After China, US promises to help Bangladesh in repatriation of Rohingya refugees

Days after China expressed its support to Bangladesh to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis; the US has come forward to help the country in repatriation of Rohingyas.

Dhaka, Nov 2: Days after China expressed its support to Bangladesh to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis; the United States has come forward to help the country in the "safe, sustainable and dignified repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals".

According to an estimate at least 605,000 Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since violence broke out in Rakhine State on August 25. Bangladesh has been urging Myanmar to take back its "nationals" who are currently staying in cramped and unhygienic refugees camps spread across Cox's Bazar district.

The US' latest stand on the entire refugee crisis has come as a major relief to Bangladesh which is finding it "difficult" to take care of unprecedented flow of Rohingyas from the neighbouring country.

The US has assured "both financial and diplomatic" support to Bangladesh in repatriation of Rohingya refugees, reported The Daily Star on Thursday. The report added that both "Washington and Dhaka also agreed to continue the pressure on the Myanmar government in this regard".

"The assurance was made by the visiting Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Simon Henshaw, during his meeting with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Wednesday.

"The acting assistant secretary, who arrived in Dhaka with a delegation after a visit to Myanmar, deeply appreciated Bangladesh's decision to temporarily shelter more than 600,000 forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals and stated that Bangladesh 'responded extremely well' to this unprecedented humanitarian crisis," added The Daily Star report.

The visiting dignitaries are likely to visit different Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar on Thursday and Friday.

At an event in Dhaka recently, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Ma Mingqiang said that Bangladesh and Myanmar will sit together and resolve the Rohingya problem.

"We also expressed our commitment that we stand with Bangladesh (regarding the Rohingya problem). We do hope that this issue will be settled peacefully as soon as possible," he said.

Earlier, the Chinese envoy stated that China has been maintaining close contact with Bangladesh on the influx of Rohingyas to the country.

OneIndia News