Japan wants Myanmar to ensure the required environment in Rakhine State so that the Rohingyas, now temporarily sheltered in Cox’s Bazar, can return to their place of origin as soon as possible, says its Ambassador here in Bangladesh.
“It’s essential for Myanmar to create an environment conductive to the early repatriation of displaced persons,” Ambassador Ito Naoki told UNB in an interview mentioning that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi the same thing during the bilateral summit meeting in October last year.
The Ambassador said, it is also “indispensable” for the Myanmar government and military to promptly take appropriate measures according to the recommendations of the Independent Commission of Enquiry as Prime Minister Abe urged State Counsellor at the said summit meeting.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas and most of them entered Cox’s Bazar since August 2017 amid military crackdown on Rohingyas in Rakhine State.
Since the massive influx of the displaced people into Bangladesh in August 2017, the government of Japan had granted approximately US$ 99.2 million to international organisations and NGOs supporting the camps in Cox’s Bazar for the displaced people and the host communities by providing food, shelter, medical services and human-resource trainings, said the Japanese Ambassador.
Ambassador Naoki commended the government of Bangladesh for its immense contribution to this issue.
Not a single Rohingya was repatriated over the last 28 months due to Myanmar’s “failure” to build confidence among Rohingyas and lack of conducive environment in Rakhine State, officials here said.
