Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has proposed creating “safe zones’ for Rohingya Muslims who are crossing into its territory amid renewed military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the home to 1.1 million Rohingyas.
The safe zones will be created in three areas in Rakhine state where people displaced by the violence will be relocated there under the supervision of international organisations.
The government of Bangladesh has already sent the proposal to Myanmar government through the United Nations (UN), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), officials said.
They said Bangladesh has come up with the proposal to stop the tide of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday said that about 270,000 Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter in Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar two weeks ago.
“We have already sent the proposal to the Myanmar government through the international agencies. The logic of the creation of such zones is that no Rohingya can come inside Bangladesh,” foreign secretary Shahidul Haque told the media.
He added, “We want Rohingya refugees to go back to their own country and also the full implementation of Kofi Annan commission’s proposals regarding repatriations of the refugees.”
Besides the creation of internationally-controlled safe zones in Rakhine state, Bangladesh has also mooted creating a buffer zone along the border, where the international community could set up camps and provide shelter for the refugees, according to Reuters.
“We will give aid agencies access. But we are not interested to give them shelter here. We are already overburdened,” said Home Secretary Mostafa Kamal Uddin.
Bangladesh has proposed creating “safe zones’ for Rohingya Muslims who are crossing into its territory amid renewed military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the home to 1.1 million Rohingyas.
The safe zones will be created in three areas in Rakhine state where people displaced by the violence will be relocated there under the supervision of international organisations.
The government of Bangladesh has already sent the proposal to Myanmar government through the United Nations (UN), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), officials said.
They said Bangladesh has come up with the proposal to stop the tide of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday said that about 270,000 Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter in Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar two weeks ago.
“We have already sent the proposal to the Myanmar government through the international agencies. The logic of the creation of such zones is that no Rohingya can come inside Bangladesh,” foreign secretary Shahidul Haque told the media.
He added, “We want Rohingya refugees to go back to their own country and also the full implementation of Kofi Annan commission’s proposals regarding repatriations of the refugees.”
Besides the creation of internationally-controlled safe zones in Rakhine state, Bangladesh has also mooted creating a buffer zone along the border, where the international community could set up camps and provide shelter for the refugees, according to Reuters.
“We will give aid agencies access. But we are not interested to give them shelter here. We are already overburdened,” said Home Secretary Mostafa Kamal Uddin.
