Staff Reporter :
Terming the Rohingya crisis a very complex issue the high-level delegation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Sunday said, there is no magic solution to the crisis.
The UNSC team also expressed deep concern over the atrocities against minority Rohingya community in Rakhine State.
Several delegation members said the Rohingya crisis was created in Myanmar and its solutions “are in Myanmar.”
They came up with the observation at a press conference after visiting the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar on Sunday.
“We are concerned,” Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, UNSC’s president for April and permanent representative of Peru, said at the press conference.
Visiting diplomats of the UK, China, Russia, Kuwait, Poland, Kazakhstan, among others, spoke at the conference.
“This is indeed a very complex issue. There won’t be an easy solution to this. We work together in the Security Council (on the issue),” one of the delegation members told reporters.
They acknowledged that there is a crisis and problem lies there in their (Rohingyas’) expulsion, their treatment and the fact that they had to flee Rakhine to Bangladesh.
The delegation members also told reporters that they witnessed the situation and will see the situation on other side of the border to come up with their final observation.
They, however, laid emphasis on safe repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Myanmar.
They said the delegation would go to Myanmar today (Monday) for visiting Rakhine State.
They are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gonobhaban at 9:30am today (Monday).
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said it is easy to lead a fire but very difficult to extinguish it.
“From the very beginning, we said its solution is difficult. The UNSC members now understand the depth of the problem,” he said, adding that the delegation members highly appreciated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government’s efforts.
He said the UNSC team is touched by the stories of Rohingyas and realised that the root cause of Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar.
Some of the Rohingyas are seen displaying placards that read: “We want justice”, “Welcome to UNSC delegation” and “Not Bangali, Yes Rohingyas.”
Earlier, the UNSC team visited Kutupalong Rohingya camp and listened to tales of brutalities from Rohingyas who came here following army crackdown in Rakhine.
They also witnessed the situation on the ground and interacted with Rohingyas living on zero line at Tambru border point of Naikkhangchhari in Bandarban.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam accompanied the UNSC delegation during the visit.
Earlier, the State Minister of Foreign Affairs briefed the UN Security Council on a crisis that has been with Bangladesh for decades and called for consensus of the Security Council.
UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka Mia Seppo in a tweet termed the visit of UNSC team to Bangladesh a historic one.
During their interaction at different levels, the delegation members assured all of taking effective steps to help resolve the Rohingya crisis.
The team, led by UNSC President for the month of April Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, arrived here on Saturday afternoon.
Ahead of the visit, an international analyst said, Bangladesh needs to provide “strong and unassailable evidence” backed up by documents to make its case before the UN Security Council delegation.
“Of course, the refugees are incontrovertible proof of persecution and ethnic cleansing, but thus far it hasn’t been enough,” said Ali Riaz, a Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Illinois State University, USA.
He said the UN should understand it has a stake, too. “Thus far, it has failed [to deal with] Rohingya refugees. It’ is unconscionable and it cannot be continued any longer.”
Prof Riaz said, “Hopefully, the cycle of inaction will be broken.”
Bangladesh is stressing the need for keeping up pressure on Myanmar from different levels for resolving the Rohingya crisis, an official said, adding that the government remained engaged globally.
The UN Security Council is composed of 15 members with five permanent members (China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States) and 10 non-permanent members.
About 10 lakh Rohingyas sought refuge in Bangladesh since Myanmar military began its crackdown on the minority community living in northern Maungdaw of Rakhine province in October last.
Access to the area under the military offensive has been restricted ever since.
