urged him to take back the Rohingyas and to begin the repatriation process,” he told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Foreign Minister, who had the meeting with his Myanmar counterpart on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in Uganda, said his Myanmar counterpart personally responded positively in this regard.

He said the government wants to repatriate the Rohingyas through discussion with the government of Myanmar.

The Foreign Minister also said the government remains aware of the situation in Myanmar through media reports.

At a media briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hasan Mahmud said they gave priority to a number of issues including Rohingya repatriation, economic diplomacy and trade expansion during his meetings on the sidelines of the two Summits held in Ugandan capital Kampala.

He said he also discussed the Rohingya issue with the UN Secretary General and sought UN support for the repatriation.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has called for solidarity and increased funding for the Rohingyas and their host communities in Cox’s Bazar.

“The refugees need our solidarity, and the host communities need our solidarity. We need increased funding for all of that,” Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at a regular media briefing in New York on January 22.

He said no refugee should be repatriated against their will.

It needs to be done voluntarily and in a manner that preserves their dignity and their safety, said the spokesperson.

“It is clear for us that the situation in Myanmar currently does not meet the necessary requirements. What we do need is increased global solidarity for those communities that are hosting generously Rohingya refugees, like the community in Cox’s Bazar, which the Secretary-General has visited,” Dujarric said.

The spokesperson said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as he does to heads of governments or states when they’re re-elected. “What we have said in the past from this podium, what the Human Rights High Commissioner has said remains unchanged,” he added.