DHAKA: The foreign ministers of Germany, Japan and Sweden are scheduled to visit refugee camps in Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from neighbouring Myanmar are seeking refuge.
Sigmar Gabriel of Germany, Taro Kono of Japan, and Margot Wallstrom of Sweden are expected to accompany their Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali to a refugee camp near the border with Myanmar on Sunday, the foreign ministry of Bangladesh said in a statement.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will also join the day-long visit to Kutupalong camp in the south-eastern district of Cox’s Bazar to observe the living conditions of displaced Rohingya, according to the statement.
An estimated 620,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed into Bangladesh after the Myanmar army launched a crackdown on suspected Muslim insurgents blamed for carrying out attacks on security posts in Rakhine state on August 25.
The ministers are visiting the South Asian country ahead of a two-day meeting of foreign
ministers beginning on Monday in Naypyidaw.
“The combined visit of four high level delegations is the first of its kind since the (Rohingya) crisis began in August 2017,” the statement said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Dhaka on Saturday to hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart on the crisis. He will not accompany the other ministers to the Rohingya camps, a foreign ministry official said.
Rohingya refugees and human rights groups accused security forces in Myanmar of carrying out extreme violence, rape and the razing of entire villages in what a top UN human rights official has termed as “textbook example” of ethnic cleansing. — dpa
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