Rohingya children during a class in Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh (Photo: AFP/VNA)Bangkok (VNA) – Foreign ministersfrom the 10 Southeast Asian Nations will seek a "comprehensive anddurable" solution to Rohingya people crisis in Myanmar in an informalmeeting in Thailand’s Chiang Mai later this month.
According to a draft of a statement to be issued after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat inChiang Mai on January 17-18, a solution is needed "to address the rootcauses of the conflict" in Myanmar's Rakhine State, as well as "tocreate a conducive environment so that the affected communities can rebuildtheir lives."
In the document, theministers also affirm their support for Myanmar in bringing back Rohingyarefugees from Bangladesh in a safe, secure and dignified manner with the fullcooperation of United Nations (UN) agencies.
On January 9, Knut Ostby, the resident coordinator for the UN in Myanmar, appealedto all sides to intensify efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situationin the western state, amid concern that there could be an escalation offighting.
A total of 13 policemen were killed and nine others injured in separatists’attacks on four police posts in Rakhine on January 4.
The UN official voiced his concern that if there is new majordisplacement and new need for major humanitarian assistance, current accesswill not be sufficient to deliver the assistance needed.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 4,500people were sheltering in monasteries and communal areas after being displacedby fighting in the past month.
According to the UN, more than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims fled northernRakhine state to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a crackdown in August lastyear on insurgents amid accounts of arson, murder and rape at the hands ofsoldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.
In June this year, the Myanmar Government reached an agreement with theUN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the UN Development Programme to help Rohingyapeople to return home. -VNA
According to a draft of a statement to be issued after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat inChiang Mai on January 17-18, a solution is needed "to address the rootcauses of the conflict" in Myanmar's Rakhine State, as well as "tocreate a conducive environment so that the affected communities can rebuildtheir lives."
In the document, theministers also affirm their support for Myanmar in bringing back Rohingyarefugees from Bangladesh in a safe, secure and dignified manner with the fullcooperation of United Nations (UN) agencies.
On January 9, Knut Ostby, the resident coordinator for the UN in Myanmar, appealedto all sides to intensify efforts to find a peaceful solution to the situationin the western state, amid concern that there could be an escalation offighting.
A total of 13 policemen were killed and nine others injured in separatists’attacks on four police posts in Rakhine on January 4.
The UN official voiced his concern that if there is new majordisplacement and new need for major humanitarian assistance, current accesswill not be sufficient to deliver the assistance needed.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 4,500people were sheltering in monasteries and communal areas after being displacedby fighting in the past month.
According to the UN, more than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims fled northernRakhine state to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a crackdown in August lastyear on insurgents amid accounts of arson, murder and rape at the hands ofsoldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.
In June this year, the Myanmar Government reached an agreement with theUN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the UN Development Programme to help Rohingyapeople to return home. -VNA
VNA
