NEW YORK: Britain,
France, the United States and five other countries asked the UN Security
Council on Wednesday (Feb 8) to discuss the fate of hundreds of thousands of
Rohingya refugees driven from Myanmar, diplomats said.
The council will
hold a meeting on Tuesday to hear UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo
Grandi report on the crisis sparked by an army crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine
state in August.
Sweden, Poland, the
Netherlands, Kazakhstan and Equatorial Guinea requested the talks along with
the three permanent council members.
The meeting comes
nearly three months after the council adopted a statement demanding that
Myanmar rein in its security forces and allow the Rohingya to return to their
homes.
More than 750,000
Rohingya have been driven from the mainly Buddhist country to Bangladesh,
fleeing soldiers accused of killings, rape and burning down villages.
Bangladesh and
Myanmar agreed last month to repatriate the Rohingya over a period of two
years, but the United Nations has expressed concerns after the UN refugee
agency UNHCR was kept out of the agreement.
The General Assembly
in December adopted a resolution asking Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to
name a special envoy to Myanmar, but that appointment has yet to be made.
China, a supporter
of Myanmar's former ruling junta, and Russia voted against the resolution. Both
hold veto power at the council.
Myanmar's government
also turned down a visit by council envoys to Rakhine state, saying it was
"not the right time," Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said.
Source: AFP/ad