Japan says it has asked Myanmar to speed up development projects for rebuilding Rakhine to enable the return of Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who started a two-day Dhaka visit on Tuesday, told Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina he had talks with Myanmar President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on the issue during his recent tour to Myanmar, reports state news agency BSS.
“Kono told the prime minister that he asked them to speed up the activities for constructing houses, roads and schools in Rakhine,” Press Secretary to PM Ihsanul Karim told the media after the meeting.
Japan will provide $ 2 million to Bangladesh to help tackle the adverse situation at Rohingya camps in during the monsoon.
During the meeting, Hasina renewed her call to the international community, including Japan, to persuade Myanmar to take back their Rohingya nationals from Bangladesh.
“The Rohingyas must return and for this, the global community will have to persuade Myanmar to take them back from Bangladesh,” Press Secretary Karim quoted her saying.
Hasina urged Japan to ask Myanmar to send their team to Bangladesh to see the sufferings and plight of the Rohingyas. “Myanmar signed an MoU and agreed to take back Rohingyas, but they didn’t take any action to that end."
Bangladesh is now home to over 1 million Rohingyas after more than 700,000 fled Myanmar's western Rakhine state after a military crackdown that started in August last year in response to attacks by ARSA on security posts.
Myanmar has rejected accusations of ethnic cleansing and dismissed most accounts of atrocities, blaming Rohingya "terrorists".