Financial Express
10 March 2013
Nizam Ahmed
A senior official of the
United States (US) is expected to visit Bangladesh, Myanmar and Japan for a
week from Tuesday next to discuss issues relating to conflicts in Myanmar and
exodus of refugees from the country, officials said on Saturday.
US State Department Senior
Advisor for Myanmar Mr W. Patrick Murphy will undertake the tour at such a time
when fleeing Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have become a matter of concern for
neighbouring countries.
The intrusion of Rohingyas
in the south and the southeast Asian countries including Bangladesh have
increased following spells of communal riots between Rohingya Muslims and local
Buddhists in Rakhine state, in western Myanmar since June last year.
Bangladesh, which has been
hosting about 400,000 unregistered refugees from Myanmar, sent back several
hundred Rohingyas who wanted to take refuge in the country fleeing the recent
communal riots in Myanmar.
However, before sending them
back, the refugees were given medical treatment when needed, food and even cash
so that they can support them at least for a few days, according to officials
of Border Guard Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, India, Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka which have been hosting lots of Rohingya
refugees since Myanmar riots last year, recently rescued hundreds of
boat-people, mostly Rohingyas from the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
Senior Adviser Mr Murphy is
scheduled to arrive in Dhaka Tuesday on a two-day visit to Bangladesh. He will
also travel to Myanmar and Japan until March 18, said a press release of the US
State Department made available to the FE on Saturday.
Mr Murphy will visit
Rangoon, Naypyitaw and other Myanmar cities from March 13 to March 16, and the
Japanese capital Tokyo on March 17 and 18, the state department said.
The senior adviser is
expected to discuss with the relevant authorities in Dhaka and civil society
groups on reforms and other recent developments in Myanmar.
"In particular, he will
discuss US policies, conflict in Rakhine and Kachin States, and international
support, including responsible investment, to strengthen reform and
reconciliation efforts," said the press release.
Mr Murphy is also expected
to pay a whirlwind visit to southeastern Cox's Bazar region to see the plight
of the Myanmar refugees now living there, officials at the ministry of foreign
affairs (MoFA) said in Dhaka.
"However the itinerary
of Mr Murphy has no mention of a probable visit to refugee camps in Cox's Bazar
district, but the arrangement will be kept ready in case the senior US adviser
wants to visit the refugee infested region," a senior official at MoFA
told the FE.
Like the US administration,
Bangladesh has also a great concern on the Myanmar issues as tens of thousands
of unregistered refugees from Myanmar have seriously affected socio economic
situation in the refugee infested region.
The unregistered Rohingya
refugees from Myanmar are now living in scattered squalid makeshift camps in
southeastern region of Bangladesh near Myanmar border.
Besides the unregistered
refugees, there are some 30,000 Rohingyas living in two official camps, run by
the government of Bangladesh and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, near Cox's Bazar resort town.
The inmates of the official
camps are the remnants of some 250,000 Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar
alleging persecution by military junta in late 1991 and 1992.
Recently, hundreds of
Rohingya Muslims trying to flee their native Arakans (now Rakhine state) of
Myanmar or their makeshift camps in Bangladesh have been nabbed or rescued from
the sea in recent weeks in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka,
according to news agencies.
Since the communal clashes
began in Arakan State in June 2012, the number of Rohingyas fleeing by boats to
neighbouring Southeast Asian countries has increased significantly.
News agencies say many
Rohingyas flee Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which considers them illegal Muslim
settlers from neighboring Bangladesh.
However, Bangladesh refutes
the stance of Myanmar and claims that the Rohingys have been the residents of
Arakan for several hundred years.
Meanwhile, the United
Nations has recently considered about 800,000 Rohingya people of Myanmar's
Rakhine state as the most persecuted people in the world.
With an estimated 115,000 people
in Arakan displaced by the communal clashes, it is not surprising thousands
more Rohingyas have fled from other parts of Arakan State not only by boat, but
by air and overland too, say the news agencies.