COX'S BAZAR: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who visited sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh on Monday, said he heard “unimaginable accounts of killing and rape” from Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar in the wake of violence since last August. In a tweet, he said the Rohingya Muslims only want “justice and a safe return home”. The Chief is visiting Bangladesh to meet refugees who have been seeking protection from the United Nations.
Around 700,000 Rohingya have crossed the border to escape violence by Myanmar security forces, who have resorted to rape, killing, torture and burning of their homes. Several thousands are believed to have been killed in what UN and US officials have called “ethnic cleansing”. Guterres met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the beginning of his three-day visit, even as he promised continued UN pressure on Myanmar and support to Dhaka. Hasina's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said, “He (Guterres) said the UN would keep continued pressure on Myanmar on the issue and simultaneously give Bangladesh its constant support for resolving and handling the crisis.” He added that the UN chief feared the ethnic minority Muslim Rohingyas could be exposed to radicalisation and stressed the importance of an education system for their protection from such phenomena.
Karim said, “The UN secretary general said Myanmar should as well be made to understand what their action (crackdown on Rohingyas) could yield.” The UN, and the World Bank chiefs arrived in Dhaka while the International Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer, British Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field, and UK Special Envoy for Gender Equality, Joanna Roper are already in Bangladesh visiting crammed Rohingya camps in southeastern Cox's Bazar. Dhaka now shelters over a million Rohingyas since the influx began initially.
