Myanmar minister in Dhaka to discuss Rohingya issue

Amid the growing pressure on Myanmar, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi sent her representative to discuss the Rohingya issue with the Bangladesh government.

Minister of the Office of State Counselor Kyaw Tint Swe arrived at Shahjalal international Airport by a Thai Airways flight around 1:05 am on Monday.

Tint Swe is set to hold meeting with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali at 11:00 am today at state guesthouse Padma.

The Myanmar Minister desired to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but the Prime Minister is scheduled to return home on October 7.

Violence in Rakhine State that began on August 25 forced over 500,000 Rohingya refugees to cross the border into Cox's Bazar.

Of all the new arrivals, 429,000 are in need of emergency food assistance.

Among the new arrivals, an estimated 55,770 pregnant and lactating women, and children under 5, require targeted food assistance.

Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque earlier said Bangladesh keeps door open to discuss and resolve the Rohingya issue bilaterally apart from discussing it in international forums.

Some 507,000 new arrivals of Myanmar's fleeing Rohingya population are reported as of September 30, including 453,300 new arrivals identified in IOM's Needs and Population Monitoring assessments in four upazilas of Cox's Bazar district, says a new report on Sunday.

The latest figure includes 35,000 in refugee camps reported by UNHCR and 18,700 reported by field staff in Naikhongchhari (Bandarban district).

Over the last two days, movement across the border in Cox's Bazar has reportedly decreased again, according to the report "Situation Report: Rohingya Crisis".

The Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), convened by the IOM, in collaboration with humanitarian partners prepared the report that covered September 21 - 27

Source: unb