A top US diplomat will travel to Bangladesh in the first week of November to discuss humanitarian assistance and the plight of Rohingya refugees, the State Department said on Friday (Nov 1) morning.
Alice Wells, the Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, will also travel to Thailand during the same trip to hold bilateral meetings on the margins of the East Asia Summit and Indo-Pacific Business Forum.
In Dhaka, Wells will meet senior Bangladeshi government officials and civil society leaders, but top on her agenda appears to be the issue of more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees being hosted by the government of Bangladesh.
“In Cox’s Bazar, she will meet with Bangladeshi officials and representatives from international and non-governmental organizations to discuss U.S. humanitarian assistance and observe the conditions refugees and host communities are facing,” said a statement from the State Department.
The US has been very appreciative of the efforts of Bangladesh to host Rohingya Muslims, who fled what has been termed as a genocide like situation in Myanmar.
However, there are concerns in Washington regarding Bangladesh government’s plan to relocate thousands of Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal.
“We urge Bangladesh to postpone any refugee relocations to Bhashan Char until independent experts can determine it is a suitable location,” Assistant Secretary Wells recently told a Congress sub-committee.
State department officials have pressed for “voluntary repatriation” and the suitability of Bhashan Char remains an issue as it’s considered vulnerable to frequent cyclones.
The trip also comes at a time when a UN fact-finding mission has reported that they found no improvement in the ground situation in Myanmar and fear a serious risk of “genocide recurring” against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
“I remain resolute in my belief that it is not safe for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to be returned to Myanmar until the fundamental circumstances, leading to their expulsion is remedied,” said a member of the fact-finding mission.
Bangladesh, itself a poor nation, has so far been patient and welcoming, but now it’s struggling to cope with the economic and environmental impact of hosting so many refugees.
While the United States has contributed the most in terms of humanitarian assistance so far, that alone may not be enough for the Bangladesh government to bear the pressure.