Bernicat
lauds Bangladesh over handling of Rohingya issue
US
Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has praised Bangladesh for “skillfully handling” the
Rohingya issue and said Washington is closely monitoring the situation.
“I truly
admire Bangladesh government for providing support and home to some Rohingyas
that are here,” she said at a meeting with Diplomatic Correspondents Association
Bangladesh in Dhaka on Monday.
“Bangladesh
government has very patiently and skillfully been working on the Rohingya issue
with the government of Burma,” she said.
Rohingya
activists say more than 100 Rohingyas have been killed since Myanmar began its
anti-insurgency operations in the Rakhine state in early October after attacks
on border outposts that killed several policemen.
The latest
crackdown has rendered an estimated 30,000 Rohingyas homeless.
Bernicat
said: “We have been putting pressure on Burma both before and after the
election to respect all the people living in the country including Rohingyas.”
The army
denies burning down Rohingya villages, torturing, raping and killing the
Rohingyas.
Ambassador
Bernicat condemned the latest attacks, saying Washington had called for “formal
transparent investigation” into the situation.
The
Rohingyas, who number about one million in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, are not
recognised by the government as citizens. A UN official has accused Myanmar of
“ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingyas.
“No one has
had access to the conflict area for some time and the UN had called on Myanmar
to allow international aid agencies to that distressed state,” Bernicat said.
Hundreds of
Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since October to escape persecution despite
tight security measures by the BGB and Coast Guard. Dhaka refuses to open its
border and has urged the international community to help it deal with the
crisis.
Bernicat
said the US was “closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh.
“We have
provided assistance to the Rohingya community living in Bangladesh and will
continue to do so.”