Bangladesh: Myanmar minister visits Rohingya camp
First visit by any Myanmar official sparks protests by Rohingya refugees
By Mutasim Billah
DHAKA, Bangladesh
A Myanmar minister on Wednesday visited a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, the first such visit since a crackdown by the Myanmar army sparked a refugee crisis.
Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Win Myat Aye met Rohingya leaders at the Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazaar city, where the refugees staged a protest.
He referred to the refugees as "Bengali" sparking angry response from the refugees, who call themselves citizens of Myanmar and have been targeted by the state on the basis of their ethnicity, according to a report in BBC Bangla.
The protesters chanted: "They raped, murdered and tortured us and drove us out of the country."
The minister also visited a camp run by the UN Refugee Agency in the Cox's Bazaar.
Speaking to reporters, he said: "Myanmar will continue to pursue the dignity and rights of the Rohingya citizens and they will be returned to Myanmar in a short time."
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal last November, but so far not a single refugee has returned. The UN maintains that the Myanmar government has been unable to assure safe return for the refugees, and houses in entire villages have been razed to the ground.
Myat Aye is also expected to hold a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Thursday in Dhaka.
He will leave Dhaka on Thursday night.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the UN. At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders.
In a report published on Dec. 12, the global humanitarian organization said that the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.
The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
