Arakan News Agency
The Minister of Finance of Bangladesh, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, has asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of establishing a safe haven for Rohingya refugees who have fled the persecution of the Myanmar army and extremist Buddhist militias in the Arakan region.
“Guterres met Abdul Muhith in New York City on Monday, where the latter stressed the need to create safe areas to house the Rohingya,” a Bangladeshi media source said Tuesday, quoting a UN representative in Bangladesh.
“The importance of rapid action to end the humanitarian crisis in Arakan,
“The United Nations will cooperate with the Bengali government on Arakan and will do its utmost to resolve the refugee crisis and end the suffering of the Rohingya,” Guterres said.
Since August 25th, Myanmar’s army and Buddhist militias have committed crimes, attacks and brutal massacres against the Muslim minority Rohingya, killing thousands (according to local activists) and displacing hundreds of thousands of innocent people (according to the United Nations).
Since that date, some 519,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed the Arakan (Rakhine) region of western Myanmar, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
On September 19th, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called on the Security Council to pressure the government of Myanmar to stop ethnic cleansing of Rohingya.
