Boris Johnson to visit Rohingya camp

Myanmar must find a safe and dignified way for Rohingya Muslims to return, the UK foreign secretary has said, after meeting the government of Bangladesh.

Boris Johnson is to visit camps on the Bangladesh border which hold the refugees who fled Myanmar to escape a military crackdown.

Nearly 700,000 people have left since the action began last August.

Mr Johnson will fly to Myanmar later on Saturday where he is due to meet de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

After meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali, Mr Johnson spoke of the need to resolve the crisis.

"What we all want to see is a safe, a dignified and secure returns for the people, for the Rohingya, back to their place of origin," he said.

"I was really struck by how Bangladesh and the UK really share a common analysis of what needs to be done. We need to make those points together to the government in Naypydaw."

He added: "The government of Bangladesh has shown immense compassion and speed and mercy in dealing with a challenge that I think any government would have found very daunting indeed."

The United Nations has described the exodus of Rohingya people from Rakhine state, and the military offensive which provoked it, as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Neighbouring Bangladesh has agreed a timeframe with Myanmar for repatriating Rohingya people.

But aid agencies have expressed concern over the projected figures for the transfer - Myanmar has agreed to accept 1,500 Rohingya each week; Bangladesh says it aims to return everyone within two years.

And the refugees are worried about the conditions and their rights upon their return.

Thai meetings

Mr Johnson will meet the chair of the Advisory Board on the Rakhine Advisory Commission, Surakiart Sathirathai.

It is looking at the problems in Rakhine state.

Britain is one of the biggest direct donors of aid for the humanitarian effort to help the refugees.

The foreign secretary's trip to Bangladesh is the first such official visit in a decade.

He will go on to Bangkok, Thailand, for talks with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Source: bbc