Rohingya crisis: UK extends full support to Bangladesh in UN, other int’l forums

Visiting UK State Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Mark Fields and State Minister- Department for International Aid (UKAid) Alistair Burt were speaking at a briefing at the residence of the UK envoy in Dhaka.

The visiting British ministers also presented three-point recommendations to Myanmar in order to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

The recommendations are:

- Myanmar must stop violence on the Rohingya people in Rakhine state immediately

- Myanmar must allow international relief and aid organisations access to Rakhine state so that they could provide humanitarian aids to the affected people

- Myanmar must make full implementation of the recommendations made by the Commission on Rakhine State led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

The UK ministers also said during their earlier visit to Myanmar before coming to Bangladesh, the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi had promised that she will try to resolve the crisis and take back the Rohingyas who have fled violence and sought refuge in Bangladesh.

She also told them that Myanmar will respect the promise it has made to the international community in this regard.

However, they opined that Myanmar is a new democracy where Suu Kyi is in a “difficult position” and has “hardly any authority over the army”, adding that the Rohingya crisis is a complex issue and Bangladesh has to be patient as it will take time to resolve the crisis.

Earlier on Wednesday, the two UK ministers arrived in Dhaka to discuss various issues of mutual interests including the Rohingya issue.