Dhaka (Reuters) – Malaysia, Bangladesh and some regional partners will work with a joint delegation of Myanmar to seek peace and humanitarian assistance from Rohingya refugees, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday.
Bangladesh has occupied more than one million Rohingya refugees in its southeastern region of Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Anwar’s comments began in Bangladesh’s interim mind Nobel Peace Laurel Muhammad Yunus’s three-day visit to Malaysia.
Anwar told Yunus’ joint press conference: “Getting peace in Myanmar is of course a top priority, while direct humanitarian assistance to suffering is first and foremost, refugees and victims of earthquakes.”
Malaysia’s Foreign Minister will coordinate the Myanmar mission with colleagues from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, adding that he is Anwar, who chairs the ASEAN regional organization this year.
“We are worried that Bangladesh will have to satisfy the burden of a large number of Rohingya refugees.”
The UN said that in the past 18 months, conflicts against the Rohingya and violence against the Rohingya, mainly Muslim minority in Myanmar’s West Rakhine State, forced about 150,000 people to flee to Bangladesh in the past 18 months.
Malaysia and Bangladesh signed five agreements during their visit to Yunus, covering defense cooperation and cooperation in the supply and infrastructure of liquefied natural gas (LNG), petroleum products and related facilities.
(Reported by Ruma Paul; Edited by Sudipto Ganguly and Clarence Fernandez)
